Last fall's struggle to find a suitable lakeside location for the Sandy Hook-based LOF Adaptive Skiers continues this season, even though First Selectman Dan Rosenthal feels "conversation" this winter has "dropped off" with LOF representatives.

Town officials have been working to locate alternate locations for founder Joel Zeisler to host his organization's events other than those presenting problems in the Housatonic Drive and Bridge End Farm Lane neighborhoods. Those two sites had been used in the past to run LOF waterski clinics offered free to children, adults, and veterans with disabilities.

The LOF had operated from Mr Zeisler's home address on Housatonic Drive for more than 20 years before last year's relocation to town property at the Walnut Tree Hill Road and Bridge End Farm intersection. The previous year, Town officials issued a cease and desist order for operations at Housatonic Drive, and filed a related injunction in March.

Land Use Director George Benson said, "A cease and desist order can be appealed, but [Mr Zeisler] never did, it was ignored, so we went for an injunction." On April 30 lawyers will meet, "which is the first step in proceedings," he said. The meeting will take place between a judge and attorneys "to look at merits of the case."

Matters are now headed for Danbury Superior Court. "The defendant has to show cause why the injunction should not be issued," he said.

With the cease and desist in place since 2016, Mr Benson said that during the time following, "We tried to help him, but…we filed for an injunction in March [2018]."

The injunction is now a court matter. "The court can rule if [LOF] should be permitted" to operate at Housatonic Drive. "It's a zoning issue," Mr Benson said.

Mr Zeisler said, "We did not appeal; however, I cannot confide in the reason why not." He had hoped the town and LOF could mediate, and work something out through discussion, he said. "Court is going to cost everybody money."

He said, "Why they want to go to a lawsuit is beyond me; we have not violated anything. We did nothing wrong with the cease and desist." His organization already has several 2018 events planned, such as one-day water sport events. Mr Zeisler said, "I don't know what's going to happen in court - cease and desist does not mean you're guilty," but he is unclear where the events will take place.

"This is the most complex situation, I've ever been involved in," Mr Zeisler said. "But going to court is a lose, lose situation. It's a waste of humanity with all good things that can be done with this energy." The LOF "will still function, somehow, someway." He challenges Mr Rosenthal to "put together mediation among parties rather than run to court."

A Growing Program

After more than 20 years the LOF programming has grown into a successful nonprofit organization that, "reached a level where neighbors finally said something," Mr Rosenthal said. The cease and desist action applies to the Housatonic Drive address only, and is not directed to curtail the LOF programs, Mr Rosenthal said.

Is he seeking to end LOF operations? "That couldn't be farther from the truth," the first selectman said.

A temporary 2017 events permit to operate water sport programs from Walnut Tree Hill, also along the lake, expired last season. Mr Zeisler claims the offer to use that town property had initially been extended as a permanent home for the LOF.

Former First Selectman Pat Llodra said last August and September selectmen asked Mr Zeisler and the LOF to work with the town to find an alternate location for programs in 2018 other than the waterfront park adjacent to Bridge End Farm Lane.

This month, while scrolling through a series of February e-mails between Mr Zeisler and Parks and Recreation Director Amy Mangold, Mr Rosenthal noted where conversations about location had ended. Those conversations had made mention of two possible locations for LOF programing, although on a limited scale.

Ms Mangold wrote to LOF board member Kathryn Wolf on February 20 saying she and Mr Rosenthal previously discussed, "…exploring possibilities of some limited flexible use at Eichler's Cove. This would be to look at limited possibilities during the week only. We will not be able to consider any weekend use unless off season, which is before Memorial Day and after Labor Day," the e-mail conveyed.

Ms Mangold's e-mail stated she spoke with Frank Cooper, Monroe's Parks and Recreation director, who was "open and enthused to have a discussion of working with Leaps of Faith" on possible usage of the launch in Monroe that he manages for the town. He said he has not heard from anyone from Leaps of Faith yet.

Ms Wolf stated she would forward Ms Mangold's e-mail "to the LOF office, and they will be in contact with you." Later that day, Mr Zeisler replied to Ms Mangold, "We certainly appreciate any kind of offer with the use of Eichler's Cove. Other than no weekends, you really have not identified number of days, hours, dock use at the beach, parking, and any other rules or regulations we will need to adhere to. If you could let me know much more in detail what you are offering, we will be able to consider it."

Ms Mangold responded saying, "My idea of exploration is to meet with representatives from your board and see what might be workable and beneficial for limited use. I think it is us who will need to consider what may or may not work, but I can't dictate that without understanding what times and days on a limited basis might benefit LOF most before we get into any rules, regulations etc."

On February 26, Mr Zeisler replied: "…thank you for passing along the information of the Monroe launch ramp at Lake Zoar. I have been aware of this through the years and revisited the site over the weekend. As I suspected, it is too steep for wheelchair use and only enough parking for three to six cars…"

He wrote, "Regarding the use of Eichler's Cove for our events, I thank you [very] much for considering LOF, however, my concerns are that it has not been made accessible for people with disabilities yet. I don't know if there will be a dock to use and what kind of space will be available for us as an organization.

"My primary goal with any events that we do is to make sure the site has accessibility (especially for wheelchairs), and make sure our operations are 100 percent safe."

Compliance, Safety Issues

Mr Zeisler's biggest concern, he stated, "is that our organization doesn't want to be discriminated against in any way so I am looking forward to see what you can offer with Eichler's Cove. I am sure that you are aware of our needs from being involved with [The Walnut Tree Hill address], as nothing has changed. We certainly can talk at your convenience if this indeed is something we can make work."

Ms Mangold answered: "We are currently working on plans to make Eichler's Cove ADA compliant. We will not have a dock to use and these improvements will not be complete by the spring and possibly even the summer."

She wrote, "My original thought for temporary use was one or two events in the morning during the week before the beach opened up for the day and you would have to bring in the dock, walkway, etc as you did last season. I am thinking that after reading your e-mail this is not what you are looking for. I would also have a concern for the safety of LOF skiers with other boaters pulling in and out of their slips while LOF skiers are in the water.

This is not a water skiing facility," she wrote, "it is a beach and marina. I feel that perhaps at this time Eichler's Cove is not the best temporary solution."

The string of e-mails then ended. Aside from that exchange, Mr Rosenthal said he had also met with Mr Zeisler and LOF Chairperson Kathryn Wolf in December "and we discussed the possibility" of using Eichler's Cove or the launch at Lake Lillinonah, "but their focus was on Bridge End," he said, so conversation "never went further."

Referring this week to those e-mails with Ms Mangold, Mr Zeisler said, "We would use Eichler's," but he feels Ms Mangold "took it off the table." If Eichler's is still viable, he said, "I would jump at the chance … We would love to use it; it's not perfect for the long-term answer, but it would work."

Ms Mangold said, "Our department has always reached out to Leaps of Faith to offer solutions to keep their organization running events when they were struggling with a location to operate from. We have allowed and offered usage at Eichler's Cove in the past and Lake Lillinonah. We also informed them about an opportunity in Monroe. We do not offer a water skiing facility at any park location for any organization or individual."

She said, "Eichler's Cove is a marina and beach facility. We were trying again this season to offer some times that LOF could run some events at Eichler's cove so that they would not have to stop offering programing to the athletes who enjoy and benefit from them."

Board Members Meet

Discussion about Eichler's Cove came about after Mr Rosenthal in February met with a LOF board members, which was followed by the e-mail between LOF and Ms Mangold.

Mr Rosenthal said this week that the town does not allow skiing from the marina, a floating walkway leading to boat slips. Also at Eichler's Cove is a boat launch, picnic area, parking, and a small beach. Plans are in place to create three additional handicap accessible boat slips, and other upgrades that should be completed in the fall, he said.

The action is "how we're addressing ADA grievances," brought to the town in November of 2017.

Regarding Eichler's Cove, once a privately owned marina until the town purchased the property several years ago, Mr Rosenthal said, "I'm still willing to work something out at Eichler's, but in balance. Others use the facility."

During the winter, Mr Rosenthal had offered Eichler's Cove for use, he said, and not the Bridge End Farm/Walnut Tree Hill address. Mr Zeisler had then "mentioned legal action against the town," Mr Rosenthal said.

He then told Mr Zeisler, "It's not for me to tell you how to run your organization," but expressed caution regarding legal action, "because if you do, then walls go up," and the ability to work things out "will be limited," Mr Rosenthal said.

The situation "requires flexibility on everyone's part," he said, which may not allow the LOF to run "as many events as they want to."

The town would be "hard pressed" to offer the LOF a permanent home on town property at Walnut Tree Hill, Mr Rosenthal said. Like the LOF, "There are so many organizations in town," all doing beneficial community work, he said. "It's not sustainable for the town to give land to an organization on a permanent basis; what we do for one, we must do for all," he said.

"Would that be discriminating?" he asked. "I don't think so."

Aiming to remain "open-minded and flexible," Mr Rosenthal said he can't "give them a location" for all of their events. "It's not a compromise we can attain," he said.

The Walnut Tree Hill site was zoned properly for LOF use, Mr Zeisler said. "Unfortunately, some townspeople said they were never told it was going to be permanent." Walnut Tree "was offered as a solution" to Housatonic Drive, and was offered "as a permanent site," he said.

He feels, "It was sad that the town supports the neighbors. We have always tried to accommodate neighbors and people."

Would Mr Zeisler consider scaling back his events? "Yeah," he said "If it was three days a week not four or five, that's fine. Nobody likes to scale back success, but we don't want to make neighbors uncomfortable."

A New Season

Prior to 2017, Housatonic Drive neighbors had for several years pressed the town to enforce zoning regulations that would curtail any LOF clinics from being operate in that residential neighborhood. The town then issued a cease and desist order, which is a zoning action, said Mr Benson.

In an effort to assist Mr Zeisler's LOF clinics, officials offered him a lakeside town-owned property for 2017, Mr Rosenthal confirmed. However, the alternate location on Walnut Tree Hill Road at a ballfield near Bridge End Farm Lane also proved problematic.

By late September, as the LOF's temporary events permit, issued through the Parks and Recreation Department, expired, difficulties in finding a home for the ski group became clear.

Mr Zeisler at a Board of Selectman's meeting last August, pleaded that "We have no place to go," and that his priority was "getting people with disabilities out there," on the lake. He was prepared to "do what is necessary" to run the LOF clinics, he had said.

During that same meeting Mr Benson had said that following the cease and desist order halting the Housatonic Drive operations, the town officials felt the offer to use the Walnut Tree Hill Road site was a good compromise.

"We're just trying to find a place for [LOF]," Mr Benson had said. "We did not think it would be a problem." Yet angered neighbors at that meeting had argued that the LOF's activities have compromised their own enjoyment and recreation, among other complaints. (See the August 17, 2017, BOS meeting video)

Mr Benson and then First Selectman Pat Llodra had said then that they had asked Mr Zeisler to "find another place," Mr Benson had said. The town also had "been trying to help the LOF and we have been trying for years to find them a place."

Last year, Mrs Llodra had said the LOF could "stay for the season" on a permit that soon expired and spend the winter months working with the town to find another location. She had said, "They have a wonderful program and the need is real and the benefits to participants are significant.

"We are doing what we are to support them, but we have no obligation to house them," she said. She had hoped to help them find a location both good for their needs "but also not too impactful" to neighbors.

Mr Rosenthal now finds himself in a similar position. "I'm sensitive to the LOF mission and people it serves," he said on April 10. "No," the town is not required to provide them space, he said. "But we are sensitive to their mission."

ADA Grievances

Frustrations have continued, however. Mr Zeisler ended last year at odds with the town and neighbors, and since then officials have fielded Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) grievances, several requests (see related story) from Mr Zeisler regarding the town's correspondence about the LOF, and the e-mail exchange that failed to conclude, regarding alternate sites for programming.

Discussing this information, Mr Rosenthal said the "way they have gone about it is a disservice to the people they serve."

Stamped as "received" by the Newtown Building Department on November 2, 2017, was a letter sent certified mail as an ADA grievance from Valley Cottage, N.Y., resident and LOF participant Caren Landis, to Chief Building Official and ADA contact John Poeltl.

Ms Landis states that she filed a grievance against Newtown for "failing to provide an accessible dock" that would safely "allow me to access the water to waterski …"

She states that as a wheelchair user, Newtown has "discriminated against me and other wheelchair users by not having a safe and accessible dock to enter and exit the water." She notes that Newtown is "not in compliance with the ADA…"

Responding to an e-mail from The Newtown Bee asking about the grievance, she referred the paper to her advocate in the grievance, Chera Ann Simpson.

Another ADA grievance letter, dated November 13, 2017, to Mr Poeltl, is from North Woodstock, N.H., from Gerard P. Miserandino, Sr, also an LOF participant. He formally filed a grievance for "failing to provide an access dock that would allow me to waterski in your community.

As a Wounded Warrior your town has discriminated against me," under the ADA Boating Amendment.

The town is "not in compliance with the ADA," he wrote. He wrote that he is "beyond disturbed by this discrimination," saying that he fought for his country's freedom, and that Newtown has "taken away that very freedom."

Also responding to an e-mail inquiry from The Newtown Bee, Mr Miserandino referred this paper to his advocate in the grievance, also Ms Simpson. (See related article)

Following a meeting with both the Mr Miserandino and Ms Landis regarding their grievances, Mr Poeltl wrote reply letters to both "persons affiliated with the LOF," regarding their grievances, he said. The town's marina is located at Eichler's Cove, which is not handicap accessible.

Ms Mangold said plans are currently underway to create handicap marina slips, however, Mr Poeltl said, skiers "can't ski off the marina."

His letter to Mr Miserandino and Ms Landis regarding ADA accessible boat slips, dated December 14, 2017, stated, "Thank you for bringing to our attention the deficiencies in regard to accessibility at the Town of Newtown's Eichler's Cove Marina."

He noted that after speaking with Ms Mangold, her department retained Stantec Consulting Services, which will be "providing the town with a scope of work to bring the marina into compliance" with state and federal laws.

Mr Poeltl feels that his response "was not what they wanted," but the recreation department is moving forward to make Eichler's ADA compliant.