Dozens of concerned Westwood neighbors gathered at City Hall Thursday night to discuss the future of the city.
The gathering marked the third public meeting the city’s planning commission has held to discuss a revised version of its comprehensive plan, which will establish the types of developments that are acceptable in different parts of the city.
One element the plan address is various home types and configurations of residences.
Right now every residence in the city, besides Woodside Village, is a detached single-family home. The current comprehensive plan would make different types of residences, such as townhouses and patio homes, acceptable.
“Change is difficult to comprehend and apprehend and approve,” said city administrator Fred Sherman. “This is trying to get a broad policy guidance to the community, not specific decisions. It looks at the broad spectrum of possibilities. This plan in no way says ‘it has to be this and not this.’”
But not everyone agrees with the plan.
Gabrielle Favreau has lived in Westwood for 15 years and is the president of the Westwood Neighborhood Association. Like others, she is adamantly opposed to multi-family residences.
“We want to make certain that we preserve our residential core, very simple,” Favreau said. “Residents want to look outside of their homes and see a home across the street that looks like their home.”
According to the city, the comprehensive plan would “not change the city’s existing zoning.” Instead, Sherman said it would “provide some vision and guidance” for future development. All projects would still need to go through the city’s rezoning process.
Still, Favreau said she is not convinced.
“If it is just a plan and we are going to use this plan and future city council members are going to use this as a guide for determining zoning at some point, we need to be very clear,” she said.
