By Kerri Williams

WESTPORT — After a meeting that lasted more than six hours, two Representative Town Meeting committees landed on different sides of the issue of whether to overturn the Planning and Zoning Commission’s recent refusal to approve relocation of Longshore Club Park’s maintenance building.

Discussion became heated at times over a petition by two RTM members who want the town to move forward with building a new maintenance building at a different site in the park, a project that would serve as the first step rolling out the $40 million Longshore Capital Improvement Plan.

Different committees, different opinions

Members of the RTM’s Parks and Recreation Committee voted 5-1 in favor of overturning the P&Z decision, while those on the Planning and Zoning Committee voted to uphold the P&Z stance by a 4-2 vote.

The petition, filed by Jimmy Izzo, District 3, and Andrew Colabella, District 4, will now go before the full RTM next Tuesday, when two-thirds — or 24 members — of the legislative body would have to vote in favor for the P&Z decision to be overturned.

The project was dealt a setback Feb. 3 when the P&Z voted, 4-3, to deny the “8-24 municipal land-use report” sought by First Selectwoman Jennifer Tooker for the building’s relocation. The majority disliked the site proposed for the new maintenance building, with several members advocating that it be moved out of the park to another location in town.

A rare step

Appeals of Planning and Zoning Commission decisions are rare, according to Matthew Mandell, the P&Z Committee chair.

“It’s not very often that we ask to overturn the P&Z, but it’s also not very often that the Board of Finance skips a step,” Izzo said. Board of Finance members refused in January to allocate $222,000 to pay for schematic designs for the new building, saying they first wanted to get P&Z approval of the new site.

Public Works Director Pete Ratkiewich told RTM committee members why he believes that Longshore Club Park is the only location suitable for the proposed new building. 

The new facility would replace the existing Longshore maintenance shed that has been called “beyond dilapidated.” The proposed building would be approximately 8,000 to 10,000 square feet and located at the site now occupied by a brush dump in the park. In its place, the improvement plan calls for construction of four new paddle courts.

“This is sort of a no-brainer,” Ratkiewich said. He said that he sent RTM members a list of 121 town-owned properties, none of which he said are an appropriate alternate site for the maintenance building.

Location, location, location at issue

But Planning and Zoning Commission members  were not convinced that Longshore is the best or only location for the structure, which would primarily be used by Parks and Recreation Department workers to store equipment and supplies.

Paul Lebowitz, the P&Z chair, told RTM members that his commission had little to no information about the new building when asked to decide on the 8-24 municipal land-use report. 

Ratkiewich “came to us with one piece of paper with three circles. He gave it to us and said, ‘What do you think?’ ”

In fact, Lebowitz said he learned much more about the proposed facility Wednesday during a presentation by Colabella. “If I had that information, I could have made a much better decision,” he said.

He added that commissioners, in rejecting the 8-24 request, asked town officials to “try harder” to come up with alternatives.

If P&Z is overruled, then what?

“If we built this, a lot of people would be upset about what rose out of the brush dump,” Lebowitz said, adding that the proposed location was the primary reason for the denial. If the town were to come back with another proposal for the “exact same site,” he said the P&Z would likely turn it down again.

RTM members were split Wednesday about whether they should overturn the P&Z, with some saying that such a move would mean the designated Longshore location would be the only one considered going forward.

“This is an attempt by a couple of people to try to force the P&Z to put this at the brush dump,” said Jay Walshon, a member of the public.

Izzo countered: “I am not trying to embarrass anyone,” adding that he just wants the Board of Finance to fund the schematic designs.

Others said town officials could return to the Board of Finance or the P&Z without any RTM action on the matter.

“I am a little confused about why we are being asked to overturn this when the process already allows there to be a discussion again about this,” said Melissa Levy, District 2. “Why are we overturning versus just letting the process happen?”

Wendy Batteau, District 8, who voted not to overturn the decision, said that RTM members need to trust P&Z commissioners rather than overruling them.

“If we overturn this, Longshore is the place where this is built,” she said. “We will be acting instead of the P&Z.”

Kerri Williams is a freelance writer who has worked in journalism for years, including as a reporter for the Norwalk Hour and managing editor of the Norwalk Citizen-News.