New Haven Independent

Attorney Peter L. Black, who is running against Panaroni on the Republican line, has released a long history of continuing Inland Wetlands and Zoning violations against Panaroni’s business property at 44 Tabor Drive. For many years he operated an excavation/construction business at the site.

According to public records, Panaroni failed to correct the violations over the past five years, and matters apparently got worse when he rented his property to Sani-Can, a portable toilet company.

In addition, minutes of the Inland Wetlands Commission (IWC) report that Town Counsel Ed Marcus and First Selectwoman Cheryl Morris intervened on Panaroni’s behalf. A cease and desist order had been issued by the IWC. Marcus insisted that Diana Ross, the town’s Inland Wetlands Enforcement Officer remove the order, thus enabling Panaroni to mortgage the property. Ross protested that this was the duty of the IWC. The minutes outlined by Black report that Marcus said he would take responsibility for it. Ross reluctantly lifted the order.

According to Black’s review of the minutes of the IWC and the Zoning Board of Appeals, town officials reported that its agents had witnessed various violations, including the filling of wetlands, the clearing of vegetation within the 100 foot review area and serious grading problems. Panaroni purchased the property with his father in January, 1980.

The story begins on March 30, 2001 when Zoning and Inland Wetlands Enforcement officers wrote Panaroni that he needed to deal with the problems at 44 Tabor Drive. Next the officers documented various illegal activities at the site.

On February 26, 2002, the IWC issued a cease and correct violations order. Panaroni did not pick up the certified letter ordering him to clean up his land. The Commission sent out another letter.

Over the next two years, the violations were not cured. Finally, the Commission ordered that fines of $1,000 a day begin on December 10, 2004 and continue until an adequate site plan was received. The Board acted unanimously.

Panaroni’s defense was that he was having financial difficulties. There were reports that he was in arrears on property taxes. He asked for more extensions. Commissioner Carol Lemmon said it angered her that Panaroni said “he was too busy writing laws to correct the problem, that she hates to see people using their power to circumvent the system.”

While the IWC violations were still pending, the town’s Zoning Enforcement officer issued a cease and desist order for multiple zoning violations. That was on Nov. 2nd 2005.

The ZBA had twice denied Panoroni’s request for a variance, presumably regarding a new use for the property. His response was to appeal the ZBA’s decision in Superior Court. His attorney, Alphonse Ippolito, who has also served as counsel for developer Alex Vigliotti, sued the town on Panaroni’s behalf last April. The case is pending.

In November, 2005, Cheryl Morris was elected First Selectwoman of Branford and she appointed Ed Marcus as town counsel. One of their first orders of business, it appears, was for Cheryl and Ed to intervene to help fix Panaroni’s property problems.

Getting the Panaroni matter fixed required that the property be transferred to Peter. It seems that although 44 Tabor Road had been in the family for 25 years, Panaroni’s mother, Bertha, still owned it, although according to Black, that fact did not come up during numerous board meetings.

However, in order for Panaroni to sell the property, he needed to own it, but he couldn’t own it because of the various violations and cease and desist orders against it.

Enter Ed Marcus. According to the minutes of the IWC here is what happened next:

On the morning of December 8, 2005, Diana Ross, the Wetlands Enforcement officer, was called to Mrs. Morris’s office. Ed Marcus was there. The IWC was to meet that night

“Ross stated she was approached by town counsel who asked her to remove the Cease & Correct order from the land records so that a property transfer from Bertha Panaroni to Peter Panaroni could occur. She said she questioned the Attorney on the legality of having staff remove it from the land records rather than the Commission. The attorney assured her he [Ed Marcus] would be responsible for it. The Cease & Correct Order is still in effect, and according to the attorney, could be placed back on the land records after the transfer. “

In a subsequent letter to Ippolito, Ross said she told Ed Marcus that “as the wetland agent, I am not authorized by State Statutes to lift the order. In fact, the only entity authorized to lift the order is the Branford Inland Wetland Commission. I assured the town attorneys that I would ask the commission if it would lift the order. (The Commission was meeting that night.) Ross said Ed Marcus told her it was okay for her to “temporarily remove the order from the land records so that the transfer [could] go through.”

Black says the reasons why Marcus wanted Ross to lift the order was because it was unlikely the IWC would lift the order on its own until there had been full compliance. Moreover, the IWC had been battling Panaroni for years. Black, quoting the minutes, says that part of the deal to lift the order was payment of $50,000 in back taxes on 44 Tabor Drive.

The release of the order was recorded at 3:31 pm on December 8th, just hours before the full IWC met. Simultaneously, Panaroni mortgaged the property to Guilford Savings Bank. The deed was actually recorded on December 28, 2005. Ippolito wrote in a letter to the Sound newspaper this week that after the closing “the town reneged on its part of the deal and refiled the violation.” So while Ippolito may have believed from the Morris Administration that the lifting was permanent, in fact the orders against Panaroni were restored to the record the next day, Dec. 29, 2005.

Ippolito says Panaroni has restored the property since taking title. The attorney adds that Panaroni has been “persecuted by the town for the action of a tenant that the town believes to be objectionable.”

But Black says that his search of the records, as well as the IWC minutes shows that that there are still IWC and Zoning violations and orders outstanding against Panaroni.

So nearly six years after he was originally notified of Zoning and Wetlands violations, the October 26, 2006 IWC minutes cite as an ongoing enforcement issue, without discussion: “Clearing, filling, grading, and storage of vehicles within 100 foot upland review and within wetland.”

As for Ed Marcus, who initially intervened to remove the wetlands orders against Panaroni’s property, well, the law firm may now find itself in a potential conflict because it is now defending the town against Panaroni’s lawsuit.

Panaroni’s response to Black’s memo is to accuse Black of attacking his family, especially his 89-year-old mother, who is in poor health. In a letter to the Sound he accuses Black of engaging in a “low level of politicking.”

Black said he was not attacking Panaroni’s mom. “She is involved only because he, for years, engaged in illegal activities on property she owned. As for discrediting him, I believe the facts discredit him.”

Maybe Branford’s voters should read Black’s memo and decide for themselves. Click here to read it.
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