Neighbors of Grace Farms have sued the town over a recent decision regarding its oversight of the Lukes Wood Road organization.
The town last year issued a zoning permit allowing Grace Farms to convert a storage area in one of its buildings into office space.
The permit was issued following administrative sign-off by zoning staff, rather than review and approval by the full Planning & Zoning Commission. Neighbors Jennifer Holme and David Markatos said P&Z’s approval was needed and, in January, contested the permit’s issuance.
The Zoning Board of Appeals at its July 6 meeting voted 5-0 to deny the appeal. On July 26, attorney Amy Souchens of Milford-based Hurwitz, Sagarin, Slossberg & Knuff LLC filed a lawsuit on behalf of the neighbors, saying the ZBA “acted illegally, arbitrarily and in abuse of its discretion.”
Specifically, the permit “was illegally issued” because one condition of the Grace Farms’s own modified operating permit—that “[t]here shall be no material change of the approved use or intensification of any use unless specifically authorized herein”—means P&Z approval was needed, according to the complaint.
The suit seeks to void the zoning permit and sustain the appeal.
The ZBA during its July meeting discussed the cited condition at length, and specifically what P&Z meant by “intensification.”
“I really don’t think turning storage space into an office amounts to that,” ZBA member Ben Bilus said during the meeting, held via videoconference.
Secretary John Mahoney said that P&Z placed several conditions on Grace Farms’s Special Permit “which limited their ability to grow,” in areas such as parking, hours, events, lighting, food service and noise.
The interior change creating office space in the West Barn building at Grace Farms does not represent an “intensification” in the way that P&Z intended to limit, he said.
“I can’t imagine that every time Grace Farms goes up in the net employee count, that the town would want to have approval rights over that,” Mahoney said. “That just to me is way too intrusive, too laborious to administer.”
The town has not yet answered the lawsuit, filed in state Superior Court.
Grace Farms was represented in the appeal by attorney Ted O’Hanlan of Stamford-based Robinson+Cole.
Grace Farms has been involved in multiple yearlong lawsuits with neighbors as well as the town. The Lukes Wood Road organization began facing zoning issues within months of opening in late-2015. After hearing concerns from municipal officials as well as neighbors about activities there, the then-town planner said during a ZBA meeting in May 2016 that Grace Farms may be running afoul of the specific terms and conditions of its permit. After looking into the matter, officials asked Grace Farms to come back and amend its zoning permit. The organization complied, while downplaying comments that Grace Farms founders had made during past Planning & Zoning Commission hearings regarding the intended use of its campus. After P&Z approved the amended permit, on dozens of conditions, both Grace Farms and neighbors sued the town. The ZBA has heard multiple appeals regarding Grace Farms, including one last year regarding new uses of its “operations center” building, an appeal that also was denied.
Asked for a comment on the case, Grace Farms issued the following statement attributable to Grace Farms Foundation: “Grace Farms Foundation supports the Zoning Board of Appeals’ recent decision denying the Markatos appeal. Grace Farms Foundation continues to be a good neighbor and an asset to the New Canaan community. We have no comment on any matters currently pending before the Court.”
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