Latest Development In Decades-Old Pawcatuck Zoning Case

A Pawcatuck zoning controversy that began 36 years ago has once again resurfaced.

And if the 2010 Superior Court case references to the great suffering of the plaintiffs are any indication—they “have suffered injuries including emotional distress, anxiety, panic attacks, stress, aggravation, frustration and physical sickness”—the controversy is more contentious now than ever. Even after a 4-1 vote to revoke a 2008 zoning permit for a parking lot on the controversial site, the applicant made it clear the problem is far from resolved.

“It’s good, but it’s still not over," said Mark Tebbets Tuesday night after the Zoning Board of Appeals vote. "We still cannot sleep at night.”

In 2009, Tebbets filed a 48-count Superior Court complaint against the town and specifically members of the planning and zoning staff as well as First Selectman Edward Haberek Jr. which alleged the couple were aggrieved by the actions, illegal they alleged, of planning and zoning officials that allowed uses by the owners of 595 Greenhaven Road, which is adjacent to their Sunrise Avenue home.

Tebbets is a former Groton zoning official.

Owned now by a real estate company and leased by the Oliver Group, the site is the location of a series of contentious zoning permits and variances beginning in 1975 when a variance was granted that allowed light manufacturing (an electronics manufacturer) at the site; but with the unusual stipulation that neighbors be allowed to decide what would be an appropriate buffer. But the site also did not have a parking area to support the ‘light manufacturing’ use; parking was across the street, and that would become a major issue for neighbors.  

Two years later, the ZBA granted another permit, this time to allow for the production of medical supplies. Years later, EOF Realty would purchase the site and lease it to Oliver Group who now use the site for offices, a use not permitted based on the variance.

And, the company did not purchase the parking lot site across the street so it would use the building site for its parking needs. In 2005 and in 2008 a zoning permit granted permission to reconfigure the site to create a parking lot, this, the court said, despite the fact that parking was not allowed on the parcel.

At Tuesday’s public hearing, Tebbets argued that Zoning Official Joe Larkin erred when he issued the permit which allowed EOF and the Oliver Group to violate zoning regulations and illegally park vehicles including trucks, that Tebbets alleges come and go at all hours of the night causing him and his wife “great distress.”

“What I’m asking tonight is for you to overturn this and send it through proper channels so I don’t have to keep coming back here on these decisions by [Larkin] that are whimsical,” Tebbets said. “There are so many problems here, so many things that are illegal. I’ve given you plenty but all you need is one flaw to revoke this.”

The majority of the ZBA agreed.

“A lot of things about this property are contentious,” said member Lynn Conway, who voted to revoke Larkin’s permit, one he said was sanctioned by “my superiors.”

“In zoning you don’t do it as a lone ranger; you do it by posse. It’s not all me,” Larkin said, as he defended the permits issued for the long-standing non-conforming parcel. “The powers that be said sign off on it. I did.”