Neighbors Oppose Plans For Motel On Wakelee Avenue In Ansonia

ANSONIA — The public will have a chance April 26 to formally weigh-in on a plan to build a 25-room motel on Wakelee Avenue.

The move comes after about eight members of the public, including neighbors, spoke out against the plans during a meeting of the Ansonia Planning & Zoning Commission on March 29.

The speakers said they are worried a motel will attract a seedy, criminal element to Wakelee Avenue. The motel is next to exit 19 of Route 8 north.

The comments caused the commission to schedule a formal public hearing on the plans, scheduled for 6 p.m. Thursday, April 26. The hearing will likely be held on Zoom. Check the Ansonia website closer to the date for instructions on how to attend the meeting virtually.

Aijaz Ahmen of New York wants to open a motel and a gas station with a convenience store at 557 Wakelee Ave., the former site of Molto Bene and, before that, John J. Sullivan’s.

Connecticut business filings and an address listed on documents submitted to Ansonia City Hall show Ahmen also owns Big Apple Motel in Waterbury.

The Waterbury motel was a source of controversy in 2020, when people complained it was attracting drug dealers and prostitutes.

Crowds protested — and even vandalized the place, causing $20,000 in property damage, according to coverage from The Republican-American of Waterbury.

Timothy C. Moynahan, Ahmen’s lawyer during the Waterbury protests, penned an op-ed in The Connecticut Post pointing out the controversy surrounding the motel was built on misinformation spread online:

The lie: a young Black girl had been kidnapped, taken to the Big Apple Motel and harmed for days. It didn’t happen. The girl was not harmed and not kidnapped, as was posted on the internet a week before the rioters commenced a savage confrontation, disregarding the truth. The girl accused no one.

But The Rep-Am also reported that police and firefighters responded to 743 calls to the Waterbury motel between 2015 and 2020, according to an Aug. 15, 2020 article from the paper.

“Since opening in December 2015, there have been 743 police and fire calls to the motel, including criminal complaints, medical requests, false alarms, unfounded calls and motor vehicle accidents, police said. Fifty of those incidents included arrests for narcotics and illegal drug violations; disorderly conduct and breach of peace; larceny and stolen property; simple assault; domestic and family offenses; trespassing; aggravated assault; weapon violations and outstanding warrants.

Those stats were shared in a chat box during the March 29 meeting in Ansonia, and have been shared on Ansonia community Facebook groups.

Moynahan, in his CT Post op-ed, wrote that the crimes were happening in the neighborhood and being reported by motel staffers.

Members of the Ansonia Planning & Zoning Commission started to review the application during their March 29 meeting.

Speakers from the public during the meeting warned that a small motel off Route 8 would lead to an increase in sex trafficking, and pointed to cases prosecuted involving hotels and motels along the Berlin Turnpike.

In a chat room during the Zoom meeting, Ansonia resident Matt McGowan shared studies that established a connection between sex traficking and motels off highways.

Other Ansonia residents there are already hotels on Bridgeport Avenue in Shelton and off Route 8 in Waterbury.

Others questioned the wisdom of allowing so many uses — a motel, gas station, convenience store, and bar-restaurant — on one property.

Neighbor John Masenti pointed out Nolan Field, complete with a playground and tennis courts, is just down the road from the proposed motel.

“I am totally opposed to this,” Masenti said, further stating he thought the location was too small for what was being proposed.

Dan Buckley lives across the street from the proposed motel.

Like other speakers March 29, Buckley, who has lived off Wakelee Avenue for 35 years, worried about increased traffic and potential crime. He said he had no problems with the past use of the property as a bar/restaurant/catering hall.

Molto Bene, the last business to operate at 557 Wakelee Ave., closed in 2016.

“It’s not good to have a vacant property right across from your house, but this one just seems like, not the best, to put it mildly,” Buckley said.

Click here to look at the plans submitted by the applicant. 

Dominick Thomas is the Derby-based lawyer representing the motel developer. He said it wasn’t fair to paint the motel with a broad brush and automatically tie it to crimes such as sex trafficking.

He also said comparing a single small motel to the numerous businesses on the Berlin Turnpike was also misleading.

And Thomas repeatedly pointed out the uses being proposed are allowed under the property’s zoning. A formal public hearing on the project, during which a transcript is generated, is not required because the uses are allowed, Thomas pointed out.

“Given the way zoning is set up, it is implied then that there has been a determination that these uses are appropriate for the commercial zone,” Thomas said.

Thomas said there is a demand for lodging locally, because the accommodations in Bridgeport Avenue in Shelton quickly fill up. He told the commission he did not know how much the motel plans to charge per night. There are no plans to charge hourly rates, and Thomas suggested the commission had the power to ban such a practice as a contingent to being approved.

“They will be priced accordingly to the amenities that are provided,” Thomas said.

Commission member Tim Holman asked about long-term rentals being available at the motel.

“The problem with long-term rentals is how you define long-term rentals,” Thomas said, pointing out an example in which a person could rent a motel room for a month to care for an ill family member. ​“Is that a long-term rental,” Thomas asked.

“I don’t believe you’re looking at a situation where someone is going to rent and stay there for a full year,” Thomas said.

According to documents posted on the City of Ansonia’s website, the plan is to build a motel with eight rooms on the first floor and 17 rooms on the second floor. The first floor will also house a motel office, along with retail space similar to a rest stop or convenience store. There will also be a restaurant/bar of about 425 square feet.

The property has 135 spaces, which is enough for the proposed use, according to the applicant. There will be no more than 17 employees on site at any given time, according to the statement of use submitted to the commission.

In 2018 the property was purchased for $200,000 by Jerry Nocerino, who successfully redeveloped the old Valley Bowl area of Pershing Drive.

The Connecticut Post reported in 2018 the property was to be redeveloped as a banquet facility. The project did not move forward.