By Ken Valenti

WESTPORT–Two committees of the Representative Town Meeting (RTM) voted last night to oppose joining the Connecticut Municipal Development Agency (CMDA), a quasi-public planning agency designed to help towns and cities develop vibrant, walkable communities around their train stations and in downtown areas.

In the fourth meeting held to consider the proposal since last December, the RTM members discussed the matter for about 2.5 hours, eventually rejecting the agency, at least for now, over uncertainty about whether Westport would benefit from its offers of planning expertise and possible grants.

The votes by the RTM’s transit and planning and zoning committees are not the final say, they are recommendations to the full RTM, which meets Oct. 6. 

The Planning and Zoning Committee voted 5-2 against the idea. Voting in favor were Kristin Purcell, who spearheaded the petition to join the organization in the first place, and Jennifer Johnson. Chairman Matthew Mandell and members Wendy Batteau, Jay Keenan, Karen Kramer and Ellen Lautenberg voted against it.

The Transit Committee, which lacked a quorum, took a vote to record the positions of the five members present. They opposed the plan 4-1, with Ross Burkhardt voting in favor. Those opposed were Chairwoman Melissa Levy and members Peter Gold, Claudia Shaum and Victoria Wylie.

Mandell, in part, echoed a viewpoint from Planning and Zoning (P&Z) Commission Chairman Paul Lebowitz, who attended the meeting, that the town should wait to see how developments fostered by the CMDA play out in communities similar to Westport before joining. Mandell also said the timing to join was poor when the town had other initiatives underway, including developing a new plan of conservation and development.

“We don’t want to be guinea pigs,” he said, adding later, “I’m not adverse to the CMDA. I think it’s a great project for municipalities that need the help, that don’t have the money to do it, that don’t have the expertise…. I don’t think that we need it. I don’t see the advantage at this time. I’m not saying that in the future it’s not a great idea, but I’d like to see us move forward with this monstrous amount of stuff that the P&Z is going to do.”

Purcell argued that the development of Saugatuck is coming and that the town should join now and take advantage of the CMDA’s expertise under the guidance of Executive Director David Kooris, whom she called “one of the top urban planners in the country.”

“Saugatuck is happening to us no matter what,” Purcell said. “Saugatuck is going to be built. There are many, many projects currently in process, in consideration.” She added that Kooris “is also super connected in Hartford. He knows the people that we need to be talking to in Hartford for many of these questions.”

So far, 47 towns and cities have joined the agency, launched in August 2024, said Kooris, who joined the meeting by phone. By later this week, he said, he expects to have reached agreements establishing development districts in 26 or 27 of those communities.

The organization is providing technical assistance for five initiatives, and four development projects have received funding from the agency, Kooris said.

The committees have been reluctant to join, as some members feared that doing so would require it to set up development districts as the agency wants. Kooris has said that the initial decision to join comes with no obligations to do anything further.

“We can’t do anything without your direct engagement,” he told them last night.

In June, he said the law’s wording had been adjusted to clarify that point, and also that the town does not give up any taxing authority, in response to Westport’s concerns.

First Selectman Kevin Christie, who also attended the meeting, said at the start that he is “intrigued and broadly supportive of the CMDA. I think it’s really a planning capability and tool that we would have access to as a town. It gives us the opportunity to look comprehensively at a given area, Saugatuck, instead of having to deal with it on a project-by-project, application-by-application basis.”

Ken Valenti

^{_{A career journalist and lifelong resident of the New York City region, Ken Valenti has enjoyed decades of reporting local, regional and national news in New York and Connecticut. Topics of special interest are development, the environment, Long Island Sound and transportation. When not reporting, he’s always on the lookout for the perfect coffee shop or used book sale.}}