By Thane Grauel
WESTPORT — Some big changes might be in store behind a corner of upper Main Street.
Landtech and Scott Maronna have requested a pre-application hearing with the Planning and Zoning Commission to discuss an “indoor recreational facility” at 345 Main St.
That’s behind the row of businesses that houses Coffee An’, Merritt Country Store, Outpost Pizza and Cloud Nine Consignments.
A pre-application hearing is an opportunity for a potential applicant to get feedback on a plan without a formal vote by the commission. The discussion is non-binding, and can save the applicant time and money. And maybe the commission some bother as well.
In this case, the small shopping plaza began life about 1940 as an automobile service center. Additions and other businesses followed.
The rear of the property isn’t much to behold. Bordered by a leg of the Saugatuck River, there’s an electrical substation that Connecticut Light and Power plunked down more than half a century ago.
And there’s a cinder-block structure that’s been used for storage. Around it the property is punctuated with trailered boats.
That storage structure would be razed, according to documents filed with the town, and replaced by an 8,000-square-foot “indoor recreational facility.”
“The applicant is proposing a commercial indoor recreational facility and associated uses for rentals, lessons, and camps and are carried for profit,” Landtech wrote to the Planning and Zoning Department.
A staff memo said the area envisioned for the recreational center is mostly located in residential zones.
“Redevelopment of Split Zoned Properties, currently does not contain language to support commercial recreational facilities located on split zoned properties,” the report states.
“A text amendment may be warranted,” the report said.
The discussion is not yet slated on a P&Z agenda.
Thane Grauel, executive editor, grew up in Westport and has been a journalist in Fairfield County and beyond for 35 years. Reach him at editor@westportjournal.com. Learn more about us here.
Rather than “a leg of the Saugatuck River”, I think it might be more accurate to describe that strange, languid, walled watercourse as the former tail race for Lees Mill (up on Richmondville)- which produced ribbon, twine and assorted other cotton products starting in the early 19th century. At some point, the monster turbine that drove the mill was replaced by alternate power and so the once roaring tail race fell silent. As an aside, some longtime residents remember how the tail race used to regularly turn different colors of the rainbow during the day as the mill discharged waste water from its Dye House – which was conveniently located beside the race.