Saugatuck After the Hamlet: Fourteen Parcels, Smaller Lots, and a Slower Kind of Change

"This is what we all clamored for," Planning & Zoning Chairman Paul Lebowitz said in September as the commission took up Saugatuck's zone change. "Here it is." The vote came out of the Hamlet fight, and it was unanimous. Many people read it as a door closing on large development near the river. The text of the amendments points somewhere else. Saugatuck Center is now open to more redevelopment than it was before, spread across more owners and smaller lots. For anyone weighing a house within walking distance of Riverside Avenue, that shapes the next several years more than any single project does.

What the September Vote Changed

The Westport Journal reported that on Monday, September 14, 2026, the commission voted 6-0 to pass Text Amendment 877. The amendment eliminates the General Business District/Saugatuck Marina Zone, which was created in 2022 for the Hamlet development. A separate map amendment moved 14 properties in Saugatuck Center into the General Business District/Saugatuck, or GBD/S.

The amendment made three mechanical changes:

• The minimum lot size in GBD/S drops to just over 3,000 square feet.
• The cap of two developments in the zone is removed.
• All 14 rezoned parcels now fall under the same GBD/S rules.

Michelle Perillie, the town's P&Z director, told the commission that the amendments expand eligibility for the GBD/S regulations, give more flexibility on lot size, make it possible for more properties to be developed, and encourage redevelopment "consistent with the established development pattern of Saugatuck." Commissioner Michael Calise called the change "a good baseline for the future." He and Commissioner Patrizia Zucaro had worried that the marina zone allowed developments too large for the area.

Put together, those statements describe a smaller scale and a wider field. The old marina zone was built around one assembled site. The new zone lowers the threshold for an individual parcel and drops the limit on how many projects can proceed. A buyer looking at a home near Saugatuck Center should assume the commercial lots nearby are now more eligible for redevelopment than they were in August. The scale is meant to match what already stands there.

The Hamlet Is Over, and the Site Is Still in Play

The Hamlet ended in court. Roan Development Ventures withdrew its lawsuit seeking approval, the court approved the withdrawal on February 11, 2026, and the town attorney said the application was concluded.

Part of the same ground is already back under discussion. Spinnaker Real Estate Partners has proposed a 165-unit residential building on 1.54 acres at 606 Riverside Avenue. The Westport Journal noted that this is more than half of the site the Hamlet would have occupied. The plan has changed in steps since June. Spinnaker cut 10 units, added an open corner plaza at Charles Street and Riverside Avenue, increased setbacks, and lowered the height by three feet to about 70 feet. At the July 28 Architectural Review Board session, Spinnaker owner Matthew Edvardsen said the firm is in contract for a property at Riverside Avenue and Railroad Place. He said Spinnaker is considering moving a house there to create a second plaza.

The open question is affordability. Spinnaker has proposed that 10% of the units be affordable. Some commissioners object because the town's general requirement is 20%. As of the September 15 report, the project was still a nonbinding pre-application. Commissioners have reacted the same way elsewhere. When a nine-unit, all-market-rate pre-application for 34 Imperial Avenue came before P&Z in July, commissioners responded negatively, pointing to the lack of affordable housing and the zoning relief it would need.

That affordability expectation shapes what the new GBD/S parcels are likely to become. A redevelopment proposal for a small Saugatuck lot will be judged against the same 20% benchmark Spinnaker is arguing over.

How Much of This Reaches a Public Hearing

On July 27, P&Z unanimously approved a text amendment to comply with Connecticut's Public Act 25-1. According to the Westport Journal, the change removes public-hearing and minimum-parking requirements for certain residential developments.

Combined with the September rezoning, this changes how a homeowner near Saugatuck learns about a project next door. More parcels are eligible, and some categories of residential project no longer go through a hearing. A buyer doing diligence on a house near the 14 rezoned properties may learn more from the town's pending applications and recent approvals page than from waiting for a hearing notice.

The Dated Items on Saugatuck's Calendar

The schedule moved again this fall. The P&Z meeting set for October 5, 2026 was cancelled, and its posted agenda had not included 606 Riverside. These are the confirmed dates, in order:

1. September 14, 2026. Text Amendment 877 and Map Amendment 878 adopted.
2. October 28, 2026, tentative. Continued Conservation Commission hearing on 55-57 Greens Farms Road, covered below.
3. 2027. The town's stated target for a second 8-30g moratorium.
4. May 31, 2027. Estimated completion of environmental review and permitting for the William F. Cribari Bridge over the Saugatuck River, according to the federal permitting dashboard.

The bridge date is a permitting milestone. It is not a construction date. CTDOT's project display boards list a longer westbound right-turn storage lane at Bridge Street and Riverside Avenue among the alternatives. That is a proposed feature, not completed work. The sources we reviewed give no construction date for either the bridge or the Spinnaker proposal, and both sit at the same Riverside Avenue intersection.

Where Westport's Largest Housing Proposal Went

While Saugatuck shifts to smaller parcels, the largest pending residential proposal in town is on Greens Farms Road. TC Greens Farms LLC bought the 21.9-acre office property at 55-57 Greens Farms Road for $25 million in February. The $100 million proposal would demolish the three-story, 60,000-square-foot southern building at No. 57. It would be replaced with 250 one- and two-bedroom units, 30% of them set aside as affordable. The northern building at No. 55 would be renovated. 06880 reported in May that the project was expected to proceed under the state's 8-30g affordable-housing statute.

The project is now in wetlands review. A town agenda lists a Conservation Commission application filed by attorney Timothy Hollister for TC Greens Farms LLC. Public comment at the September 16 hearing focused on flooding after a storm that brought seven inches of rain to Westport. The commission had not yet received a report from the Flood and Erosion Control Board, which had continued its own review to October 6. The applicant's engineers said underground chambers would increase on-site flood storage by 660 cubic yards. They also said impervious area would rise 13.8%, from 239,510 to 272,520 square feet. Height, traffic and fit with the surrounding area belong to Planning & Zoning, which must also approve the project before construction.

The 2027 moratorium target matters here because of how 8-30g works. Under the town's affordable-housing FAQ, Westport's first moratorium expired in 2023. A new one requires housing-unit-equivalent points equal to the greater of 2% of the town's housing units or 75 points. Smaller approvals count toward that goal. In June, P&Z approved 30 units at 455 Post Road East, the former Connecticut Humane Society site, including six affordable units. It also approved an arrangement tied to 785 Post Road East, with one affordable unit on site and two proposed at 3 George Street, where the nonprofit Abilis would build and manage the housing. The town has not published a current point total, so it is not possible to say how close Westport is.

What the Public Record Shows This Fall

The Westport Journal's weekly property-transfer reports, drawn from town records, are one of the few current measures that don't come from a brokerage. Between September 21 and 25, 2026, seven Westport properties sold for a combined $9.4 million. In the comparable week of 2025, 13 properties sold for $21.0 million. The week of September 14 to 18 recorded three sales totaling $6.7 million. In mid-August, 12 properties traded for $31.1 million, including 422 Riverside Avenue at $1.8 million.

Single weeks are thin samples, and these reports don't classify sales by property type. Still, the Riverside Avenue sale shows homes along the corridor changing hands in the same summer the commission was preparing to rezone the commercial parcels nearby.

Questions We Hear About Saugatuck's Rezoning

Does the rezoning approve any specific project? No. The amendments set the zoning rules for the 14 GBD/S parcels. Spinnaker's 606 Riverside plan was still a pre-application as of mid-September.

Is the 55-57 Greens Farms Road project approved? No. The Conservation Commission hearing was continued to a tentative October 28 date, and Planning & Zoning approval is still required.

When will the Cribari Bridge work begin? The sources we reviewed do not give a construction start date. The federal dashboard estimates environmental review and permitting will finish by May 31, 2027.

If you own a home near Saugatuck Center and want to know how these 14 parcels and the projects around them may affect what your property is worth, Andrew Whiteley & Wendy Ryan can give you a private, parcel-by-parcel view. Request a Confidential Home Valuation, and we'll go through it with you in confidence.

This article is general information, not legal, tax or financial advice. Consult a qualified professional about your situation.