Corwin Calls for Clarity in RTM Review Process

Planning and Zoning Commission Chairman Ron Corwin said Thursday he is worried about how recent decisions might affect Westport's future.

In an anomalous discussion at the start of the P&Z's regular meeting, commissioners took a few minutes to talk about the decision of the Representative Town Meeting to overturn a controversial zoning amendment the P&Z approved in December.

The amendment would have allowed businesses in the town's Historic Design District Zone — located at Post Road West and Wilton Road — to install offices on the ground floor. After meeting for nearly five hours Wednesday and into early Thursday morning, the RTM voted 26 to 7 to have the zoning for the HDD revert to its previous form.

While Corwin said he believes the end result for the HDD zone will possibly lead to a more positive and superior outcome than what could have resulted had the P&Z decision been sustained, he also said the process of the RTM meeting about overturning the decision was "troublesome." 

Commissioners said they were "shocked" and "stunned" by some of the questions raised at the RTM meeting that showed a "lack of understanding" of the town's zoning regulations.

Some RTM members Wednesday night said they believed the P&Z Commission was not thorough enough in evaluating the proposed zoning amendment before approving it.

But unless the RTM determined the commission did something illegal by the town's charter, RTM member Dick Lowenstein, whose wife Eleanor serves on the commission, argued the P&Z's decision "should be sustained." 

At Thursday's P&Z meeting, Corwin said it was unclear how the RTM should review the text amendment change — as an appellate review, to check for completeness or procedural errors or to open up a brand new hearing.

"If it is the latter, in my view, it questions the ability of the P&Z to modify the regulations," Corwin said. " ... So in my view, what we really have is a process that is undefined, unclear, of which there are no guidelines, no standards no boundaries that are articulated, and, I personally think ... that this is a denial of due process. It was, on reflection, a very worrisome and troubling experience."

Corwin challenged the commission to think about ways to address the issue that would clarify the rules and regulations of overturning a decision and the procedures and processes involved in such a case.

"I would like the commission to examine how we should proceed, if at all, to clarify this process which I think, arguably, was a process last night run amok," Corwin said. "Let me repeat, ... I think the outcome could be a superior result for that district. I also think it's equally conceivable that the review of the process is a very troublesome one and will reveal that what occurred last night, how it occurred, is in fact no way to run a town."

Patch reporter Harold Cobin contributed to this report.