Battle brewing over beer garden’s plans
The Hops Co. hopes for zoning approval, neighbors oppose
DERBY — For much of the 50-plus years he has lived there, Neil Dorso said, Sodom Lane was the perfect neighborhood.
There was the occasional loud music coming from a teenager’s bedroom, he said, and sometimes litter thrown out of car windows.
But nothing like what Dorso, Tom Lionetti, Steve Ponzillo, Joe Jalowiec and their neighbors say they have experienced since business at The Hops Co. has boomed — to the point that Connecticut Magazine has named it the state’s number one beer garden the past two years.
“Now it’s a madhouse, Dorso said. “I refer to Sodom Lane as Sodom Speedway.”
He blames much of the increased traffic and illegal parking on the The Hops’ popularity.
“No one does 25 mph here anymore,” claimed Dorso. “If they put a cop out here, Derby can make a fortune.”
“Then they can lower our taxes,” added Ponzillo
The Hops Co., through its lawyer, Dominick Thomas, wants change. They’re hoping the city’s Planning and Zoning Commission approves the new zoning regulation that their lawyer wrote.
Thomas calls his proposed regulation the Derby Development District. If approved, it would allow The Hops Co. to add parking places and new lighting; and to demolish some of its older buildings and replace them with a 5,000-square-foot building for receptions, parties or meetings.
But for now, The Hops operates as a non-conforming entity in a mostly residential area, and can make no changes.
In a previous life, the property was known as Grassy Hill Lodge. It catered weddings and other private parties.
“These were one-day events,” Dorso said. “Not every day from 3 to 11 p.m.”
Irked neighbors
Angry residents have shouted their concerns at the last two Planning and Zoning meetings.
Twenty-six of them are led by Charles Willinger, Jr., a Bridgeport land-use lawyer hired by Jalowiec to fight Thomas’ Derby Development District.
Willinger brought in Catherine Johnson, a city planner and architect, to outline problems with the proposed zone and its failure to fit the city’s master plan.
Charles Sampson, the Board of Aldermen president, sides with them.
Sampson said he wants The Hops Co. to grow, but doesn’t believe the business’ non-conforming location on Sodom Lane is the right place for that to happen.
“I’m making my constituents jump through hoops in order to maintain the quality of life that they currently have now,” he said.
Jalowiec, who spent much of his life living in the Sodom Lane area before moving to Woodbridge, still owns two commercial properties and five rental homes, has provided his tenants with stickers for their cars and mirror tags for their visitors.
He’s placed “private parking” signs on his properties, warning violators they’ll be towed. And he’s got Mike’s Auto Inc. of West Haven patrolling his properties and towing cars without his tags.
“They take away an average three or four cars a weekend,” he said.
Calls for dialogue
Thomas said he wrote the Derby Development District proposal to be similar to Shelton’s Planned Development District, which he credits being used 91 times in that city. He said it has provided commission control over what goes into a site and prohibits any modifications without approval.
“Unfortunately for Derby, you have three places (Dew Drop Inn, Bad Sons Brewery and The Hops), that are popular with young people,” Thomas said. “So if you want to hang a sign out that says: ‘It’s OK to come here, just don’t be too successful,’ I don’t think that’s the correct message anyone wants to send.”
A development district would give the Planning and Zoning Commission “creativity and discretion,” Thomas said.
“If you want to get developers to come in ... and do things that will increase the tax base — but the only place they can go is downtown — then Derby is not going to be successful,” he said.
Residents will get another chance to try to persuade commission members on Tuesday at 7 p.m. when the matter is again considered.
Ponzillo and Lionetti, a former planning and zoning commission, are not optimistic.
“The commission doesn’t listen to the people,” Lionetti said. “If it’s so important, why should they be cramming it down on throats? Why don’t they take some time and review it?”
“We saw it with Belleview Drive (where farmland was subdivided for housing), Marshall Lane Manor (where a convalescent home was converted into a dormitory for foreign students) and now this,” Ponzillo said. “The residents were opposed, but it was approved. There’s taxation but no representation.”
Al Misiewicz, a Planning and Zoning Commission member, said he was leaning toward approving the DDD as a reasonable tool for the city and future economic development.
“I would like input (on it) from the other side to see if we can come up with a better DDD zone ... it’s going to be give and take,” he said.
“My hope is, we put both sides in a room and let them iron out their differences,” said Carmen DiCenso, the city’s economic development liaison and Sampson’s predecessor as president of the Board of Aldermen.
But Jalowiec said negotiations are over.
Still Ted Estwan, the commission’s chairman, warned that denying the zone change helps no one.
“If we do...absolutely nothing...say no to the applicant, everyone walks out of the room (and) life goes on exactly the way it is today,” he said. “THC continues to operate exactly the way they’re doing. Any concerns the residents have...it doesn’t address any of them.”