Lawyer: Groton secretly talking with new Mystic Oral School developer

When news dropped back in January that the inexperienced developer with a criminal bribery rap sheet had sold his interest in the Mystic Oral School project to someone else, I mistakenly assumed the town of Groton would explain he could not do that.

After all, following a firestorm of outrage from the public and a giant thumbs-down for the project being proposed by Respler Homes, the town was supposed to be pursuing a legal exit from its agreement with the controversial developer.

It turns out you can’t expect the hired managers of Groton are going to do the obvious, professional thing. Instead, according to a lawyer representing neighbors, they seem to be doubling down on the bad decision of picking Respler Homes in the first place and are indulging the developer with a criminal bribery record by talking to the replacement developer he is proposing, with no public input and no vote from the Town Council.

Town councilors got a letter last week informing them that Town Manager John Burt and the town’s lawyers have included the developer Respler Homes wants to sell his proposed oral school project to in mediation talks that were supposed to address the ways in which Respler has allegedly violated the terms of his deal.

The development deal between Respler and the town specifically forbids his selling the project until at least the first phase is substantially complete.

Attorney Edward Moukawsher, representing many neighbors of the oral school property, wrote to the council in a letter dated Saturday, to express his clients’ “deepest concern that the process for the development of the property has been completely corrupted by the course that the town and the exclusive developer, Respler Homes LLC, have chosen to follow.”

Moukawsher, who in the letter channels some of my disbelief at what is happening, uses terms like this to describe what the town is doing: “It is beyond comprehension” and “the absurdity and recklessness of the town’s actions.”

The lawyer says town officials are allowing Respler — despite his “criminal record” and “lack of good faith” — to select the new developer of the property without the normal vetting of a request for proposals process.

“The process masquerading as “mediation” is nothing more than an effort to save face by the town from a fiasco of its own making,” the lawyer wrote.

I asked Burt by email to confirm whether the new developer is involved in the talks, as Moukawsher alleges, and what the meetings have been about. He never replied.

Moukawsher notes that state Department of Economic and Community Development Commissioner David Lehman wrote to Jeffrey Respler of Respler Homes on April 22, with copies to the town manager and lawyer, to say the diversion to a new proposed developer for development of the state-owned property is “concerning.”

Lehman went on to describe the ways in which a substitution of a new project for the one selected through the joint state/ town request for proposals process would be problematic.

Moukawsher, in his letter, says the secret talks the town manager is conducting violate Freedom of Information laws, especially since they include the new proposed developer, known as Blue Lotus Group.

“Any claim (of FOI exemption) under the development agreement that these ‘mediations’ are ‘compromise and settlement negotiations’ between Respler and the town have been waived by participation of Blue Lotus, which is not a party to the development agreement and stands on no greater footing than the general public,” the neighbors’ attorney wrote.

He went on to say he would make a formal Freedom of Information request for the records and correspondence of the sessions.

“We request that the Town Council demand the disclosure to the council of these same records and documents and to require detailed minutes of the meetings be prepared and provided to the council.”

Naturally, a little Googling indicates the developer being proposed as a substitute for the one with a criminal record of bribing public officials is equally problematic.

Never mind that it was only recently formed as a legal entity in New York State, it hasn’t actually done any development yet.

Apparently it’s good enough, though, for the paid staff at Town Hall and the safe majority on the council that supports the staff incompetence. The word incompetence is gracious, given the situation.

Groton residents made some progress in the last election, but they need another one soon, to finally right the ship.