### City of Burlington v. Muir

ENTRY REGARDING MOTION

Title: Motion to Continue 8/29 Hearing (Motion 4) Filer: Timothy A. Muir and Frances D. Muir Attorney: Pro se Filed Date: July 7, 2014

Response in Opposition filed on 07/22/2014 by Attor ney Kimberlee J. Sturtevant for Plaintiff City of Burlington

Now pending before the Court is a motion filed by Timothy A. Muir and Frances D. Muir (Defendants) to further continue the hearing in thi s matter set for August 29, 2014. The City of Burlington (City) has filed a response in oppositio n to Defendants’ motion.

This matter relates to the City’s August 23, 2013 Complaint and Motion for Preliminary and Permanent Injunctive Relief (Complaint) filed i n this Court, alleging that Timothy A. Muir and Frances D. Muir (Defendants) have multiple zoni ng violations on their properties at 52 North Cove Road and 68 North Cove Road in the City of Burlington, Vermont. The City notified Defendants of the alleged violations in an August 2 4, 2012 Notice of Violation related to 52 North Cove Road and a September 14, 2012 Notice of Violation related to 68 North Cove Road. The Complaint alleges that Defendants have not reme died any of the multiple violations noticed by the City and that they did not appeal th e notices of violation.

On November 22, 2013, after Defendants failed to t imely answer the Complaint, this Court granted the City’s Motion for Default Judgmen t and sent notice to all parties for a December 23, 2013 hearing to determine the appropri ate remedies and penalties for the violations (remedies hearing). The remedies hearin g was rescheduled for January 10, 2014 due to inclement weather, and a telephonic status confe rence was held instead on December 23. Defendants participated in the December 23 conferen ce. Defendants filed a motion seeking to respond to the Complaint on January 6, 2014 and fur ther argued for setting aside the default judgment during the January 10 hearing. The Court gave the City time to respond to Defendants’ request and advised the parties that th e remedies determination would be set for a hearing following the decision on the motion. On May 1, 2014, we denied Defendants’ motion to set aside and shortly thereafter reschedu led the remedies hearing for May 30, 2014. 

## S TATE OF 

## V ERMONT

SUPERIOR COURT ENVIRONMENTAL DIVISION
Vermont Unit Docket No. 117-8-13 VtecDefendant Timothy A. Muir appeared late at the May 30 remedies hearing. Shortly after

his arrival, Mr. Muir requested a continuance to al low Defendants time to retain an attorney. On the record of the May 30 hearing, this Court adv ised Defendants that if they wished to be represented in this matter, they were to retain cou nsel and advise counsel to file an appearance with this Court by June 13, 2014, as wel l as to participate in a June 16, 2014 status conference to discuss rescheduling the remedies hea ring. Defendants have not yet had an attorney file an appearance on their behalf.

On July 1, 2014, the Court set the remedies hearin g for August 29, 2014. On July 7, 2014, Defendants filed the pending Motion for Conti nuance. In their motion, Defendants state:

On June 23, 2014, we received a positive response f rom the ACLU VT, and would like to be afforded the six weeks that is [sic] wil l take the ACLU to complete the initial review[] and possibly forward our complaint onto [sic] the ACLU ‘Legal Advisory Panel’.

From May 30, the date of the remedies hearing at wh ich Defendants requested additional time to retain counsel, to the reschedul ed remedies hearing on August 29, Defendants will have had three months to identify a nd retain counsel. Furthermore,
Defendants will have had well over six weeks for AC LU VT to review the matter; from the date Defendants apparently received a response from ACLU VT to the date of the rescheduled hearing.

This hearing has already been delayed multiple time s, and this Court finds no reason to allow further delay. Defendants’ motion to continu e the August 29 hearing is therefore

DENIED.

Defendants are directed to appear promptly at 9:00 a.m. on August 29, 2014 at the Costello Courthouse for the hearing to determine th e appropriate remedies and penalties for
the violations.

Electronically signed on July 23, 2014 at 04:00 PM pursuant to V.R.E.F. 7(d).

_________________________________________ Thomas G. Walsh, Judge Superior Court, Environmental Division

Notifications: Kimberlee J. Sturtevant (ERN 4778), Attorney for Pl aintiff City of Burlington Defendant Timothy A. Muir
Defendant Frances D. Muir