[CT Birds] Stopping development

[ORCHIDS]

This is a county court decision - alas the only real way to judge this  
decision is to a) have an intimate knowledge of the towns regulations  
and b) review the courts opinion.  The court claims that the town did  
not follow their adopted rules.  It is not uncommon for various  
parties to understand the complexities of regulations and rest their  
decision on a fragment of a policy.  Will the town attempt to reverse  
the decision - depends - if they perceive that the judges position is  
incorrect and it could harm the town, they might take an appeal.  On  
an appeal you need to hope that you get a good judge that understands  
the law.  Good and bad decisions come out of the courts all the time -  
it is not really consistent.  Also the judge doesn't make decision on  
the facts, just the facts that are contained in the hearing record.   
So the towns decision could be correct but the hearing record poor.   
That too happens all the time.  Unless the town really wants a  
development, it is the burden of the applicant to make certain that  
the record is complete.  If the town believes a development is  
inconsistent with local law (as in the first application for Madison  
Landing) - the town needs to make certain it connects all the dots for  
a judge that might someday hear an appeal of the decision.

Ron, Ashford