With a developer pursuing two lawsuits to press South Windsor into authorizing a nearly 360,000-square-foot warehouse, nine would-be neighbors of the project have filed motions in both suits to be recognized as intervenors so they can continue arguing against it.
Glastonbury-based UW Vintage Lane II LLC has been the focus of neighborhood controversy since last July, when it first proposed a mega-warehouse on 30 undeveloped acres along Governors Highway.
Nearby property owners quickly organized an opposition campaign and argued to the planning and zoning commission that a project so massive would create traffic backups and pollution from idling trucks.
Their attorney, John Parks, told planners last fall that the proposal for 54 loading docks indicated the site might qualify as a freight terminal — a more intensive use than a warehouse and distribution center.
UW Vintage Lane argued that the plan wouldn’t fall into a freight terminal designation. Peter DeMallie, president of Design Professionals and chief presenter of the UW Vintage Lane plan, also told commissioners that the developer was waiting to decide whether to build on speculation or wait for construction until it secures a tenant.
Parks urged the commission to press UW Vintage Lane harder on exactly what kind of use for the building is planned, citing a Sonoma, Calif., case where the town learned after questioning an applicant for a similar building that it was planning a freight terminal rather than just a warehouse.
The commission ultimately rejected UW Vintage Lane’s first plan in December, saying it was likely to cause too much pollution or create too much public distrust of air and water quality there.
The developer filed suit in Hartford Superior Court in January claiming commissioners had no reasonable grounds for denying the proposal. Commissioners ignored expert testimony on behalf of UW Vintage Lane and were confused about facts in the case, the lawsuit claims.
“The members of the commission failed to make themselves sufficiently familiar with the application, the supporting materials and the public hearing records to to exercise an informed judgment,” according to the lawsuit.
That case remains pending.
Meanwhile, UW Vintage Lane submitted a modified proposal, which also was rejected. In the second case, commissioners sided with neighbors who had warned that snow removal plans for the massive site could result in pollution to nearby waterways.
In April, the developer sued over that rejection two, and thus has two cases against the planning and zoning commission in Hartford District Court.
The company cited the same arguments in its second suit and also claimed that commissioners mistakenly accepted neighbors’ contentions about the impact of plowing snow into wetlands.
Five Things You Need To Know
Daily
We’re providing the latest coronavirus coverage in Connecticut each weekday morning.
“The commission failed to recognize that no such environmental impact was alleged,” the suit states.
Opponents who testified gave no evidence to back up such a claim, and the town’s own wetlands board had already concluded that the warehouse would not damage nearby wetlands, according to the lawsuit.
In both court cases, neighbors last month filed motions to be recognized as intervenors — a move that would give them limited power to question witnesses and introduce evidence.
The prospective intervenors are Richard Brian Delhaie Jr. and Susan Elizabeth Delhaie of Cody Circle; Kanika Biasla of Edgewood Drive; Gerald Jeyaraj and and Seconda P. Gerald of Cody Circle; Rahuraj Singh Chandra and Sunita Chandrakar of Edgewood Drive; and Martin Rulnick of Governor’s Circle; and Derrick Butler of Governors Highway.
“The development would negatively impact the proposed intervenor’s use and enjoyment of their residential property, their health and safety, and the value of their properties,” according to the motion.
“The development would cause noise, light and air pollution, create traffic and pedestrian safety hazards, and have negative aesthetic impacts,” according to the motion by Attorney Joel Green.
Don Stacom can be reached at dstacom@courant.com.
