FAIRFIELD, CT — The settlement reached between Fairfield and Newport Academy, to allow the teen mental health treatment company to open two facilities in the Greenfield Hill section, was overturned by a judge this week, the Connecticut Post reported.
In early 2022, the Fairfield Board of Selectmen approved a legal settlement that would allow Newport Academy to open two residential treatment facilities at 3236 Congress St. and 2495 Redding Road, two homes the company bought for nearly $5.5 million combined.
Newport Academy had claimed in a federal complaint against the town that it was exempt from town zoning regulations under federal law and that Fairfield’s refusal to issue a certificate of occupancy was discriminatory. In its filing, Newport Academy cited the Center for Discovery, a similar local mental health facility in a residential AAA zone, as being allowed to operate in town, according to former Fairfield Town Attorney James Baldwin.
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But this week, Superior Court Judge Dale Radcliffe reportedly ruled that the Board of Selectmen — former First Selectwoman Brenda Kupchick, former Selectwoman Nancy Lefkowitz and former Selectman Tom Flynn — essentially violated the town’s zoning regulations by settling with Newport Academy.
In his decision, Radcliffe ordered the Zoning Board of Appeals to hold a public hearing on the planned project, the Post wrote.
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Through a spokesperson, the current Fairfield administration said it did not have a comment on the ruling.
Patch reached out to Newport Academy for comment, but did not receive a reply.
In an email to Patch, attorney Joel Green, who represented the Greenfield Hill neighborhood group, Neighbors for Neighborhood Preservation, said that the judge ruled that Newport Academy was unfairly given special treatment because of the settlement.
“In the Memorandum of Decision, the Court ruled that the required zoning process had been violated in allowing the Newport entities to open and operate the two commercial medical facilities in residential neighborhoods in Fairfield,” Green said. “Specifically, in negotiating and settling the federal lawsuit brought by the Newport entities against the Town, Newport was improperly given special treatment when certificates of occupancy were wrongfully issued to Newport by the Town, without legal justification, that permitted Newport to open these facilities.
“As neighbors who have been affected by these businesses, the Plaintiffs look forward to participating in the required zoning process, as they are entitled to under the law.”
Read the Connecticut Post story.
— Anna Schier, Patch Staff, contributed to this report.
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