UpdatedTue, Mar 16, 2021 at 8:42 pm ET
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The Somers Zoning Board of Appeals voted 4-1 Tuesday in favor of an appeal brought by neighbors of the Four Town Fairgrounds. (Tim Jensen/Patch)
SOMERS, CT A marathon hearing by the Somers Zoning Board of Appeals, encompassing eight hours of discussion over three sessions, finally ended Tuesday night with the board voting 4-1 to sustain an appeal brought by neighbors of the Four Town Fairgrounds, overturning a decision by the town s zoning enforcement officer regarding off-season rentals of the property.
Last summer, Zoning Enforcement Officer Jennifer Roy issued a ruling enabling the Union Agricultural Society of Somers, Enfield, Ellington & East Windsor, Inc. (UAS) to continue renting the property at 56 Egypt Rd. to outside organizations during off-season periods, other than the annual Four Town Fair and Hartford County 4-H Fair. Roy said based on more than 60 years of precedence, a special use permit was not required for
UpdatedThu, Feb 18, 2021 at 11:12 pm ET
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A public hearing of the Somers Zoning Board of Appeals concerning the Four Town Fairgrounds was continued to March 2 following more than three hours of testimony Thursday. (Tim Jensen/Patch)
SOMERS, CT A protracted dispute concerning the Four Town Fairgrounds and a group of adjacent residential neighbors is still without resolution, as a public hearing Thursday night lasting over three hours was continued until March 2.
The Somers Zoning Board of Appeals met via Zoom teleconference to hear from attorneys representing the Union Agricultural Society of Somers, Enfield, Ellington & East Windsor, Inc. (UAS), owners of the fairgrounds property at 56 Egypt Road since 1960, and more than a dozen residents of Sunshine Farms Drive, Little Sorrel Lane and Country Fair Drive, a subdivision built in the late 1980s which abuts the fairgrounds.
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A public hearing on an appeal from neighbors of the fairgrounds was continued to next week by the Somers Zoning Board of Appeals Tuesday. (Tim Jensen/Patch)
SOMERS, CT A highly-anticipated public hearing concerning an appeal by neighbors of the Four Town Fairgrounds concerning off-season usage of the property was continued to next week by the Somers Zoning Board of Appeals, due to a case of laryngitis on the part of the attorney representing the petitioners.
Attorney John Parks, representing more than a dozen residents of Sunshine Farms Drive, Little Sorrel Lane and Country Fair Drive, was unable to speak during the Zoom meeting due to the affliction, and requested a continuation of the public hearing. Chairman Dean Hills called for a motion, and the board unanimously agreed to reschedule the hearing until Thursday, Feb. 18 at 7 p.m.
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Some residents of streets abutting the Four Town Fairgrounds are seeking to end off-season rentals of the property, according to documents. (Tim Jensen/Patch)
SOMERS, CT A procedural matter involving affirmation of a longstanding usage agreement for the Four Town Fairgrounds has escalated into a battle between members of the society in charge of the property and residents who own homes neighboring or abutting the grounds.
The dispute began last summer, when Zoning Enforcement Officer Jennifer Roy received a request for a special use permit to enable the Union Agricultural Society of Somers, Enfield, Ellington & East Windsor, Inc. to continue renting the grounds at 56 Egypt Road to outside organizations. That practice has been in operation since the society acquired the property in 1960, according to documents obtained by Patch.