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Dorothy Day outlines case against City over zoning issue

The attorney for the Dorothy Day Hospitality House has filed a reply brief in their lawsuit against the City of Danbury.  The City outlined out their case last month, maintaining that the operation of a homeless shelter on the Property is illegal because of the failure to renew the zoning permits initially granted in 1983 and 1984. The Plaintiff argues that whether Dorothy Day intended to permanently operate a shelter on Spring Street in 1983 is completely irrelevant. They believe the relevant question is whether there was actual use as a shelter prior to the zoning regulation change that disallowed that use.  The zone change happened in 2014 and the regulation does not require a zoning permit for continuance of a nonconforming use.  Dorothy Day claims that even if the failure to apply for zoning permits starting in 1985 rendered the operation of the homeless shelter illegal for a period of time, any preexisting requirements to seek zoning permits were rendered moot when the use became permitted as of right in 1989. The homeless shelter says the right to operate was permanently vested in 1989 when the Regulations permitted such use as of right.  A remote hearing is scheduled for October 21st.

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