Sam Gurwitt Photo
Logs at Paradise Landscaping’s 82-92 Crestway.
A landscaping company with a history of violating zoning laws in New Haven has found itself caught up in a zoning mess again, this time in Hamden.
The company, Paradise Landscaping and Tree Removal, which illegally stored a large pile of mulch on Fitch Street in 2015, recently built a facility on Crestway in Hamden. It received special permit approval for the site from Hamden’s Planning and Zoning Commission in 2017, but never actually got a zoning permit from the zoning enforcement officer, which it was required to do before beginning any work on the site. It is now in violation of a cease and desist order.
The company’s failure to obtain a zoning permit may not have been the company’s fault. The town Building Department issued a building permit for the site. It turns out it was not supposed to because state law requires that a zoning permit be issued before a building permit.
But the company is being held responsible for failure to comply with a subsequent cease and desist order. The town issued that order to figure out what is going on at the site and figure out how to bring the company into compliance with the special permit that the Planning and Zoning commission approved.
Zoning Enforcement Officer Holly Masi sent the order to Rusland Boyarski, who operates the business, on Sept. 16. It required that Paradise stop all activities at the site within ten days of receipt of the order, which it received prior to Sept. 23.
On Thursday, when the Independent visited the site, workers were hauling and sawing logs (pictured above).
They were also breaking rocks and moving soil on a slope above the building at the site (pictured).
Boyarksy’s lawyer, Joseph Porto, met with Hamden zoning officials on Thursday to work out a plan to comply with the zoning regulations.
“We have met with town staff, we are aware of the orders, and we are doing all that we can, as best that we can, as quickly as possible to bring the property into conformity,” said Porto.
Later on Thursday, Boyarsky told the Independent that the cease and desist order was lifted at the meeting, and that the company is allowed to continue work on the site.
The cease and desist was not lifted at the meeting, however, according to Masi. Masi said it will not be lifted until the Planning and Zoning Department is satisfied with the work that Paradise is doing to comply with regulations.
Since Paradise did not stop activity at the property, Masi issued a citation on Oct. 4. Paradise will be fined $190 per violation every day that it continues work.
At Thursday’s meeting, zoning officials agreed that they would issue the zoning permit that was never issued. The fact that the company never got the permit in the first place, said Masi, makes it difficult to determine whether it is actually in compliance with the conditions that the Planning and Zoning Commission laid out at its special permit approval.
“This kind of thing, it gets kind of muddy when things get done out of order,” said Masi.
The site is in a manufacturing zone, meaning that activities such as log storage and sawing are permitted. However, they are not permitted until Masi has issued a Certificate of Zoning Compliance, which she can issue after all work is done to get the site ready for operation.
Paradise has been storing logs on the site that come from the properties of its clients. Zoning officials said they told the company that it must remove the logs.
Masi visited the site after Thursday’s meeting with Porto. She said she discovered other possible violations. It appears, she said, that work is encroaching onto a neighboring Sherman Avenue property. (There have been noise complaints coming from the Sherman Avenue side of the property). The company is also storing trucks at its adjacent 72 Crestway property. The previous 72 Crestway owner got approval for truck storage. Paradise, however, must get its own approval.
Masi said that this situation involves many of the problems she frequently faces in enforcing Hamden’s zoning laws. Oftentimes, she said, people get confused about regulations and violate them. It’s a complicated process, and it takes time.
“People think that it’s punitive,” she said of zoning enforcement, “and oftentimes they want an immediate fix, but it’s like any other legal process. There are steps. Just like there’s a permitting process, there’s an enforcement process.”