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Mr. Parker said this week that Fairfield Resources had sought $25 million in compensation for the parcel.
Judge Sheedy wrote that one of the appraisers for the DOT's "credibility was thoroughly undermined on cross-examination."
"The appraisers for the DOT came up with stupid numbers, and the judge scathed them brutally in her decision," Mr. Parker said in a phone interview.
State Rep. David Scribner (R-Brookfield) said that state Attorney Gen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Greenwich) has indicated that he may appeal Judge Sheedy's decision and that no payments regarding last week's decision would have to be made until a decision is made on an appeal, which might even overturn last week's ruling.
He said that the DOT legally notified Fairfield Resources in 1999 that it was going to take acquisition of the property but that at the time it didn't even have documents from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and other federal regulators to ensure that, of the various alternatives being considered, the route through the quarry would be chosen.
Mr. Parker said that Richard Martinez, a longtime DOT administrator who retired in 2001, said in 2000 that the department had "messed up" in not ensuring that another alternative route for the bypass might get approval because it would have less environmental impact.
Mr. Parker said that then U.S. Rep. James Maloney (D-Danbury) convened a meeting at the Brookfield town hall in July 2000 after it was determined that the federal regulators would not issue permits for the route that would go through the quarry.
Mr. Maloney helped secure those permits in the months following that meeting as well as additional funding for the project, which apparently would have cost more than projected.
Mr. Parker and his associates had filed legal action, claiming errors that had undervalued the property by a considerable amount.
"The plaintiff's claim at trial was that the state failed to fairly compensate it for the 108 acres-specifically the 15.16 million tons of mineral remaining in the ground at the taking," Judge Sheedy wrote.
The quarry operation began in 1940 on Laurel Hill Road and had been owned by E. Paul Kovacs and his family until Mr. Parker's group purchased the property 17 years ago.
The operations ended in the fall of 2004 and the property is now part of the Route 7 bypass.
Mr. Parker has said that, because of its proximity to construction sites in western Connecticut, the quarry was able to provide building materials for a number of projects.
Mr. Parker, a graduate of Villanova University in Pennsylvania, also is president of the Brookfield Water Co., which began operations in 1997 and has held the state rights to northern Brookfield since that year.
"For reasons earlier stated, the court finds neither of the two experts retained by the DOT demonstrated the preparation, experience or professional credentials to render a fair valuation of the subject property, that they were proffered solely to minimize the quarry's value, and that both the witnesses and the DOT understood that purpose," Judge Sheedy stated in her ruling of July 29.
She also wrote that at one point the DOT had indicated that it would only need to take part of the parcel.
"There is no way to reconcile the Amadon/Jones valuation and the DOT's payment of $4,100,000 on July 30, 2004, with the DOT concession that two earlier obtained outside fair appraisals ranged from $14,600,000 to $18,250,000 and that, after a trial, the award could potentially be in the neighborhood of $25,000,000," Judge Sheedy wrote, making reference to the valuations of the parcel, which had been a major supplier of building materials in the western part of the state.
"Nor can the DOT's June 14, 2004, estimate of the value of right-of-way acquisition at $25 million to $30 million be reconciled with the payment four years later of $4,100,000 for the entirety of the property," she stated.
Judge Sheedy praised the appraisals that had been offered by Edward Hebinger, a 1958 graduate of the University of Connecticut at Storrs, who has been active in the real estate valuation field since that time.
"Neither his credentials nor his integrity were ever impugned at trial," the judge wrote.
In stating the award from the trial, the judge wrote, "Having found the income capitalization approach to be the most appropriate valuation tool for this income producing property that the highest and best use of the land is its continued operation as a quarry, and having found the only reliable estimate of value to have been offered by Edward Heberger, the court finds that fair market value to be $22,900,000."
Mr. Scribner, the ranking Republican House member on the General Assembly's Transportation Committee, said that obviously if the award stands the costs of the bypass will increase from a current price tag of $105 million to around $125 million.
However, he said that the project, which is on schedule for completion in November, would go forward and that the DOT has funds available to cover the additional costs.
The project had been estimated at $55 million when then Gov. John Rowland (R-Middlebury) held a news conference in June 1998, just weeks after Mr. Maloney had announced that there would be enough federal transportation money to pay for the bypass.
Reports have indicated that 80 percent of the project was to be funded through federal sources.
That estimate was increased to $80 million in June 2000 and Mr. Maloney helped secure an additional $25 million in federal funds for the project that fall.
The bypass is expected to divert much of the through traffic at the Four Corners intersection, which, according to a municipal consultant, received up to 29,000 vehicle trips on a typical weekday.
Mr. Parker said that the Brookfield Water Co., through an easement with the state, still has offices on the former quarry site.
Neighbors had complained about noise from the site and there were attempts in the mid-1990s to close the quarry operation.
Fairfield Resources entered into a stipulated agreement with the town in 1996 after it was determined in court that the operation was a non-conforming pre-existing use and could not be closed.
Mr. Parker said that after the quarry operation closed the cost for building materials in northern Fairfield County increased "15 to 30 percent" since most of the charges are associated with transportation fees and the two current top providers in the region are located in Branford and Southbury, both a considerable distance away.
"With the quarry closing, it has become more expensive to build roads and homes in Fairfield County," he said. "We were at the mouth of the largest growth market in Connecticut."
