
save old saugatuck We're a Community, Not a Commodity.
We're dedicated to preserving the safety and stability of the Historic Saugatuck Neighborhood of Westport, CT.
(203) 227-3573
We're dedicated to preserving the safety and stability of the Historic Saugatuck Neighborhood of Westport, CT.
(203) 227-3573
Help Save the Historic Old Saugatuck Community of Westport, CT.
Your contribution today helps to make a difference.
Sign up for our email list for news and updates on Save Old Saugatuck's status
"Westport Journal" article (https://is.gd/W8MGjv) As Westport’s four-year moratorium to the state’s affordable housing law, widely known by its statutory number, 8-30g, expires next month, a “community conversation” about its impact is planned Feb. 27, 7:00 PM, at the Westport Library. Panelists will be: state Rep. Jonathan Steinberg, D-Westport; Town Attorney Ira Bloom; Planning and Zoning Commission Chairwoman Danielle Dobin, and Evonne Klien, chief executive officer of the Connecticut Center to End Homelessness. The program, organized by the Representative Town Meeting, will be moderated by RTM Moderator Jeff Wieser.
"CT Insider" article (https://is.gd/glYrWU) on Save Old Saugatuck's appeal taking our case from the CT State Superior Court to the CT State Appellate Court. Attorney Green will have the opportunity to present the compelling reasons that legally support retaining a single family neighborhood on Hiawatha Lane Extension and simultaneously would protect every other home in our community of Old Saugatuck. This initial appeal is just the first step in the appeal process... and we will continue to take this as far as possible. We have come so far with your support.
Thank you Dan Woog for your coverage of our efforts to Save The Old Saugatuck community.
"Summit Saugatuck — the 187-unit development on Hiawatha Lane Extension, near I-95 Exit 17 — has plowed ahead.
Last summer, what seemed to be the final steps for construction occurred. The last tenants left their homes, and heavy equipment moved in.
For 2 decades, neighbors have fought the proposal. Yesterday, after countless setbacks, Carolanne Curry — one of the most dogged opponents — sent this message..."
Read the article on Dan's blog "06880" HERE.
Jan 28, 2023.
The good news… is truly good news.
For 20 years we’ve been living with the bad news; the disrupting presence of developer Felix Charney wrecking havoc and and uncertainty in our lives… but today there is good news for all of us who want to Save Old Saugatuck.
For many months our attorney, Joel Green, has been preparing significant legal steps to appeal the recent court ruling and he has prevailed in submitting a formal filing with a 170-page plaintiff’s brief taking our case from the CT State Superior Court to the CT State Appellate Court. This was no easy task as Charney’s attorney, Tim Hollister, created many delays and presented misinformation and intimidations.
Once an appeal has been filed, no property development should progress until the appeal has been settled. Over the next several months Attorney Green will have the opportunity to present the compelling reasons that legally support retaining a single family neighborhood on Hiawatha Lane Extension and simultaneously would protect every other home in our community of Old Saugatuck. (To read online or download a PDF file of the entire brief, click HERE.)
This initial appeal is just the first step in the appeal process... and we will continue to take this as far as possible.
We will keep you updated.
We have come so far with your support.
2023! A new year is beginning and our hearts are overwhelmed with gratitude for each of you who offered your encouragement, support, and contributions to help keep alive our 20+ year long effort to preserve the integrity of this neighborhood we all so dearly love.
It is because of you we are able to continue with legal counsel and file the paperwork with the court to continue on with our precedent setting litigation.
Saugatuck is an intimate, friendly, diverse, wonderful community and we are devoted to doing what we can to help preserve that.
We wish you all a healthy, bright, happy new year... full of good news and good neighbors!
With appreciation and thanks.
Residents opposing an affordable housing project on Hiawatha Lane are seeking more than $23,000 ahead of the project's next court appearance this week to allow the legal challenge to continue.
CT Post article HERE.
This is literally an emergency SOS moment.
I received a note from our excellent Attorney Joel Green, who states he cannot move forward with the Appellant Court brief due on December 15 with the present outstanding balance.
Attorney Green’s note to us says: “Respectfully, if there is not enough interest in this cause to fund it (any further), we will agree to withdraw the appeal or move to withdraw our appearance. Otherwise, the balance needs to be paid immediately…and arrangement to pay anticipated fees going forward. We are willing to work with you, but we all have to share the burden and be in this together…”
The current balance is $23,129.89
I’ve been hoping contributions would filter in… I know times are tight, and it’s the holiday season… but sadly our deadline is here now and I’m left with no other choice but to reach out. It now has become a measure of funding that will determine whether or not we are able to go forward in our effort to succeed in SAVING OLD SAUGATUCK.
And so, we ask for you, dear reader, to please contribute whatever you can to help SAVE OLD SAUGATUCK. Many individuals have been there for this community, with encouragement, support, and financial funding. I am grateful. And I wish that would have gotten us to the finish line… but the reality is, this process takes time, and money… And what happens here will effect this entire community forever… I believe that alone is worth the effort and expense, but I need your help to ensure a just and right outcome for everyone in our neighborhood.
Some twenty years ago we first learned about Felix Charney, a developer who had a grandiose vision of taking over ALL of the eight-street, 64-home historic community of low to moderate priced single-family homes that comprised the neighborhood of Old Saugatuck, the most affordable residential neighborhood in Westport. His three-part project focuses first on destroying the 20 houses on Hiawatha Lane Extension, and then the plan continues on in two other stages to include the entire neighborhood.
In 2021, we saw the Town of Westport bullied into discarding its 18 years of support of our neighborhood - support that might have stoped or contained the out-of-proportion and destructive plans of Felix Charney.
The Town used the expression “We arrived at a settlement with the developer”, basically approving everything that was wrong with this project. They made our neighborhood a scapegoat and abandoned our community.
Having exhausted all of the P & Z avenues, and out of desperation to save my home, and our neighborhood - a Hell of a good case - we made the decision in July 2021 to engage the help of an attorney. We’ve been able to hang on for the last 17 months… and truly believe we have a solid last chance with this appeal. I only hope it is not too late.
Please help.
I am asking you to please call or text me (203-227-3573)
AUGUST 8 2022
The familiar awareness that “material wealth” for many means their automatic claim to intelligence, while at the same time they do not necessarily accept that the individuals who are “struggling from payday to payday” posses an equal claim to intelligence.
This assumption was quite apparent this past Saturday, August 6th, when a new set of faces from Summit Saugatuck LLC, met with residents to discuss “construction plans” for the 157 apartment units proposed to go up in their backyard.
Summit shouldn’t have been surprised at the reception from the residents; they shouldn’t have been so condescending, and they shouldn’t have insulted the genuine collective intelligence of the residents with dismissive remarks and telling everyone that the project is going forward.
How’s that for a new definition of "working together"?
Check out this Westport Journal article covering the event HERE.
In the meantime, we continue with our legal efforts to amend and/or hault this out-of proportion monstrosity, and as always, we appreciate your support.
Our neighborhood is a community - not a commodity!
Your continued support is appreciated. Contribute online via PayPal, debit or credit card HERE, or send a check to the address, shown at the bottom of this page.
Phase one (Map A) of the total plan is shown by the yellow spaces. Phase two of the total plan is shown by the blue spaces. Phase 3 is shown by the white spaces, which indicates the final phase of replace and rebuild Old Saugatuck. That adds up to 100% “redevelopment” for all of the entire Old Saugatuck community of homes.
See the rough outline drawn of Charney’s three phases of proposed development to replace and rebuild Old Saugatuck. Note village 1 (Same as yellow in Map A), village 2 (Same as blue in Map A), and village 3 (Same as white in Map A).
Where do you live?
Finally, view Illustration C, provided by the developer and which serves as confirmation and affirmation of how Felix Charney intends to completely restructure and redefined Old Saugatuck into a collection of high-end market units sited on a piece of vulnerable land, filled with wetlands, watercourses, flooding and conservation easements.
Our resistance continues ~ Save Old Saugatuck was formed in 2003 to stop Felix Charney, of Summit Saugatuck LLC, from destroying an historic Westport, CT neighborhood. His development plans will encompass every one of these streets: Ferry Lane West, Hiawatha Lane, Indian Hill Road, Davenport Ave., Heritage Court, Dr. Gillette Circle, Hiawatha Lane Extension, and West End Avenue.
Charney is trying to convince the Westport Conservation Commission that land on Hiawatha Lane Extension is suitable for 187 units of rental housing, and that there is no problem with water, existing wetlands and watercourses in this area, when in fact, it is totally unsuitable for any plan that calls for a combined total of five, three, and four-story buildings.
This area has long been recognized as an area of wetlands, that is frequently saturated with water, and historically has severely limited building permitted.
We are encouraging friends, neighbors and concerned citizens to please share pictures of the flooding that already steadily occurs with the overflow of waterways going through the Hiawatha Lane Extension area.... or any other items you feel relevant... and all are invited to share their present stories and remembrances of this area when it was considered “swampland.
If you have any questions or want to know how you can lend further support or help, please don’t hesitate to contact me. Let’s achieve one more victory for ourselves in our 15-year fight to Save Old Saugatuck.
Carolanne Curry
CONTRIBUTIONS APPRECIATED
Click on the PayPal "CONTRIBUTE NOW" button below. PayPal, debit, and credit cards accepted - or - Please make checks payable to:
Save Old Saugatuck
29 Hiawatha Lane Extension,
Westport, CT. 06880
203-227-3573
FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/Stopcharney/
Sign up for my email list for news and updates on Save Old Saugatuck's status, please click HERE.
Help Save the Historic Saugatuck Community of Westport, CT.
Your contribution today helps to make a difference.