ANSONIA — A neighbor has filed a second lawsuit in an effort to stop what he says in an illegal rock-crushing and concrete-recycling operation on Riverside Drive.
According to court documents, Andrew Mark owns property on South Westwood Circle near a property at 16 Riverside Drive owned by Burns Construction.
He and his neighbors have complained the rock-crushing and concrete recycling activities that have been happening at the property for a year have resulted in constant noise and dust.
The activities are not allowed under the city’s zoning regulations and has been backed-up by previous local court cases, Mark’s attorney, Kevin J. Curseaden, of Curseaden & Moore, LLC, argued in court documents.
The construction company and Ansonia city officials, including the city’s corporation contend the activities are allowed.
Mark’s first legal appeal, dated Nov. 6, was filed against the City and the Zoning Board of Appeals for allowing rock crushing. Click here to read a previous Valley Indy story on the issue.
The City of Ansonia responded to that lawsuit by saying it was filed after the deadline to file such appeals.
The second legal appeal, dated Jan. 28, is meant to overturn Zoning Enforcement Officer David Blackwell’s issuance of a permit to Burns Construction. It names the city, the ZBA, and Burns Construction as defendants.
Both cases are pending in Superior Court in Milford.
Mark’s second lawsuit states that the Ansonia ZEO issued a permit to Burns Construction in February 2020, but that Mark was not aware the permit had been issued until Oct. 2, 2020.
His lawsuit contends that not only is rock-crushing not allowed on the property, but that the city also erred by not sending abutting property owners a notice about the rock-crushing permit.
Mark appealed the ZEO’s permit to the city’s Zoning Board of Appeals on Oct. 22. A meeting to discuss the matter was scheduled for Nov. 9 but Mark’s lawyer could not attend. The discussion was pushed to December 2020, according to the lawsuit, but that meeting did not take place.
Mark says a meeting was held Jan. 11, but that he was not allowed to present his case, while the city’s corporation counsel and a lawyer for Burns Construction were allowed to offer testimony. Ansonia Corporation Counsel John Marini advised the ZBA the time had passed to challenge the ZEO’s permit to the company and that the appeal from the neighbors
should be dismissed, according to the lawsuit.
Mark’s lawsuit alleges the ZBA’s decision was “unreasonable, improper, illegal, arbitrary and constitutes an abuse of the discretion, responsibilities and duties” of the ZBA. The ZBA essentially abandoned its role and allowed Marini to act as a judge in the dispute, the lawsuit states.
Leonard Marazzi, another neighbor who has been bothered by the ruckus happening at Burns Construction, said city government has neither been straight nor fair in their dealings with neighbors.
After that January ZBA meeting, he pointed specifically to the city’s contention that neighbors’ filed complaints too late, even though neighbors didn’t know the city had greenlit the controversial use.
“Of course we are extremely upset with what we view as a complete lack of respect for us — citizens of Ansonia — who have tried to work with the administration to get answers to our questions and concerns,” Marazzi said. “We were yet again denied due process. The ZEO clearly improperly issued this permit. We had no notice a permit had been issued, and now the ZBA decides we didn’t deserve notice.”
Barry Knott, a lawyer for the construction company, argued that neighbors were apprised and had notice about the permit last August at a planning and zoning hearing when the rock crushing matter was discussed.
“My clients had meetings with neighbors to discuss noise remediation regarding this project,” Knott said. “This appeal was filed in October 2020, however, the 30-day deadline starts when applicants had actual notice and these neighbors had notice in summer 2020.”
