Zoning Passes New B&B Regulations in Westbrook, Connecticut

Creates More Restrictions on B&B's

WESTBROOK - After months of discussions, the Zoning Commission has voted on new regulations which add clarification and restrictions to lodging facilities.
Facilities will be placed in different categories based on number of rooms and each type of facility is restricted to being located only in designated zones.

The "bed and breakfast" term, which used to allow an owner to have a maximum of 20 guests, will now be defined as a facility with no more than seven guest rooms and does not contain "mixed use".

The "mixed use" prohibition would deny the ability of those establishments from having restaurant, retail, and meeting space.

These facilities would be limited to serving morning meals to registered guests.

They will be required to have one parking space for each guest room, two for the resident family, and one additional space for each employee.

Zones where they will be allowed will continue to be the rural residential, RR, zone, low density residential, LDR, zone, medium density residential, MDR, zone, and the neighborhood commercial, NCD, zone.

New regulations state those in a high density residential zone "will be allowed to have no more than two guest rooms."

More specific information regarding plans and drawings for new facilities will now be required.

A new lodging category called "inn" would allow small lodging facilities to offer no more than 10 guest rooms and allow mixed use.

Inns would be allowed to have restaurant services open to non-guests, conference facilities, retail, and other mixed uses.

They are prohibited from having catering activities or take-out service.

Inns must provide one parking space for each guest room, two spaces for the resident family, one space for each employee, and one space for every three seats in a restaurant/bar and one space per every four occupants under the State Fire Safety Code.

Inns are limited to the commercial town center district, CTC, the Turnpike Interchange around exit 65 off I-95, TIC-65, and NCD zones.

To accommodate more intensive lodging, a "boarding, lodging, and rooming house" category was created to allow no more than 20 guest rooms.