PJ Romano Field House on Planning and Zoning Commission Docket; 50 Year Lease Explored

Westport Planning & Zoning Department:

Planning and Zoning Director Mary Young announced that on May 23, 2022, at 7:00 PM, the Planning and Zoning Commission will be reviewing a lease between the Town of Westport and the Westport Police Athletic League (PAL), for the PJ Romano Field House at the Doubleday Field Complex located at the Saugatuck Elementary School, together with the lawns, driveway and walkways surrounding the Field House at 170 Riverside Ave.  All application materials may be viewed on the Town’s website here.

PAL has leased the Field House from the Board of Education (BOE) for over 50 years for use with its athletic programs. The lease expired in Nov. 2021. The BOE on March 21, 2022, relinquished control of the Field House back to the Town effective July 1, 2022. As the BOE is not using it for educational purposes, they extended the lease to PAL to that date.  The proposed lease is twenty-years (20 years) in duration starting July 1, 2022, and ending  June 31, 2042, with two (2) five (5) year options to renew.

Mary Young described, “The Planning and Zoning Commission recently revised their Municipal Improvement Procedures, to expand notification by mail as evidenced by a certificate of mailing to residents located within a 250’ radius of the subject property, to also require a Press Release be prepared prior to any meeting involving acquisition, sale, lease, or substantial improvements to Town-owned property, to expand notice to all residents of the opportunity to participate at an upcoming public meeting involving Town-owned property”

The May 23, 2022, Planning and Zoning Commission meeting will be held virtually via Zoom, will be live streamed on the Town’s website at www.westportct.gov, and accessible on Optimum Government Access Channel 79 and Frontier Channel 6020.  Comments can be sent prior to the meeting at PandZ@westportct.gov and interested parties may join the meeting virtually or call in to offer testimony during the meeting. To access the Planning and Zoning Commission’s meeting use this Zoom link.