Written by BARNES, JENNETTE
Thu, Mar 07 02
"By JENNETTE BARNES
Attorneys for the
City Council and the administration are investigating whether the city could
legally get involved in an appeal of a state regulatory decision to allow
Greenwich Bay Marina to expand to a 3.9-acre perimeter, making it the largest
marina in
A resolution asking
the city to investigate joining an appeal planned by neighbors of the marina is
expected to come up for a vote at Monday’s council meeting. Introduced by
Councilman C.J. Donovan (D-Ward 7) with co-sponsorship from the council
president, Ward 4 Democrat Joseph Solomon, the resolution prompted Mayor Scott Avedisian (R) to ask city solicitor John Earle to research
whether the city would have legal standing to appeal. Yesterday, Earle said it
"might" be legal for the city to appeal.
"The city may
have standing to seek a review of the decision, but I haven’t finalized my
research," he said.
Earle said he is
waiting for direction from the City Council solicitor, John Harrington, and for
a written decision to be issued by the Coastal Resources Management Council,
the body that voted 4-3 to approve the marina expansion.
Harrington could
not be reached for comment yesterday.
The CRMC overturned
a recommendation of the subcommittee established to examine plans submitted by marina
owner Lee Raymond. After listening to public testimony at a special hearing in
In an interview,
the City Council president said he was disturbed by CRMC’s decision to act in
conflict with its subcommittee.
"To me that
indicated that CRMC wasn’t concerned about what had an effect on the greatest
number of people. To ignore the subcommittee recommendation was to ignore all
that testimony," Solomon said.
When asked about
the potential cost to the city of legal action, he said litigation expenses are
already in the budget, adding, "You cannot put a dollar figure on the
quality of life of the people of the City of
Like the city
attorneys, the marina neighbors who opposed the expansion are waiting for CRMC’s
written decision before making a final decision to appeal. Jack Early is the
spokesperson on the issue for the Arnold’s Neck Improvement Association and
Cedar Tree Point Association, which cooperated to retain attorney S. Paul Ryan
and file an official objection with CRMC.
"We’re
strongly considering an appeal," Early said yesterday. "We’ve been
advised by counsel to wait until the documentation is received and then make a
decision. We have a full plan ready to be implemented." Early said he was
"very excited" to learn of sentiment among City Council members in
favor of joining the appeal.
Asked for his
opinion about the city appealing the CRMC decision, Mayor Avedisian
reiterated his support of the creation of a Special Area Management Plan for
"I don’t want
to jump in [on an appeal] until I know we have legal standing to do so,"
the mayor said. "We’ve been supportive of a scaled-down version, but now
obviously that had changed dramatically."
The proposed
expansion of Greenwich Bay Marina would mean the addition of approximately 161
slips, bringing the total near 473. Another