Over the weekend, East Windsor Selectman Keith Yagaloff took to Facebook to call out First Selectman Jason Bowsza, and the town at large, for its dispute with a housing developer that has held up the sale of homes and prompted a lawsuit against the town. Yagaloff said the feud exemplifies a larger pattern of back-door dealings that he thinks has negatively impacted the town in recent years.
“I believe the situation highlights a broader need for transparency and a thorough investigation,” said Yagaloff in a statement to Inside Investigator. “As a member of the Board of Selectmen, I intend to recuse myself from any actions regarding the West River Farms lawsuit due to my concerns about the town’s conduct and how those concerns might influence my decisions.”
The lawsuit in question was filed by West River Farms, LLC, a subsidiary of the property development company Respler Homes, which is currently in the process of building and selling 69 units of single-family housing subdivision located on Scantic Road in East Windsor. The company received approval from the Town’s Planning and Zoning Commission in 2015 to use the land for housing development. Despite this approval, the Town notified the company on April 4, 2024, that it would not release Certificates of Occupancy, performance bonds, or other final approvals for the housing until the company completes its “maintenance obligation” to Schanck Road.
Certificates of Occupancy are documents issued by municipalities, ensuring that a building is up to code and fit to inhabit. Performance bonds are financial guarantees ensuring that the terms of a contract will be met, and are released by one party to another (the Town to West River Farms) upon completion of the other party’s contractual obligation to the bondholder. Essentially, the Town is refusing to release the necessary approvals for homeowners to move in.
The suit, which includes the 7-page approval document signed by the Town’s Planning and Zoning Commission, accuses the Town of going back on its agreement and accuses officials of committing tortious contractual interference and tortious interference with business expectations and relationships.
“The Town’s action is tortious in that it is intentionally interfering with Plaintiff’s business relationships and business expectations without justification,” reads the suit. “As a direct and proximate result of the aforementioned conduct of the Town, Plaintiff shall suffer an ascertainable loss of money or property,… expenses incurred and loss of revenue and loss of profits, opportunity costs, additional financing and interest costs, attorney’s fees and professional fees and costs.”
The approval document does make mention of Schanck Road, asking the company to pay for tests ensuring its construction would not interfere with property holders’ water wells, but it is unclear what “maintenance obligation” the Town has accused West River Farms of not having met. Beyond this, the agreement only stipulates that West River Farms allow the Town and members of the public access to Schanck Road.
When the Planning and Zoning Commission approved the use of the land for housing in June 2015, it required West River Farms either to pay a fee or donate open space to the town. In March 2017, the company donated 18.5 acres of land along the Scantic River to the Town of East Windsor, which in turn was given to the Scout Hall Building Committee (SHBC).
In the Town’s approval to West River Farms, a clause maintains that the Town would have the right of first refusal for the 18.5-acre parcel owned by SHBC. Essentially, if SHBC were to sell the property or cease to exist as an organization in the future, the Town would have first dibs on its repossession. In June 2022, SHBC did end up selling the land, but to South Windsor instead. As a result, Schanck Road is not possessed by either East Windsor or West River Farms. The Town of South Windsor declined to comment on the role it has played, if any, in this dispute over Schanck Road’s maintenance.
According to the suit, West River Farms has spent two years developing the property, securing financing for the construction of the homes and their required infrastructure. The company has already closed sales on 24 homes in the subdivision and has begun construction of 10 more, all while claiming to follow the letter of the law laid out in its agreement with the town.
It is unclear at this time how many homes are move-in ready, how many are close to completion, and how many are still in the planning phase. Jeff Respler, owner of Respler Homes, could not be reached for comment.
Yagaloff’s post called the initial transfer of land from West River Farms to SHBC “inexplicable.” The 18.5-acre parcel was conveyed to SHBC as open space, a designation zoned for extremely minimal development, usually for the purpose of preserving natural land. Open space is typically conveyed either to municipalities themselves, or nature preservation nonprofits. SHBC, a non-profit organization that was founded in 1995 to manage Scout Hall, a building located on Abbe Road in East Windsor, doesn’t exactly fit the bill.
“It is crucial to understand why the town failed to take the open space along the Scantic River as initially required under the planning and zoning regulations and how decisions have been made without proper input from the Board of Selectmen and the public,” said Yagaloff in his statement. “The handling of Schanck Road, as well as the open space along the Scantic River, and the lack of communication on these matters are concerning. I urge a comprehensive investigation to ensure accountability and transparency moving forward.”
Yagaloff’s post chronicles the town’s past dealings with SHBC. In July 2022, East Windsor’s Board of Selectmen voted unanimously to tentatively approve a $5 million expansion and renovation plan for Scout Hall, which would convert it into a community center for all ages. The plan went to a referendum, where it at first failed by 20 votes, and then succeeded in a recount. The plan stipulated that the town would agree to assume the responsibility for the maintenance and construction costs. Bowsza was later found by the State Election Commission to have improperly used town funds to advocate for the project in violation of state election laws.
Yagaloff criticized the Bowsza’s handling of the project, describing it as “pushed through” and noted the project’s construction difficulties as a result of the wet soil it is being built upon. Yagaloff also noted the Town’s attempt to apply for grant funding to remediate the building’s construction issues without a Town meeting, as stipulated in the Town’s Charter.
In Yagaloff’s post, he noted the lawsuit as “another consequence of decisions made without proper public engagement.”
“This pattern of decisions, benefitting a select few at the expense of East Windsor’s broader community interests, lacks transparency and accountability,” concluded Yagaloff’s post. “It’s crucial that we demand clarity and adherence to our community’s governing laws to ensure that our resources are managed wisely and fairly.”
Bowsza could not be reached for comment.
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Oh the corruption runs deep with First Selectman Jason Bowsza and his covert deals with the 1,000 acres of East Windsor’s farmlands.
Bowsza, viewed by many in town as a
(Wold Economic Forum young global leader) managed to provide specialized taxes for the massive solar farm the entire town voted against and WON, only to have Bowsza’s covert land owners negotiations ahead of the lost vote, then by way of the Federal Government to follow that lost vote to overrule the townspeople vote against the solar farms that now occupy large parcels of our quaint and formerly most beautiful and peaceful farmlands and senic countryside!
The tax revenue from all the solar farms collectively may or may not afford the town of East Windsor 4 educators salaries within our public school system, and to top it off, not a a single portion of the energy harnessed from the entirety of these cumulative solar structures goes to the town of East Windsor, as it’s all privately owned and sold to Stamford, CT and Rhode Island.
The corruption of Jason Bowsza has half the town in complete disgust with him and his power trip to do as he pleases without consequence, regardless of towspeople voters wishes.
A 12 question letter was presented to First Selectman Bowsza of which copies can be furbished and neither First Selectman Bowsza, or any of the First Selectman have provided a single response on this important list of questions provided by townspeople and presented before the board in-person after Selectwoman DeSousa openly denounced the letters sent to the whole East Windsor Board of Selectman, Ms. DeSousa’s poor reasoning was that the letter wasn’t signed, even though the name and address was included and sent from a known business owner in town who First Selectman Jason Bowsza knows and failed to speak up about when the opportunity presented. These points were made to Jason Bowsza at the conclusion of comments that starts 10 minutes into the March 7, meeting meeting, and just as Bowsza failed to acknowledge the letter when it was presented at the Board of Selectman meeting at which signed copies of the letter were supplied to the entire Board of Selectman and to the stenographer for the record. That meeting has over 200 views and just one month ago someone posted a link to it with a screenshot asking if any of the presented questions have been answered, while other concerned tax payers asked additional questions and revisited the March 7, East Windsor Board of Selectman meeting posted on youtube to which the answer is an echoing no, not a single response on behalf of the letters sent, shared, and provided in person.
Additionally, Ms. DeSousa was called out for dismissing the vast and important letter, to which she has a signed copy of and has been presented the reading of the letter on record with her Board of Selectman colleagues.
So much false information in this comment. Shouldn’t be published or available for public viewing.
March 7, 2024 East Windsor Board of Selectman meeting, the letter presented to the Board is the only comments of the evening and starts at 10:00 minutes into the recording
https://youtu.be/8i8OSdfr3_E?si=heFSclW6NELBH_ob
This contains so much false information. Should never be published or made available for public viewing.
Charles, are you able to provide clarity on your accusations of falsehood within the comment, or are you simply providing blank connotations and promoting censorship?
Please provide what is false, so that people are aware of the truths if you’d be kind enough to elaborate. Thank you Charles.
A slight correction: the Scout Hall renovation was NOT approved by a recount of the original vote that was 20 yesses short, but rather by a rare second vote. You might’ve delved into how a second vote (which costs the taxpayers thousands of dollars) is initiated and who needs to approve the extra money being spent to get the vote count they desire, since it was not budgeted nor mandated by charter. It would’ve been interesting also, if you had deeply investigated the gift of the 18.5 acre plot to SHBC. What is the process in East Windsor to give such a gift away to a nonprofit (ahem) that already owns five properties- some vacant land, but homes/barns also, and who approves the town’s such gifts? How large does the SHBC’s coffer need to be (and exactly what is its size?), that they felt a need to sell the land, instead of using it for passive recreation for the taxpayers? If they didn’t want it, why didn’t they simply return it to the town, the original giftgivers? I don’t recall any vote being held to give the
town property away, if that was a requirement, but I may be ignorant of one. You missed a prime opportunity there, to get answers for a large group of townspeople questioning the duties, responsibilities, holdings, and financial doings of the SHBC. Tsk, tsk. I’m sure there are plenty of stories to chase, but this one, about the relationship the SHBC has with the town, the legal purpose of the Committee, its actions/holdings, and its responsibilities/purpose going forward after the municioal center is finished, is quite a hot topic in East Windsor.