RTM P&Z Committee:

We would like to thank you and your committee for the expeditious manner and response you have shown to our petition.

The petitioners were very concerned that the October 1 hearing before the commission was opened and closed on the same evening and inasmuch as it was a question of a “text amendment” no notice was disseminated to the neighbors and the community. A great deal of testimony took place that evening on behalf of the applicant with no opportunity for the community to either be aware of, understand it or to respond. Six weeks after the October 1 hearing the public was still unaware of the proposed amendment despite an August pre-application hearing afforded the applicants attorney, the hearing and three work sessions which clearly indicated that the Commission was poised to accept the proposed text amendment. It was at this point in mid November that our group of West Bank business owners decided to alert the public via the press of the long term and far reaching impact of this amendment on one of Westport’s most prominent and valued landmarks as well as the town plan for revitalization of downtown Westport.

We, the lead petitioners, feel it is important to respond to some of the misinformation that has been accepted and gone unchallenged. Ultimately we would like to see the action of the P & Z Commission in adopting Text Amendment HDD 601 reversed by working with your committee and the full RTM in its review.

We do understand your time constraints, however, the scheduling of this committee hearing is somewhat unfortunate in that the time and date were set in the middle of a major holiday week and the hearing is to take place only days later. It has not been possible to organize our petitioners and those who share our concerns to attend. We would certainly make every effort to do so in the event we have the opportunity to go on to a full RTM session.

With your permission, we look forward to addressing your committee on Monday evening in the following order:

CC Wong, Paula Savignol, Dina Berger and Michael Savignol.

Dina Berger, CC Wong, Paula and Michael Savignol