To the editor:
The Saugatuck Sensible Zoning statement reflects — intentionally or unintentionally — a fundamental misunderstanding of several things:
1) That while it may be true that the developer doesn’t have to build what has so far been shown, it is equally true that the developer cannot build anything other than what may be approved in the special permit process. And it almost goes without saying that the developer could not prepare a site plan until the parameters of the text amendment were known.
2) That the suggestion that 8-30g is not a real threat is naive. While an 8-30g mixed-use project would generate some affordable housing, it could also generate a boundless number of retail and office uses, which would be far more problematic than anything that might be built in accordance with the text amendment. And the threat is not just from a single 8-30g project, but from a number of unrelated, uncoordinated, unregulated proposals to develop individual properties.
3) That it is disingenuous to claim that the density allowed by the text amendment can be applied to other zones in other parts of town because the text is accompanied by a map amendment designating Saugatuck.
Larry Weisman
Westport
Some of the observations of the Sensible Zoning group may be incorrect…I say “may be incorrect”, but it doesn’t matter. Because it is really not just one or two details that are the basis of this Group formation, but the site selection itself and site plan itself which supports a concept that will visit pure hell in Saugatuck Center along with ALL the dozen or so arterial roads connecting into Saugatuck Center.