Somers Fairground Appeal Decided In Favor Of Neighbors

SOMERS, CT — A marathon hearing by the Somers Zoning Board of Appeals, encompassing eight hours of discussion over three sessions, finally ended Tuesday night with the board voting 4-1 to sustain an appeal brought by neighbors of the Four Town Fairgrounds, overturning a decision by the town's zoning enforcement officer regarding "off-season" rentals of the property.

Last summer, Zoning Enforcement Officer Jennifer Roy issued a ruling enabling the Union Agricultural Society of Somers, Enfield, Ellington & East Windsor, Inc. (UAS) to continue renting the property at 56 Egypt Rd. to outside organizations during "off-season" periods, other than the annual Four Town Fair and Hartford County 4-H Fair. Roy said based on more than 60 years of precedence, a special use permit was not required for such events, deeming them to be legal non-conforming usage.

A group of more than a dozen residents of Sunshine Farms Drive, Little Sorrel Lane and Country Fair Drive, a subdivision built in the late 1980s which abuts the fairgrounds, filed an appeal through attorney John Parks. After several delays, the hearing commenced Feb. 18, with Parks and attorney Dorian Famiglietti, representing the UAS, offering lengthy presentations on behalf of their clients. That meeting lasted more than three hours before being continued without audience members having had a chance to offer their input.

The hearing continued March 2, when five residents of the neighborhood spoke in favor of the appeal. Three residents said they were against the appeal, and Roy entered 41 emails received by her office into the record, with 37 opposed to the appeal and four in favor, including two neighbors who had spoken during the hearing. After another six and a half hours of testimony, a special Zoom meeting was slated to give board members a chance to deliberate and ask for clarification on some matters.

After about 80 minutes of discussion Tuesday, board member Andy Rockett moved the board grant the appeal, with findings that the decision does not pertain to the Four Town Fair, the 4-H Fair "or any other such agricultural fairs, all of which are permissible." He added, "No other valid non-conforming use was established" by the UAS, and "the burden of proof establishing municipal estoppel was not met."

Board chair Dean Hills and members Dan Thayer, Susan Peck and Rockett voted in favor of the motion, with board member Doug Stebbins opposed.

Society members contend the revenue from off-season property rentals is essential to operation of the Four Town Fair, a fixture for over 180 years, and stopping those rentals after so many years would likely mean the UAS would not have enough funds to continue the fair.

George Van Tasel, a longtime UAS member, simply said, "It is what it is."

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