2 | FRAMING SEASON June 12, 2017 | VOL. 53, No. 24
3 | DESIGNS ON GREENWICH
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Danbury OTB plan hits legal roadblock BY KEVIN ZIMMERMAN kzimmerman@westfairinc.com
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lines with reports that it is ready to relocate its Hartford headquarters. In his view, Lauretti blames the political strategy of appeasing major companies with financial incentives as contributing to the problem. “Quite honestly, when Cigna got their $50 million five or six years ago, what prevented anyone from walking into the governor’s office and saying, ‘I want the same thing or I’m leaving’?” he asked. “That’s the risk that you run when you start picking winners and losers and when you have to pay people to stay here because you’re not affordable. That has become a very sad commentary for Connecticut.” “Last year, we pulled two big companies into Shelton — Unilever and United Healthcare — with over 1,600 employees total,” Lauretti said. “The bad news
he prospect of an off-track betting operation in downtown Danbury seemed all but a done deal last month — but that was before legal action was filed by one of OTB’s fiercest opponents. At issue is London-based gambling and entertainment company Sportech’s plan to add an approximately 1,200-square-foot OTB operation to the second floor of Two Steps Downtown Grille, a longtime fixture at 5 Ives St. Sportech is spending $750,000 to renovate the eatery and has said that it will provide 1.6 percent of its gross revenue to CityCenter Danbury, the special taxing district formed by merchants in the late 1980s with the goal of drawing more people and business to the area. City officials have estimated that sum could be as much as $100,000 per year. After a pair of sometimes combative public hearings and the presentation of a petition with 170 signatures opposing the proposal, the city’s Zoning Commission voted 6-3 on May 9 to approve the measure, after which the City Council was due to weigh in. But that is unlikely to happen anytime soon, as Andrea Gartner, a former Danbury CityCenter executive director, has filed an appeal of the Zoning Commission’s decision in Danbury Superior Court. Gartner, who owns the recently opened Pour Me Coffee & Wine Café at 247 Main St., has effectively been leading the charge against the OTB site. Gartner’s complaint asks that Sportech and the Zoning Commission appear in court on July 18 to answer to what it terms the “illegal, arbitrary and capricious” decision by the latter. Specifically, it maintains that Zoning Commission’s conclusion that the application is consistent with the city's 2013 Plan of Conservation and Development “is not supported by substantial evidence in the record;” that its decision that the amendments “will
» Shelton, page 6
» Danbury, page 6
Store manager Jason Varga, left, and Ed Freedman, owner of Shearwater Organic Coffee Roasters, enjoy a break while readying Shearwater Coffee Bar for its official June 14 opening in Fairfield. Photo by Phil Hall.
Shelton mayor positions his small city for big business growth BY PHIL HALL phall@westfairinc.com
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hen Mark A. Lauretti first became the mayor of Shelton in 1991, Connecticut was beginning to see the start of a corporate exodus. “There were 45 Fortune 500 companies that left Connecticut since 1991,” said
the Republican Lauretti. “The first one was UPS. Lowell Weicker was the governor and he implemented the income tax — and they said, ‘If you do that, we are leaving.’ Twenty-five years later, they’re in Atlanta and they’re not coming back.” Fast-forward a quarter-century and the departure of major corporations from Connecticut is still an economic concern, with General Electric leaving Fairfield last year and Aetna dominating today’s head-