"SHEFF BACK" LATEST - click here.
John Brittain and Oswegatchie Hills. Eightmile River now officially "wild and scenic!" Why this issue should reverberate in all towns in CT.
- LATEST DEVELOPMENT IN THE NEWS;
- National Designation for Eight
Mile River? YES!!!
- Is this where to begin learning how to save your river? NEMO Eightmile River Case Study.
- READ HERE... OF NEW APPLICATION REJECTION (2005)
- GROWTH MANAGEMENT principles (just like State of Washington) prevail!
- And what of the Yale golf course issue?
- And a farm preserved.
Don't you think ONE of these shots in the dark will eventually find the right judge? Then, after appeals, it's off to the U.S. Supreme Court!
Leave The Hills Alone
DAY editorial
Published on 2/7/2008
Developer Glenn Russo should call off his relentless effort to develop housing in the Oswegatchie Hills in East Lyme and work with conservationists who want to buy the property and preserve it as open space.
Mr. Russo's Landmark Development Group has been trying since 2001 to win approval for the condominium project that would include affordable housing. In challenging the town's refusal to approve his plan, Mr. Russo points to a state law intended to assist developers overcome zoning regulations that exclude affordable housing.
Last week, for the second time, a Superior Court judge rejected Mr. Russo's appeal. Judge Eliot Prescott correctly found that the state law intended to encourage affordable housing was trumped by the need to protect a “unique and important environmental setting.”
Unfortunately, that does not appear to be the end of the matter. Mr. Russo has two other state court appeals pending and has also filed a civil rights lawsuit in federal court alleging the town is discriminating against poor and minority families by not allowing the affordable housing project to move forward.
The evidence simply does not support such claims. All the evidence suggests instead that the public's interest is to preserve these vital woodlands overlooking the Niantic River. The town, state and private groups have worked together to begin buying up open space in the Oswegatchie Hills and want to acquire the property from Mr. Russo, should he abandon his plans.
There is surely a need in this region for more housing that working families can afford, but there are plenty of places to build it that make far more sense than in the Oswegatchie Hills.
Russo Loses Oswegatchie Hills Appeal: Developer now 0-for-2 on appeals in quest to build condominiums
DAY
M. Matthew Clark
Published on 2/6/2008
East Lyme — For the second time in six years, a Superior Court judge has rejected an appeal by Glenn Russo, the developer who has tried for years to build affordable housing condominiums in the Oswegatchie Hills.
Last Friday, New Britain Superior Court Judge Eliot Prescott ruled in the town's favor on a 2005 appeal brought by Landmark Development Group. The real estate company, which is headed by Russo, was seeking a court decision to overturn the East Lyme Zoning Commission's initial rejection of his application.
The case, Prescott noted, “highlights the sometimes competing public policies of developing and maintaining affordable housing and preserving and protecting Connecticut's fragile natural resources.”
“In this case, the public policy of encouraging the development of affordable housing must yield in light of the unique and important environmental setting of the property sought to be developed,” Prescott wrote in his decision.
“That's great news for the town,” said Mark Nickerson, the commission's chairman. “The Zoning Commission works very hard in its deliberations, weighing all the evidence, and we're pleased that the judge came to the same conclusion as we did.”
First Selectman Paul Formica said the judge's ruling is “certainly a good sign,” and that the Oswegatchie Hills ought to be preserved, not developed.
“We are for affordable housing, just not on that piece of land,” Formica said Tuesday.
Russo has had four various affordable housing plans rejected by the commission since 2002. He has appealed each rejection in court, with two appeals currently pending. He has also filed a federal civil rights lawsuit against the town.
“Obviously we're disappointed we didn't win on all of the points we tried to make,” Russo said in a phone interview Tuesday. He added, however, that he believes the ruling bodes well for his pending appeals.
• • •
Landmark's first application to develop condominiums in the Oswegatchie Hills was submitted December 2001. The zoning board denied the application in late June 2002.
The commission cited five reasons in its denial. The proposal wasn't compatible with local and state plans of development, which included protecting the area as open space. It had inadequate water and sewer for the proposed density of the project, the commission determined, and could potentially damage the ecosystem of Long Island Sound and the Niantic River. They also cited traffic concerns.
Landmark revised its application and resubmitted it in July of that year. The commission rejected the amended plan, saying it did not sufficiently resolve the initial problems. Landmark filed an appeal in October 2002 in Superior Court over that rejection.
On Sept. 7, 2004, another New Britain Superior Court judge, Barbara Quinn, upheld the commission's decision on the first application from Russo, citing the same concerns that the zoning board listed in its decision.
Simultaneously, Landmark submitted a new application, the one that Prescott ruled on Friday, which the judge called “a point of vigorous dispute by the parties from the outset.” The new proposal did not, in its own terms, seek any amendments from the commission, but was submitted rather as an affordable housing application under the state statutes that provide for that type of housing.
The affordable housing laws are meant to “assist property owners in overcoming local zoning regulations that are exclusionary,” according to Prescott's decision.
State law recommends that at least 10 percent of the housing stock in a municipality be considered affordable, defined as being within the financial means of people who earn 60 to 80 percent of the median town income. East Lyme has 4.8 percent affordable housing, and the majority of that serves as elderly housing.
And though East Lyme is subject to those laws, Russo's plan would be a detriment to public health because of the inadequate sewer capacity for the proposed density and because there has been “a long standing public interest in preserving (the land) as open space,” Prescott's decision stated.
RUSSO'S LATEST PLAN SHOT DOWN
Developer's 4th Attempt To Build Affordable Units Is Derailed By Zoning Panel
DAY
By M. Matthew Clark
Published on 11/2/2007
East Lyme — For the fourth time in five years, the Zoning Commission Thursday unanimously rejected an application for an affordable housing project in the Oswegatchie Hills.
The proposal from developer Glenn Russo, president of the Middletown-based Landmark Development, contained a plan for building 1,500 to 1,700 condominiums, some of which would be affordable housing according to town regulations, on approximately 235 acres of wooded land that fronts the western banks of the Niantic River.
“I'm convinced this body of land needs to be protected,” said Mark Nickerson, the commission's chairman.
On Russo's fourth attempt to get approval from the town, the commission cited similar reasons for rejecting the project as in years past. The size of the project, commissioners said, would put too large of a burden on the town's limited water supply, and the development would lead to serious traffic congestion.
Commissioner Norman B. Peck III said the traffic that would result if the project were built would be “absolutely unsafe” and “inconsistent” with any other large development in town.
The issue of preserving the environmentally sensitive land has been a frequent topic of debate in this year's election. First Selectman Beth Hogan, a Democrat, and her Republican challenger Paul Formica agree that the property must be saved but differ on how to do so. Hogan has said that under her administration she has opened negotiations with Russo that are proceeding, while Formica said the town should consider using eminent domain to secure the land.
Two environmental groups in town, The Friends of Oswegatchie Hills Nature Preserve and Save the River, Save the Hills, have protested Russo's plans for housing in the hills, even drawing the support of Attorney General Richard Blumenthal, who spoke against the project at a public hearing on the application in August.
Russo has appealed the commission's previous three denials; one appeal was thrown out in Superior Court, while two are still pending. Russo has also filed a federal civil rights lawsuit that names the Town of East Lyme and several town officials, claiming the town conspired against the affordable housing nature of the project and in turn disenfranchised minorities.
“The bottom line is that nothing's changed,” Nickerson said. “It's the same fragile land.”
Russo, contacted by phone prior to the meeting, said he was not aware that the commission would rule Thursday and was not present for the decision; he could not be reached for comment after the meeting.
Russo Augments Civil Rights Lawsuit Against East Lyme; Developer Trying To Prove The Town Is Blocking The Plan Because It Wants To Keep Out Minorities
DAY
By Karin Crompton
Published on 9/20/2007
East Lyme — The would-be Oswegatchie Hills developer who filed a federal civil rights lawsuit against the town is trying to amend the complaint, filing a substitute version that goes into much greater detail about the ways in which he thinks the town conspired against him and the project.
Middletown developer Glenn Russo, who owns Landmark Development Group LLC, alleged in his original complaint, filed in October 2003, that East Lyme tried to block affordable housing — and, by extension, minorities — from coming to town.
The proposed substitute version, filed Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Hartford, alleges the same, but adds details not included in the original.
Russo has asked the court for permission to amend his complaint. The proposed new version includes headings that sometimes read like chapters in a whodunit — “The Town Employees Conspire to Illegally Defeat the First Affordable Housing Proposal” — and accuses town officials and employees of holding secret meetings, misrepresenting pertinent information, and plotting against the Landmark proposals.
Russo has proposed building hundreds of condominiums in the Oswegatchie Hills, the 700-acre expanse of woodlands that fronts the Niantic River. The town's Zoning Commission has rejected his plans three times, but Russo currently has a fourth application pending.
He appealed each of the denials to New London Superior Court. The court upheld the town's decision on the first application, though Russo maintains that the judge acted on faulty information.
The proposed substitute federal civil rights complaint is 44 pages versus the original, 17-page lawsuit. This is Russo's second attempt to file an amended complaint; the court never acted on the first filing because the town filed a motion to dismiss the case and both sides were awaiting a decision on that motion.
The motion to dismiss is still pending. According to one of Russo's attorneys, Christopher Rooney, the two sides have a conference call today with Judge Robert N. Chatigny, who is hearing the case. It is the third such conference call since Aug. 1.
The proposed revised complaint includes the original two plaintiffs, Lisa Clemons and Susan Barlow, who are described as African-American women who want to move to East Lyme from Windsor and Hartford, respectively, along with their children.
The proposed revision says that as many as 2,000 lower-income residents would move to East Lyme if the Landmark application is approved.
The lawsuit names as defendants the town; former first selectman Wayne Fraser, named in his official and individual capacity; the town's Zoning Commission and its Water and Sewer Commission; the former Director of Public Works, Frederick Thumm, named in his official and individual capacity; the town planner, Meg Parulis, named in her official and individual capacity; and the town's sanitarian, George Calkins, named in his official and individual capacity.
In addition to the original allegation, the lawsuit seeks relief “for the taking of property rights without compensation in violation of the due process and equal protection clauses of the United States and Connecticut Constitutions.”
Rooney, Russo's attorney, said by phone Wednesday that the Supreme Court interprets property rights “to include not just physical land itself, but the rights that go with the land — and that includes the right to permits and things like that. In this case, it's really the right to connect up to the public sewer and water system.”
Nicole D. Dorman, an attorney representing the town, did not return a message seeking comment Wednesday.
The lawsuit alleges a “three-fold deception” carried out by the town: that officials falsely stated that Russo's property is outside the bounds of the town's sewer shed, which determines where water and sewer is available; that they falsely stated that the property was served by a water service that was restricted by an order of the state Department of Environmental Protection; and that “they would create the impression that the Town had taken action to preserve all of Oswegatchie Hills as open space.”
The proposed new version also includes updated information on the percentage of housing in East Lyme that is considered affordable according to state statutes that define it as such. According to the state Department of Economic and Community Development, 5.03 percent of the town's housing was considered affordable in 2002; that figure had dropped to 4.21 percent in 2006.
Russo had first approached the Zoning Commission in the late 1990s with a proposal to build a golf course and senior citizen community. The commission denied his plan, saying, among other things, that the run-off from the greens could pollute the Niantic River.
In June 2002, he proposed creating an affordable-housing district. As part of his application, he presented plans for an 894-unit housing complex called River Views Estates. The commission rejected it. In addition to the water and sewer issue, the panel decided that preserving the Hills was a higher priority than establishing an affordable-housing district there.
Lawsuit Against E. Lyme Lurches To Life; Waiting May Be Nearly Over In Developer Russo's Civil Rights Suit
DAY
By Karin Crompton
Published on 7/28/2007
East Lyme — In October 2003, a Middletown developer filed a federal civil rights lawsuit against the town, alleging that East Lyme purposefully tried to block affordable housing — and, by extension, minorities — from coming to town.
Amid the uproar resulting from that charge, the town quickly filed a motion to dismiss the case. Awaiting a judge's decision, both sides agreed early in 2004 to “stay discovery,” or sit still and not collect evidence pending that action.
They're still waiting.
For all of 2006, only one document was filed in the case: a generic notice from the court about electronic filing.
On March 1 of this year, seeking to jump-start the process, attorneys for developer Glenn Russo filed a motion asking for discovery to begin immediately and for it to conclude within nine months.
“Plaintiff believes that the three year passage of time from the filing of the motion has caused prejudice and that further delay will only heighten that prejudice,” the motion reads.
On March 7, the town filed an objection to the motion, saying the “plaintiffs' claims of prejudice are overstated.”
The tactic appears to have worked. One of Russo's attorneys, Christopher Rooney, said Friday he had just received a notice that a conference call regarding the motion to dismiss has been scheduled for Wednesday morning with Judge Robert N. Chatigny.
“I do think the judge has realized that this needs to be attended to, and I think he's going to go ahead and, one way or the other, deal with it, probably in the near future,” Rooney said.
A message was left for an attorney representing the town of East Lyme early Friday afternoon. Russo, who owns Landmark Development Group LLC, has proposed building hundreds of condominiums in the northern end of the Oswegatchie Hills, a vast stretch of woods that fronts the Niantic River.
In the latest motion, Russo's attorneys said they had expected a decision on the motion to dismiss by about August 2004. The latest motion points out that an engineer who worked on the application has since died, East Lyme's then-director of Public Works has retired, and “the principal protagonist for the Town, former First Selectman Wayne Frasier (sic), no longer holds public office in the Town.”
The motion said also that the case is complex and documents are likely to be lost over time. The town's objection said that although there has been an “unanticipated delay” in the ruling, all pertinent information is contained in the record and will be easily accessible if necessary.
It said the concerns, which it called “unfounded,” don't outweigh the merits of the town's motion to dismiss “and the likelihood that all of plaintiffs' claims will be eliminated.”
The lawsuit, filed on Oct. 27, 2003, accused the town and town officials of “a pattern and practice of discrimination on the basis of race and ethnicity against the individual Plaintiffs, who seek affordable housing in East Lyme” and a “denial of equal protection and due process” against Russo's company.
John C. Brittain, one of the lawyers who successfully argued the Sheff v. O'Neill school desegregation case, is representing Landmark and three other plaintiffs, two of whom are African-American women who say they can't afford to live in East Lyme and send their children to its schools.
The plaintiffs are seeking compensatory damages in the millions of dollars for what they say is a violation of federal fair housing laws.
Two other state lawsuits Russo filed against the town, appealing rejections of his zoning applications, are still pending.
One, filed January 2005, has been temporarily transferred to New Britain Superior Court. The most recent action came this week when the defendants requested an extension to file a brief.
The court file on the other, filed in January 2006, contains only the original filing.
A public hearing on Russo's latest application, a plan to build more than 1,500 condominiums in the Oswegatchie Hills, is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. on Thursday at the middle school.
Sheff Case Returns To Court
School Desegregation Issue Had Been Stuck In The State Legislature
By ROBERT A. FRAHM | Courant Staff Writer
July 6, 2007
The struggle to desegregate Hartford's public schools is back in court.
Plaintiffs in the Sheff v. O'Neill case filed a legal motion Thursday, saying they will wait no longer for the legislature to approve a tentative agreement that would require the state to take aggressive new measures to reduce racial isolation in Hartford's public schools.
A 4-year-old settlement in the long-running case failed to reach its goals and expired last week. The state and the Sheff plaintiffs reached a tentative agreement in late May that would establish new goals and extend the settlement, but the legislature so far has not approved the extension.
The proposed extension calls on the state to spend millions of dollars more over the next five years to subsidize magnet schools, charter schools and other programs designed to bolster integration. The legislature, which received the settlement as its regular spring session was coming to a close, is expected to take up the issue in a special session later this month.
"Time is wasting, and kids are not being properly educated," Wesley W. Horton, a lawyer for the plaintiffs, said after filing a motion asking the courts to enforce a 1996 state Supreme Court ruling ordering the state to reduce racial isolation in Hartford's mostly black and Hispanic schools.
The motion, filed before Superior Court Judge Marshall K. Berger Jr., is the latest step in a legal case that began 18 years ago and led to a 2003 court-approved settlement designed to expand opportunities for Hartford students to enroll in racially integrated magnet schools and predominantly white suburban schools.
That settlement set a target calling for 30 percent of Hartford students to be enrolled in racially integrated schools by this year, but the effort has fallen short.
A recent study by Trinity College researchers reported that only 9 percent of the city's students attend schools that have enough white students to qualify as racially integrated under the Sheff agreement. At the same time, enrollments at many of Hartford's schools, including some magnets, remain almost entirely black and Hispanic.
The Trinity report found that magnet schools, instead of drawing white suburban children into the city, have been more popular among black and Hispanic suburban families. It also found that previous gains under a program allowing city children to enroll in suburban schools have stagnated.
Thursday's legal motion would have little effect if the legislature approves the tentative settlement, but lawmakers said they will need more time to review the proposed settlement before voting later this month.
"We received this settlement ... less than 48 hours before the adjournment of the regular session" in June, said state Sen. Thomas Gaffey, co-chairman of the legislature's Education Committee. "To expect the General Assembly to take this up when we're grappling with the state budget in that short a time frame is absolutely unreasonable."
Among the lawmakers' concerns, according to Gaffey, is the poor track record of the original settlement. "There has been very little progress at reducing racial isolation in Hartford's schools," he said. "What is the evidence we're going to be any better off?"
Gaffey, D-Meriden, said he plans to schedule a hearing to review questions about the Sheff proposal, including whether it complies with last week's U.S. Supreme Court ruling prohibiting schools from assigning students to schools on the basis of race.
Although the goal of the Sheff settlement is to reduce racial isolation, officials have said the Sheff programs are not affected by the Supreme Court's ruling because students are selected for schools based on where they live, and are not singled out by race.
Gaffey also said lawmakers want to know why Hartford officials did not sign on to the latest tentative agreement.
Although Hartford plans to comply with the terms of the Sheff agreement, officials decided not to sign because of the cost of busing students and building new magnet schools under the original agreement, Hartford Corporation Counsel John Rose said. Under the original settlement, the state paid the bulk of the cost, but Hartford also spent millions of dollars, he said.
If the city had received guarantees that those costs would be covered completely by the state under the new tentative settlement, "we would have signed off," he said. "That's really what it's about."
Although the court allowed city officials to take part in settlement negotiations, the settlement was between the plaintiffs and the state. The city could have signed on, but its approval was not required.
Russo Buys 148 Acres In Oswegatchie Hills; Developer Pays $1.8M For Controversial EL Land
DAY
By Karin Crompton
Published on 9/23/2006
East Lyme — Glenn Russo, the developer with the controversial plan to build condos in the Oswegatchie Hills, has purchased 148 acres in the Hills on which he had previously held an option.
The transaction was recorded in Town Hall on Friday. A Middletown company Russo manages, Landmark Development Group LLC, bought the property from Sargents Head Realty Group for $1,765,000. Russo also manages Jarvis of Cheshire LLC, which in October 2000 purchased 86.7 acres in the Hills, an expansive wooded area that fronts the Niantic River. With Friday's transaction, Russo owns about 235 acres through the two companies.
The purchase, Russo said, does not necessarily signal any added confidence on his part that he will succeed in developing the land. Russo said he has always had confidence in that outcome.
“Our company would not spend the time and energy that we have over the past six or seven years without having the confidence that it would be successful,” Russo said by phone on Friday.
Russo said the terms of the contract were outlined six or seven years ago, and “we felt it was a piece of property we wanted to acquire based on those terms.”
Although the price of land, as with every other type of real estate, has risen substantially since then, Russo said his plan is not to sell the property.
“Our plan is to develop the property, as it always has been,” he said, adding that he is still willing to talk to the town about preserving a portion of the area.
The town's Zoning Commission has denied three applications Russo submitted for development in the Hills. In early June, Russo withdrew a fourth plan to build 1,720 units after his lead engineer died suddenly. Each application has been dubbed an affordable housing development, as 30 percent of the units would be set aside as affordable according to state statutes.
Russo currently has two civil suits and a federal lawsuit pending against the town. The civil suits are appeals of the commission's denial of his second and third applications; the court upheld the town in an appeal of the first denial.
The federal civil rights lawsuit claims the town discriminated against minorities in denying his first application.
Russo said he plans soon to re-submit the latest application.
Russo has been busy with plans in Middletown recently. He has been approved as the preferred developer for three city blocks in Middletown, with a focus on snaring retail to complement the city's burgeoning restaurant scene. According to a story in the Hartford Courant, the Middletown agreement is good through 2008, though Russo and the city reserve the right to end it in another year if the economic development committee doesn't approve Russo's plan.
Russo has not yet revealed what companies he hopes to bring to downtown Middletown.
Hearing Speakers Pan Oswegatchie Hills Housing Proposal; Plan marks fourth try for Landmark LLC
DAY
By Katie Warchut
Published on 4/21/2006
East Lyme — A cloud of criticism hung in the air Thursday night surrounding an affordable-housing development proposal.
Instead of describing his development plan in the Oswegatchie Hills, developer Glenn Russo reiterated an offer: to sell at least the waterfront portion of the property for fair market value. He said he has had no success in selling to the town or the state.
“If they don't want to pay for it, they should let us develop it,” he told those assembled at the Zoning Commission's public hearing at East Lyme High School. About 100 people attended the hearing. It was still going on at press time.
Russo, of Landmark Development LLC, is trying for a fourth time to develop the land, proposing the biggest development yet, to build 1,720 units on more than 240 acres. A third of the housing units would be designated as affordable, in accordance with state statutes.
The condominiums would be a mix of townhouses and “garden flats” — three-story buildings containing one-floor condominiums. All of the units would have two bedrooms.
Landmark owns about 240 of the 700-acre Oswegatchie Hills, a rocky woodland along the Niantic River. Russo is asking that the land be rezoned and that new zoning regulations be approved to include a “special-use affordable district.”
But officials and residents Tuesday resoundingly recommended denial of the application, as they have in past Landmark applications.
Attorney General Richard Blumenthal said the commission should deny the application to protect the public's interest in the preservation of open space.
While affordable housing can be placed anywhere, he said, 700 acres of open space cannot be moved.
“This is not an East Lyme issue. It's a Connecticut issue that will affect the future of our state,” he said.
Marcy Balint, of the state Department of Environmental Protection's Office of Long Island Sound Programs, said the developers had not submitted a coastal site plan or addressed issues involving storm water, grading and roads. Nor did they address the fact that the proposed development has no access to municipal water and sewers.
The land is currently zoned for single-family homes on 3 acres, while the zoning change would allow 13.4 units per acre, she said.
The Southeastern Connecticut Council of Governments, in addition to the town's Planning Commission, Harbor Management Commission, and Water and Sewer Commission, did not support the proposal.
Resident Denise Garofalo gave a graphic presentation of archaeologically sensitive areas, flora and fauna, and spring runoff in the hills.
“Just picture what the runoff will be like when the destruction is wrought,” she said.
Barbara Eberle is a Waterford resident, but also a member of the nonprofit Friends of the Oswegatchie Hills Nature Preserve. She said traffic and the density of the proposal could cause “a metropolis state of confusion.”
“This will absolutely destroy the Niantic River,” she said.
The Friends have been working to form a nature preserve in the Hills. To date, 350 acres of the 700-acre goal have been protected.
In his first application, Russo proposed building 894 units. His second application, for a first phase of development, called for 352 units, and his third application was for 840 units.
Russo's first two applications were denied. In the third, the commission voted to allow Russo to build in an area where public water and sewers are available, which it estimated to be about 40 acres. Three lawsuits are pending as a result of the previous applications.
New Oswegatchie Plan Twice The Size; Developer files new proposal for homes along river
DAY
By Karin Crompton
Published on 2/5/2006
East Lyme — In his latest application, the developer seeking to build affordable housing and market-rate condominiums in the town's Oswegatchie Hills section is proposing 1,720 units. Glenn Russo, who owns Landmark Development LLC of Middletown, has submitted a fourth application for Oswegatchie Hills, this one calling for development of more than 240 acres in the northern part of the wooded expanse that fronts the Niantic River.
The application has been filed in Town Hall but has yet to be officially accepted by the Zoning Commission.
Russo's latest application calls for almost twice as many housing units as he has previously proposed. The plan includes condominiums, roads and cul-de-sacs. The application includes a request to amend the town's zoning regulations and also asks for a zone change. The condominiums would be a mix of townhouses and “garden flats” –– three-story buildings containing one-floor condominiums. All of the units would have two bedrooms. The development would include 516 units designated as affordable housing, whose prices would be determined by guidelines set forth in state statutes.
Russo said Friday that he expects the Zoning Commission to reject the application, as it has his three previous submissions.
“I think, based on the town's hostility towards affordable housing in general and to this site specifically, there's no doubt in my mind that the town will deny this plan as they have denied all the previous plans –– including the last plan, in which we gave the town everything that they asked for,” he said. Russo has long proposed developing the land in phases and said Friday that his latest application represents the development plan in its entirety. He said that the density of the development is relatively low.
In his first application, Russo proposed building 894 units. His second application, for a first phase of development, called for 352 units, and his third application was for 840 units.
In an August 2004 letter to commission Chairman Mark Nickerson, Russo reiterated an offer to sell the town a portion of the property to be saved as open space while he built the first phase of his development.
Asked Friday about the status of that offer, Russo said: “We have never heard from the town regarding that letter and so we assume that the town rejected our offer, and we have moved forward with development plans with the belief that the town rejected the letter.
“And therefore we've proposed units over the balance of the land because the town is not interested in pursuing the theme of the letter,” he said. “What else could we assume if they don't respond?”
Russo's latest application surfaced the same week that proponents of preserving all of the Hills as open space celebrated one of their biggest victories –– town voters' endorsement of the purchase of two parcels in the Hills totaling 157 acres. Russo's first two applications were denied in their entirety. In the case of the third, the commission voted to allow Russo to build in an area where public water and sewers are available. The commission estimated that area at 40 acres, but Russo said Friday that he calculated it to be 20 acres.
Russo has appealed each of the commission's denials in Superior Court. The court upheld the town in the first appeal, and the remaining two are pending. Russo also brought a civil rights discrimination lawsuit against the town, which is pending in U.S. District Court. In that suit, Russo claims the town discriminated against minorities in denying his first application.
'Oswegatchie Hills Preserve'
Unfettered public interest embraces one of Connecticut's most precious stretches of unspoiled nature.
Editorial from New London DAY
Published on 11/23/2005
Even as recently as 10 years ago, the idea was unimaginable: A public nature preserve in the Oswegatchie Hills of East Lyme, stretching across 700 acres from a location near Pennsylvania Avenue in Niantic north to the headwaters of the Niantic River in Golden Spur. Up to that point, the most effective protections for the expanse of woodlands, quarries and bluffs overlooking the Niantic River were downturns in the real estate market.
But the ambitious vision of Friends of An Oswegatchie Hills Nature Preserve and other conservationists is taking solid form. Land is changing hands from private to public ownership, accompanied by a cascade of federal, state, local and private funds. The progress, remarkable for only a few years' efforts, is a strong measure of public support for the preservation of this land, which is under assault from Middletown developer Glenn Russo.
Mr. Russo has been relentless in his attempts to build hundreds of housing units in the northern end of the Oswegatchie Hills. But the conservation movement has been just as persistent. The East Lyme Land Conservation Trust and the town have acquired, independently of each other, nearly 200 acres and the town is moving close to adding 157 acres to this open space at the Niantic end. The town will vote on that $1.5 million acquisition early next year. If the purchase is approved, more than half the Oswegatchie Hills will be under public trust.
Money is also pouring in. The effort has yielded, so far, a war chest of $5.5 million in federal, state and local financial commitments. The Friends group has raised nearly $500,000 toward a goal of $2 million. The funds will bankroll an effort to acquire three additional parcels of land and the property Mr. Russo owns or has an option to buy, should he abandon his plans. The land still in private hands extends to the west of Quarry Dock Road into the granite quarries that overlook the Niantic River.
Were the preserve to materialize completely, the public would have access to the land from the south end, near Veterans Memorial Field, and to the north, as well as from the west, through the land acquired by the East Lyme Land Conservation Trust. Hikers and mountain bikers will be able to ascend without trespassing on private property to the ridge of the hills, or travel along past the outcroppings to Turkey Point and Golden Spur. This area is one of the most beautiful stretches of nature one can find anywhere.
More important, the land, which is the last undeveloped stretch of woodland still protecting the Niantic River from pollution from septic systems, lawn fertilizers and other poisonous run-off, will no longer be at the mercy of private property owners and the real estate market.
Mr. Russo has submitted his third plan. Two others have been turned down, one of which is under appeal in Superior Court. Mr. Russo also has launched a civil-rights lawsuit in federal court, charging that the town has denied poor and minority families their rights to affordable housing (a portion of his plan calls for affordable housing).
It is nonsense to suggest that the town has been motivated by social exclusivity to fight Mr. Russo and earlier developers who proposed large-scale developments in the Oswegatchie Hills. The most compelling evidence of this is in the massing of public interests that are assembling to Mr. Russo's south: the town government of East Lyme, Friends of an Oswegatchie Hills Nature Preserve, the East Lyme Land Conservation Trust, the Connecticut General Assembly, the state Department of Environmental Protection and the federal Trust for Public Land. In addition, Waterford and East Lyme are partners in protecting the Oswegatchie Hills through the Niantic River Gateway Commission. Now millions of dollars are flowing into the effort.
If that's not a strong message, what is?
Compromise could Temper Oswegatchie Hills Dispute; Negotiations Are Possible On Plan For Development
By KARIN CROMPTON
Day Staff Writer, East Lyme/Salem
Published on 12/6/2005
East Lyme —For years, discussion of whether to allow development in the Oswegatchie Hills has, for the most part, been an all-or-nothing debate: either the Hills would be preserved, completely, or hundreds of condominiums would dot the landscape that fronts the Niantic River. That may have changed last Thursday night.
By approving a zone change that would allow affordable housing on about 40 acres in the Hills –– a fraction of the 230 acres developer Glenn Russo had sought to have rezoned –– the Zoning Commission acknowledged, for the first time, that at least some development could take place there. After the commission's vote, an officer with a preservation group that has formally opposed development proposals for the Hills suggested that the town and the developer work together.
Mike Dunn, vice president of the nonprofit Friends of the Oswegatchie Hills Nature Preserve Inc., said last week that the move “opens the door” for Russo, who owns Landmark Development Group LLC of Middletown. Dunn suggested a middle ground that has not been seriously pursued: partial development and partial preservation.
“What I would hope is that by the town opening the door to (Russo), that gives him the opportunity to put some affordable housing in the Oswegatchie Hills, that the whole posture could change,” Dunn said. “... The town and Landmark could start working together and say, ‘Let's approve some housing on the hill and let's have preservation on the waterfront.' ”
Even Russo, who was still angry Monday with last week's vote, said he has always been open to negotiations. In an August 2004 letter to commission Chairman Mark Nickerson, Russo reiterated an offer to sell the town a portion of the property to save as open space while he built the first phase of his development. At the time, Phase 1 was a 352-unit housing complex on about 150 acres. It would have included about 120 affordable units.
“We are still willing to sit down with the town and discuss development of this property, discuss selling a portion of the property to the town for open space, providing we are able to build on the balance,” Russo said Monday. Russo has applied three times to the town to build market-rate condominiums and affordable housing in the Oswegatchie Hills. His first two applications were denied in their entirety, and Russo appealed each denial in court.
The court upheld the town in the first appeal. The second appeal is pending in Superior Court. And a civil rights discrimination lawsuit Russo brought against East Lyme is pending in U.S. District Court. In that suit, Russo claims the town discriminated against minorities by denying his first application. Russo confirmed Thursday that he will file a fourth application to develop the remaining 108 acres under his control.
In the application the commission ruled on Thursday, Russo proposed building 850 condominiums on 122 acres. The commission whittled the area down to 40 acres, which Russo said demonstrated the commission's aversion to allowing affordable housing in town. Russo said the commission stripped him of his ability to make a profit by allowing him just the 40 acres. Russo said he would not be able to develop the necessary density of units on a site of that size.
“What the town completely misses the ball on is this: In order to build and give 30 percent (as affordable), I lose money on every single one of those, and you have to make that up on the market-rate units based on density and location,” he said. “If they take away the waterfront and density, there are no excess profits to offset the loss on the affordable (housing).”
Russo said the commission was “transparent” in also denying a text amendment that would have changed what the town allows in an affordable housing zone, and in denying his preliminary site plan. Nickerson said Monday that he was disappointed Russo found no positives in Thursday night's vote.
“For the first time in three applications, this guy heard positive from the Zoning Commission,” Nickerson said. “He heard that we agree that that area does meet our regulations in the design of where we would like affordable housing in town.” Much of Russo's anger has been directed at former First Selectman Wayne Fraser, who was unseated by Beth Hogan in last month's election. Hogan, who was sworn in Monday, and Russo have never met.
“I have to get up to speed on the history of our negotiations between the town and Mr. Russo,” Hogan said, “but I would also be willing to entertain talking to Mr. Russo with our state representative and state senator, and see what we can do to maybe resolve this situation once and for all.” Hogan said state Rep. Ed Jutila, D-East Lyme, offered to aid in negotiations. Jutila said Monday he made the offer during a lunch with Hogan at which the two discussed a number of town and state issues.
Jutila said he would happily lend his experience in negotiations if Hogan requested it. He has worked as a business lawyer for 20 years and has training in negotiations and experience in drafting commercial contracts, he said.
“You never know until you sit down,” he said. “And sometimes a change of individuals might lead to something. Just (the combination of) a period of time since anybody's tried to talk, and then you have some new people –– and maybe you sit down and maybe you come up with some new ways to resolve it.”
Developer Submits 3rd Try For Oswegatchie Hills; Landmark's application is for 840 condominiums
By KARIN CROMPTON
Day Staff Writer, East Lyme/Salem
Published on 6/17/2005
East Lyme — The developer who has twice wrangled with the town over putting housing in the Oswegatchie Hills has submitted a third application, this time for 840 condominiums in the Hills. Glenn Russo, owner of Landmark Development LLC of Middletown, said the application addresses the issues of sewer, water and equality that have been of concern to the town's Zoning Commission.
“This application is exactly what the commission has requested during our previous two applications,” Russo said Thursday. Of the 840 condos, 252 would be designated as affordable.
Russo has twice applied to the town to build condominiums and affordable housing in the north of the Hills, the approximately 700 acres of woodlands that fronts the Niantic River. Both times the town's Zoning Commission has denied his application. Russo's first application in 2002 sought a zone change that included a conceptual plan for 894 housing units — 280 of which were designated as affordable.
His second, last year, called for phased development beginning with 352 units, of which affordable housing would comprise 120 units. An appeal of the second decision is pending in state Superior Court — the court upheld the town in his first appeal — and a civil rights discrimination lawsuit Russo brought against East Lyme is pending in federal District Court.
This latest application seeks approval for a new section of the town's zoning regulations called “Special Use Affordable Housing District.” It also asks to rezone land that Russo owns or has options on. The site development plan shows 24 buildings, all identical condominiums for sale.
In previous applications, the affordable housing was either in the form of rental units or in housing that was set apart and a different style than the market-rate units. Zoning Commission members had voiced their displeasure at the division. The development would occur near the existing Deerfield Condominiums on 123 acres. Of that, 86 acres, or almost 70 percent, would be set aside for open space.
According to the drawings and to Russo, the condominiums would lie entirely within the sewer shed, meaning the condominiums would have access to water and sewer. Russo said he does not need to have on-site septic with this proposed development. Issues surrounding the sewer shed, as well as the on-site septic system, were key in the commission's denials of the previous applications. The earlier applications each included development that fell outside the service area. Russo said the entire development is also outside of the coastal management area and all the units are at least 1,000 feet from the water.
“As you can tell from the plans, it is located as far from the water as it can and still be on our property,” he said.
First Selectman Wayne Fraser said on Thursday that he has not yet seen the latest application. Fraser is also the chairman of the town's Water and Sewer Commission.
“We're still being sued in federal court and it's obvious that I'm a target of any kind of lawsuit that he can bring forward to disrupt the town's operation, so I'm staying out of it,” he said.
Developer Appeals EL Affordable-housing Denial; Landmark Files Suit After Zoning Board's Rejection Of Its Latest Application
By KARIN CROMPTON
Day Staff Writer, Lyme/Old Lyme
Published on 1/28/2005
East Lyme — The developer who hopes to build condominiums and affordable housing in the Oswegatchie Hills has filed a lawsuit to appeal the Zoning Commission's denial of his most recent application.
Glenn Russo, the owner of Landmark Development LLC of Middletown, filed the lawsuit in New London Superior Court on Tuesday. It names the town's Zoning Commission as the defendant.
This is Russo's second attempt to build in the Hills. In June 2002 the commission denied his first application, which sought a zone change that included a conceptual plan for 894 housing units — 280 of which were designated as affordable.
Russo appealed that decision, but a Superior Court judge upheld the commission's decision in September 2004.
The application that is the subject of the suit calls for phased development beginning with 352 units. Affordable housing would comprise 120 units, or 34 percent of the first phase. The affordable housing would consist of rental apartments near the entrance of the development, with market-rate condominiums for sale in an opposite corner near the Niantic River and Latimer Brook.
Russo and his attorney contend that this application will prove to the court that the town used false information in its first rejection, and that the judge upheld the town's denial based on misinformation.
Specifically, the suit claims that when town officials said the site was completely outside the sewer shed, or sewer service area, and thus had no access to sewer and water service, they were misrepresenting the facts.
Russo and his attorney maintain that information the town presented about its Plan of Development, which outlines how much of the land should be preserved as open space, was also wrong and incorrectly influenced the judge's decision to uphold the commission's ruling.
“When we went in before, we had the Water and Sewer Commission saying that we were outside the sewer shed, which was false,” Russo's attorney, Michael Zizka, said by phone on Thursday. “It's very difficult to believe that they would have made a mistake about that. It's not rocket science to read a map, and it was their map. ... When the judge made her decision on the last appeal ... she relied on something they said that was flat-out not true.”
Zoning Commission chairman Mark Nickerson said he could not comment on the appeal other than to say he stands by the commission's decision and is confident it was based on facts. First Selectman Wayne Fraser called the appeal a “shame.”
Russo said Thursday that he hopes the town will accept his offer to sell it a majority of the property while allowing him to develop a part of it.
“Even though we feel as though we were forced into filing this appeal, we still have some hope that we can work with the town and they would reconsider the offer that we've presented to them,” he said.
The suit says the commission's reasons for denial do not meet its burden of proof. Under state law, a town cannot deny an affordable housing application simply based on its zoning regulations. Rather, the town must prove that the need to preserve the land outweighs the need for affordable housing. The suit says there was substantial evidence in the record showing that the soil could support a community septic system and that the application “would not prevent the town from achieving its preservation goals for the Oswegatchie Hills.”
The suit also
says the town's affordable-housing regulation, which says any
affordable
housing must prove that water and sewer are available to the site, “is
an illegal pretext since the Commission does not require public water
and
sewer availability for any other multifamily housing in East Lyme.”
