RTM greenlights ARPA funds for downtown parking, but not Jesup Green
WESTPORT — In the latest step in the downtown parking saga, American Rescue Plan Act funds will be used to design Jesup Green, the Imperial Lot and police station land, as well as explore a parking structure around the Post Road, but will not be used to design parking on any portion of the green.
This com es as a co mplaint for a lawsuit was filed about Parker Harding Plaza.
The conversation began at Tuesday's Representative Town Meeting and was supposed to end there. However, when the RTM voted for an a mended resolution for the use of ARPA funds, there was a misstep in the procedures the legislative body uses for its meetings, Robert's Rules of Order, that allowed the conversation to open again on Wednesday night.
“Ensuring downtown is a destination is a stated priority, and quite frankly, it's a priority for all Westporters,” First Selectwoman Jennifer Tooker said Tuesday night.
There has been a lot of debate in town over whether Jesup Green's space should be reduced, with a few trees removed, to make room for parking. Parker Harding Plaza will be redesigned to comply with the American with Disabilities Act and the fire code and to make the spaces standard size, which will result in less parking there.
To make up for the lost parking spaces, a proposal has gone through town boards about adding more parking to Jesup Green, including an approval from the Planning and Zoning Commission that stipulated there would be more green space added and no parking lost by the end of the project.
Meanwhile, a complaint dated May 6 has also been filed to the town Planning and Zoning Commission from the owners of downtown businesses Nomade, Honeydo Family and Connecticut and Elixir Spa, appealing the commission's decision to redesign Parker Harding.
“The defendant commission's decisions were illegal, unlawful, arbitrary and capricious and in abuse of the powers vested in the defendant commission pursuant to the zoning regulations, the Connecticut General
Statutes and the common law of the State of Connecticut,” the complaint said.
One of the reasons included a lack of parking for patrons of stores and other businesses, claiming a reduction in revenue for them, it said.
Tooker clarified on Tuesday that this does not mean that paving would immediately begin. The funds are to be used to create a design plan, which would also need approval before construction could start.
“It's not an optional phase,” she said about the design plan.
The design for Parker Harding is already complete and set for construction, so the administration now wants to focus on the other side of Post Road, Director of Public Works Pete Ratkiewich said.
The $630,000 ARPA fund request includes a survey of the Jesup and Imperial Lot areas, a geotechnical investigation, environmental permitting and designs.
On both nights, multiple members of the RTM and the public expressed disdain for the potential of paving over some of Jesup Green, with only a few speaking in favor of it.
On Wednesday, RTM District 3 Rep. Jimmy Izzo clarified that the RTM is not a land use body and can't start changing to motions in meetings.
“Our job is to make the next step,” he said.
Izzo said he would not leave until the motion was approved, and said
this was stalling the process of moving the project forward.
A few representatives and residents said the resolution should go back to the administration since the amended one was not requested by public works nor had it gone through the Board of Finance's vetting process.
Tooker suggested new wording for the resolution, where in part of the design phase, an alternative to the Planning and Zoning coastal site plan approval would be pursued for Jesup Green.
“I'm not a land use body, and the RTM is not a land use body,” Tooker said.
It was not approved, and neither were some other wordings.
By the end of the discussion, the wording was “the sum of $630,000 from the American Rescue Plan Act fund for the design of Jesup Green, the Imperial lot, the police station and exploration of a green parking structure north or south of the Post Road is hereby appropriated, provided, however, that no portion of the fund shall be used to design parking on any portion of Jesup Green.”
The final vote was 23-10.
In an interview, Finance Director Gary Conrad said he is recommending the appropriation be brought back to the Board of Finance for further approval because it was determined that money would not be spent on Jesup. He said he believes it cannot be changed as a supplemental project without BOF approval.