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WESTPORT — Baron’s South property could soon offer all affordable housing, but any action on that front may come through a special permit requirement rather than a text amendment for the property.
“Life at Baron’s South, if this takes momentum, should not really look different,” Planning and Zoning Director Mary Young said.
The property — formerly the luxurious home of a perfumer — is currently abandoned and deteriorating. Young said the only change on the property, besides the interiors, could be parking. But Young proposed having a special permit use on this property rather than doing a text amendment to simplify the process.
Planning and Zoning Commission Chair Danielle Dobin said it may be best to go this route, and will review it moving forward.
Deputy Planning and Zoning Director Michelle Perillie said the purpose of this project is to preserve and “adaptively reuse” the historic buildings on the property and increase affordable housing in town.
Perillie said the five buildings would have up to eight units that would likely each be 1,000 to 1,600 square feet.
It has not yet been determined how many bedrooms will be included in each unit at this property, as that comes after the text amendment is completed.
However, Dobin said they may want to remove the unit size regulations because of buildings are older. She added this would make it more flexible in case the town wants to collaborate with a group like the Department of Housing to look at what makes the most sense for the property.
Any new builds on the property must be setback 30 feet in the front and 25 feet on the sides and back. Housing is only planned for the exisitng residential structures, so any new builds would be for recreation, maintenance or storage facilities and off-street parking.
Dobin said this language also needs to be adjusted to ensure there aren’t new large buildings there claiming to be accessory units.
The text amendment also allows an additional four feet in height to the buildings for mechanical units and other similar items. New buildings can be up to two stories and 26 feet tall. The amendment defines the architectural design and says the design of the buildings must be compatible with the surrounding neighborhood.
To be eligible for housing in these completely affordable units, families cannot make more than 80 percent of the state median income, Perillie said.
Dobin said she also wants to see dark sky compliance added in the text amendment for these buildings, which is another regulation the Planning and Zoning Commission is working on regarding lighting of commercial buildings.
“This is truly a good way of increasing our affordable housing stock,” said commission member Paul Lebowitz.
Lebowitz said it is unclear though how much of a building has to be saved in order to call it adaptive, asking what happens if they only keep the front façade of a building, knock down and completely change the rest.
Dobin said the idea is to preserve the footprint, structure and walls, but language should be added to make it clear.
Lebowitz and Mathew Mandell, Representative Town Meeting District 1 member, both said 1,000-square-foot apartments might be a bit large.
Resident John Suggs said he has participated on past efforts to reuse the property, and some of the issues then regarded the fire department’s access and the cost to get the buildings so they can reuse them is expensive.
Suggs said the fire department has said a new access road would be needed for the area, which can take down some trees in the area.
“This opens the door, with a new rezone, for the McMansions,” he said.
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