Blakeman Construction LLC has appealed a Planning and Zoning denial for its plans to build 10 townhouses on Old Drive.
The appeal was filed at Superior Court in Milford on Aug. 24.
Calling the denial “illegal, arbitrary, capricious and unsupported by the record of evidence,” Blakeman Construction asked the court to reverse the Planning and Zoning Commission denial and allow the company to build the homes.
The plans called for building two structures with five units in each one on the 4.33 acre lot in a multi-family zone.
The street is off Route 67, near the new Walgreens.
The Planning and Zoning Commission denied the proposal at its meeting Aug. 12, after holding a public hearing on the plans.
The commission did not believe the neighborhood would have adequate access for emergency vehicles, and feared blasting and construction traffic the project would create, according to minutes from that meeting.
The neighbors of the proposal — already frustrated with construction from the new Walgreens built on the same lot — turned out to the public hearings to oppose the project, according to articles in the New Haven Register.
But Blakeman Construction, represented by Stephen Bellis of the Pellegrino Law Firm in New Haven, said those reasons were not sufficient.
“The commission’s decision was not supported by substantial evidence in the record … (and) failed to state proper reasons on the record for its decision,” the appeal states.
The appeal also alleges that two new members of the Planning and Zoning Commission voted on the project when they hadn’t heard testimony about the application.
Blakeman had already received approval for the project from the Inland Wetlands Commission.
