By Gretchen Webster

WESTPORT — Because the word “character” means different things to different people, the state is requiring municipalities to remove or define the word in zoning regulations.

The state directive, approved by the General Assembly in October 2021, is aimed primarily to prevent communities from using “character” as a loosely defined barrier to discriminate against zoning applicants.

The problems with “character” were evident Monday night when members of the Planning and Zoning Commission all gave different values — and different reasons — why the word “character” should or should not be removed from the town’s regulations.

Some, like commission member Neil Cohn, thought that “character” had been misused in a discriminatory manner around the state, and should be removed from regulations.

“I feel that this has become a flash point and it’s offending people. I feel we should change our message” by not using the word, he said.

Two other commission members, Patrizia Zucaro and Amie Tesler, disagreed, saying the word should be defined or kept in place, unchanged.

“I think it’s a dangerous thing to do,” Tesler said of the state requirement to remove the word from municipal zoning regulations. “There will be other words and phrases that other folks will deem offensive. If we give in to this, what next?”

And Marc Levey thought the whole discussion was unnecessary and a waste of time. “It’s a big ado about nothing … This reminds me of a Shakespeare play,” he said.

Regardless, the town has to comply with the state mandate, Vice Chairman Paul Lebowitz reminded fellow commissioners. 

And the Planning and Zoning Department staff already has gone through pages of regulations, changing the word “character” wherever it was found. 

Under the revisions, where “character” has been removed, words such as “qualities” or phrases like “culture and history” are substituted as needed.

The P&Z had voted in January 2022 to make the change, as required, Lebowitz noted.

Technically, the panel on Monday was reviewing text amendment 813, “to replace or remove ‘character’ throughout the Westport zoning and subdivision regulations where it is not accompanied by clear and explicit physical standards, while staying as close to the original meaning and intent of the regulations as possible.”

That amendment, with all the language changes reflected throughout the regulations, can be read here.

Monday’s discussion was basically a rehash of that earlier conversation, Lebowitz said. 

And the result was the same. 

As before, the commissioners voted in favor of removing “character” from the regulations, except for Tesler and Zucaro, who voted against. 

The modified regulations go into effect in 30 days, according to Planning and Zoning Director Mary Young.

Freelance writer Gretchen Webster, a Fairfield County journalist and journalism teacher for many years, was editor of the Fairfield Minuteman newspaper for 10 years and teaches journalism at Southern Connecticut State University.