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The What

The What: This Week in Southwest Connecticut

The What is your look around southwest Connecticut for the week of October 10.

The What: This Week in Southwest Connecticut
Hope you're all enjoying the fall weather that's officially moved in this week. (Photo by Kelly Prinz)

Tuesday, October 10

Happy Tuesday! This week, we’re highlighting how Stamford and Norwalk are planning to invest at least $1 million each in tree-related projects. This follows our reporting from earlier this year on how trees help improve air quality, provide shade and cooling benefits, mitigate the impacts of flooding, and enhance neighborhoods—all reasons why communities around southwest Connecticut said they wanted to add more of them.

Learn more about the tree-related investments or dive into why trees are important to the region. You can also check out our in-depth video into tree-efforts across southwest Connecticut.

Check out our video from earlier this year on the impact of trees to southwest Connecticut.

Let’s see what else is happening around the region.

Stamford

Two boards will review and vote to accept a $1 million grant to fund a new initiative, “Growing Stamford,” which aims to “establish trees in the public right-of-way planting locations in disadvantaged downtown Stamford neighborhoods.” The Planning Board will review and discuss the item at its meeting on Tuesday, October 10 at 6:30 p.m., followed by the Board of Finance on Wednesday, October 11 at 7 p.m.

Other meetings this week include:

Norwalk

The Planning and Zoning Commission will meet on Wednesday, October 11 at 6 p.m. to continue discussing and reviewing the proposed zoning rewrite for the city. This meeting will focus specifically on the citywide zoning map, development parcels, and parking.

Other meetings this week include:

Fairfield

The Town Plan & Zoning Commission will meet on Tuesday, October 10 at 6:30 p.m. and start reviewing a new transit oriented development application, featuring both residential and commercial, for 81 Black Rock Turnpike.

Also on Tuesday, October 10, the Board of Education will meet at 7:30 p.m. and review a report it is planning to send to the state on its school facilities utilization and racial balance work across the district.

Other meetings this week include:

Greenwich

On Tuesday, October 10, residents and community members are invited to The Foodshed Forum’s A Tale of Two Towns: Addressing Food Insecurity in Greenwich at 7 p.m. The event will feature a panel discussion of the challenges some members of the community face, despite the relative wealth of others in town. According to the forum,  “Greenwich is home to some of the wealthiest families in Connecticut, it is also home to families who struggle to afford their basic needs, such as housing, child care and food.” The Greenwich United Way’s Needs Assessment in 2020 found that 7% of the town's population live below the poverty level, and 22% are ALICE—Asset Limited Income Constrained Employed—a measure that aims to capture those who might not be at the poverty level, but are struggling with basic needs.

Other meetings this week include:

Darien

The Representative Town Meeting Town Government Structure & Administration Committee will meet on Tuesday, October 10 at 7:30 p.m. and discuss the structure of the current standing committees that are part of the RTM.

Other meetings this week include:

Westport

On Friday, October 13, the Conservation Commission will do site visits starting at 9:30 a.m. One of the main locations for review on their list includes Parker Harding Plaza. The town is proposing to revise the existing roadway and parking lot, build sidewalks, a riverfront boardwalk and park areas and to relocate the trash and recycling dumpsters in the area.

Other meetings this week include:

Please note: All of these agendas and information here are current as of Sunday night. Meeting times and agendas may get adjusted throughout the week.

Thank you for reading!

If you are interested in being a part of our reporting or just want to share your thoughts, please reach out at coastalconnecticuttimes@gmail.com.

Have a great week,

Kelly Prinz

Founder, Reporter at Coastal Connecticut Times

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