Technicality Means West Hartford Road To Remain As Is

WEST HARTFORD, CT — In June, the Hartford Plan and Zoning Commission seemingly renamed a road in town after a heroic former slave, a move seen as a positive action in the name of diversity.

But the 3-1 PZC vote June 6 was invalid because it had insufficient "yes" votes, according to West Hartford Corporation Counsel Dallas Dodge last month.

As a result, Sycamore Lane will remain as is and any efforts to rename it Peleg Nott Lane will have to wait at least a year.

The issue stems from the town's new 2021 ordinance regarding the renaming of streets, which mandates a so-called "super majority" of "yes" votes for the five-member PZC to change a street name.

On June 6, only three PZC members voted "yes," with one opposed and one absent.

That night, town officials thought the 3-1 vote was enough to change the street name and send it to the West Hartford Town Council for a likely final stamp of approval.

But three "yes" votes is one vote short of the required "super majority," Dodge wrote.

As a result, a 4-0 vote would have passed the measure to the council. A 3-1 vote in favor still rejects it.

Dodge said the council was supposed to take up the matter at its July 14 meeting, but since the name change wasn't technically approved, it could not.

"The legal conclusion of the office of corporation counsel is purely procedural and, in no way, reflects the merit of the application," wrote Dodge to the West Hartford Town Council July 13.

As a result, the plan is tabled for at least a year regarding Sycamore Lane, Dodge said, though another street could, feasibly, be renamed quicker.

Sycamore Lane was chosen because that location represented the area of Nott's enslavement.

Renaming the road was the brainchild of local student Isaias Wooden, a recent graduate of Kingswood-Oxford School in town, who pitched the idea to the town after a class project.

Nott, born in 1750, was a slave in Hartford until he was freed in 1780.

During the American Revolution, he "served by driving provision carts for the Commissary for both the Patriot and French troops," read a petition seeking the change submitted by Wooden.

After the war, Nott managed the estate of his enslaver, Jeremiah Wadsworth in West Hartford, which was then known as the "West Division of Hartford," read the petition.

According to the petition, Nott was "negro governor" of Hartford and served that job for, perhaps, two decades. He died in 1810.

Residents of Sycamore Lane opposed the new road name, not because of who it would have honored, but because of multiple inconveniences associated with, suddenly, having a new address.

Many of them pitched alternative ways to honor Nott instead of a road name change.

Dodge said a Sycamore Lane resident spoke up about the legal technicality prior to the July 14 meeting and was correct in his assertion the 3-1 vote was invalid for approval.

The town attorney, in his opinion, said the super majority requirement is a necessary step given how drastic a road name change can be.

"Renaming a street is not a trivial matter. Renaming a street imposes numerous burdens on property owners and residents of the affected street," wrote Dodge.

He chalked up this situation to "confusion" among the applicant, the PZC, the council and town employees, something Dodge said was somewhat justifiable given the newness of the ordinance.

"Though this confusion is regrettable, it is also entirely understandable that there will be some bumps in the road in implementing a new ordinance such as this for which there is little precedent, even in other towns," Dodge wrote.

He went no to say he commended the work of Wooden and Dodge and other town officials are working with Wooden to try and find "alternate means to commemorate and honor Peleg Nott."

To read West Hartford Corporation Counsel Dallas Dodge's full legal opinion on the matter, click on this link.

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