Joseph P. Williams

Represented developer in the purchase of a construction company’s storage yard for use in a planned residential redevelopment a block from the main commercial artery through Simsbury, CT. The project is a 175-unit multifamily development with 10 percent of the units designated for affordable rents, with walking trails connecting to the Rails to Trails Greenway path on town-owned land. The firm provided end-to-end support on the transaction beginning with the execution of a purchase contract, followed by oversight of environmental investigation and remediation work and a Transfer Act evaluation. The team also helped obtain a wetlands permit and zoning special exception for the new development from town land use boards. The culmination of the matter resulted in the successful closing of the contract.

In 2020, we helped obtain approvals by both the Cheshire Planning and Zoning Commission and Inland Wetlands Commission for our client, Lamp Realty, LLC, to build 114 new apartments on the site of an abandoned nursing home. A quarter of the units will have affordable rents for moderate income tenants, such as police officers and teachers. The Commission had adopted its own regulation to promote affordable housing and ours was the first proposal filed under the new regulation. The Shipman-led team was able to overcome substantial opposition and convince the Commission that there was a substantial need for moderately-priced affordable housing in Cheshire and that the proposed development plan was a solid one that complied with all regulatory standards.

We successfully obtained from the wetlands and zoning agencies of the Town of Middlebury, Connecticut, amendments and extensions to approvals allowing Toll Brothers, Inc. to complete the construction of a large multi-family cluster development. We have also recently assisted Toll Brothers with interpreting and implementing a 2015 settlement agreement that we negotiated allowing Toll to construct a major subdivision in Mystic, CT.

Represented a municipal housing authority in southern Connecticut in using eminent domain to acquire property that was planned to be redeveloped into a mixed income, mixed use development as part of a health and wellness district.  After unsuccessful attempts to negotiate a purchase of two properties in the redevelopment area, the firm guided the housing authority through all of the legal steps necessary to acquire them by eminent domain.

Defended the City of Norwalk in an action brought in federal court under RLUIPA/First Amendment as a result of the denial of a special permit for a new mosque facility by the Zoning Commission.  After extensive discovery the case was mediated to settlement.  Also negotiated a resolution of a U.S. Department of Justice investigation for the city.

Persuaded the Connecticut Superior Court, Complex Litigation Docket, to strike the entire complaint against the Connecticut Housing Finance Authority (CHFA) claiming violations of state fair housing law, the federal Fair Housing Act and 42 U.S.C. § 1983 in connection with the administration by CHFA of the federal Low Income Housing Tax Credit program. The court agreed that the statutes did not create implied private rights of action, and the Connecticut Supreme Court upheld the decision. Asylum Hill Problem Solving Revitalization Association v. King, 2004 WL 113560 (Jan. 5, 2004); affirmed, 277 Conn. 238 (2006).

Successfully negotiated a settlement conveying a disputed strip of land to our client (a retail business owner) in an adverse possession claim against an abutting fast food restaurant owner in the West End of Hartford, Connecticut. During renovations, the restaurant owner tore down a fence belonging to our client. After filing a lawsuit alleging that the retail operation had established ownership of the disputed strip of land by adverse possession, the restaurant owner conveyed the disputed strip to our client.