FAIRFIELD – The Town of Fairfield has until Nov. 29 to answer an appeal of the Plan and Zoning Commission’s denial of applications to relocate its Porsche car dealership to the former Exide Battery site at 2190 Post Road, according to court documents.
In its Nov. 6 appeal of the Oct. 22 decision, UAG Fairfield CP LLC, which operates a Porsche dealership at 475 Commerce Drive, called the PZC’s decision “illegal, unlawful, arbitrary and in abuse of the powers vested in the PZC pursuant to the regulations and the Connecticut General Statutes.”
UAG’s applications were denied in a 4-3 vote with Commissioner Jeff Randolph leading the way.
Attorney Charles Willinger of Willinger, Willinger & Bucci of Shelton listed the following reasons for calling the PZC’s action illegal and an abuse of powers:
- The construction and operation of a new and preowned automobile dealership with service facility is a permitted use, subject to securing a special exception, in the Designed Industrial and Designed Commercial Zoning districts of Fairfield.
- The PZC illegally considered matters outside the evidence submitted by the plaintiff in denying the applications.
- The PZC acted upon speculation, inferences and irrelevant and illegal considerations that did not provide a legal basis as a matter of law for the denial of the applications.
- The PZC ignored the substantive requirements for granting a special permit, special exception and coastal site plan and, by denying the applications in the absence of substantial evidence, acted in a manner inconsistent with the regulations.
The site for the Porsche car dealership has a controversial history in that it was contaminated from its years serving as a battery manufacturing plant from 1951-1981. Since its cleanup was completed in 2019, the town’s community and economic development department has kept a keen eye on its future use as a mixed-use development.
The application filed by UAG Fairfield calls for a special exception for the establishment of a 49,000-square-foot automobile dealership on the 6.3 acre-site with the proposed building being in the Designed Industrial District. The application also includes excavation and fill work as well as a coastal site plan.
According to the application, there would be three driveways, 325 parking spaces, new concrete sidewalks and aprons, and the need for 1,700 cubic yards of net fill to raise the grade of the parking lot for stormwater drainage.
“My reasons are not based upon conjecture but on 30 years of experience and commensurate educational background,” Randolph said as he called for the denial of the applications. “Fairfield zoning regulations state the conditions of approval of a special exception require the condition, size and type of the structures are in harmony and conform with the orderly development of the town and not hinder the appropriate development of the adjacent businesses or hinder its value.”
Randloph said UAG’s proposal for 2190 Post Road generation 5 auto Porsche dealership adjacent to the Middle River fails to meet those requirements. “Specifically, the proposed structure does not align with the location, type and character and use of these structures. Nor does it conform with the orderly development of the Town of Fairfield and limiting the town’s tax base,” he said.
Commissioner Tom Corsillo didn’t go as far as Randolph, but he too agreed to vote against UAG’s proposal, as did Commissioners Kathryn Braun and Alexis Harrison.
“The application, in my view, meets the special exception and special permit requirement pertaining to access for fire protection and traffic capacity, but does not satisfy the other two requirements,” Corsillo said. “Is the proposed use permitted? The answer is ‘yes.’ But that’s the only use that requirement is (referring) to. It talks to the development of the neighborhood and the appropriate development to adjacent property.”
He pointed out the importance of the Exide site to the Town of Fairfield.
“This is just not any site,” he said. “The Exide site is one of the most important pieces of property in our town. It’s a gateway to downtown Fairfield. I feel that there is special responsibility to be rigorous to consider not just in part but the entirety of the criteria.”
Commissioner Steven Levy, who voted in favor of the proposal, vociferously disagreed with Randolph, Corsillo and Braun.
“I respectfully disagree with his denial and the implications of the denial,” Levy said. “The POCD (Plan of Conservation and Development) from 2016 has not been amended. It replaces an abandoned factory that has stood vacant for 44 years. The market has spoken. It would bring in tax revenue to the town. It meets all the requirements for a special exception. What it boils down to the (harmony section). Our courts have said that those are two separate criteria. We start with a permitted use in an industrial district, except for the special exception.”
PZC Chair Thomas Noonan was worried that the denial of the application would be seen as an overreach of the commission.
“I have similar serious concerns with people on the commission in reaching the decision to deny is going towards,” Noonan said. “Except for the harmony prong (being) in compliance with the PCOD prong, there has been no suggestion that this application doesn’t meet the other five prongs that we need to find before approving this application – fire, traffic, setback for cars, etc..
“I don’t know how this permitted use is not in harmony with this area. It is a permitted use. It (the decision to deny) is inherently contradictory. I don’t know how a court will get around this. How is a permitted use not in the orderly development of the area? It is a hard burden for this commission to deny the application. I don’t think there is any substantial evidence that it doesn’t meet the first prong.”
A Dec. 10 court date at Bridgeport Superior Court has been set for a judge to hear the appeal of the PZC decision.
