Road Widening Challenged
On August 15, 2005, the Old Saybrook Zoning Commission approved an application for a new CVS Pharmacy on Boston Post Road, on the south side of Stage Road, with the condition the developer, Issues Management, LLC, redesign and widen Stage Road allowing it to have a total width of 24 feet.
The injunction centers on the issue whether the widened road would infringe on property and a 3,800 square foot belonging to Clark at 523 Boston Post Road located on the north side of Stage Road.
In the CVS site plan in the Old Saybrook Land Use Department Office, the reconstruction and widening of Stage Road is marked as land that was “within the town’s right of way” and limits of work are “from the Stage Road intersection with Boston Post Road to ten feet beyond the limits of the property line along Stage Road.”
Issues Management “will repave and recurb Stage Road with the request that the municipality (Old Saybrook) resolve the dispute with the adjacent landowners parking situation,” according to Zoning Commission July 5, 2005 minutes.
Clark’s attorney, John S. Bennet, contends in the affidavit, it is “not the line of the town right of way for Stage Road and will consume a portion of property owned by me (Clark) exclusively,” according to the July 21 affidavit at Middletown Superior Court.
The affidavit refers to Volume 190 Page 92 of the Old Saybrook Land Records, defines the property in 1972 as starting “at a point of intersection of the southerly side of Stage Road and northwesterly side of Boston Post Road” and the survey map shows the property boundary as Stage Road.
The 1972 map does not show any town or state owned land on either side of Stage Road.
Bennet claims in the affidavit that the boundaries of Stage Road are “established by the edges of the pavement.”
The defendants neither own nor have an easement over the parcel, Bennet states for “purposes of the development of a public street or otherwise.”
The property has been “used for decades as a commercial rental office space or commercial rental property for retail sales” with “two bituminous parking lot areas adjacent to Stage Road and a small area of gravel parking area,” Benet stated in the affidavit.
If improvements are allowed to proceed, Bennet stated, “the real property that I (Clark) own will be effectively taken by the Town of Old Saybrook for the benefit of a private development.”
The complaint alleges this is a violation of the Connecticut Constitution Article One, Section 11 as well as the U.S. Constitution Amendment Five and Amendment 14, Section 1.
Bennet contends, in the affidavit, the widening would infringe on required parking and building use.
Blueberry Hill Antiques, applied for a certificate of zoning compliance and related permits, Bennet stated, but Old Saybrook Zoning Enforcement Officer Christine Costa told the tenant on July 12 they could no longer rent space from Clark’s building even though the use of the building would not be changed.
The property previously met town parking requirements, Bennet stated, but would no longer meet them because of the proposed road widening.
In the affidavit, Bennet said the project would “completely destroy the value of the balance of the plaintiff’s (Clark’s) property as it will not be able to be used for any reasonable use.”
Bennet contends the widening “constitutes an inverse condemnation of my property for which I will have received no compensation” and the construction of the widened road “will constitute a trespass.”
“The loses sustained by the Plaintiff are ongoing and are irrevocable,” Bennet said.
The suit states Clark is seeking money damages, an injunction prohibiting the defendants from using the plaintiff’s property and any change, extension or widening on his premises, defendants to acknowledge Clark owns the disputed property, the defendants to pay for the cost of the suit, attorney’s fees, and any other remedies levied by the law or in court.
