Politics & Government

PZC Hearing On Pawcatuck Condos Gets Heated

Last Public Comments On Cherenzia Proposal For 68-Attached Homes Scheduled For Wednesday

It was a standing room only crowd of more than 100 at Monday night’s Planning and Zoning Commission one agenda special meeting: the continuation of the public hearing on the hotly contested proposal for a 68 unit attached house subdivision near the intersection of Mary Hall and Greenhaven roads in Pawcatuck.

The vast majority of hearing attendees were there to speak in opposition to the proposal for the site owned by the Richard C. Panciera Remainder Charitable Trust II. The subdivision is being developed by the Cherenzia Companies.

A number of project neighbors hired local attorney Mark Kepple to make their case against the plan, which, among other points, included a debate and argument about a potential zoning compliance issue. But his remarks also quickly became an indictment of Town Director of Planning Bill Haase – who Kepple argued was in cahoots with Cherenzia.

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“Where is Mr. Haase tonight,” Kepple asked. Haase is undergoing a second round of chemotherapy to combat cancer. Acting Director of Planning Keith Brynes, who is normally low key, rejected strenuously the allegations made by Kepple on behalf of his clients.

“These charges of bias, accusing Bill Haase of an improper relationship with the applicant, I have to object,” Brynes said moments before the hearing was closed for the night as it neared midnight. The hearing will be continued at another hearing, the last one allowed by state law, on Wednesday night at a location yet to be decided.

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In addition to raising several key issues including potential consequences resulting from blasting on the site to arguing the project is far too big for the site and indeed, the largest of its kind in Stonington, Kepple called witnesses—and had, according to his first witness, Stonington First Selectman Edward Haberek Jr.,  “threatened to issue subpoenas” to compel appearances by Haberek and Zoning Official Joe Larkin.

Haberek said Haase was too ill to attend the meeting and in any event had been asked to remove himself from the application, “not because of [impropriety] but because there should be no perception of bias.”

And Larkin was called to address his comment that the application might not be complaint with regulations related to the removal of excavated materials, a matter that would become a bone of contention and will likely be revisited at Wednesday’s meeting when applicant Cherenzia has the opportunity for rebuttal.

But perhaps even more powerful and dramatic than Kepple’s animated and verbose presentation on behalf of his 10 clients—“the very quality and nature of their lives is being threatened”—were the comments of neighbors.

“People on this board, you think you’re a development commission,” project opponent Ed Mc Creary said. “You are there to represent us. We’re counting on you. Your primary function is to protect us.”

And Edith Rose did not mince words. She called the plan to blast the ledge on the site “unconscionable.”

Perhaps the most vocal opponent besides Peg Moran and Neal Madden is Rich McKrell. But since he had previously spoken at the first public hearing, it was left to his father to read his son’s six-page letter of opposition and complaint about the project where the word ‘ridiculous’ used to describe the application appeared often.

But not everyone was opposed.

At least four people came to the podium to speak well of Cherenzia and of their previous projects, including Fountain Crest in Westerly, a very similar development to the proposed one in Pawcatuck.

“I’m the blaster,” said David Boutin. “I’ve been blasting for 30 years and it’s done safely. I’ve known Sam [Cherenzia] for years and years and what he’s doing, what he’s offering to do for people is above and beyond.”

At Wednesday’s final hearing at 7 p.m., at Mystic Middle School, Cherenzia project attorney Thomas J. Ligouri Jr. is expected to wrap up the rebuttal and respond to commission questions.

The PZC then has 65 days to issue its verdict on the plan, one that while permitted under zoning regulations is hugely unpopular with neighbors who claim the subdivision of attached houses will forever change the rural character of their single family home neighborhood.


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