STAMFORD — This fall, the Connecticut Supreme Court will take up two of Stamford’s land use-related lawsuits, signaling a new phase in the local battle over who builds what and where in the city.
Board of Representatives Attorney Patricia Sullivan of Cohen & Wolf said that the cases, one involving a potential Life Time Fitness gym and the other about a parcel in the South End, will skip the appellate courts. Instead, Connecticut’s top legal authority opted to hear arguments during its next session, which starts Sept. 7 and runs until Sept. 17.
“The matter is tentatively scheduled,” Sullivan told the board. “And I say tentatively, because the Supreme Court will put matters on its agenda, and then, depending on how many matters are ready, you know you might get heard during that session and you might not.”
Sullivan announced the move last week at the first Outside Counsel Committee meeting in a year and a half before the committee retired into executive session, which state statute explicitly allows for the board to discuss “strategies and negotiations about pending claims or pending litigation.”
In both cases, the Board of Representatives backed resident-led petitions against developers looking for a variance to build denser buildings than the statutes allowed, something neighbors claimed would erode the character of their neighborhoods.
And in both cases, real estate firm George Comfort & Sons and developer Building and Land Technology respectively argued that the representatives lacked the authority to acknowledge and act on the petitions.
George Comfort & Sons, owner of High Ridge Office Park, sought to build a 100,000-square-foot, indoor-outdoor facility for gym chain Life Time Fitness on a parcel once occupied by Frontier Communications. While the city’s Zoning Board appeared to look favorably on adapting one of Stamford’s vacant office parks for new tenants, homeowners in abutting Turn-of-River took issue with what they said were the disruptions a building of that magnitude could create.
A legal back-and-forth between the property owner and the board, bolstered by residents’ concerns, ensued. Finally, the challenges culminated with a state Superior Court judge deciding the residents’ petition was void, in part because so many of them live in condominiums and the rules governing petitions are very specific.
All owners of a property must sign a petition to be legally valid, Superior Court Judge Marshall Berger maintained. If two people own a house, both people must sign the petition. They count as one signatory. If 50 people own condos on a property, all 50 people must sign the petition. They also count as one signatory, according to Berger, an assertion backed up by legal precedent.
The Board of Representatives is looking to challenge that precedent and ask whether condo owners are considered landowners and whether the board has the power to verify protest petitions.
The battle over the former B&S Carting site was similar.
The Planning Board in 2019 approved changes to the Master Plan — Stamford’s governing planning document — that would allow BLT to put up more than 650 units on a South End block between Woodland Avenue and Walter Wheeler Drive.
The move garnered fierce pushback from some South End neighbors, who filed a petition that the Board of Representatives ultimately affirmed. Like George Comfort & Sons, BLT upheld that not enough neighbors signed the document to make it valid. In BLT’s case, Judge Berger also decided that the board lacked jurisdiction over whether petitions are valid or not.
The city has appealed both decisions.
Even though the legal challenges are still pending, the Zoning Board in November 2020 approved a high-rise for the Woodland Avenue parcel. The proposed building would be 25 stories at its tallest point. If the state Supreme Court agrees with the lower courts, BLT can move forward with construction.
The lawyers for the Board of Representatives, BLT and George Comfort & Sons could not immediately be reached for comment.
veronica.delvalle@hearstmediact.com
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