Westport group appeals Saugatuck development, stalling project
WESTPORT — A group of residents opposed to an affordable housing project on Hiawatha Lane has filed an appeal about the project’s approval, halting the project for now.
Save Old Saugatuck, a group of residents that has opposed a proposed development in their neighborhood for about 20 years, recently raised $24,000 to cover legal fees to appeal a court decision that allowed the project to continue.
Houses have already been demolished in the area to make room for the development, which would include 157 apartments.
“It felt surprising and it felt gratifying at the same time,” said Carolanne Curry, a spokesperson for Save Old Saugatuck.
The project, called The Village, is a scaled down version of the original proposal. The town approved the new design in 2021 as part of a settlement. It is also mentioned in the town’s 2022-2027 Affordable Housing Plan adopted by the Planning and Zoning Commission in June.
Residents of the neighborhood filed a civil action lawsuit in 2021, after the town’s settlement. Residents argue the project goes against the single-family house restriction there, will create flooding issues, increase traffic, limit on-street parking and harm property values.
Attorney Tim Hollister, who is representing Felix Charney of Summit Development, said they are about to file their appellate court brief.
Peter Romano, a principal at LandTech, the civil engineering firm for the project, has said the Village will provide “muchneeded affordable housing” to the community.
In July, residents appealed a judge’s decision to allow the project to continue and raised the money needed to keep the effort going in court at the end of last year.
“For many months our attorney, Joel Green, has been preparing significant legal steps to appeal the recent court ruling and he has prevailed in submitting a formal filing with a 170-page plaintiff’s brief taking our case from the CT State Superior Court to the CT State Appellate Court,” Curry said in an update from Save Old Saugatuck.
Curry said a majority of funding came from residents of the neighborhood, though people across Westport also contributed. Some even donated as much as $5,000, which she said was “wonderful.”
She added that some people whom she hadn’t talked to in about 10 years contributed, asking if she was “still at it.”
The next step is to raise about $7,000 more for legal fees, ideally by the end of February, Curry said. They started fundraising on Tuesday.
She said, according to Green, the decision could come as soon as the spring, but could take up to a year and a half with delays.
“Oh, God, I’m so happy,” Curry said.