Madison Beach Hotel Appeals Court Ruling
The battle isn’t over yet. Despite a judge recently ruling in favor of a group of residents in their longstanding battle against the Town of Madison and the Madison Beach Hotel (MBH) over the legality of several actions of the hotel, particularly events on the piece of town-owned property known as the Grassy Strip, on June 20 the Madison Beach Hotel filed paperwork to appeal the decision.
Only the hotel moved to appeal the order and judgment made on May 31 and subsequent Memorandum of Decision and Order filled on June 8 in New Haven Superior Court. The Town of Madison will not be involved in any future legal action.
The paperwork for the appeal to the Appellate Court appeared in the State of Connecticut court system database on June 26. The paperwork confirms that the Hotel is the only party involved in initiating the appeal, but documents do not yet show anything regarding the grounds or points for appeal.
Madison Beach Hotel General Manager John Mathers confirmed the court documents are authentic and the hotel has indeed filed an appeal.
“We are heartened by the overwhelming outpouring of support we continue to receive from our neighbors and the Madison community every single day,” he said. “We’re united in their dismay at the ruling. More importantly we share the sincere disappointment that the 10 special evenings we spent together each summer as a greater shoreline family could be simply torn away. The West Wharf is for all our residents, not a privileged few. West Wharf is as beautiful and sacred an area as any in our great country and summer concerts are an American tradition. We will fight to keep that tradition alive on the Grassy Strip in our fair town.”
The order ruling in favor of the group of residents, filed by the judge Steven D. Ecker in New Haven Superior Court was lengthy as it went through the history of the case and the various accounts, but the last line of the order was simple.
“The hotel defendants are permanently enjoined from organizing, producing, promoting, or sponsoring the Grassy Park summer concert series. Judgment shall enter accordingly,” it reads.
The order rules in favor of the group of residents in regard to the concerts, but not the outdoor movie series or the outdoor wedding events. The order states that the hotel cannot expand its non-conforming use for the summer concert series.
“The hotel cannot expand its non-conforming commercial use simply because the Grassy Strip is owned by the town as part of the West Wharf Park. The hotel pays to use the Grassy Strip for a commercial purpose on concert nights, as part of its business. The issue in the present case is not the hypothetical one of whether the non-commercial use of the park to hold a concert would or would not violate the zoning regulations or other applicable law. The issue is whether the hotel can temporarily annex the Grassy Strip on Wednesday nights during the summer in order to expand its commercial operations far beyond those permitted by the existing non-conformity. The answer is no.”
The History of the Case
The three involved parties ended up in court for seven days in early August 2017. The case was tried before a judge, rather than a jury, and court wrapped up on Aug. 15. Legal briefs were due Sept. 22 and a reply brief was due by Oct. 13. The judge heard oral arguments on Nov. 16, at which point the judge had 120 days to issue a verdict.
Issues between the neighbors and the hotel have stretched on for years, with one group of neighbors known as the Madison Beach Preservation Association (MBPA) accusing the hotel of several violations and a failure to abide by the zoning variances issued by the town in 2008.
Some cited violations include exceeding the building occupancy for special events, exterior lighting beyond what was approved, truck deliveries outside of approved hours and days, prolonged idling by trucks and buses doing business with the hotel, the exterior storage of trash, and amplified music that is audible beyond 50 feet of the hotel property. The original lawsuit filed May 20, 2015 said the violations were disruptive to the neighborhood.
The suit was amended in April 2016 with claims that the hotel continues to expand commercial non-conforming uses in violation with the Madison town zoning regulations. In March 2017, the MBPA announced via a press release that the New Haven Superior Court had denied the motion for summary judgment (a dismissal before trial) and the case would then move to trial.
MBH and the Town of Madison are both defendants in the case and have maintained that all regulations are being respected. The hotel spoke out about the case in June 2017 when the hotel formally kicked off its sixth season of the free Grassy Strip concerts.
On the other side of the case, the neighbors were thrilled with the ruling of the court and said they feel as though justice has been served according to one of the plaintiffs Emile Geisenheimer.
“I think it a big victory and we are very pleased by the results,” he said. “I think appropriately there is a high standard for injunctions – they are not given very lightly by the court - but as the judge said in his order this wasn’t even a difficult case. It was pretty obvious what was going on here and the hotel was expanding its commercial business on to the Grassy Strip.”