Westport is starting over on the document that is supposed to guide every zoning decision in town. Committees of the Representative Town Meeting voted 10-0 to approve $185,000 for BFJ Planning to write a new Plan of Conservation and Development, due in October 2027, the Westport Journal reported on Oct. 1.
Connecticut requires every town to adopt a plan of conservation and development and to update it at least every 10 years. Westport’s current plan dates to 2017.
The town’s planning and zoning director, Michelle Perillie, was candid about the thinking behind the old plan. The view of Planning and Zoning at the time, she said, “was to keep everything standstill.”
Why the timing matters
The rewrite arrives as the ground rules shift beneath it. Connecticut’s Public Act 25-1, most of which took effect Jan. 1, requires towns to adopt housing growth plans and ties future 8-30g moratoriums to compliance with them. Westport’s housing plan is due in June 2029, according to 06880. The town rewrote its zoning regulations in July to comply with the law, as our explainer describes.
The plan will also have to account for decisions already made. In September the Planning and Zoning Commission rezoned Saugatuck Center, and a 250-unit proposal is under review on Greens Farms Road.
What it means for owners
A plan of conservation and development is not a zoning map, but the Planning and Zoning Commission considers it when it changes the rules. For owners of commercial property on the Post Road, in Saugatuck and downtown, and for neighbors of those districts, the next year of public workshops is the time to be heard.
Sources
- Westport Journal, RTM committees approve $185K for conservation and development plan, Oct. 1, 2026
- 06880, State zoning bill takes effect Thursday, Dec. 30, 2025
