Judge throws out zoning challenge tied to Wake Robin Inn expansion

LAKEVILLE — A Connecticut Superior Court judge has dismissed a lawsuit filed against Salisbury’s Planning and Zoning Commission challenging a zoning amendment tied to the controversial expansion of the Wake Robin Inn.

The case focused on a 2024 zoning regulation adopted by the P&Z that allows hotel development in the Rural Residential 1 zone, where the historic Wake Robin Inn is located. That amendment provided the legal basis for the commission’s approval of the project in October 2025; had the lawsuit succeeded, the redevelopment would have been halted.

The decision, issued Jan. 29 by the Superior Court in Torrington, rejected a claim brought by Wells Hill Road residents Angela and William Cruger seeking to nullify the amendment. The Crugers filed the lawsuit in March 2025, arguing the regulation was improperly adopted and amounted to illegal spot zoning intended to benefit the project’s developer, Aradev LLC.

The zoning amendment drew scrutiny when it was adopted, with opponents asserting it was crafted specifically to enable the Wake Robin Inn project. Town officials and land use staff, however, repeatedly said the change was years in the making and intended to address zoning nonconformities affecting historic inns throughout Salisbury.

In a memorandum of decision, the court found the plaintiffs failed to meet their burden of proof that proper notification was lacking. The judge wrote that “a close examination of the record” showed the Crugers did not demonstrate that public notice of the zoning change was procedurally deficient, unduly vague or untimely filed.

The dismissed case is the first of two legal challenges filed by the Crugers related to the Wake Robin Inn redevelopment. A second lawsuit — an appeal of the P&Z’s approval of Aradev’s application to redevelop and expand the inn — remains pending before the court.

Former Planning and Zoning Commission Chair Michael Klemens said that Thursday's ruling brought vindication. In a Jan. 30 email to the P&Z and commission attorney Charles Andres, Klemens said the lawsuit was largely based on claims that he and Land Use Director Conroy had misled the public and the commission during the regulatory process.

“So not only are the regulations recognized by the Superior Court as legally adopted,” Klemens wrote, “but the aspersions cast upon the integrity of staff and your immediate past chair are hopefully finally put to rest.”

Andres informed the Land Use Office and current P&Z Chair Cathy Shyer that the Crugers have 20 days to challenge the court’s ruling.