
Charles Willinger Jr addresses the Derby Planning and Zoning Commission Tuesday.
DERBY — Residents said the city’s planning and zoning commission should listen to neighbors and reject a proposal from a business trying to change zoning rules in Derby.
At issue is the Hops Co., a popular beer garden and restaurant that opened in 2015 at 77 Sodom Lane.
The Hops Co. property is zoned for residential use. Single-family houses surround it, save for the south side toward Route 34. Neighbors have complained since it opened about late-night noise, litter and overflow parking jamming residential streets.
The Hops Co. is a ​“pre-existing nonconforming use.” That is, although it exists in a residential zone, it is allowed to be there because it is ​“grandfathered” in.
Because of the designation, the owner cannot make changes to the property.
But the owner, through land-use lawyer Dominick Thomas, is trying to convince the city to change its zoning rules and adopt a ​“Derby Development District” to give properties like 77 Sodom Lane more wiggle room.
If the Derby Planning and Commission green lights the ​“zone text change,” the Hops Co. will likely submit a site plan application detailing precisely what changes the owner wants to make. That application would have to be considered and then rejected or approved by the planning commission, too.
But the business is already headache for neighbors, who have turned out in force during two public hearings on the zone text change. Click here for a previous Valley Indy story.
The neighbors are doing more than complaining — they’re organized.
Bridgeport-based lawyer Charles Willinger is representing more than 20 property owners in the neighborhood, and he spoke at Tuesday’s public hearing.
Willinger took the Hops’ company sponsored ​“zone text change” apart piece-by-piece, saying it was poorly written, lacked specifics, flew in the face of the land-use guidelines, would create chaos in Derby’s residential districts — and would be struck down in a heartbeat if challenged in court.
Thomas, the Hops’ company lawyer and author of the proposed zone text change, said Willinger was incorrect on all counts.
But Willinger also said grandfathered properties aren’t expected to last forever — they’re designed to eventually fade away and to be replaced with something that adheres to the underlying, modern zone — in this case, single-family residential.
He pointed out Derby is trying to lure businesses such as The Hops Co. to other parts of town specifically designated to support such uses, such as the Route 34 corridor and downtown Derby. The city could encourage The Hops Co. to look at locations elsewhere if the current property does not work, Willinger said, instead of considering whether to change the rules to make it easier for a commercial use to exist in a non-commercial zone.
Willinger said the city should be fighting to protect its residential zones. Preserving residential zones means keeping commercial uses separate, because allowing a commercial use to invade or expand in a neighborhood decimates property values, he said.
Catherine Johnson, an architect and planner from Middletown who appeared with Willinger, twice questioned whether the text change being considered was ​“spot zoning,” meaning it was being done so that a single property owner (the Hops Co.) could catch a break.
Matthew Jalowiec, whose family has extensive holdings in the neighborhood, said the commissioners should reject the zone change text based on Johnson’s testimony.
“What refutes her expert testimony? Nothing,” he said.
Meanwhile, the volunteers on the Derby Planning and Zoning Commission were still trying hoping for a compromise between the neighbors — several of whom have ties to Derby 50 years deep — and The Hops Co., a successful business in an economically distressed city.
Ted Estwan, the commission’s chairman, pointed out that his commission, as it stands, can’t do anything about the problems the neighbors are describing. It falls to code enforcement, the fire marshal, and the police department.
But, adopting something like Thomas is pushing could give the commission more influence over the use — and could possibly eliminate major headaches such as allowing for an expanded parking lot to get cars off residential streets.
Willinger said if the Hops Co. is planning to make changes to the property, the owner should simply go to the Derby Zoning of Appeals, detail the changes, and convince the ZBA to approve.
Jalowiec said he understood the commissioners are trying to broker a compromise — but that’s outside their jurisdiction.
“I understand you’re trying to broker peace. You’re trying to keep the people happy who live in your community. But at the same time, your scope is limited. Your job is to review the application as presented. (There is) insufficient evidence to support the application,” Jalowiec said.
The commission closed the public hearing at the end of the meeting, but will take up the issue again Oct. 16.