By Ken Valenti
The Spinnaker Real Estate Partners development team debuted a revised plan for part of the former Hamlet site in Saugatuck with fewer units, greater setbacks and a corner plaza.
Architect Seelan Pather, managing partner of Beinfield Architecture, presenting the changes to the Architectural Review Board (ARB) in Town Hall, said the massing of the proposed six-story building had also been simplified to better reflect Westport design aesthetic.
“We live in the area and we know it well, but you asked us to take another look, so we did take another look,” Pather said. The proposal for 606 Riverside Ave. was last discussed by the ARB on June 2, the day after it was presented to the Planning and Zoning Commission.
Six identical townhouse-inspired sections along Charles Street will be replaced with a section 145 feet long set off from sections on either side with glass sections.
ARB members praised the changes, but some wanted them to go further. Member Vesna Herman said she would prefer to see the large section along Charles Street split up.
“If there is a way to break this (up), I think it would look better, but it’s not really a make-or-break for me,” she said.
Member David Halpern called the open space “a gift to the street.”
The plaza would stretch back 50 feet from Charles Street and 30 feet from Riverside Avenue, at the corner of the development.
“What I think I’m hearing is that, in general, we support the direction the project is going, with the caveats that have been laid out by (members Herman and Jacquelyn Richardson),” Chairman Ward French said toward the end of the meeting. “They’re concerned about the size of the building along Charles Street.”
In other changes, the fifth floor set back from the fourth floor was doubled to 10 feet. The 17 units on the top floor were eliminated; the spaces would instead become loft levels of the fifth-floor units.
The original plan called for 175 residential units and 283 parking spaces. The number of units in the new plan has not been determined.
The sixth floor “pulls back another eight feet from the internal courtyard,” Pather told the board. “We gave some thought to the comment about letting the courtyard breathe a bit more. That would let more light into the courtyard.”
The Spinnaker development is planned on 1.54 of the 3.4 acres of where the Hamlet development was planned until it was rejected last year by the Planning and Zoning Commission.
The team said it would return for the ARB’s next meeting on July 28. It is also due before the Planning and Zoning Commission on July 6.
Planning and zoning… uh… is this an alternate reality?
Is this a shopping zone? Like downtown, or a residential zone like the rest of town?
No—- it’s the train zone, that’s why the parking lot is there and the cleaners.
For anyone, and I don’t blame them, The Sinner Company or whatever, they just want to make money flipping units and square feet, my question is why have they been encouraged to ply their trade there? Where we have very specific community needs.
I guess Westport has stepped on the 3rd rail of progress, where you get so hot your head explodes, god I miss our small town vibe.
This is basically the same thing as the previous people with just a slightly less obnoxious approach.
This is what happens when you have no vision or understanding of planning, what a shame. Oh well these things happen, they paid 12 million for the parking lot and now we have live with it while they try to get the their money back, damn