WESTPORT When Selectman Brian Valcourt was a teen, he worked on an ice cream truck and truck employees would be “shooed away” by town police if they parked at the town-owned East Beach.
Valcourt said not much has changed in the decades that have followed but resident Patricia Garcia is trying to reverse that trend.
Garcia and her husband, Michael, are seeking permission to park a food truck and generate business on a town-owned parcel of East Beach. That beach, a rocky one used mostly as a scenic overlook, abuts the trailer lots of seasonal residents.
This latter issue is one reason why Garcia’s proposal has been met with some resistance.
Westport selectmen to get legal counsel related to shoveling sidewalks
Jeffrey D. Wagner
WESTPORT Snow sticking to and accumulating on sidewalks has become a sticking point for selectmen.
A resident living on Sycamore Lane says people are not shoveling their sidewalks. Selectman Brian Valcourt said this is not new, but it has caused an enforcement issue residents do not own these sidewalks yet they are obligated to shovel them.
Selectmen at the Feb 16 meeting voted 5-0 to get legal counsel’s opinion on the matter. Valcourt said legal counsel should weigh in on whether selectmen should consider a regulation or a bylaw that would give the town a legal right to fine residents who do not shovel sidewalks in front of their homes.
WESTPORT The 1938 Hurricane is still having an impact on the Westport River and local authorities hope to resolve it soon.
The Hix Bridge was destroyed in that hurricane and had to be rebuilt, according to town authorities. There is now rubble sitting around that bridge and the Army Corps of Engineers has agreed to study the issue and remove the rubble.
WRWA Executive Director Deborah Weaver and Ken Perez, a former EPA scientist, met with selectmen at the Feb 16 meeting .
Weaver said the state DOT approved funding for the study and removal, but a spring deadline is looming.
“What we are looking for is an endorsement of the continued urgency of this issue and to get this project done,” Weaver said.
Jeffrey D. Wagner
WESTPORT A boat landing adjacent to Gooseberry Island last summer was stripped of its status as the only free, town-owned boat landing in town. Selectmen are now mulling over whether it should remain that way.
Selectmen at last week’s meeting were joined by Beach Committee members and Landing Commissioners to review whether the landing should be available only as parking for townspeople with parking passes. The landing is located on East Beach Road.
Among other options, selectmen are mulling over whether paid parking there should be seasonal or year-round. The issue might be voted on at the Jan 19 meeting, after selectmen and other authorities conduct more research on the matter.