ZBA Rejects Controversial Horse Arena Plan

By Andrew Gorosko

The Zoning Board of Appeals (ZBA) has ruled against allowing a Sandy Hook couple to build an enclosed 9,864-square-foot horse arena on their property at 5 Morgan Drive.

In turning down the controversial horse arena proposal, ZBA members May 3 unanimously sided with two nearby Stone Gate Drive couples who had challenged the zoning enforcement officer’s decision last December to let the arena be constructed for personal use at Zoar Ridge Stables, a horse farm operated by Annette and Brian Sullivan.

After Zoning Enforcement Officer Gary Frenette approved the proposal, Mr and Mrs Christopher Maurer 0f 12 Stone Gate Drive and Mr and Mrs Robert Sapienza of 6 Stone Gate Drive filed an action with the ZBA seeking to reverse Mr Frenette’s decision. The ZBA held a public hearing on the matter in March.

ZBA Chairman Charles Annett said May 3, “We look at each piece of property individually… and how it relates to adjoining properties.”

ZBA member Alan Clavette said he does not consider a structure as large as the one proposed as an “incidental” use of the property.

 Constructing such a building would create a new use of the property, not an incidental, accessory use of the land, said Mr Annett.

“It’s a very large building to be used for an accessory use,” said ZBA member Michael Daubert.

Mr Annett pointed out that the Sullivans want to build the arena in a neighborhood which was developed after the horse farm was established.

ZBA members then unanimously voted to overrule Mr Frenette’s decision to allow the Sullivans to build the arena. ZBA members decided the proposed accessory use of a horse arena is not incidental and subordinate to the primary use of the 30-acre property.

In their filing with the ZBA, the Maurers and Sapienzas charged that the structure the Sullivans want to build cannot legitimately be considered an accessory use of the property. 

Annette Sullivan attended the ZBA session, as did several of her neighbors who have been staunchly opposed to the construction proposal.

Following the vote, Ms Sullivan said,  “I think Newtown’s completely changed. The beginning of the end happened a long time ago.”

Newtown used to be a community that was friendly to horses, but that no longer is the case, she said.

Ms Sullivan said she expects much of the horse owning community will be leaving town. “This isn’t a horse town anymore,” she said. “This is just a big suburb,” she added. Newtown has become like other area suburban towns, she said.

Ms Sullivan said she knows of other people in Newtown who had planned to seek town approvals for horse arena construction, but in light of her proposal being rejected, those arena proposals will not be submitted.

Last year, the Sullivans’ proposal to build a somewhat larger horse arena on their property became a controversial proposition, as Stone Gate Drive neighbors opposed to the project strongly protested the idea, saying the presence of an arena would hurt their quality of life. At that time, the Sullivans sought approval for a commercial horse arena from the Planning and Zoning Commission (P&Z), in connection with expanded operations at the 30-acre farm.

In the construction application approved by Mr Frenette last December, the Sullivans explained the horse arena would be constructed for “personal use,” as an “accessory use” of their property.

After the P&Z rejected the earlier horse arena construction proposal last June, the Sullivans sued the P&Z in seeking to overturn the rejection. That lawsuit is pending in Danbury Superior Court.

At a public hearing on the ZBA matter March 1, attorney John Fallon, representing the Maurers and the Sapienzas, told ZBA members the proposed arena is several times larger than typical homes in the neighborhood. Unless the ZBA places limits on what can be legitimately considered an accessory use of a property, it would wreak havoc with the concept of zoning, he said. Mr Fallon also questioned whether the Sullivans would strictly limit the arena to their personal use.

The Sullivans’ construction proposal is an attempt to get around the P&Z’s past rejection of their request for a special exception to the zoning regulations to build an arena for commercial purposes, Mr Fallon said. Allowing the Sullivans to build the arena would set a dangerous precedent, he said.

In response, attorney Robert Hall, representing the Sullivans, said the town has approved similar private horse arenas for other residents in the past, and provided aerial photos to illustrate his point.

Ms Sullivan had told ZBA members she needs an arena to allow her seven horses to exercise during bad weather to keep them fit and in good shape for riding.