Town Settles Dispute; 157 Housing Units Coming to Hiawatha Lane Neighborhood

Artistic rendering of the courtyard between the three buildings. The Monroe Partnership architects. 

Last night with a 5-0 vote in the affirmative, the Town of Westport settled a decades long dispute - confirming that a 157 unit housing complex will be built in the Saugatuck neighborhood of Westport in the Hiawatha Lane, Davenport Avenue area. The 8.8 acre property will rest on the Norwalk town line, with three buildings - one of which will be a maximum of four stories tall, according to the Planning & Zoning Committee paperwork. 

The dispute between the Town of Westport and Summit Saugatuck, LLC has faced several waves of public outcry and legal battles. The property developers claimed Westport was discriminating against them and low income residents after the Town declined original applications for the development - in which 30% of the units must be made affordable housing. The applicant is currently challenging the Town of Westport’s multiple denials of the project in various courts, including the Connecticut Supreme Court, and has also filed a legal challenge to overturn the 2019 Moratorium awarded to Westport by the Department of Housing. The legal settlement approved last night is contingent on the withdrawal of all related litigation. 

Neighbors worry about traffic and the overall destruction of the historic neighborhood, where many of the community’s immigrants settled upon their arrival to Westport - as well as the many residents who were displaced from their original homes when the Interstate 95 was constructed through Saugatuck. These are not factors the courts will consider when evaluating appeals of 8-30g applications. 

The applicant and his allies argue this is opportunity to allow more affordable housing in the community during a time when rent has soared in the pandemic market, as well as for land owners to have the freedom to use their land in cooperation as permitted by State law. 

Regardless of the decision - the vote ended a long chapter in the Westport housing development book, and began a new one that will tell the story of the new Hiawatha Lane neighborhood and the ongoing changes to the Westport community.