It was a busy year.
Storms battered the coast. A massive infrastructure was widely rejected. And meanwhile, life went on. Old baseball players, years following their youth, thanked a coach and …
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It was a busy year.
Storms battered the coast. A massive infrastructure was widely rejected. And meanwhile, life went on. Old baseball players, years following their youth, thanked a coach and scorer for the life lessons they were taught. A local boy made good with the police department. And some of Westport's most traditionally under-represented students finally got a league of their own. Here's a look back at some of the stories that marked 2024 in Westport.
New police chief
Christopher Dunn, a Westport Police Department veteran, was sworn in in early January following the retirement of former chief Keith Pelletier.
Formerly a detective sergeant, Dunn was one of two department members to apply for the chief ’s position after the former chief announced his decision to retire in mid-2023. He was named to post over fellow candidate Sgt. Robert Rebello. It wasn’t an easy decision, select board members said before choosing him.
“The conundrum is we have two qualified candidates in front of us,” select board member
Shana Teas said. “I don’t think we can go wrong either way.”
Dunn is a lifelong Westport resident who joined the force as a reserve officer before transitioning into the detectives unit and later making sergeant. He told board members during public interviews that he believes he has the management and administrative skills to take on the roll, and said his aims include making the department’s contributions more visible, strengthening bonds within the department and working to optimize the department in the face of budget constraints that have left no town departments untouched.
“To me, everything’s on the table,” he said.
Stormy
The new year saw a seemingly endless series of coastal storms that moved millions pounds of rock and sand, destroyed property and ultimately, led to several significant changes in the town's policy toward its low-lying areas.
In the wake of the storms, town officials pledged to work on a master plan to buttress East Beach Road from future storms, and agreed to change town policy with respect to the removal of cobble and sand from East Beach Road. Nearby, those same storms, which in several cases flooded out the commercial dock at the Point, played a role in marine services director Chris Leonard's decision to seek a grant to study needed changes and improvements to the town docks.
Voters flush water, sewer plan
A massive plan to improve water and sewer infrastructure in the North End fell at an April referendum and at May's Town Meeting, as voters widely rejected a measure that would have paved the way for the $30 million-plus "Greater Route 6 Infrastructure Project." Proponents of the plan said it would have improved the business climate along underdeveloped Route 6, and would have had other benefits as well — modern water service for residents in the area, and a town-wide improvement in the environment.
Though it failed this past year, it is not dead — it is still being discussed by the Infrastructure Oversight Committee.
Thank you, Coach
Westport said 'Thank you' to two long-time sports legends this year.
In February, his former students, school administrators and friends presented a plaque to long-time scorekeeper Bob St. Pierre, acknowledging his major contribution to youth sports — 57 years of service by the former Westport science teacher.
Then in late June, a group of his fellow players, now scattered throughout the country, returned to Westport to thank their old Little League coach, Tom Hancock, for his selfless dedication to kids, and youth sports.
Hancock "taught us not only the game of baseball, but the game of life," former Westport Braves player Dale Frederick said. "We were too young to even know that. But all the little things that happened on the field, they made us the people that we are today.”
Coach Hancock passed away later in the year.
Homes, sweet homes
Westport home prices are through the roof. But in mid-June, two local families saw their dream of home ownership come true thanks to Habitat for Humanity.
The organization, which builds affordable homes for those who would be unable to afford them, spent more than two years building a duplex on Sodom Road — the first-ever Habitat for Humanity build in Westport.
The duplex, built on land secured in part by the town's affordable housing trust and other boards, and had been eagerly anticipated by members of the Westport Affordable Housing Trust, and long-time trust member Craig Dutra, recently elected to the select board, said he was thrilled to see the first affordable home dedicated.
He said it was a long-time coming for trust members and particularly, Liz Collins, a long-time advocate and board member who, along with the late Catherine Williams, was instrumental in championing affordable housing initiatives here.
“In the last three years, Westport’s (average home price) went from $384,000 to over $550,000,” Dutra said. “This is really important when you look at those types of statistics. It really underscores the importance of what (Habitat) is doing here, and what the trust is doing here to protect and preserve affordable housing in Westport.”
School's out
A widely-criticized plan to run a for-profit 'school' for adolescents with substance abuse and other issues ended up in the dust bin, after well-organized neighbors fought a plan that would have seen it built on an Old Harbor Road farm on the Westport/Little Compton town line.
Residents were leery of the would-be developer's motives, and accused him of trying to squeeze a for-profit business into a residential zone. In the end, the developer withdrew his application.
Food for all
A long-unused stretch of land at the Town Farm grew to life again, when volunteers for the Westport Food Pantry cultivated it for the first time this Spring.
Tomatoes, squash, greens, peppers and much more — all went to needy area families served by the non-profit food pantry.
Members of the select board approved the pantry’s sublease of the plot, which though owned by the town is managed by the Trustees of the Reservation.
“I think it sounds like a phenomenal use, just getting back to what the original intent was,” select board member Shana Teas said when the issue came before the board and earned unanimous approval.
Go get 'em, kids
Prior to this year, Westport had never had a competitive unified sports team and before one Wednesday in October, had never competed intramurally.
But that change when the town's unified bocce team held its first-ever meet, on the front lawn of the Middle High School. The eventual hope is to add more unified sports teams.
Eeducators had wanted to form such a team for some time, and last year began looking into it at the middle school as a first step toward possibly expanding unified sports across the district. Much of the organizational work at the middle school occurred earlier this year.
“Our special education department has really wanted to push for inclusion opportunities as best we can,” said Dianne Pereira Aldrich, who guides the team with assistant coach Kristen Bernard.
Bitter wind
2024 was the year Westport mobilized in the face of wind power and its possible impacts here. The town formed the Offshore Wind Advisory Committee this year so officials and residents could keep an eye on the issue, including a plan by Vineyard Wind that could see cables routed to Horseneck Beach, under the Westport River and up Route 88 to points north.
“Westport is front and center as the first landing place,” committee chairman Jake McGuigan said in December. “We were told .. .that it was going to be an either or proposition,” referring to the two landfall sites — one here, one in Connecticut. “Then (earlier this year, it was) ‘No, we’re coming through Westport.’ That’s a concern. We don’t have the true facts (and we) can’t get it from Vineyard wind.”