By Andy Brophy

The Board of Selectmen on Wednesday voted unanimously to reject a waiver that would have allowed a stone wall at 19 Center St. to remain in the town’s right-of-way.

The board’s 0-3 vote to approve the waiver came after about 15 minutes of discussion, though the board previously discussed the waiver at its July 22 meeting.

Bret Greenstein, who bought the half-acre property with Min Zhao in August 2025 for $3,879,000, said after the meeting he had not decided how to proceed in the wake of the board’s vote and would explore his options.

The stone wall – about 30 inches tall, 100 feet long and with a depth of about 1.5 feet – is in the middle of the town’s right-of-way, between where the roadway ends and the 19 Center St. property line begins, according to Greenstein.

The stone wall was built to prevent balls from rolling into the street when kids play in the front yard, and a wooden fence had existed in the same location for eight years but hadn’t been noticed by town officials, according to Greenstein.

Greenstein said the contractor who built the wall “misunderstood the situation.”

“He made a mistake,” he said.

Greenstein said the contractor did work on the wall for five weeks and “immediately stopped” when he discovered it was in the town’s right-of-way.

“This was done very much in the open and with good intentions,” Greenstein said.

But members of the Board of Selectmen were concerned that allowing the wall to remain in the town right-of-way could set a precedent and posed liability issues for the town.

Keith Wilberg, the town engineer, told the selectmen Wednesday his recommendation that the waiver be denied hadn’t changed.

“It’s a recently-built wall. It shouldn’t be there, and it should be removed,” Wilberg said. He said contractors have insurance for matters like an improperly-placed wall and that, to him, it’s an issue between Greenstein and his contractor.

“It is in the right-of-way, and it’s my responsibility to make sure it’s not in the right-of-way,” Wilberg said, adding it created liability issues for the town.

But Greenstein said he would hold the town harmless for anything that happened from having the wall in its right-of-way. “It’s intended to shift that [liability] obligation onto me,” he said of his hold harmless proposal. “This is not putting a problem on the town. I’m trying to resolve a problem that exists.”

Greenstein said the wall is “substantially off the road” and that he didn’t believe the wall created safety or liability issues for the town.

Selectman Don O’Day said he didn’t support the waiver because of the precedent it would set.

First Selectman Kevin Christie, who participated in the meeting by phone, said he appreciated Greenstein’s “approach and openness to the process when he realized a mistake was made.”

“As uncomfortable and painful as it may be for the property owner, it doesn’t remove the fact the wall is in the town right-of-way. It doesn’t remove the fact the wall is on town property,” Christie said.

Selectwoman Amy Wistreich said she understood “a lot of heartache” was attached with Greenstein’s waiver request and that she “very much appreciated” his good will and effort.

“It’s a matter of public safety and we have to honor our town’s rights-of-way,” Wistreich said. “We’ve tried to work this out … but we have to stand with our town engineer.”

“That’s it. I’m sorry. We really looked at it,” she said to Greenstein after the vote.

Greenstein said his neighbors didn’t have a problem with the wall and it wasn’t possible to move it so it wouldn’t be in the town’s right-of-way. “Because of where trees and the driveway are, it wouldn’t be possible to do that,” he said.

Andy Brophy

Andy Brophy is an experienced Fairfield County journalist. Andy was a staff writer at The Connecticut Post for 10 years. He also wrote for the Norwalk Hour, Fairfield Minuteman, Fairfield Patch and weekly newspapers in Westport, Fairfield and Norwalk. When not reporting, Andy enjoys playing chess and listening to pianist Art Tatum. ^_.