HowtwoWestport mansions became affordable housing options

Aug. 1—Planning and Zoning Commission Chair Danielle Dobin said she has not heard of other towns turning mansions into affordable housing. However, towns like New Canaan and Norwalk have used them as part of a park or event space.

"I think it's a powerful statement about what we think affordable housing can look like in a town like Westport," she said, adding they suggested the plan because it will be a way to add needed affordable housing in unused town buildings. It's also near downtown and will preserve public space.

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The Baron's South property was the former estate of Baron Walter Langeer von Langendorff, a perfumer who immigrated to the U.S. during World War II. He and his wife, Evelyn Diane Westall, founded Evyan perfumes. One of their most popular fragrances was Golden Shadows, which was also the official name of their house, one of the mansions that still sits on the property.

He died in 1983. The town eventually acquired the property in 1999 for $7 million. Though the estate features 22 acres with walking trails and picnic tables, the mansion itself is not open to the public and has sat vacant for years and is deteriorating.

Dobin said the last attempt to create housing on the property was in 2015. The plan called for building 165 units of all-senior housing, 25 of which were affordable, on site. Then First Selectman Jim Marpe backed the plan.

However, that year the then-Planning and Zoning Commission voted to rezone the property into passive open space, which did not allow the housing application to move forward.

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Dobin said residents petitioned the Representative Town Meeting to overturn the zone change. Though it received a fair amount of votes to do so, it did not meet the required two-thirds threshold to overturn.

The Planning and Zoning Commission is considering a text amendment that would allow multi-family housing to go there.

There was another attempt in 2014 for a similar senior housing development, but the text amendment didn't pass, Dobin said.

Dobin said after she joined the commission around 2016, they began working together to adopt a five-year affordable housing plan. She said they wanted to take advantage of the site, as it is adjacent to downtown and close to public transportation, while keeping as much open space as possible.

She said Marpe attended every affordable housing subcommittee meeting after that, and they worked together on a few different projects, but not Baron's South.

He also asked Planning and Zoning to draft the affordable housing plan, which went into effect in 2022.

There are two mansions on the property, which are called Golden Shadows and The Guesthouse. Dobin said they, and the other three buildings on site, will be reconfigured to fit apartments while maintaining the structures inside and outside. The amount of apartments has yet to be determined, though Dobin said there will be likely be more than 25 affordable units.

"Unlike the 165 units, with the 25 units that are affordable taking up all of the space, here, we're retaining 100 percent of the open space, basically, and I think that we're going to end up with even more affordable units," Dobin said.

She added these units will also be available for individuals, couples, families, not just the elderly.

"I think a plan that maximizes affordability, maximizes historic preservation and maximizes retaining open space is just a totally different approach than what has been proposed in the past," Dobin said.

Dobin said Parks and Recreation has a plan to restore the path at the Baron's South property, but there hasn't been much progress. Currently, the paths are overgrown with weeds and aren't usable.

She added she believes restoring the buildings will drive investment within the rest of the park.

About two weeks ago, Dobin and First Selectwoman Jennifer Tooker discussed using Baron's South as an affordable housing development, which was presented to the public last week.

Dobin said Planning and Zoning can rezone the property without the Board of Selectwomen's permission or involvement, but she wanted to have Tooker involved because "there's no point to doing it if we're not, as a community, addressing this together."

Tooker kicked off the conversation to present it to the public last week, too.

"The success will only come if a lot of different parts of town municipal government work together," Dobin said.

She added the Board of Selectwomen will have to get a developer and funding for the project, and Parks and Recreation will have to be involved in restoring the surrounding park on the property.

Dobin said another subcommittee meeting will be announced soon for September where they will look at the specific text amendment to be adopted, and it will most likely go before the entire commission in October.