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Joseph Strickland, Jr. RA (Registered Architect) Candidate for Planning and Zoning.
November 7th 2023 – Election Day – Vote for Joe – for P&Z on the Coalition Line.
About Joe:
Westport resident….40 years.  Raised four daughters….all graduated from Westport Public Schools.
Education
BA-Lehigh University-Urban Studies/Sociology
M.ED-Lehigh University-Special Education
M. Arch-Carnegie Mellon University-Architecture w/ minor in Business
Employment and Other Interests
⦁ Instructor…..Lehigh University’s Graduate School of Education……taught socially and emotionally disturbed high school students….three years.
⦁ Assistant architect……Pittsburgh Redevelopment Authority…….oversaw real estate programs  Pittsburgh’s Renaissance II…..Section 8 Housing and Urban Development Action Grant projects.
⦁ Architectural firms …….municipal infrastructure projects and historic preservation.  Restoration of the oldest wooden structure in New York City.  Westport……. Historic Preservation Award for the renovation of and addition to a Frazier Peter’s house.
⦁ Became a tax depreciation expert…… real estate industry.  Led tax depreciation practices for Deloitte & Touche, FTI, American Appraisal, and Arthur Andersen.
⦁ RB Financial, in Westport……commercial and residential properties in Westport, Milford, and Jupiter, Florida.
⦁ Toys R Us…..architectural project manager, developed numerous big box retail stores including TRU’s first urban store in Chicago.
⦁ Facilities Director…….Westport Public School system……..oversaw all construction and maintenance for the school system including code upgrades and expansions at CES, CMS, KHS, SHS, and LLS.
⦁ Currently a Managing Director……practice leader for tax depreciation for MazarsUSA…… expert witness during the insurance settlement for the tragedy at the World Trade Center.
⦁ Community service……many years serving on the Public Site and Building Commission, currently as its chairman.  Numerous public projects completed.
⦁ Chairman of the Blight Board……presided over 90 blight cases to date.
⦁ Certified soccer referee…….officiates youth and high school games.

 

Town of Westport Affordable Housing Plan – 8-30J

Commentry from the Coalition for Westport on the Town of Westports draft Affordable Housing Plan.

June 12, 2022

To: The Affordable Housing Subcommittee and the Planning& Zoning Commission

From: The Coalition for Westport

The Coalition welcomes the opportunity to comment on the draft Affordable Housing Plan prepared by the subcommittee which, in our opinion, has done an admirable job of soliciting and responding to public comment and focusing on the task at hand.

The State has made it abundantly clear that affordable housing is a priority and that lack of sufficient affordable housing is a threat to local land use control, but even without a state mandate, affordable housing should be a primary goal of the Westport community. In our view there can never be too many housing choices or opportunities to welcome new arrivals.

Having said that, we offer the following thoughts and suggestions:

* We think the plan should insist that affordable housing be fairly and widely distributed throughout town, as individual units or in small clusters, rather than be aggregated and set apart in large developments which may be seen as exclusionary.

* While all housing built in Westport should be designed and constructed in a sustainable manner, it would not hurt to suggest that the same should be true of affordable housing.

* We would like the plan to emphasize adaptive reuse of existing structures for affordable housing and to welcome mixed use projects with first floor retail or offices and housing on upper floors. It is our perception that there is a great deal of vacant space which could be utilized to meet affordable housing goals.

* We enthusiastically support the housing trust fund concept.

* The draft plan uses the term « family ». Since people may differ over what constitutes a family, we would suggest substituting the word « household » to avoid confusion.

We view this as an important document – perhaps equal in importance to the POCD -and while it is by its very nature conceptual rather than detailed, it should set a high bar to be implemented by regulation.

We appreciate the work that the Committee has done thus far, and we look forward to continuing the dialog and to adoption of a meaningful plan.

Respectfully,

The Coalition for Westport

6.12.2022