Legal Woes Stacking Up For Barlow Street Business

NORTH CANAAN — It’s a village property that has been called an eyesore by residents and a hazard by police.

The site is not in compliance with zoning laws, according to town officials. And legal action is about to begin against its owner.

The town sent a letter of voluntary compliance Dec. 8 to Christopher Jordano, who owns a five-bedroom home at 12 Barlow St.

The letter gave Jordano until Jan. 8 to file an application for a special permit to operate a building/excavating/contractor establishment on the premises.

Zoning Enforcement Officer Karl Nilsen told The Journal the next step is a notice of violation. He will likely give Jordano another 30 days to seek a proper permit. After that, it becomes a matter for the courts.

This is the first time a zoning issue has gone this far in the more than seven years since the current regulations were enacted.

The focus on the Barlow Street property intensified in recent months as Jordano’s landscaping business grew.

Equipment and trailers were parked in the street and in the doctor’s office parking area across the street. Firewood, cut into logs, was strewn across the home’s driveway and yard. Debris from the cutting of the wood was burned in fires that were often left unattended.

Resident State Trooper Bob Janco spoke at an October Planning and Zoning Commission meeting about safety issues posed by vehicles and trailers parked on the street, which sits two lots in from Route 44.

He also noted that since December 2002, Troop B had received 24 complaints from residents about the property and activities there. Many more calls came to his office.

When he approached Jordano he got belligerent responses, he said

Jordano stated at the October meeting that he had not purchased the property until February 2004, so all of the complaints did not apply to him.

But Janco confirmed that Jordano was the tenant on the property before he purchased it.

Jordano told the Planning and Zoning Commission that he has a right to run his business on the property because there was another business — a beauty salon — on the property before he moved in.

That would only be the case, however, if it were a like businesses, and little or no time had elapsed between the closing of one and the opening of the other.

"There is no way that what he is running there is anything like a hairdresser’s," Nilsen said. "He is not in compliance with zoning and he needs to take care of it."

A phone message left at Jordano’s home was not returned. Word around town is that the property is for sale, although that information could not be confirmed.

Jordano has a history of defying the law.

In July 2004, surveillance of the home by the Statewide Narcotics Task Force concluded with the arrest of Jordano, then aged 21, and five other people.

Forcibly entering the home and taking the occupants by surprise, police found 245 grams of marijuana, scales, packaging material and $4,000 in cash.

Jordan was charged with possession, possession with intent to sell and possession within a school zone.