Police Respond to Trespassing Complaint at 5 Brookridge

It’s been a while since 5 Brookridge Drive was in the news. For a time the address was synonymous with clearcutting.

In November 2021, then contract purchaser, Joe Pecora, of 5 Brookridge LLC, removed most of the trees from the 1.74 acre property, to the chagrin of neighbors, townspeople, and the owner, Chris Franco.

Pecora’s December 2021 proposal for an 86-unit 8-30g affordable housing development drew more negative response.

In 2022 the 8-30g proposal was withdrawn.

Last June, Mr. Franco, who is known for several award winning restorations of historic buildings, submitted a proposal for 5 Brookridge under Greenwich’s Historic Overlay Zoning regulations, which offer incentives to further historic preservation, including the ability to add additional units.

He proposed to restore, re-purpose and preserve the historic house, now 123 years old, in perpetuity, and add units for a total of six units.

But at an August 2023 P&Z meeting, an adjacent neighbor, Susan Meyers, claimed that a century old deed restriction limited what Mr. Franco could develop to a single family house.

She told the P&Z commission, “If Mr. Franco chooses to pursue anything other than a single family home restoration for this property, and violate his deed restriction, those of us who are bound by the restriction will not hesitate to once again file a lawsuit in Stamford Superior Court to enforce it.” The P&Z commission noted that private deed restrictions were outside their purview.

In September a group of neighbors including Ms Meyers submitted an application to rezone 5 Brookridge from from its present R-20 zone to the more restrictive RA-1 zone.

The response was a lawsuit by the owners of 5 Brookridge.

While the issues are worked out in court, and the Historic Overlay project has not returned before P&Z in nearly a year, Greenwich Police have repeatedly responded to calls about trespassing in the empty house.

Last week multiple Greenwich Police patrol cars and officers chased away people who had broken into the house.

On Saturday, Greenwich Police Captain Slusarz confirmed that police had responded to a call about a house party Friday night.

“When we arrived the attendees fled,” he said. “No arrests.”

Mr. Franco said a few weeks earlier there was broken glass after people had gotten into the house.

In response he had windows and doors boarded up with plywood.

Plywood notwithstanding, the incident on Friday took place.

Mr. Franco said he was as frustrated as anyone by the trespassing and the delay to his project.

“I’m as anxious as anyone to get the building in a better place. The plans we have are beautiful. We’d be happy to start executing on them tomorrow,” he said.

“We’re going through a process with the town and with some neighbors who don’t want us to go through with our plan,” he added. “I’m very anxious to move forward. It will be beautiful and a credit to the neighborhood instead of the derelict place it is today. We’d love to start it tomorrow.”