Ansonia started drainage work on O’Neils Court last month, after a Superior Court judge agreed to let the city go onto private property with its construction equipment, according to Corporation Counsel Kevin Blake.
The construction comes after a legal battle with the property owner — Jorge Valladares — and mounting frustrations from residents on the street, which is often subjected to severe flooding due to a failed drainage system.
Background
The road and some properties get flooded every time it rains. The problem has persisted for about 30 years, residents say.
The city has been working to install a new drainage system, which requires permission from some landowners to install pipes underground on their properties.
The city started installing a new drainage system in 2010, but the work stopped when Valladares, who owns 159 O’Neils Court, wouldn’t let the city access his property.
The slow pace of the project raised some concerns from neighbors over the summer. Click here to read about the complaints from one O’Neils Court resident in August.
Legal Process
The city needed two different types of easements to complete the work: a permanent easement to put new pipes underground, and a temporary easement to get onto Valladares’ property to do the construction.
Because Valladares objected to the construction work and the installation of new drainage equipment, Ansonia officials had to ask a judge to make a ruling to allow the city to go onto the land and install the new pipes.
On Nov. 18, Blake said the court issued its ​“certificate of taking,” which gives the city permission to go on the land despite Valladares’ objections. Blake said the drainage work would take about two weeks to complete.
The work on Valladares’ property is the final piece to the new drainage system on O’Neil’s Court, Blake has said.
Click play on the video to hear O’Neils Court resident Antonio Spadaro talk about the drainage problems. Article continues after video.
Appraisal
While Valladares is no longer objecting to the city completing work on his property, he is challenging the amount of money Ansonia has offered to pay for the permanent easement, Blake said.
The city received two appraisals for the strip of land where the drainage is being installed.
The land was valued at $7,000 in one, and at $9,000 in the other, Blake said Friday.
So the city will pay the average — $8,000 — to Valladares in order to be able to install the drainage system on the land, Blake said.
Valladares has hired land use attorney Robert Morrin, of East Berlin, and is asking the city for more money for the easement. They are waiting for independent assessments to be done on the land.
Morrin declined to comment on the case Nov. 21.