Monday, August 12, 2024

Legal Update - P&Z Appeal

In legal news, the judge for the original P&Z appeal consolidated the two new appeals into one case. Three separate appeals are now one appeal because the questions raised in the 2nd and 3rd appeal will be answered by the first appeal.

This case has the following schedule: plaintiffs’ brief due 9/13/24, defendants’ briefs due 11/1/24, plaintiffs’ reply brief due 11/15/24, and oral arguments on 12/9/24.

We are now fundraising for the approximately $15K we need for the next few months to get this done. We are extremely grateful for all the support we have received over the last 19 months of this effort, and we’re in the home stretch to a decision. Contrary to what you may have heard, this fight is not over, and we have just a few months until a ruling on whether or not the state law applies to the redrawn Southford Park property lines (we think it does!!!).

Our GoFundMe is still running, or you can mail a check to MSTA, PO Box 1073, Middlebury, CT 06762.

GoFundMe Link: https://www.gofundme.com/f/middlebury-small-town-alliance

Every donation matters: we’ve had over 300 individuals support this effort financially, and most donations have been modest yet extremely impactful. You are making a difference through the combined efforts of many, many of your neighbors, and we have collectively come a very long way since that first meeting hosted by the Avalon Farms HOA at Shepardson on December 27, 2022.

Thank you for trusting us to guide this battle, and thank you for standing up for Middlebury!


Follow This Blog

Sunday, June 9, 2024

Update: Press Release

Yesterday, the MSTA, Avalon Farms HOA and Gary Kline’s appeal of the Drubner Equities, LLC wetlands permit for the former Timex property was denied by Superior Court Judge John L. Cordani. A link to the decision will be posted in comments below. This was the first of four appeals that will challenge this ill-sited project, and the MSTA is unfazed by this decision.

The Conservation Commission process was predetermined and designed specifically to withstand appeal. However, we are confident that the project will not survive the next appeal, which will be heard in December. We will be appealing both recent decisions to approve the amended applications submitted on behalf of Flint Development (the wetlands permit and the P&Z application).

We are grateful for all your past support, and thrilled to see the continued interest in citizen participation in our town government processes. Thank you for partnering with us in this fight! We will continue to keep you updated on the process.

Press Release Link: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1a2mnDYFuFzfrKecctAhcqt68QWCTTLot/view?usp=sharing

Case File Link: https://civilinquiry.jud.ct.gov/CaseDetail/PublicCaseDetail.aspx?DocketNo=UWYCV236070997S


Follow This Blog

Friday, April 19, 2024

Two Applications to Intervene

Wednesday, the Middlebury Small Town Alliance filed two applications to intervene in both the Planning and Zoning and Conservation Commission permit modification applications for Southford Park. Both permits are currently under appeal to Superior Court and Public Act 23-204, § 173 prohibits this project, so it’s concerning that both Commissions even accepted the modified applications at this time.

More concerning is the fact that both the SLR engineer and Attorney Fitzpatrick told the Conservation Commission that the Southford Park project was designed to meet the storm water management criteria of the draft 2023 Storm Water Management Manual, but the new engineering firm VHB told the Commission at the March CC meeting that the project was NOT designed to 2023 standards, just to the 2004 standards. There will be a public hearing for this application at the April 30th Conservation Commission at 6:30pm, all members of the public are welcome to attend and to provide comment.

Legal Updates:

Wetlands Permit: Oral arguments on this appeal are scheduled for June 3, 2024 at 9:30am in Waterbury.

Planning & Zoning Permits: Certified list and administrative record to be filed by 6/7/24, Plantiffs’ brief due by 8/9/24, Defendants’ briefs due by 10/11/24, Plantiffs’ reply brief due by 11/8/24, and oral arguments to be scheduled for December 9, 2024 at 2pm in Waterbury.

Fundraising Updates:

We continue to be astonished by and grateful for the contributions that have made this fight possible. We will incur some new legal and expert witness costs because of the two new intervention applications at P&Z and CC, so any new contributions will be directed towards those costs. Checks can be made out to MSTA and sent to PO Box 1073, Middlebury, CT 06762. Or, you can use our GoFundMe link: https://www.gofundme.com/f/middlebury-small-town-alliance

Thank you for your continued support!

Thursday, April 4, 2024

Town Budget Public Hearing 4/9 6:30 @ Middlebury Public Library

A Public Hearing regarding the proposed town budget is scheduled for Tuesday, April 9th at 6:30 PM. Please note this hearing will be held at the Middlebury Public Library.


Follow This Blog

Wednesday, March 27, 2024

Southford Park Update aka Here We Go Again!

On March 26th at the Middlebury Conservation Commission meeting, Attorney Fitzpatrick introduced a new engineering firm who submitted a wetlands permit modification for the Southford Park Distribution Facility. We will keep this short, but here are the key details we learned:
1. There is a new “client” involved in the project, Kansas based Flint Development. Attorney Fitzpatrick explained this was “one” of the interested parties in the project. We will link their portfolio of projects in the comments, but many of them are massive distribution facilities. We suggest looking closely at the link and trying to picture their developments in the heart of our tiny town.
2. SLR seems to be no longer involved in the engineering side of the project, replaced by engineering firm VHB.
3. The MSTA so far has been unsuccessful at looking at or getting copies of the modified plans for the site, but it appears there have been changes to the parking layout and the building sizes. The explanation from VHB last evening was these changes fit the client’s “needs”, but there was no further clarification of why. This is all public information, and should have been available for inspection in the Land Use office. The MSTA was told to submit a FOIA request for copies of the documents by Chairman Bowler: this reply wrongly sidesteps the public access requirement that all land use applications require, and unnecessarily restricts public access to public documents.
4. The Commission voted to hold a Public Hearing on the permit modification, which will take place at next month’s Conservation Commission Meeting, April 30th, at 6:30 pm.
Therefore, next month another Public Hearing begins. Here we go again!


Support the Alliance

Name

Email *

Message *

Featured Post

Legal Update - P&Z Appeal