Police Commissioners Ask Selectmen To File Appeal In Watts Case

All five members of the town's Board of Police Commissioners have signed a letter asking that the Board of Selectmen (BOS) begin the process of appealing the decision of the Planning & Zoning Commission (PZC) regarding the Watts property.

This is the second such request. Last year, a motion to bring a suit upon the PZC by the BOS failed.

Peggy Adler, a member of the Police Commission, asked the selectmen at their March 14 meeting to reconsider their original decision in light of the recent finding by the town's Board of Ethics that two members of the PZC violated the town's code of ethics when they voted to approve a site plan submitted by attorney John Watts.  John Watts is the brother of PZC member Cynthia Watts and is the client of PZC member Lisa MacDonald's husband, an architect.

The original complaint about the two PZC members was filed by Adler.

Adler said the reason the police commissioners' are asking the selectmen to reconsider is because the finding of the ethics violation has "seriously tainted" the process of reviewing and approving the Watts' application, therefore it should be appealed.

"We believe that under these circumstances, the normal 30 day window for an abutting property owner (the town) to file an appeal may not apply," said Adler.

Adler also quoted several passages of a Sept. 12, 2011 letter (a copy of the letter is attached to this article) written by Attorney David Royston of Dzialo, Pickett & Allen, P.C. of Old Saybrook, who quoted a 1979 case Thorne v. Zoning Commission of the Town of Old Saybrook, which involved the parents and sister of a member of a zoning commission, in this case the chairman.

"The Trial Court did not err in holding the Commission action a nullity due to the chairman's participation," wrote Royston. "...the participation of a disqualified person can render the action of a Commission a nullity."

They wish for the selectmen to review the circumstances again in light of the ethics charge and the Old Saybrook legal case and instruct the town attorney to file an appeal.