ANSONIA — The city’s planning and zoning commission online meeting was cut short Monday after it was disrupted by inappropriate drawings, loud noises, and foul language.
The meeting will be rescheduled.
The “Zoom bomb” started as local attorney Dominick Thomas was going over a site plan application for a gas station and convenience store at 557 Wakelee Ave., the former John J. Sullivan’s restaurant.
An image from Monday's Ansonia Planning and Zoning Commission meeting. The Zoom bomb had just started.
Someone drew a phallic image on the screen, followed by scribbling. A loud, pulsing beat was continually played, along with someone telling people to shut up. Some of the Zoom marauders had their cameras on, and were giving the middle finger. There were some additional nasty comments.
The meeting was quickly ended after it was apparent the disruption would not stop. The video above shows a few seconds of the disruption.
It was the first “Zoom bomb” since the city started having online meetings at the start of the pandemic.
Zoom bombs happened fairly often when the use of Zoom, a video conferencing platform, skyrocketed because of COVID-19 in 2020. The company behind Zoom put in safeguards, but the group disruptions still happen.
The application being presented Monday was first submitted in 2021 — and included a motel, which proved to be a lightning rod for the public who worried a motel would bring crime.
The application was pulled in June 2021 and resubmitted in October, officials said.
The revised site plan application includes a gas station and a convenience store — plus the existing building being used as a restaurant/catering hall/meeting place — as it has been used in the past.
Weddings could take place there, but Thomas said there would be no overnight stays of any kind. He said overnight stays were not proposed in the site’s “statement of use,” making it prohibited.
