Continued: East Lyme zoning proposal lingers under public scrutiny

Mar. 22—EAST LYME — Questions of procedure and personality continued to dominate discussion on conceptual plans for a 55+ development near Latimer Brook as the Zoning Commission for the third meeting in a row voted to keep the public hearing open.

The application from Kristen Clarke of English Harbour Capital Partners LLC calls for 25 units in six duplexes and two apartment buildings on 11.4 acres, leaving about eight acres to be conserved as open space.

The project has been criticized for the traffic implications on a congested stretch of Route 1 and the environmental repercussions it could have on the brook that discharges into the Niantic River less than a half mile from the property.

Concerns have also been raised during public comment over the past several weeks on issues including the ownership history of the property.

Attorney Paul Geraghty, representing the LLC, said the company is owned by Clarke and her brothers.

Foreclosure court documents show the land belonged to the estate of Peter J. Tytla when it was conveyed to the East Lyme Land Trust with the intent to preserve the "environmentally sensitive property that has significant frontage on Latimer Brook." But the land trust couldn't come up with the money.

Commission members were told at their March 14 meeting that then-land trust President Ron Luich asked English Harbour Capital Partners to buy the property and pay off the existing debts. This information was presented to them by Jeff Torrance, Clarke's father and a volunteer with the land trust.

English Harbour Capital Partners' $340,000 mortgage on the property is held by Robert Blatt, according to land records filed on June 14 of last year.

Torrance and Blatt are prohibited from doing business in the town under the terms of a 2015 settlement agreement. The agreement, which came with a $650,000 payoff by the town to Torrance and his partners, was a move to end more than a decade of litigation over development around Darrow Pond.

The settlement agreement prohibits them from engaging in development "directly or indirectly, under any circumstances or conditions whatsoever."

The agreement specifically allows Clarke to conduct the development activities her father is barred from.

Not engaging in development

Torrance in a phone interview Friday said he's not violating the agreement because he's acting on behalf of the land trust.

"It says I won't buy any property and engage in development," he said of the agreement. "If the East Lyme Land Trust is buying property, they're not engaging in development."

He said he has no financial interest in the 91 Boston Post Road property. He described anyone who would suggest he does as "wrong, just wrong."

Land trust President Arthur Carlson, who took over upon Luich's death last year, submitted a letter to the commission to say Torrance has been instrumental in protecting nearly 500 acres in the area over the past five years.

Carlson also credited Torrance with helping the organization secure nearly $1.5 million in grant funding and over $1 million in private donations.

Torrance said that's the main point. He noted the bulk of the Boston Post Road property will be subject to a conservation easement based on the current proposal.

"Let's keep our eye on the ball," he said. "What's the land trust get out of it? Eight out of 11 acres, or more, once all the dust settles."

Asked what he gets out of it, he answered, "Nothing."

"I get the satisfaction that the eight acres have been preserved," he said. He said it's the same satisfaction he got from having helped the land trust acquire 301 acres near the Montville border.

The business model, as described by a consultant on that project, involves investors selling off large chunks of land to environmental groups for the tax benefits while retaining some parcels to be developed.

Clarke also represents a rejected affordable housing application submitted as a conceptual site plan for 19 houses and 24 townhouses on one of those adjacent properties. Clarke and property owners Duval Partners LLC have sued the commission in the the state Superior Court to get the decision reversed.

Resident Henry Davis at last week's public hearing questioned Torrance's participation in the 91 Boston Post Road project. Davis' father, abutting property owner Andrew Davis, won the property at auction last year but didn't get it because English Harbour Capital Partners had already taken title on the property and put money in escrow to pay off the debt shortly before the auction.

To show Torrance's alleged connection to the project, Davis referenced a document Torrance filed in small claims court on Dec. 22 of last year against Tytla's mortgage company to obtain legal releases required by English Harbour Capital Partners' insurance company.

Davis described the document as "sufficient evidence that Jeffrey Torrance is connected with English Harbour Capital Partners LLC and has broken the 2015 settlement agreement with the town of East Lyme."

Carlson, the land trust president, reiterated in his letter that Torrance was acting on behalf of the land trust.

Geraghty, the attorney, said, "There's been no violation by Mr. Torrance in terms of submitting those documents on behalf of the land trust to the court."

Torrance put it this way: "I don't see how any of this is relevant to an application for an affordable housing application."

First Selectman Dan Cunningham, who was involved as a lawyer for the town in crafting the 2015 agreement, said it's legitimate to ask whether Torrance's involvement is a violation. But he said that's not the zoning commission's call to make.

He said he does not believe the situation is at a point where the town has a duty to raise the issue, either.

"Not right now," he said. "Not in my mind."

In concept only

The application was submitted under the state's affordable housing law as a conceptual site plan requiring only the broad strokes of a project, including information related to environmental concerns, the process for ensuring at least 30% of the units are sold or rented at affordable rates, and a list of permits and approvals that will be needed. It does not require those permits and approvals up front.

Geraghty has emphasized throughout the extended public hearing process that the project will ultimately have to be presented as a full site plan, which is when all necessary information will be presented on issues including traffic, erosion controls and septic service.

But a letter submitted to the commission by Roger Reynolds, senior legal director for the nonprofit environmental organization Save the Sound, said the commission should dismiss the application without action.

He argued the commission does not have the jurisdiction under state law or local regulations to actually approve or deny a conceptual site plan because there's no process for it in the zoning regulations.

"[I]t appears the purpose of a conceptual site plan has been served and the applicant has received valuable feedback from the commission and the public that can and should inform its final site plan submission," he wrote.

How the commission will act on the various interpretations of that and other issues remains an open question. The commission is set to walk through the site on Friday at 10 a.m., with the closure of the public hearing and a vote by the commission planned for Thursday, April 4.

e.regan@theday.com