By Ken Valenti

WESTPORT–The Representative Town Meeting is considering a proposal for Westport to join the Connecticut Municipal Development Authority (CMDA),  a statewide planning agency designed to help communities develop their downtowns and areas around train stations.

David Kooris, executive director of the CMDA, is expected to present the idea to two RTM committees – Planning and Zoning and Transit – at 7 p.m. Dec. 16 in room 201 of Town Hall. 

Grants and loans

The authority has $90 million available for the next two years to help communities with public matching grants and loans to developers. But RTM District 1 member Kristin Mott Purcell, who petitioned to have the RTM partner with the organization, said the larger advantage would be the partnership with Kooris himself.

“What’s more exciting is the ability to tap into David’s urban planning experience, and his access and activity in Hartford,” said Purcell. “He’s very thoughtful, he’s very progress-oriented and very focused on walkable, functional communities.”

Kooris’ deep experience

Over the past two decades, Kooris has served in several planning and related position, including vice president and Connecticut director of the Regional Plan Association, Board Chair of the Connecticut Port Authority, deputy commissioner of the Connecticut Department of Economic and Community Development and director of resilience of the Connecticut Department of Housing, according to his LinkedIn profile.

Launched in 2024, the CMDA is a quasi-public organization that works with towns and cities to increase housing production in neighborhoods that are mixed-use, walkable, and well-served by transit. It specializes in “in facilitating the development of vibrant downtowns near transit hubs, fostering sustainable and equitable communities across the state,” according to the agency’s website.

CMDA is becoming popular

So far, 32 communities have joined the CMDA and 11 have approved agreements called memorandums of understanding to establish development districts in key transit hubs and downtowns, the agency says on its website. The municipalities that have approved the MOAs are Naugatuck, Derby, New London, Torrington, Enfield, Norwich, Waterbury, Avon, Manchester, Bridgeport and New Haven.

In Westport, the CMDA would be able to assist within a half mile of the Westport (Saugatuck) and Greens Farms train stations and the downtown area, Kooris said in a presentation at the Westport Library in October.

Matthew Mandell, chair of the RTM’s Planning and Zoning committee, said members need to hear more about what the organization offers.

What strings are attached?

“This may be a good opportunity, but the question is, what strings are attached to it?” he said. “Money is never really free, and advice always comes with a cost.”

Purcell said collaboration with the CMDA is “an opportunity, not an obligation.” Joining costs nothing up front and “nothing proceeds without the town’s explicit involvement and approval,” she said.

At the October presentation, Kooris said the CMDA is “set up to be a broad toolkit that could be mobilized in support of municipal action. So we can provide technical assistance and planning support and engineering studies. We can provide infrastructure funding. We can provide development financing to private developers. The mix of which is totally dependent on what our partner municipality asks of us.”

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.}}