Proposed revision of parking regulations criticized

A proposed revision of parking regulations for several types of communal venues in Westport was strongly criticized by the public Thursday night at a Planning and Zoning Commission hearing on the proposal.

Text Amendment 645, proposed by Westport lawyer Larry Weisman, would create one parking standard for places of worship, auditoriums and other places of assembly. Under the new amendment, these sites would need to allocate one parking space for every three seats or one seat for every 45 square feet of floor space, whichever is greater.

The town's zoning regulations now mandate that theaters have one parking space for every three seats; auditoriums and stadiums set aside one parking space for every five seats, and places of worship use a standard established by the fire marshal based on a building's occupancy capacity.

"It actually fails on three grounds," Weisman said of the current parking standard for houses of worship. "It's an improper delegation of your authority to legislate to the fire marshal, it doesn't have a fixed standard and it leads to inconsistency of results. In addition, it treats places of worship different than all other uses, and in so doing, discriminates ... against places of worship."

While Weisman did not submit the proposal on any organization's behalf, Text Amendment 645 appears to relate to protracted efforts by one of his clients, Beit Chaverim Synagogue of Westport/Norwalk, to relocate its house of worship to a property it owns at 24 Ludlow Road.

Weisman has proposed the amendment to the P&Z as a means of making parking regulations more equitable for houses of worship ahead of Beit Chaverim's prospective application for a special permit and submission of a site plan to build a new synagogue at 24 Ludlow Road. Beit Chaverim congregants currently gather in a temporary venue at 85 Post Road West, rented from one of its members.

"We have always just been interested in seeing a clear and consistent message put forward for any designs and applications that we have been putting in," said Beit Chaverim Co-President Alan Benjamin.

The synagogue's plan to relocate to 24 Ludlow Road, however, has encountered longstanding opposition from many neighbors of the property, which is located in a residential zone near Post Road West. In 2009, Beit Chaverim gained P&Z approval to renovate and convert the property's main building into a house of worship. Now, Beit Chaverim plans to take down that house and erect a new building for a synagogue, Weisman said.

A contingent of residents who live near 24 Ludlow Road attended Thursday's meeting, with all who spoke either indicating opposition or reservations about the parking amendment.

"The suggestion within Text Amendment 645 that the Planning and Zoning Commission take on the regulation of the town's parking standards is absurd," said Ludlow Road resident Ted Bohnen. "I'm not saying that you shouldn't establish them, but are you the right body to regulate them on an ongoing basis?"

Another Ludlow Road resident, Kate Comstock Davis, expressed concerns about the possible impact on neighborhood safety by parking at the proposed synagogue.

"If someone comes and they can't park on the site, and they park on the street, a fire truck cannot get past," she said. "So many people are so distraught about that horrific fire in Stamford, and you have to take public safety seriously."

P&Z commissioners had a mixed reaction to the amendment.

"I would encourage people to not burden this interesting proposal ... with concerns about other applications, which may be coming, and concerns that may be absolutely legitimate and can be addressed, and I expect would be addressed, in future applications by this commission," said Ron Corwin.

Chip Stephens, however, expressed a more skeptical view of the proposal, advocating the town's fire marshal to continue to play an integral role in implementing parking standards for houses of worship.

"When you get to an athletic event, a congregation or anything like that, it's much more complicated," he said. "You have to depend on somebody who knows the rules and standards. We have somebody who can do that."

While the P&Z decision on the proposed amendment could influence Beit Chaverim's plans for a new house of worship, it would not affect a site plan and special permit that Weisman plans to submit by Feb. 23 for Chabad Lubavitch of Westport, another congregation that he represents.

Chabad Lubavitch is based at 79 Newtown Turnpike -- the former Three Bears Restaurant -- but was issued a notice of violation last month by the P&Z Department for relocating there approval from the commission for a site plan and a special permit. Weisman has since secured an abeyance from the town that allows Chabad to stay there on an interim basis, provided that he files the site plan and special permit application by Feb. 23.

The P&Z did not vote Thursday on Text Amendment 645. It will resume its review of the proposal at a public hearing scheduled for 7 p.m. Thursday, March 1, in the Town Hall auditorium.

pschott@bcnnew.com; 203-255-4561, ext. 118; twitter.com/paulschott