Drama ensues over theater proposal

Two years after the Planning and Zoning Commission issued the Legacy Theatre a permit that allowed its owners to start interior renovations, neighbors and residents continue to clash over the organization’s proposal.

But the curtain hasn’t been drawn on the theater yet.

Stony Creek residents argue the Legacy Theatre — the former Puppet House — is too small a venue to accommodate co-owner Keely Baisden

FROM PAGE 1 Knudsen’s vision.

Knudsen said she aims to unite the community through theatrical performances.

However, before a decision can be made about the theater’s future, all parties must agree to a mediator’s proposal.

Knudsen purchased the 128 Thimble Island Road property in 2013 after the building’s former owner — James Weil — died in December 2012. Prior to Knudsen’s acquisition of the Puppet House, Weil staged productions featuring Sicilian puppets. But town officials shut down the Puppet House in 2009 because of numerous building and fire code violations.

Weil’s mother, Grace Weil, purchased the property in 1961. Before that the building operated as a summer theater in the 1920s, a parachute factory during World War II and a girdle factory in the 1950s.

“It was sort of kismet that this historic theater from 1903 was getting ready to be repurposed because it had gone through demise in its last decade. We were able to come in and do something that was even more purposeful,” Knudsen said.

But ever since Knudsen purchased the property, neighbors have raised concerns about the possibility of history repeating itself, where behavior that was prohibited was in fact allowed on the property, such as consumption of alcohol.

According to Daniel Bullard, president of the Stony Creek Association, because Weil was unable to maintain a steady stream of income that supported the theater’s operations, the property was rented out for multiple events.

“People were staying there overnight. Beer bottles were on the sidewalk. It became a 24-hour hangout for people who were not behaving properly. It was very disruptive to the community,” he said. voted unanimously to uphold Acquino’s decision.

According to planning and zoning documents, because the building was specifically designed and built to be used as a performance venue before the inception of the town’s zoning regulations in 1956, the Legacy Theatre owners were not required to apply for a special exception. In 1973, the Planning and Zoning Department amended its regulations, but because the building operated as a theater before 1973, the owners were not required to apply for a special exception.