Opinion ID: 1961493
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: MIDDLEBURY-A near ghost-town of a shopping center on Route 64 is up to its rooftop in, troubles.

Text: On the surface, the Middlebury Hamlet is an attractive colonial-type shopping complex, located about two miles from the Four Corners business district. But behind the pretty exterior lies a host of traffic, conservation and financial worries for the Hamlet's developer and town officials. Harold K. Goodrich, owner and developer, faces close to $100,000 in liens and lawsuits against the property, and possibly another lawsuit from the town's Planning and Zoning Commission. Besides the suits and liens, the Hamlet, open for business since early spring, is still a mere shell of a shopping area, with several vacant storefronts and a string of empty office spaces. Goodrich's problems are multiple, but the major setbacks to the Hamlet have been a drainage system that is triggering siltation in Fenn's Pond, and a Planning and Zoning Commission which has refused applications to allow a liquor store and sandwich shop at the complex, thus leaving two open storefronts. The planners, too, are in a hot water bath of their own. Almost 15 months ago, Goodrich agreed to install a settling pond, and drainage system, and seed the bank above the brook to prevent erosion and sedimentation from the Hamlet's parking lot into the brook that abuts the property. Included in the agreement was a $10,000 performance bond to the town which Goodrich posted for the work. The bond expired May 22, but the commission never called it, although it knew at the time that most of the work on the brook area had not been completed. Now, the commission is saddled with complaints from local conservationists that run-off from the Hamlet is turning Fenn's Pond into `a mudflat.' And they're demanding speedy action from both the commission and the developer. Comsr. Curtis Titus said the commission did call the bond, but did so after it expired. Titus conceded that the town may not have any recourse, as far as the bond is concerned, but still has the option of hiring a contractor to complete the drainage work and sue Goodrich for the costs. According to Titus, the Western Surety Co. of South Dakota informed that commission that Goodrich's bond was to expire June 6, `so we voted to call the bond June 5 if the work was still incomplete. When we wrote to the bonding company, they informed us that the bond they referred to was one regarding another matter,' Titus said. `By then, Goodrich's bond on the drainage work had expired, and there we were.' In May, Goodrich said he would ask for an extension on the bond, but Comsr. James Kennerly said that, as far as he knew, `he never asked for a renewal or an extension.' At several meetings following the bond's expiration, the planners have argued, set deadlines and talked endlessly with Goodrich about the problem. Mix-ups and misplaced letters further complicated the commission's apparent drive to get the matter cleared up. Goodrich has claimed that the drainage system is just about complete, but continued erosion and sedimentation into the brook has so unnerved both the planning and Conservation Commissions that neither one is willing to look beyond the silt. A soil conservationist from the U.S. Department of Agriculture had been called in on the problem, and had made six recommendations. Last week the planners gave Goodrich until Dec. 5 to comply with four of them, or possibly face court action. Traffic problems, too, plague the Hamlet. A number of residents have commented that the development is in a badly situated spot on heavily traveled Route 64, and drivers going the maximum speed limit ride by the Hamlet without ever realizing it's there. Police Commissioners and the police chief have asked the planning commission to look into the traffic problem, while a letter from the Traffic Commission warned the planners that the development is in violation of a state statute because of the way the exit and entrance are situated. Siltation of Fenn's Pond and three aggravated commissions are only one-half of the entire problem. A plumbing and heating firm, a lumber company, and a paving company have filed a total of $60,486 in liens against the Hamlet developer. And a $30,000 suit was filed against Goodrich for failure to pay a brokerage commission on the Hamlet's mortgage financing. On top of that, Goodrich is finding it difficult to attract tenants, particularly for the development's second story offices. To date, only one firm has rented an office, while the remainder of the sizeable space is going unused. According to the developer's son, Kenneth Goodrich, the vacant stores on the ground floor are the fault of the planners. `First they turned down an application for a liquor store, then another for an ice cream and sandwich shop,' he said. `They base their decisions on whether the town needs these stores, but they're not there to decide whether the town calls for a given store. `If they keep turning us down, we can start talking a hardship case,' he said. `The zoning board seems to think that they're the Supreme Court.' According to the younger Goodrich, his father has been agreeable to all the town's demands, `but it takes time to get the job completely done. I don't know what they expect.' Eventually a supermarket chain store will move into the Hamlet, he said, adding that the would-be liquor store owner is still paying rent for a space he cannot occupy. Mrs. Bernice Boyd, former chairman of the Conservation Commission, says the major problem is non-enforcement of town ordinances. `Had the laws been enforced' at the Hamlet, she said, `none of this would have happened.' The town, she said, enacted `good ordinances and regulations which were approved by the town to protect townspeople's interest.' Mrs. Boyd cited both the excavation and landfill regulations, which, she said, `are not being enforced. And members of the town commissions are not enforcement officers.' And unless the laws are enforced, `they serve no useful purpose,' she said. The town should have a `qualified authority empowered to enforce these laws where violations exist,' Mrs. Boyd said. `The regulations are the results of eight year's work of the commission,' she added. `Since we've had two different administrations, it's not the fault of either party. It's just a lack of followingthrough.