ZBA suggests consultant, to avoid lawsuit

SALISBURY — After a two-hour executive session during a special meeting on Monday, Oct. 1, the Zoning Board of Appeals (ZBA) asked the Board of Selectmen to hire an independent consultant to review how zoning regulations are administered and enforced.

The ZBA and the Planning and Zoning Commission (P&Z) have been at odds over zoning decisions, especially recent ones regarding a lakefront property. This new request reflects concerns about how decisions are made about permits for homes.

From the minutes of the special meeting, the request reads:

“The Zoning Board of Appeals’ unanimous decision of Aug. 28, 2008, revoking the Certificate of Occupancy on the property at 144 Millerton Road in Lakeville, remains unchallenged.

“The board is concerned that the zoning enforcement officer issued a Certificate of Zoning Compliance in apparent disregard of the expressly stated rationale of our decision.�

Salisbury’s longtime zoning enforcement officer is Nancy Brusie.

This request to the selectmen, it is hoped, will help the town avoid a lawsuit between the two zoning boards.

“Inasmuch as continuing to pursue the proper enforcement of our decision in the court of law would be expensive for the town in an era of tightened belts, the ZBA has voted to recommend to the town a plan of action which should avoid similar situations in the future,� the document said.

“It is our recommendation that an outside professional planning consultant be hired by the town to study the matter of how zoning regulations are administered and enforced in the town.�

The consultant will interview members of several town boards and commissions and the ZBA document strongly suggests that all officials make available whatever information is requested of them.

Publication of legal notices will also be reviewed if the consultant is hired.  ZBA Chairman Jeff Lloyd said in an interview after the executive session that he believes legal notices should be published in The Lakeville Journal as a matter of policy, since weekenders and summer residents — who make up a significant part of the town’s tax base — are far more likely to read The Journal than a daily paper from Torrington or Waterbury.

Trying to avoid lawsuits

In an interview Monday, Oct. 12, Lloyd said he was concerned about initiating a lengthy court action — one which would involve two town boards plus Zoning Enforcement Officer Nancy Brusie and Building Inspector Mike Fitting — and, inevitably, the owners of the property at 144 Millerton Road, and their neighbors.

“Am I prepared to put the town through a six-figure legal case?� asked Lloyd rhetorically.

“Our lawyer [Peter Herbst] said we’d have a 50-50 chanceâ€� of winning an action to require the town to enforce the ZBA’s August 2008 decision revoking the Certificate of Occupancy for the home.  A neighbor, Anne Marie Nonkin, initially complained that the work at 144 Millerton Road exceeded the limits of the permit. She began legal action against Dean and Margaret Haubrich, who own the home. They have since reached a settlement.

But the matter of enforcing the ZBA’s decision revoking the Certificate of Occupancy has never been resolved.

Lloyd said he would ask the selectmen to adopt a consultant’s recommendations “whatever they are.�

“I don’t want this to happen again.�

ZBA members Charlie Kelley, Stephen Victory  and Lorna Brodtkorb voted yes to the plan to request a consultant; Wendy Hamilton cast the lone dissenting vote and resigned from the ZBA the following week.

Whose job to uphold rules?

Hamilton said in a phone interview, “In my opinion the ZBA left an illegal house standing. I felt like it’s our job to uphold the town’s regulations.�

With the decision not to pursue the 144 Millerton Road matter in court, Hamilton said she “cannot in good conscience continue on the board.� She also resigned from the Board of Assessment Appeals, and withdrew from the coming election, where she was on the ballot as a Democratic candidate for a seat on both boards.

The letters announcing these decisions were received by Town Clerk Patty Williams on Friday, Oct. 9.

Charlie Kelley, who is chairman of the Democratic Town Committee, said, “We are not going to replace her on the ballot at this time.�

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