Westport survey asks how village business areas from Adamsville to the Point should be zoned
Town meeting created a Village Commercial district in Adamsville in May, and the board now wants to know whether the other village centers, which today's zoning treats as nonconforming, need changes too.
WESTPORT Westport's Planning Board is asking residents and business owners how the town's village business areas should be zoned, in an online survey that will help decide whether any zoning changes go to the 2028 annual town meeting.
The survey covers the Head of Westport, Central Village, Adamsville and what the town calls the "Marina District," the businesses and marine uses at the Point and across the river on the Horseneck peninsula, according to the notice the town posted on its website.
Most of Westport is zoned Residential/Agriculture, and the survey's introduction says that limits commercial development outside Route 6, parts of Route 177 and Main Road, which leaves the town's old village centers "nonconforming" even though they grew up around small commercial areas. The project team "will work to craft new zoning that will help bring these existing uses into conformance, while also offering new sustainable development opportunities for small businesses and mixed-use," the survey says.
The town is doing the work with the Southeastern Regional Planning and Economic Development District, or SRPEDD, the regional planning agency based in Taunton, whose project page says the four areas "have historically developed as village centers, but have been rendered non-conforming according to modern-day zoning laws." The idea of village zoning goes back to Westport's 2004 master plan, which called for new development "of similar density and character, as is the tradition in each of the villages," according to the page.
What town meeting changed in May
Voters took a first step at the May 5 annual town meeting by approving Article 33, which created a Village Commercial zoning district and moved certain properties into it from Residential/Agriculture, according to the town clerk's minutes. The article needed a two-thirds vote and carried unanimously at 9:37 p.m., after the Select Board and the Planning Board had each recommended it 5-0 and the Finance Committee had voted 7-1 to make no recommendation. The town's notice says that district was drawn in Adamsville.
Under the use table that came with the article, retail stores, cafes, business and professional offices, bed and breakfasts and auto repair shops are allowed in the Village Commercial district with site plan approval from the Planning Board, and mobile food vendors are allowed outright. Banks, hotels, motels, drive-through windows, auto service stations and auto sales, which the town's Business District can allow, are not permitted in the village district, and multi-family housing is barred in all three of the town's districts, Village Commercial, Business and Residential/Agriculture.
New lots can be smaller in the Village Commercial district, where a lot needs 75 feet of frontage and 30,000 square feet, with at least 15,000 square feet of contiguous upland, which is half of the 150 feet and 60,000 square feet the bylaw requires for a non-residential lot in the Business or Residential/Agriculture districts. Dwellings in all three are capped at 2 1/2 stories or 40 feet.
What the survey asks
The Planning Board is "assessing the needs of other village commercial areas to determine if any zoning changes are desired," and wants to know whether the four areas need "any additional changes" beyond the limited zoning changes voters made this year, the notice says. Every question on the survey is optional and the answers are anonymous, according to its introduction, and the opening questions ask whether the person lives in Westport or owns a business or property in town, how long they have lived in Westport and how long their business has been in Westport.
The SRPEDD page describes the Head of Westport as home to the public library, the school complex, the Historical Society and the Council on Aging, and Central Village, at Main Road and Adamsville Road, as home to Town Hall, the Town Hall Annex and Lee's Market, which it says has operated for more than 75 years. It notes that Adamsville's recent zoning change allowed food trucks and retail, and that further updates there "may allow for closer alignment with the adjacent Business zoning in Little Compton." At the Marina District, which draws summer visitors, seasonal businesses, marine services and marine-related activities "would likely thrive if allowed by-right," the page says.
What happens next
The results will be used to inform whether any zoning changes are wanted in the village areas for the 2028 annual town meeting, according to the notice, which asks residents to watch for more chances to weigh in. Any change the board brings forward would go to town meeting voters, as Article 33 did.
How to weigh in
The survey is online at surveymonkey.com/r/westport-village-zoning, linked from the news page on westport-ma.com. Questions or comments go to Town Planner Michael Burris at burrism@westport-ma.gov, the notice says; the Planning Department lists his office at the Town Hall Annex, 856 Main Road, and his phone as 508-636-1037.
South Coast 360 has asked Burris how long the survey will stay open, when the results will be shared and which changes the board is weighing for each village area, and his answers will be added to this story.
Label: Reported by us, from the town's posted records.
Notes
Every fact comes from the Town of Westport's own survey notice on its website, the first page of the Planning Board's survey, SRPEDD's project page for the work and the town clerk's minutes of the May 5 annual town meeting. We read them on Nov. 11. The use rules and lot sizes are from the use table and Sections 7.2 and 7.5 printed in Article 33 of those minutes. Not heard: Town Planner Michael Burris was asked on Nov. 11 how long the survey stays open, when results will be shared and what changes are under study; his answers will be added here.
Corrections
No corrections to this story. If something here is wrong, tell us. Every correction is dated on the story and listed in our public log.
Sources (5)
- Town of Westport, "We need your thoughts on Westport's village commercial areas!" (news post, Planning Board survey notice)With the town and SRPEDD survey flyer, the lead image. Read Nov. 11, 2026.
- Westport Village Zoning Community Preferences Survey (introduction and first page of questions)Read Nov. 11, 2026.
- Town of Westport, Annual Town Meeting Minutes, Tuesday, May 5, 2026, Article 33, Amend the Zoning Map, Village Commercial Zoning District (use table, Section 7.2 and 7.5, recommendations and vote)Read Nov. 11, 2026.
- Town of Westport, Planning DepartmentStaff contacts: Michael Burris, Town Planner, AICP, 508-636-1037, Town Hall Annex, 856 Main Road; spelling matches the town contacts directory. Read Nov. 11, 2026.
- SRPEDD, Westport Village Zoning project pageProject background, the four areas, the 2004 master plan quote and the notes on each village area. Read Nov. 11, 2026.