What a great town we live in - filled with civic-minded, intelligent, thoughtful citizens.

After a record turnout, the town of Westport wrapped up its elections. These new and re-elected officials - all volunteers - will soon begin the extremely important task of running our town.

We are reaching out because Westport’s only community garden and Long Lots Preserve are at great risk of being destroyed and replaced with multi-use athletic fields, designed primarily for teenaged Babe Ruth baseball players. In addition, the neighborhoods surrounding the Long Lots School, which already have to remediate water problems, will be adversely affected by the environmental impacts of removing the garden, including flooding, noise, traffic and potential flood lights for additional Parks and Recreation playing fields that are unrelated to the new school.

We are asking for your support to help prevent the destruction of the Westport Community Garden and surrounding Preserve. With your help, we can retain this unique green space while building an improved Long Lots Elementary School.

We are entering a critical juncture in this process. In the coming weeks, the Planning and Zoning Commission (P&Z) will review the town’s application and recommendation that includes the destruction of the Westport Community Garden. This application is referred to as an §8-24 Municipal Improvement. Once this is filed, the P&Z Commissioners will consider ALL public comments, written or spoken, in their deliberations on the project as submitted. At that time your comments to the P&Z will be critical (pandz@westportct.gov). P&Z meetings are held digitally using ZOOM, and the public is welcome to attend. As this process unfolds, we would like to keep you informed as to the appropriate timing to submit your comments. Please click on the link to receive updates KEEP ME UPDATED ON WCG

Once the P&Z has issued its report, the Board of Finance will review the funding requests for this $100 million project to build a new Long Lots School, which could ultimately raise property taxes by 3.8%, according to a statement by a Board of Finance Member.

We are in favor of building a new school, and we know that the school and the Garden can continue to coexist as they have done for over 20 years. In addition to the environmental impact of removing the garden, we are also deeply concerned with the $100 million price tag for a new school in a high interest rate environment. If you would like to stay informed on these critical matters, please email us at westportgardenmedia@gmail.com.

Your support is crucial, thank you.

Save the Westport Community Garden