By John Schwing

WESTPORT — There’s a new round in the months-long battle over liquor service at Old Mill Grocery & Deli, with the property owners launching a fundraising campaign to defend the enterprise against three lawsuits.

Soundview Empowerment Alliance, the nonprofit that owns the century-old-plus market at 222 Hillspoint Road, posted a fundraising plea Monday on GoFundMe, saying lawsuits filed against the Planning and Zoning Commission’s permission for alcohol sales at the site “are challenging the beloved market’s very existence.”

In its “call to action,” the SEA says it “needs all the support we can muster,” which in addition to “generous tax-deductible” donations, includes lobbying Representative Town Meeting members as well as asking the plaintiffs “to stand down” and by patronizing the Romanacci operation at the market.

As of early Tuesday, the GoFundMe campaign had raised $3,575 toward a $50,000 goal.

The group says its legal fees, mounting at $400 an hour, could exceed $100,000 to help defend against the three lawsuits, which also cite the town’s land-use boards and tenant restaurateurs.

The seeds of the controversy were planted last April when the alliance applied to the P&Z to grant permission for its new market operator, Romanacci restaurants, to serve liquor to customers on the premises. The addition of alcohol to the Old Mill menu is necessary for Romanacci — which owns four other restaurants — to continue operating the market profitably, the alliance claimed.

Lawsuit No. 1

After several lengthy and contentious hearings, the P&Z in June approved a text amendment, already revised from the original application, to allow alcohol sales by retail food establishments only in the Residence B zone, specifically catering to the Old Mill Grocery as the “targeted beneficiary” since it is the only such business in that zone.

That triggered the first of the three lawsuits, filed by “an attorney on behalf of two individuals, who are leading and funding the efforts, along with a very small number of their friends from across the town who have joined the suit,” according to the alliance. 

The unnamed lawyer, Joel Green, who also filed the two other suits, represents two Hillspoint Road LLCs owned by Robin Tauck and neighbors Ellen and David van Dorsten, as well as 15 other plaintiffs in the June 18 suit filed at Superior Court in Bridgeport. It remains unresolved.

The litigants, during P&Z hearings on the proposed amendment, said they found the market’s noise, outdoor seating, lighting and other issues to be disruptive to the beachside neighborhood. The sale of alcohol on the premises, they contended, would add to the disruptions and is not allowed in the town’s residential zones.

Their lawsuit contends the P&Z acted illegally by allowing the market — a non-conforming use in a residential zone — to expand its non-conforming status for “the sale and consumption of alcohol.” It does not mention outdoor picnic tables, seating or a gelato cart, as some defending the market have suggested,

Lawsuit No. 2

In the meantime, Romanacci applied for a café liquor license to serve beer and wine at the market, which was signed in August by Mary Young, then the director of the Planning and Zoning Department.

Green, representing the lawsuit plaintiffs, in November asked the Zoning Board of Appeals to overturn Young’s action, revoking the liquor permit.

Young told the ZBA that she felt she had “no choice” other than to sign the liquor permit as required by her job to carry out policy decisions by the P&Z.

Green argued that, in his view, since the P&Z had acted illegally by approving the text amendment in June, Young’s decision to act on that improper decision was also illegal.

His arguments were unanimously rejected by the ZBA.

On Nov. 22, Green filed suit in Superior Court challenging the ZBA decision upholding Young’s approval of the Old Mill liquor permit. Again, the main contention of the suit is that the sale of liquor is not permitted in residential zones under local regulations and state statutes.

Lawsuit No. 3

Also in November, the SEA returned to the P&Z seeking approval of a new text amendment, which its lawyer Eric Bernheim admitted was designed to address vulnerabilities some perceived in the amendment adopted in June. In particular, questions arose over the measure’s language specifically benefitting only the Old Mill Grocery & Deli, an apparent case of “spot” zoning.

This time, the proposed amendment featured broader language addressing previously unregulated outdoor dining at “retail food establishments” existing prior to last Sept. 1 in all of the town’s residential zones, not just the B zone. In addition to Old Mill Grocery, the regulations now also apply to The Porch at Christie’s, 161 Cross Highway, which recently closed, and the Country Store, 332 Wilton Road, both in AA zones.

Besides defining rules on outdoor dining for things like the number of tables and seats, use of food carts, signs, lighting, music and hours of operation, the new text amendment also permits alcohol sales at the three designated sites.

No doubt anticipating another legal challenge to the new text amendment, P&Z Chairman Paul Lebowitz urged colleagues to make it “bulletproof,” as the board once again heard familiar arguments volleyed, pro and con, over the proposal.

The P&Z on Nov. 18 voted unanimously to approve the new amendment after each of its provisions was painstakingly read into the record and agreed to individually in an effort to withstand another legal challenge.

The commission, in a somewhat extraordinary step, even directed staff to post the official effective date for the text amendment as Dec. 12 to avoid the superstitious “jinx” of Friday, Dec. 13, as originally intended.

It did not work.

Green, on Dec. 6, filed a lawsuit against the new text amendment in Superior Court on behalf of the Tauck LLCs, Ellen van Dorsten and 13 others.

The latest suit, like the first, focuses solely on what it contends is the P&Z’s illegal decision to permit “the sale and consumption of alcohol” in violation of local and state regulations.

That is not how the SEA sees things.

Instead, the group contends, “The plaintiffs in these suits want to deny the wishes of 99%+ of the community and, in doing so, jeopardize the economic viability of OMG&D by bleeding both the operator and our grass-roots charitable organization of scarce financial resources, impairing the operator’s ability to run profitably, and SEA’s ability to fulfill its mission to (1) preserve our historic, neighborhood gem and (2) train and secure employment for people with special needs.”

Romanacci, meanwhile, continues operations at the market, with the recent addition of a series of evening dinners featuring curated wine pairings. The next such event, dubbed “An Evening in Rome … Where Wine Meets Perfection,” is planned Jan. 9.

John Schwing, interim editor of the Westport Journal, has held senior editorial and writing posts at southwestern Connecticut media outlets for four decades. Learn more about us here.