Since COVID, the town of Westport has closed off the block of Church Lane between Elm Street and Post Road to car traffic every year - from the beginning of April until the end of October - a move that has caused debate between local businesses.

With outdoor dining and live music, places on the closed area are fully in favor.

"It's tremendous for our business, it helps everyone downtown," said Marc Murphy, a managing partner at the Spotted Horse Tavern. "People from out of town have been asking when we're going to be closing the road again."

But businesses that are located behind the closure say all the traffic that gets diverted on to Myrtle Avenue just builds up, blocking off their parking spots, and hurting their business.

"A direct hit," said Alexander Oracheff, who owns Blow Dry. "People will go to other locations because they can't find parking down here. It's a significant threat to multiple closures around here."

With the official decision for 2025 set to be made at next Wednesday's Board of Selectwomen meeting, businesses in nearby Sconset Square wrote a letter, asking that this year, the road only be closed during the summer months, and only on weekends.

"At some point there has to be some type of compromise, it can't all just be in one direction, we need to think about the community," said Oracheff.

The Westport Downtown Association, which helps spearhead the closure, says it sent a survey to residents - and they overwhelmingly responded that they both want the closure back, and want it for all seven days each week.

"It just provides a little bit of safety and community where people just can hang out outside here," said Stephen King, a Westport resident in favor of it.

"It's great," agreed fellow resident James Cochrane. "I think they ought to do more things like this in town."

However, this year's proposal does have some compromise - with the WDA only looking to close the street from Memorial Day to Labor Day, which they say is also what the survey results called for.

"If you come down here on a July summer, it's absolutely packed, all the restaurants are sort of filled up, people are sort of wandering around shopping," said Maxx Crowley, the president of the Westport Downtown Association.

The debate between the business still remains though, about whether or not all those people also make their way towards the businesses near Myrtle, or just make it harder for other people.

"The town has their own agenda, and they continue to push it forward. It seems like they favor a couple individuals," said Oracheff.

But Solomon Sade, the CEO of The Blondiniti Restaurant on Church disagreed.

"If you think the traffic is backed up, that's a good thing, it means the town is vibrant, so if you want the town empty, go somewhere else, or go back to COVID, when you had no business," said Sade.

Businesses against the closure say another option that could help would be if the town made Myrtle Avenue wider.