HARTFORD — The city of Hartford is suing the homeowners of a Scarborough Street mansion at the center of a zoning battle, asking for a court ruling that would allow the city to enforce a cease-and-desist order and hand down civil penalties.
A state marshal delivered the summons to the West End home Tuesday, a day before the residents known as the “Scarborough 11” planned to hold a press conference at city hall to announce their legal action against the city in a bid to stay in their home.
“The time for compliance has passed,” states the suit signed by Lisa Silvestri, an assistant corporation counsel for the city. “The defendants still continue to use the property as before the [zoning board of appeal’s] denial, in violation of the Hartford zoning regulations.”
The city’s suit, filed in Superior Court in Hartford, names Laura Rozza and Simon DeSantis, two residents who are listed as the property owners of 68 Scarborough. They live in the stately, nine-bedroom brick home with six other adults and three children — a group that considers itself a family, sharing expenses, chores, emotional support and legal ownership of the house, residents said.
But city officials have ruled that the setup among friends does not meet Hartford’s definition of a family under its zoning code. The living arrangement, the city and neighbors on the wealthy residential street have argued, violates strict zoning that limits the number of unrelated residents to two people for single-family homes.
Hartford’s zoning regulations define members of a family as those related by blood, marriage, civil union or legal adoption. At 68 Scarborough, the nontraditional household is composed of two couples with children, a couple with no children and two individuals. They include city educators and a co-founder of the HartBeat Ensemble theater company.
The city issued a cease-and-desist notice last October, giving Rozza and DeSantis 30 days “to remove the additional families and restore the legal single family use.” The zoning board of appeals upheld the order on Feb. 17.
The city requests a court injunction to enforce the order and collect fines.
Peter Goselin, an attorney representing the residents at 68 Scarborough, said that the city’s latest move was “very distressing to them” and that his clients will seek a temporary injunction from a federal judge to postpone the assessment of penalties until after they take their case to court.
The group plans to argue that the city’s definition of family violates their constitutional rights, and has scheduled a 1 p.m. press conference Wednesday to outline the legal plans.
The fines, which can be as much as $100 a day, Goselin said, eventually could tally in the tens of thousands of dollars by the time the case winds through the legal system.
“From the very beginning, my clients’ goals have been to resolve this problem, not to escalate it,” Goselin said Tuesday evening. “They reached out to the neighbors, they went to the zoning board of appeals, they talked to city officials. And throughout that process, the goal has been, how do we get this fixed so we can live in our house and raise our family? …
“On the other hand, the city’s approach from the very beginning has been to make this as confrontational as possible. That they would jump at the opportunity to file a lawsuit against two of the plaintiffs, the day before we announce our lawsuit, is a pretty clear indication that they see this as a slash-and-burn litigation. …
“The city has made it clear this cannot be resolved amicably.”
A city spokeswoman could not be reached for comment Tuesday night.
The “Scarborough 11” residents say they intentionally came together as a “modern” family when they pooled money together to purchase the nearly 6,000-square-foot home for $453,000 last summer, although only Rozza and DeSantis are listed on the mortgage and city property record.
This month, supporters have raised nearly $4,000 in online donations to help with legal fees, and a petition calling on Mayor Pedro Segarra to “find a compromise” has gained more than a thousand signatures in the past several days.
![By TARA COPP (Associated Press) BOSTON (AP) — There has been no final decision on whether or not all U.S. troops will leave Niger and Chad, two African countries that are integral to the military’s efforts to counter violent extremist organizations across the Sahel region, a top U.S. military official told The Associated Press on […]](https://www.courant.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Niger_US_Presence_99160_5253fb.jpg?w=467 "By TARA COPP (Associated Press) BOSTON (AP) — There has been no final decision on whether or not all U.S. troops will leave Niger and Chad, two African countries that are integral to the military’s efforts to counter violent extremist organizations across the Sahel region, a top U.S. military official told The Associated Press on […]")