Senior Partner Bernard A. Pellegrino represented New Haven residents who opposed the City's attempts to renovate a former church on Whitney Avenue for use as the new site for Worthington Hooker Middle School. In what has been hailed by The New Haven Register as a "stunning reversal of the city's push to build a Worthington Hooker Middle School at 691 Whitney Avenue", Pellegrino's renowned legal skills yielded the results the residents sought and as a result the previously authorized change in zoning by the Board of Alderman and the City Plan Commission has been nullified.
The Court held that the attempt to rezone a portion of the property constituted spot zoning and also violates the City's Master Plan which for many years has preserved the northern part of Whitney Avenue for residential uses and not permitted institutional uses. Specifically, the Court, Judge Anthony V. DeMayo, stated that the City's request "represents such a drastic departure for the re-zoned section of 691 that the Court must conclude the RS-1 district, will neither be protected, stabilized nor retain it's character." The Court also held that to locate a school on the subject property would have a negative impact on the neighborhood.
To read the complete Memorandum of Decision rendered by the Honorable Anthony V. DeMayo, Judge Trial Referee, dated April 27, 2006, click here.
