By Kerri Williams

WESTPORT — A Post Road East property, where a tree service/logging business has operated while the land owner clashed with officials over redevelopment plans for years, was back before the Zoning Board of Appeals this week.

William Taylor, owner of 715 Post Road East, on Tuesday sought — and unanimously received — the ZBA’s approval of a variance for his long-stalled plans to construct an office building and parking lot on the site, at the corner of Roseville Road.

The board previously issued a variance for the project in 2014, which according to the latest application, calls for constructing a 4,220-square-foot office building with 20 parking spaces.

Taylor sought a revised variance because the state Department of Transportation recently condemned 152 feet of the property’s western corner for its Route 1 (Post Road) improvement project, reducing the area planned for parking. 

The strip of Taylor’s land acquired by the state will be used to install a traffic signal. 

Revised plans for the property also include erecting an 8-foot retaining wall for safety reasons.

Taylor’s proposal will need to go back to the Planning and Zoning Commission, which had denied it over a decade ago — triggering years of litigation.

ZBA Chairman Jim Ezzes referred to the proposal’s complicated history during the board’s discussion this week. 

Taylor first applied to the P&Z for permission to build the office building in 2012. He filed suit over the commission’s denial of that request, arguing the commission did not allow his application to be properly heard and had shut down discussion before being denied.

A Superior Court upheld the P&Z denial, but subsequently, the state’s Appellate Court ruled that he was not given a fair hearing and that the P&Z should re-hear the application. 

Taylor appealed that decision to the state Supreme Court, contending the Appellate Court should have granted approval of his plan instead of sending it back to the P&Z. That appeal, however, was dismissed last year.

ZBA members were told Taylor’s application has yet to be re-submitted to the P&Z, which was dependent on their approval of a variance Tuesday.

And while litigation ensued over the office building plans, a tree service operating on Taylor’s property — stockpiling large logs with heavy machinery — has attracted plenty of attention, both from passersby and town officials.

In 2020, zoning officials issued a cease-and-desist order to halt what was described as an illegal “logging operation.” Taylor appealed that order to the ZBA, contending the use is allowed under a 1988 permit issued to a prior owner. The ZBA turned down his appeal.

He then appealed that decision, prompting the town in 2022 to seek a Superior Court injunction compelling him to comply with the cease-and-desist order.

In the meantime, the tree service continues doing business at 715 Post Road East.

Kerri Williams is a freelance writer.