|
|
Danbury Superior Court Judge Douglas Mintz had ruled in favor of Smith Brothers Woodland Management, but the town took the case to the Appellate Court, which overturned that decision.
Smith Brothers Woodland Management subsequently took the case to the state Supreme Court.
The state Supreme Court decision was released Oct. 19.
It stated that "the appeal in this case should be dismissed on the ground that certification for this appear was improvidently granted."
"Both Bill Schappert and Marty Flynn were excellent in providing us with information that helped to win this case," Mr. Beecher said in a phone interview.
Mr. Flynn has been on the Zoning Board of Appeals since late 2003, and Mr. Schappert is a former chairman of the Zoning Commission and is considered one of the most knowledgeable people regarding the town's land-use regulations.
Milford attorney Brian Lema, who represented Smith Brothers Woodland Management, was unavailable for comment.
The Supreme Court's decision stated that prior to Smith Brothers Woodland Management's purchasing the property it was owned by John Kolinchak Jr., who submitted an application to the local Zoning Commission "for use of the property as a general contractor site with nonretail logging as an accessory use."
The application was denied in March 1999.
The ruling stated that later the application was granted "with the stipulation" that Smith Brothers Woodland Management would be prohibited from "the marshaling of logs."
The state Supreme Court wrote that the Zoning Commission inspected the property in 2005 "and found evidence of grinding material, storage of logs in excess of 12 feet in length, additional log storage outside of the approved area of the property and the presences of numerous unregistered vehicles that constituted an illegal junkyard."
That decision was appealed to the Zoning Board of Appeals, which upheld the Zoning Commission's actions.
"They went beyond the general contracting purposes that were granted," Mr. Beecher said.
