Diana Stricker Photo
Stan Konesky Jr.
If final approval is given this week, a seven-acre woodland park will be preserved in the heart of Branford as part of the proposed Founders Village senior housing project. But getting to this point has been no walk in the park.
In fact, it’s taken about 10 years of discussions, arguments, rejections, lawsuits and finally a meeting of the minds to reach a court settlement in 2009.
The property in question is a 12-acre parcel bordered by Cedar Street, Rose Street and Hillside Avenue that is only about three blocks from the Town Hall Green.
The court-ordered and approved five–page legal settlement was filed in New Britain Superior Court on June 29, 2009. Judge George Levine negotiated what he termed a “court supervised settlement process” and to this day maintains control over the stipulated judgment he entered for the court the following month. Click here to read it.
The document stipulates: “The Court shall maintain continuing jurisdiction over this matter for purposes of enforcing the rights and obligations of the parties as set forth herein.” William T. Clendenen, Jr., the town’s counsel, signed for the town and Beth Bryan Critton signed for Shipman & Goodwin, Vigliotti’s lawyers. This means if there is any problem by either side, the judge will step in.
Before Vigliotti’s then attorney, Tim Hollister of Shipman & Goodwin, began the settlement process four years ago, he insisted there be an understanding that the town would approve the project. Hollister, an expert in affordable housing law, said back then: “We would not have embarked on this process if the town had not represented to us that it would be approved.”
Soon after, in December, 2008, a unanimous Board of Selectmen (BOS) approved the settlement proposal and years of lawsuits involving the town’s land commissions came to an end. It was a bipartisan agreement, with DaRos and Fran Walsh, both Democrats, along with Republican John Opie agreeing to the settlement that ended seven years of contentious litigation. The BOS unanimously approved the revised settlement two months ago.
The settlement allows property owner Alex Vigliotti to build senior housing on five acres, and stipulates that he deed the remaining seven acres of wooded hillside to the town for open space.
“From the steps of Town Hall and the Green, the skyline will remain a wooded area,” local environmentalist Bill Horne told the Eagle. “The vision is it will be a place where people can go for a quiet walk in the woods. That’s a real asset.”
The Board of Selectmen voted unanimously on the revised issues on Jan. 18. The final nod is up to the Representative Town Meeting (RTM), which will vote this Wednesday whether to accept the seven acres and three small slivers of land involved in the project. They will also vote whether to grant the Branford Land Trust a conservation easement for the open space.
The open space provision and the Land Trust’s role are two key factors that won the approval of neighbors who had fought development plans for so many years. Earlier plans called for blasting the top off the wooden hillside to make way for a winding road and sprawling development that would cover most of the 12-acre parcel. Town officials said the blasting could have destroyed the wetlands.
Three earlier proposals by Vigliotti, which the neighbors opposed, were rejected by the Inland Wetlands and the Planning and Zoning (P&Z) commissions. Click here to read about a 2007 P&Z meeting. Click here to read about a 2006 Inland Wetlands Meeting.
Those two commissions approved the newest proposal in 2009 that is part of the court settlement. Click here to read about those meetings.
Horne, who is a member of the Land Trust, told the Board of Selectmen in January that the neighbors wanted assurance that the seven acres of forested land would be kept in its natural state. He said the town would own the property, but the Land Trust would hold the easement, which will ensure it can never be developed.
“That’s something that the Land Trust can do,” Horne said. “It’s a layer of insurance for the neighbors.”
Stan Konesky Jr., of Ivy Street (top picture above) told the Board of Selectmen that having the Land Trust act as conservators will serve as a system of “checks and balances” to protect the land. “We felt very strongly…the Land Trust, which is well-respected…would be the organization that would properly manage it,” he said.
A “WIN-WIN” PROPOSAL
Konesky, who helped spearhead more than 100 neighbors who opposed three earlier development proposals, talked with the Eagle about the settlement plans.
“I am very, very happy about how far we’ve gone with this. We worked hard together on this project. The town worked hard and the developer worked hard, and the neighbors too. This is a win-win for the people of Branford,” Konesky said. “But I won’t be 100 percent happy until it’s finalized.”
He is optimistic the RTM members will approve the project when they meet this week.
“I’m hopeful this will pass and we’ll move on,” Konesky said. We put hours and hours and hours into this.”
The three new buildings with 117 units of senior rental apartments would be constructed to the rear of the Rose Hill Apartments, which were also built by Vigliotti. Access roads to the new complex will be from Hillside Avenue, which will be widened to meet town standards. The town’s rights-of-way along the roadside will also be widened, which is why the small slivers of land have to be deeded to the town. As part of the project, Vigliotti will construct a sewage pump station to alleviate sewerage problems in the area.
“All those factors were taken into consideration,” Konesky said, noting the importance of senior housing, open space and improvement of the road and sewers. “How could anybody be against that?”
Konesky said Vigliotti’s willingness to give the seven acres of wooded land to the town was “a very wise gesture.” He said the older plans called for blasting would have been detrimental to the entire neighborhood. “They would have had to take the mountain down 70 to 80 feet,” he said.
First Selectman Anthony “Unk” DaRos told the Eagle that Vigliotti has complied with requirements from the P&Z and Inland Wetlands and court settlement agreements.
“Vigliotti has gone out of his way to do what he said he would do,” DaRos said. “He worked with the neighbors on Hillside regarding selling and relocating their homes. He did contamination inspection. He built a home and traded it for one of the neighbor’s. This road was not wide enough in the beginning so he had to find a way to make it wider.”
Diana Stricker Photo
Bill Horne (pictured) explained that the grant of conservation easement means that the Land Trust could go to court and stop any type of plans if a future administration wanted to develop the seven-acre park.
Covenants will restrict the type of activity that is permitted in the wooded area. For example, walking trails may be established and small markers may be placed for educational purposes. However, the legal agreement prohibits development, blasting, dumping of debris, or any changes to the natural environment.
“There are a number of properties around town where the Land Trust has a conservation easement,” Horne said.
Marcia Chambers Photo
The revised plans (pictured) approved by P&Z in 2009 called for 120 units, but that was reduced to 117 when the developer and a new architect met with P&Z in November, 2011. The revised plans, which were approved by P&Z, call for larger community rooms in each of the three buildings, instead of having a separate club house.
The new architect, John Cruet Jr., also changed the exterior design of the buildings to be more reflective of a New England style.
According to the 2009 plans, each of the three buildings will have a separate and direct road leading to the widened Hillside Avenue. Town Planner Shirley Rasmussen told the Eagle that fire department officials “reviewed the plans very thoroughly multiple times” and adjustments were made to ensure that fire trucks would have plenty of access space.
“The access is so much better than it was in the old, old plans,” Rasmussen said in reference to the original plans that were rejected years ago. In the old plans, a narrow road with sharp curves led to the building that was at the top of the 12-acre parcel.
A CHANCE MEETING
The road to reaching the 2009 settlement came about in a chance meeting at a supermarket. Horne came upon Vigliotti when both were in the store to shop. The meeting occurred sometime after DaRos was again elected the town’s first selectman in 2007.( His earlier six year term in office ended in 2003). By 2007 Vigliotti had filed various lawsuits against the town after he has lost his case to build 120 apartments almost to the top of the ledge filled hill.
Vigliotti and Horne discussed what had by then become a costly court battle over the project that had made headlines during the administration of Cheryl Morris, the former first selectwoman. Horne suggested he visit with DaRos. Soon after, Vigliotti paid a visit to DaRos in his Town Hall office. He arrived shortly after 7 a.m. The two men spoke with no one else present. Before long they found common ground.
One issue that had to be settled was Vigliotti’s insistence that the project go to the top of the small mountain, a proposal the town’s land boards and commissions rejected at every turn. That was resolved when Vigliotti agreed to deed the seven acres to the town for open space.
Making the project a senior’s only rental project was in keeping with the town’s Plan of Conservation and Development (POCD). Before the updated POCD was approved, the planners conducted a survey which revealed that more senior housing was needed.
Clendenen said he was happy with the settlement. “We were able to get an urban park, walking trails and other amenities for the citizens. Senior housing is desperately needed. A survey had just been done that showed that. And we would no longer be facing a major lawsuit.”
SETTLEMENT AGREEMENT
The next step was to iron out the settlement issues in Superior Court in New Britain, where cases involving affordable housing projects are heard. At that time the project had a 30 percent affordable housing component. It is now a senior rental project.
On June 29, 2009, the parties, with the assistance of Judge Levine, “negotiated a court supervised settlement process for the potential resolution of the appeals.
Before he signed off on the settlement, the judge made sure to put in writing that he would oversee the rights of the parties as the settlement went forth. That was in 2009. He is still in charge.
The two-year plus gap in time between signing the agreement and putting it before the RTM was in large part the result of Vigliotti’s need to fulfill the obligations under the settlement and under Planning & Zoning regulations. Houses along Hillside Avenue had to be sold and the owners relocated because Hillside Avenue will become the major access road for the new project. It will be widened and each housing area will have its own entrance off Hillside.
Two neighbors who opposed previous development plans still have objections to the newest project. Todd Bainer, an attorney, and Michael Vergato, his neighbor on Cedar Street, continue to protest the development on environmental and density grounds. But the majority of neighbors want the settlement.
Although the pair has continued to question whether there is contaminated debris on the property, Horne said he has seen no evidence of that. He walked the property years ago and again recently with members of the Land Trust acquisition committee. “I didn’t see anything in there that suggested to me that there was contamination,” he said.
There have also been questions about a portion of the property in the northwest corner of the parcel that is to the rear of the Citgo gas station on Route 1. However, Vigliotti will retain ownership of that area.
Issues of contamination were raised during public hearings in 2009, but soil specialists told the regulatory boards that test results indicated there were no environmental hazards.
DaRos told the Eagle he plans to have another Phase I environmental study of the area.
“We checked it environmentally and found no problem in the past. We are now in the process of getting another Phase I environmental study—-just to make everybody happy. This is what we are now doing.”
The RTM meets Wednesday at 8 p.m. at Canoe Brook Senior Center to act on the Founders Village property transfer from Vigloitti to the town. The RTM’s administration services committee approved the project 6-1 a few weeks ago with only Ray Ingraham, who also serves as chair of the Republican party, voting in dissent.
If the RTM approves the settlement and the transfer of property, Vigliotti is set to put shovel to ground soon.
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