By John Schwing

WESTPORT — Two members of the Representative Town Meeting, trying to jump-start the stalled plans for a new maintenance building in Longshore Club Park, have filed a petition asking the legislative body to overturn the Planning and Zoning Commission’s recent rejection of the proposal.

The petition, filed by Jimmy Izzo, District 3, and Andrew Colabella, District 4, comes after the P&Z on Feb. 3 issued a negative 8-24 municipal land-use report on a request by First Selectwoman Jennifer Tooker to build a new, larger maintenance building on a different site in the park.

To approve the petition and overrule the P&Z, two-thirds of the full RTM membership — or 24 members —would have to vote in favor. The next RTM session is scheduled March 4, although the meeting’s agenda has not been published yet.

The 8-24 request called for replacing the dilapidated maintenance building — housing equipment and supplies used to maintain parks and recreation facilities around town — with a new structure on a 35,000-square-foot, low-lying site where a “brush dump” is now located close to Compo Road South.

The new building, encompassing an estimated 8,000 to 10,000 square feet, could rise as high as 26 feet to the roof’s high midpoint, according to the presentation to the P&Z.

P&Z: Not the right move

But no design for the structure was available to be reviewed by the P&Z, which took up the request after the Board of Finance refused in January to allocate $222,000 to pay for schematic designs. The finance panel first wanted to make sure the new site proposed for the building would win zoners’ support before approving any mony for the project.

The P&Z, by a 4-3 vote, issued the negative 8-24 report with the majority faulting the proposed relocation site and recommending the maintenance building instead be moved out of Longshore entirely to an alternate location. Several members suggested the park be re-zoned to allow only recreational uses in the future, which would prohibit “industrial” uses such as a maintenance building.

Ratkiewich: Longshore “only” viable site

Public Works Director Pete Ratkiewich, however, told the P&Z — as he previously had told the Board of Finance — there is no other viable piece of town-owned property that can accommodate a new parks maintenance building.

The proposal’s rejection upended the planned rollout of the $40 million Longshore Capital Improvement Plan. The new maintenance building was envisioned as the first feature of the multi-faceted plan, which also is projected to include a new golf clubhouse, renovated pools, new paddle courts and more.

Floyd: No moving forward till maintenance project resolved

The P&Z’s rejection of the maintenance building unleashed critical fallout at last week’s Parks and Recreation Commission meeting.

David Floyd, the commission’s chair, said “what’s next is not really clear” as Tooker administration officials study their next move. 

Floyd noted the maintenance building was “prioritized” as the first major project in the Longshore Capital Improvement Plan because of its deteriorating condition and inadequacy for sheltering all of the staff’s expensive equipment from harsh weather.

As a result, Floyd said, he “will not support movement forward of any other project in Longshore, any other what I deem to be nice-to-have projects, i.e., a clubhouse, i.e., additional paddle courts.

“I will not support them while the critical needs of our town employees are not being met …,” he added. “We need to get this done before I’m going to support anything else moving forward with that plan.”

Commission member Elaine Whitney noted the sequencing of projects in the Longshore plan had been discussed at length by the panel and its consultants, with the maintenance building assigned priority since it needs to be rebuilt anyway and its relocation would free up prime space for new recreational facilities.

Gery Grove, another panel member, called some zoners’ comments about the project “pretty strident,” adding, “I’m not even sure where we go until I understand where they’re going.”

Wherever the structure is located, she said, is “going to be a lightning rod.”

Izzo, Colabella join criticism of P&Z decision

Both Izzo and Colabella also criticized the P&Z’s decision.

Izzo said that when he and other officials toured Longshore to inspect the existing maintenance shed and the proposed relocation site, Ratkiewich told the group the public works staff had exhausted its search for other options to move the facilities.

“All we’re trying to do … is get some money to perform a study,” he said. “P&Z is going to get a shot at this down the road.”

“If we don’t get a study done for a couple hundred thousand,” Izzo added, “we’re not going anywhere. We’re just going to spin our wheels.”

Colabella faulted the P&Z’s denial of a positive 8-24 report, saying that moving the building within the park would just continue an already existing use.

The shed is now “beyond dilapidated,” he said, posing a series of potential health and safety hazards for employees. And since some maintenance equipment currently has to be left outdoors, extra costs to overhaul wear-and-tear will be incurred.

Colabella also discounted the suggestion that the parks maintenance staff be split among several smaller facilities across town, which he said would be both inefficient and more expensive.

John Schwing, interim editor of the Westport Journal, has held senior editorial and writing posts at southwestern Connecticut media outlets for four decades. Learn more about us here.