A public commission created last year to help coordinate the evolution of Westport”™s town center was set to begin meeting last week with three planning firms being considered for the drafting of a downtown master plan.
The Downtown 2020 Committee is hoping for a master plan to guide what its chairman described as a somewhat disjointed collection of developments that are either planned for the downtown or are already under way.
“The worst thing that you can have happen is all these projects occurring at the same time without a lot of overall operational planning,” said Chairman Louis Gagliano, a consultant in the medical device field who has lived in Westport for nearly 30 years.
Those projects referenced by Gagliano include: the construction of a retail, housing and office development known as Bedford Square on Church Lane; the construction of a senior living facility on a town-owned property known as Baron”™s South; a renovation of the Westport Public Library; the relocation of the Westport Arts Center to Jesup Green; the construction of a new movie theater; and the construction of a new Levitt Pavilion for the Performing Arts along the Saugatuck River.
“Balanced growth while preserving the character of the downtown is essential,” Gagliano said. He said he hopes an eventual master plan would address questions like “What does good economic development mean? … and what are the implications of those additions on the kind of superstructure you have in the downtown area? And is that really what the community wants?”
In addition to balancing any desires for preservation against the drive for development, the finalists must also incorporate a plan for how to protect against flooding, with the downtown split by the Saugatuck.
The committee was scheduled to meet with Peter J. Smith & Co. Inc. of Buffalo, N.Y., July 22; RBA Group, which has an office in Norwalk, July 24; and Milone & MacBroom Inc. of Cheshire July 31.
First Selectman Gordon Joseloff formed the Downtown 2020 Committee in March 2012, and in the intervening time it has held about 46 public meetings and an additional 34 meetings with community groups to gauge the needs of the town center. It issued a request for proposals in March and selected the three finalists from seven submissions.
Gagliano said the committee members, in an effort to prove there would be community support for a downtown master plan, secured $65,000 in private commitments to help fund the study. The three proposals range in cost from $168,945 to $185,000, leaving a good chunk of funding that would still need to be approved by the town Board of Finance.
Joseloff said the committee has his support, but that it remains to be seen how town officials and residents will react to the plans.
“I think we”™re all rowing in the same direction and we want good planning for the downtown,” Joseloff said. “It”™s important to have these consultants come in and have their presentations, so people will have a better understanding of what they can offer in terms of formulating a master plan.”
If a consultant is chosen and the town moves forward with a master plan for the downtown, it is not guaranteed that the privately raised funds would be accepted, Joseloff said. Even if the funds are accepted, Joseloff said language would be included in any eventual contract that would ensure the town government would be in charge of the process in concert with the Planning and Zoning Commission.
While there was initially some difference in opinions between the Downtown 2020 Committee and the planning commission, any lingering issues were seemingly put to rest after the planning commission passed a May 30 resolution stating it “supports the process of the 2020 Downtown Committee and urges other elected bodies and individuals and town agencies to support the joint process as well.”
