PRESS RELEASE

The Concerned Homeowners of Greenwich have retained the law firm of Robinson & Cole based in Hartford, CT to represent them in their appeal of the new FAR Regulations recently passed by the Greenwich Planning and Zoning Commission. The Concerned Homeowners of Greenwich is a group of individual homeowners that are challenging the new regulations based on their confiscatory nature without meeting a defined public benefit and the faulty and arbitrary process used in the determination of the regulations. The appeal will be filed by Dec. 16^th 1998. It is believed that the new FAR Regulations affect the value of every home in Greenwich and some real estate transactions have already seen a negative impact in repricing due to the FAR’s. The Concerned Homeowners of Greenwich group is looking for additional members that are interested in the FAR issue and homeowners who have had their property value adversely affected and are accepting donations toward the legal appeal fund.

"The Homeowners group is concerned that we have been forced to take our own town to court to preserve the property value of every home in Greenwich for regulations that were passed by the Planning and Zoning Commission over significant taxpayer objection and reasonable requests to delay. Our attorneys have advised us that we have a strong case. We believe the process was faulty and the regulations were passed in a hasty manner without thinking through all of the issues and coming up with a comprehensive plan that meets any specific goals set for it. It seems clear that the use of FAR’s, as proposed, offer little public benefit and will not directly affect streetscapes or the environment which were the stated goals. By changing the FAR’s in the zones where they are currently in place means clearly that they are not working as intended. To then further apply them to the rest of town is overreaching with a tool that is not working. The Commission chose to ignore the voices of many taxpayers, the Conservation Commission, and the Architectural Review Commission in rushing to pass incomplete regulations. By pushing through the legislation the Commission has forced the Town into a legal battle rather than take the time to listen to taxpayers concerns and address them up front. The new regulations have an affect on the value of every home in Greenwich and the Commission has not studied how this will affect homeowners or show up on future tax rolls. We believe that by not being willing to study the issues raised at the public hearings, such as the questionable reliability of the basic data used to support the regulations, conservation zones, nonconforming lots, and the use of attics and basements in the calculation they have enacted regulations that will not accomplish their stated goals but will decrease home values and cause new houses to be unsightly to meet the loopholes in the regulation. This undermines the credibility of the Commission and has led to dissatisfaction in the community. To try to move this discussion forward the Concerned Homeowners of Greenwich are also studying an alternative proposal for zoning that may meet the goals and be reasonable for homeowners. We look forward to helping to solve these problems and preserve property values and quality of life for all town residents." stated Alan Small a member of the Concerned Homeowners.

Robinson & Cole is a national law firm with a group that specializes in Land Use and Development Permitting and Litigation. They have significant national experience in planning and zoning law and litigation and a staff of partners, associates, planners, and environmental analysts that work as a team in this area of law. The law firm has offices in Greenwich, Stamford, and Hartford, CT.

For more information please contact Concerned Homeowners of Greenwich at 15 East Putnam Avenue #250, Greenwich, CT 06830, (203) 622-1250.