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WESTPORT — Zoning officials voted to reconfigure a downtown parking lot on Monday, despite fierce opposition from local merchants.
In a 4-3 vote, the Planning and Zoning Commission approved the fourth iteration of the Parker Harding Plaza lot redesign, which would reduce the current 214 all-day parking spaces to 174 three-hour spaces in order to build a boardwalk along the nearby Saugatuck River, improve customer turnover and bring the lot into compliance with federal, state and local standards.
To make up for the loss in parking and compromise with frustrated merchants, the town agreed to add 44 spaces to the Jesup Green lot, which sits parallel to Parker Harding across Route 1.
Kicking off what would be a contentious six-hour meeting, First Selectwoman Jennifer Tooker pleaded with the commission to advance the project, which she has been working on since her 2021 election.
“One of the first appropriations I requested was funding for the design specifications for Parker Harding so we could make progress on downtown immediately. And that was two years ago,” Tooker said. “Here we are two years later, at least three or four versions later, incorporating lots and lots of feedback after dozens of public meetings and thousands of public comments.”
Previous versions of the reconfiguration, which suggested removing a busy cut-through road and up to 50 parking spaces, were staunchly opposed by business owners and residents. Tooker argued that there’s no reason to delay the project further, as the latest proposal preserves existing parking spaces and the road, and addresses the “hazardous, noncompliant” lot.
Several business owners, officials and residents, however, were unwilling to support the plan because it reduced parking options for hundreds of downtown employees.
Competing priorities
As downtown business began to boom post-pandemic, town officials claimed there wasn’t enough room to accommodate both employees and customers in the Parker Harding lot. According to Public Works Director Peter Ratkiewich, the lot is nearly full with employee vehicles by 10 a.m., discouraging patrons from visiting nearby shops like Lululemon, Rye Ridge Deli and J.Crew.
But Gina Porcello, co-owner of downtown coffee shop GG & Joe, argued on Monday that it’s very difficult for businesses to attract employees right now. The new plan, she said, would only make it harder to recruit and retain workers.
Although this plan proposes 44 new spaces in front of the Westport Library, she said there’s no guarantee that employees will have consistent access to those spaces. Employees also cannot use the remaining spaces in the Parker Harding lot due to the three-hour time limit, Porcello added.
“That’s about 500 employees that will not be able to find parking. There’s been no solution to that,” she said.
Like Porcello, owners and employees of downtown restaurant Nômade Westport, boutique Catherine H., chocolate shop Chocolatierre, and boutique Unsubscribed emphasized the need for ensured employee parking.
As a key property in Westport’s downtown revitalization plan — which looks to attract visitors by improving the boardwalk, adding parks and upping handicap accessibility — the town has maintained that any changes to Parker Harding must also bring the lot into compliance with current Americans with Disabilities Act standards and state fire code.
Along with widening the boardwalk, Ratkiewich told commissioners that the lot is prone to accidents because 177 of the current spaces are too small, and the one-way loop is too tight. He said the lot also needs four more handicap-accessible spaces to comply with ADA regulations and additional space to accommodate trucks in case of emergency.
Ratkiewich’s plan would allow for two-way traffic, widen the travel lanes, add handicap-accessible spaces and create crosswalks reaching across the lot to the boardwalk.
But commissioner Neil Cohn — one of three members who voted to reject the plan — argued that the lot’s current design is more functional than the proposed changes. The angled, staggered spaces and a one-way loop, he said, result in fewer collisions than there would be with larger, parallel spaces.
Cohn also said it’s unclear what’s driving the changes, claiming that the town merely needs to incorporate the four handicap-accessible spaces to bring the lot into compliance. He insisted that the town create a more holistic plan that preserves green space and helps local merchants.
“I believe this is one of the more meaningful votes that we’re going to have,” Cohn said. “I think Westport is thriving. Let’s not break it.”
Several key investors in downtown Westport, however, support the new plan.
David Waldman, a real estate investor whose firm owns more than $122 million in downtown properties, said he is “100% in favor” of the final iteration, noting the 44 additional Jesup Green spaces are a fair tradeoff.
Unless the town builds a multistory parking garage, Waldman said, the lots will never be able to accommodate the more than 800 town employees at one time. He argued that the plan offers a “zero loss” compromise that takes merchants’ concerns into consideration.
“We’re going to be taking 40 spaces and getting 40 spaces back,” Waldman said. “Whether they’re behind Jesup Green or in Parker Harding Plaza or in the Baldwin lot, it doesn’t make a difference. It only matters that those spaces are fully accessible, fully available, and that the merchants and the customers have the opportunity to utilize those spaces.”
Roger Leifer, whose real estate firm owns more than $13 million in downtown properties, similarly supported the plan and said merchants should be willing to “somewhat inconvenience” their employees to prioritize customers.
Alternate commission member Nicole Laskin, however, cautioned against prioritizing a couple of investors over small business owners.
“We aren’t listening to them. We aren’t listening to the public. We are listening to a select few,” Laskin said. “This flies in the face of everything that we do. This is appalling to me.”
A conditional approval
Following the initial improvements to Parker Harding and the creation of new spaces at Jesup Green, Ratkiewich explained, the town intends to implement two additional phases. In the second phase, the town plans to compensate for the green space lost during the first phase by converting a section of the pavement in the southern part of the lot into grass, adding 850 square feet of parkland. Should the town proceed with the current proposal to relocate the nearby police station, a third phase would involve creating even more green space.
Chair Paul Lebowitz — the sole Democrat who supported the plan — criticized the town’s planning process as “awful.” However, he expressed a willingness to advance the improvements, provided he could attach numerous conditions to the proposal.
In the 4-3 approval of the coastal site management plans for Parker Harding and Jesup Green, the commission voted to require the town to fulfill two conditions: By the end of phase two, it must restore a minimum of 40 spaces lost at Parker Harding and create more green space than currently available.
The commission also voted 4-3 to recommended that the town works with the state Department of Transportation to improve pedestrian safety for people walking across Route 1 to get between parking lots; makes maximum efforts to remove snow and considers long-term parking solutions like a parking garage; reduces crosswalks in exchange for additional Parker Harding parking; and requires parking stickers for employees.
“This is about as close as you’re ever going to get to a plan that is truly balanced,” commission member John Bolton said.
The Representative Town Meeting is scheduled to vote on Tuesday on a request by Ratkiewich to allocate $630,000 from the American Rescue Plan Act funds for the design and permitting of the Jesup Green redevelopment.