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02/09/2022 07:30 AMPeter Gillespie is looking to bring his decades of experience to Westbrook to help the town achieve some of its long-term goals as its new fulltime town planner.
In late 2021, the town’s land use office was dealt a blow when the former planning and zoning and development coordinator resigned, however the job posting caught Peter’s eye.
“I saw the job posting in the fall and made a note of it. When I saw it posted again, I sent my résumé and applied,” Peter says.
For Peter, coming to Westbrook was a welcome change. Peter had enjoyed his time working in small towns in the past and coming back to one was something that had always been on the table.
“I always kind of envisioned myself toward the end of my career going back to a smaller community,” says Peter.
Helping the case: the fact that Peter already had some familiarity with Westbrook since he lives not far away.
“I’m very familiar with Westbrook. My wife and I are in Haddam and we have friends here, so we come down here and I’m pretty familiar with it,” says Peter. “In learning more, I saw a lot of what the town wants to work on and that further interested me. I thought it was a good fit for my skill set.”
Putting an exact label on what Peter does can be difficult.
“Every day is different. It could be working on affordable housing one day, economic development the next, or dealing with the public and helping them understand something that the town is doing or answering a question about a project they’re interested in for their business, for example,” says Peter.
As Peter is new in town, he says there’s still a lot of details he has to learn and people to meet, but there are already several projects he’s interested in.
By state law, every town must provide an affordable housing plan by June, a process that is ongoing in Westbrook. Another area in which Peter is interested in working is coastal resiliency, a vital component for any shoreline town as climate change and sea level rise continue to threaten the town.
“I think we’re going to have to examine that much more closely and come up with ways to deal with stronger storms that can threaten certain parts of our towns in a coastal resiliency plan,” Peter says.
Peter says he will also be doing economic development work for the town, and no project is more important than finding ways to work on the town center.
“I will be spending a lot of time on economic development. I’ll be getting guidance from the various boards,” says Peter.
Other projects he mentioned include making the town greener and increasing sidewalk connectivity.
Peter says that working in planning wasn’t something he really considered until college.
“Initially I started with the idea of being a dentist, believe it or not,” Peter says with a laugh.
He quickly changed career paths, however.
“I’ve always been interested in the built environment—architecture and things like that,” says Peter.
Peter says he enjoyed the planning classes he took and focused on planning while in graduate school. Upon graduation Peter started working in town of Marlborough, a small town that Peter says reminds him a bit of Westbrook.
“I think both town are comparable, but obviously Westbrook is on the shoreline as opposed to the middle of the state,” says Peter.
After five years there, Peter then went on to work in New London and Wethersfield before coming to Westbrook.
During his career Peter has worked on notable, large-scale projects such as the Pfizer headquarters in New London and the revitalization of the area near the New London train station, which he calls “rewarding processes”. But Peter says it’s the interactions with the public that he likes.
“That’s the most rewarding part. Working with folks, to achieve their goals as well as working with business owners and the town to work on community goals,” says Peter.
Peter says he can recall a conversation with a business owner where she revealed to him she had been unsure about how to go about starting her business, but after a conversation with Peter, she was convinced she could do it.
“That was a very rewarding feeling,” he says.
While working with the public is his favorite part, Peter does acknowledge there are some difficult circumstances that arrive, especially in planning and zoning meetings where controversial applications can be discussed.
“There’s always two sides to anything. That’s where we have public hearings though, so people can hear it out and the commission can hash it out,” says Peter.
Peter was born in Scotland but immigrated to the United States when he was young. After he went back to Scotland for a brief period of time in middle school he once again came back to the U.S. and lived in New Hampshire. He and his wife moved to Connecticut after college. In his spare time, Peter likes playing soccer and gardening.
“I’m excited to be here and working in town. It’s an exciting time and I’m looking forward to jumping into it,” says Peter.