An image from the September Ansonia Planning and Zoning Commission meeting.
ANSONIA — Neighbors of a rock-crushing operation have filed an appeal asking a court to throw out a decision from a city commission that allows the activity to take place.
S. Westwood Road residents Andrew Mark, Leonard Marazzi and Christopher Rogers filed a lawsuit in Milford civil court dated Oct. 11, 2021 against the city’s planning and zoning commission and Burn Construction Company, the business that operates Burns Materials in a heavy industrial zone at 16 Riverside Drive.
The three neighbors are being represented by Kevin J. Curseaden, an attorney in Milford. The neighbors have complained about noise, dust and quality of life issues since Burns opened in Ansonia in 2019. The neighbors and their attorney have repeatedly said rock-crushing was never spelled out as a permitted use in the city’s zoning code.
Mayor David Cassetti’s administration argued rock-crushing is OK, as long as the materials being crushed don’t originate on-site.
Nevertheless, in September, the city’s planning and zoning commission voted to add “rock crushing” to the city’s zoning regulations with parameters, including how many machines could be used and for how many hours per day.
In the court appeal, the neighbors allege that:
* The city’s action is illegal spot zoning because it added rock crushing to its zoning law to benefit only one property owner: Burns Materials.
* The proposed text amendment to Ansonia’s zoning regulations was not filed with the City Clerk 10 days prior to a public hearing, a violation of state law.
* After the public hearing was publicized, the Cassetti administration drafted a different version of a zoning text change for the planning and zoning commission to consider, but didn’t share it with the public in a timely manner.
* Members of the Cassetti administration, including the economic development director and the city’s lawyer, improperly participated in the public hearing to influence the commission’s decision.
* Some members of the planning and zoning commission were not impartial, as demonstrated by posts made on social media supporting the operation before they heard evidence at a public hearing.
“In approving the zone text amendment, Defendant’s Commission acted illegally, arbitrarily and in abuse of the discretion vested in it by law as an administrative agency,” the lawsuit states.
The City of Ansonia’s Board of Aldermen have been briefed on the appeal, but the city has yet to file a response in court, and the same with Burns.
