Connecticut Chabad House Gets Green Light

After moving between several temporary locations in Westport in recent years, the Jewish outreach group Chabad Lubavitch of Westport appears to have found a home that is just right.

The site of the former Three Bears restaurant, 79 Newtown Turnpike, was unanimously approved by the Planning and Zoning Commission last Thursday for Chabad’s new religious center.

Among several reasons it listed for its approval of Chabad’s site plan application and special permit, the P&Z wrote in a resolution that Chabad’s establishment would “not have a significant adverse affect on safety in the streets nor unreasonably increase traffic congestion in the area, nor interfere with the pattern of highway circulation.”

Chabad’s move to 79 Newtown Turnpike has not been a smooth one. The group relocated there at the beginning of this year, but its move prompted the town to issue a notice of violation because Chabad did not gain approval from town officials before occupying the building. Chabad subsequently obtained an abeyance from the town, which has allowed it to stay at 79 Newtown Turnpike, while its application to the P&Z was under review.

Since its relocation, Chabad has opened a religious school there, which offers classes to students ages 8 to 14.

Chabad’s headquarters at Newtown Turnpike will include an approximately 1,300-square-foot sanctuary with 87 non-fixed seats, five classrooms and office space.

Chabad will also restripe the parking lot to create 64 parking spaces and landscape the site by planting several trees next to Wilton Road.

The building’s footprint of approximately 9,100 square feet will not change. The P&Z’s approval of Chabad’s site plan appears to culminate the group’s search in recent years for a new home.

Before moving to Newtown Turnpike, the group was based on Ketchum Street in the town’s Saugatuck section.

Chabad left its Saugatuck home ahead of that space’s subsequent conversion into an office complex. Before the group’s stint in Saugatuck, Chabad gatherings had been held at the Kings Highway North home of its rabbi, Yehudah Kantor, among other Westport venues.

Representative Town Meeting members from District 3, which includes 79 Newtown Turnpike, welcomed the P&Z’s decision.

“They have been transparent about their plans, and have done all necessary due diligence and studies,” Melissa Kane said in an email Monday. “Houses of worship often co-exist beautifully in residential areas, and I expect that they will be conscientious neighbors.”

Jimmy Izzo, another District 3 representative, also backed the P&Z’s verdict.

“I feel this approval will not impede traffic in the neighborhood any more than the restaurant that was previously on the property,” he said in an email Monday. “Chabad went through all the proper channels to get their approvals.”

Chabad’s leaders are not commenting publicly yet on the P&Z’s decision.

“We have yet to receive the final, official version of the P&Z’s approval and we have not had an opportunity to review or analyze it,” said Chabad’s counsel, Ken Gruder, a lawyer at the Norwalk firm Goldman Gruder & Woods. “We’re not providing a comment at this time, but we’ll be glad to make a public comment after we’ve reviewed the approval.”

Chabad Lubavitch of Westport’s supporters come primarily from Westport, Wilton and Norwalk.

The 79 Newtown Turnpike property is owned by Three Bears Associates, but Chabad is the site’s contract purchaser. For many years, 79 Newtown Turnpike housed the Three Bears Restaurant until it closed in 2009.

Another restaurant, Tiburon, subsequently operated there briefly, but the property had been vacant for more than two years until Chabad moved in. Totaling about 2.7 acres, the Newtown Turnpike property has an appraised value of approximately $1.7 million, according to the Vision Appraisal website.