ANSONIA – A dispute over rock crushing between South Westwood Road residents and contractor Burns Construction continued to simmer during a planning and zoning public hearing May 18.
At issue? The terms of a 2022 settlement agreement, which was supposed to allow the company to crush rocks at their Riverside Drive facility while minimizing impact to neighbors.
Neighbors said May 18 that Burns has not abided by the terms of the settlement. Representatives from Burns said the company is doing its best to be a good neighbor.
The public hearing was scheduled over a special exception permit which would allow Burns to operate two rock-crushing machines on their property. The terms of that permit were established as part of the court settlement four years ago.
However, the discussion in the public hearing included renewed disagreements over other parts of the settlement – including a deadline to apply for that permit.
Neighbors also took issue with the company’s efforts to mitigate dust and noise, and the failure to plant trees to act as a buffer zone.
The commission took no action on the permit May 18 and voted to hold another public hearing at their next meeting on June 29.
Watch the videos below for testimony from two neighbors who were plaintiffs in the lawsuit against Burns, and Dominick Thomas, the attorney representing Burns Construction in the hearing.
The story continues after the videos.
New Dispute Has Been Ongoing Since January
Neighbors Christopher Rogers, Leonard Marazzi and Andrew Mark sued the city’s planning & zoning commission and Burns Construction over rock-crushing and quality of life issues in October 2021.
The neighbors and their attorney said Burns had begun crushing rocks under an invalid permit, since rock-crushing was not a permitted use in the city’s zoning regulations at the time.
Former Mayor David Cassetti’s administration had argued rock-crushing is OK, as long as the materials being crushed don’t originate on-site.
With the Cassetti administration’s support, the planning and zoning commission voted to add “rock-crushing” to the city’s regulations in September 2021.
The neighbors then reached a settlement agreement with Burns Construction in July 2022. The settlement included terms that would allow the rock-crushing to go ahead, with some restrictions.
One of the settlement terms required Burns Construction to apply for a special permit from the City of Ansonia to operate its rock crushers within 60 days. However, the company began crushing rocks on the site again without applying for that permit.
Burns Construction applied for the permit in January 2026, more than three years after the settlement deadline had passed. Ben Proto, an attorney who represented Burns prior to Thomas, said to the commission that the company had continued to crush rocks while the application was pending.
Land use administrator Ronda Porrini then issued a cease & desist order to Burns Construction in April to stop rock-crushing until a decision on the permit is reached. The company appealed that order, and the appeal is pending separately before the zoning board of appeals.
The May 18 public hearing was the third public hearing since February over the special exception permit.
Neighbors, Burns Yet To Reach Agreement On Tree Buffer
Under the settlement, Burns was supposed to plant a tree buffer along the ridge line between their property and their neighbors on South Westwood Road. The buffer was meant to shield the neighborhood from noise and dust.
That buffer hasn’t been planted. Thomas said that his client has planted other trees meant to mitigate noise – but that the geography of the ridge line makes it unrealistic to plant the buffer as laid out in the settlement.
“The bottom line is there’s a cliff, it’s actually a cliff. So when you’re looking at that line as to where they plant it, that was probably right where they drew it without realizing. My clients are willing to have a conversation about it,” Thomas said.
He said Burns would work with neighbors on compromises to get trees planted, which he said could include some homeowners having trees planted on their properties.
However, Marazzi said that Burns has had years to comply with the settlement. He asked for more enforcement action against Burns while discussions are ongoing.
“We have worked with our attorney and their attorney about these issues going back and forth. When are they finally going to actually comply? That’s the question. They want to have a meeting? We’ll meet,” Marazzi said.
Rogers said that dust and noise tests conducted by Burns did not take into account the neighbors closest to their facility.
“Our main concern, which I’m going to re-elaborate on, is the dust and noise mitigation. None of the sound tests were done on South Westwood Road. For what purpose? They were done on North Westwood,” Rogers said.
He said that the tests should have been conducted closer to his home.
“We’re the closest to the whole property. We were the ones that brought this whole thing about. Why weren’t the noise tests done in our neighborhood, but other neighborhoods,” he said.
Thomas said that his client is doing their best to be a good neighbor.
“They think they’ve apologized for not filing the special exception permit within the 60 days, but for a good number of years, they never had any complaints. There were never any issues. They continued to operate. And they did plant trees, they did maintain the piles at higher distance,” Thomas said.
He said Burns is willing to meet with neighbors to discuss the remaining settlement issues.
“They’re certainly more than willing to address any other reasonable requests that remain to address the concerns of abutting neighbors,” Thomas said.
Jared Heon, chairman of the planning and zoning commission, said that Burns and its neighbors should meet before the commission makes a decision on the rock-crushing application. He said he had reached out to Mayor Frank Tyszka’s office in the hopes that Tyszka could set up a meeting between the two parties.
Heon said that a solution to the tree buffer issue needs to be found.
“The big issue is the buffer between the use and the residential. And I think that’s what needs to be seriously addressed,” Heon said.
Heon said the planning and zoning commission wasn’t the place to figure out how Burns and its neighbors can reach an agreement on the 2022 settlement. He said the commission would revisit the rock-crushing permit at its next meeting on June 29.