Discrimination Suit Claims Town Tried to Keep Blacks Out

A former Darien resident, suing the town on a charge that it squelched his development proposal in order to keep blacks from moving in to affordable housing, and his lawyer say some of their evidence is very public and some has been concealed.

The public evidence comes in the form of statements made by Planning & Zoning Commission Chairman Fred Conze.

"It is very rare in a race discrimination case these days that you find a smoking gun," said Attorney John R. Williams of New Haven, the lawyer representing Christopher Hamer, whose application to develop land on Oak Crest was denied by the town in 2008. "I think most people would agree that this [set of comments] is a smoking gun. That's pretty shocking, frankly."

Hamer's five-page legal complaint, filed  Nov. 28 with the U.S. District Court in Bridgeport (see attached document), quotes from a statement Conze made at a July 1, 2008 P&Z Commission hearing:

"I have to honestly tell you that I look at this as a virus. That once you open the box—once you open the box you never get, you never get it back in the bottle—because it'll be replicated all over town." (see video No. 1, attached to this article)

Hamer's complaint also quotes from Conze's 2010 "State of the Town" address, one of several speeches that town officials give to the Representative Town Meeting each December.:

"Our objective is to preserve the character of our town. The demographic and economic forces generated by our immediate neighbors to our east and west cannot be taken lightly. I have spoken of these forces in past town addresses [...] [M]any view Darien as a housing opportunity regardless of its effect on the character of our town and existing home values." (see video No. 2, attached to this article)

In June 2008, Hamer applied for land-use permits to allow him to develop his property at 26 Oak Crest, a street off of Mansfield Avenue, about half a mile north of the Boston Post Road. Hamer wanted to put 10 condominium units on his 1.18 acres at the end of the street.

Yet in the context of the statements it remains unclear whether or not Conze is talking about a "virus" of neighborhood-disrupting affordable housing units with higher population densities or a "virus" of lower-income or minority populations. The online Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines "demography" as "the statistical study of human populations especially with reference to size and density, distribution, and vital statistics."

For instance, Conze also said in the same speech, "We look to continue working on the issue of affordable housing. The approval of the Garden Homes project earlier this year is an example of the private sector redeveloping an existing commercial property into affordable housing use with no incrimental site or neighborhood impact—a win-win for all parties."

Conze has declined to comment to other news organizations about the lawsuit, which was filed both against him personally and against the town Planning & Zoning Commission.

Hamer's lawsuit complaint states that as of the 2010 U.S. Census, only 104 of the town's 20,732 residents were African-American, while 21.3 percent of Stamford's residents are Black, similar to 22.8 percent of Norwalk's residents.

"The defendants have followed a pattern of official misconduct designed to exclude African-Americans from the Town of Darien by keeping housing costs prohibitively high and preventing the construction of affordable housing units which would be attractive to minorities," the lawsuit states.

"The conduct of the defendants described above was intended to discriminate against expected buyers of the plaintiffs' condominium units on the basis of race," the lawsuit states, "it being the purpose and intention of the defendants to exclude persons of African-American ancestry from the town of Darien."

Conze has stated in public comments, including his July 1, 2008 comments, that he wishes to protect the town's already high residential property values from falling.

He alluded to the same concern on Dec. 12, in which he said, "I believe most real estate professionals will acknowledge that Darien is highly competitive in the residential real estate market and wil significantly benefit from any economic uptick." He also said, "As an elected [Planning & Zoning] board, we have a fiduciary responsibility to preserve the residential character of Darien [...] and, where appropriate, enhance the value of our mutual investment."

There is evidence of misconduct that has been concealed, Hamer's lawsuit asserts: "[T]he defendants secretly colluded with private citizens residing near the subject property in bringing a meritless lawsuit against the plaintiffs for the purpose of increasing the plaintiffs' development costs and making it economically impossible for the plaintiffs to proceed.

"Ultimately the defendants succeeded in so increasing the plaintiffs' costs that the subject property was lost to foreclosure ad the plaintiffs were unable to proceed with their affordable housing proposal."

Williams said his client has evidence of collusion between the neighbor and town officials to bring the lawsuit against Hamer.

"We have that in writing," Williams said, referring to emails sent to Hamer's previous attorney. "We have a series of emails from the attorney who was representing the private individual [...] where he [the attorney] specifically states that the town has been working with him, and that's the reason he wouldn't withdraw the case—unless there were releases from these town officials.

"Again, it's unusual," Williams continued. "Most times when people are doing dirty things [...] it's subtle. I guess it's an indication of the arrogance of these people in Darien that they don't feel the need to be subtle."

The case has been assigned to federal Judge Warren Eginton and will be heard in U.S. District Court in Bridgeport. The law firm Ryan Deluca LLP of Stamford is representing the town.

"I'm outraged by the treatment that I was given because of my application," Hamer said in an interview. "This suit reflects my outrage. [...] I didn't receive fair and balanced treatment. [...] It ruined our finances."