Ah, the genius of Anglo-Saxon Jurisprudence

Neighbors complain of mess at Old Greenwich property: ‘This is what I have to look at every day’

Bruce Angiolillo is concerned about the conditions at his neighbor's property on Random Road in Old Greenwich, Conn. Monday, Dec. 6, 2021. (Tyler Sizemore / Hearst Connecticut Media)

GREENWICH — For more than five years, some residents of Old Greenwich have been in a dispute with their neighbor over the condition of a Random Road property.[2 Random Road — ed]

Old barbecue grills litter both the front yard and backyard, and there are several parked cars, discarded jet skis and folded-up ping pong tables in the front yard.

Neighbors said they worry that the old grills, which may be coated with old grease and meat residue, could attract vermin or act as a fire hazard. And personal interactions have gone badly as well, neighbors say, as the person who lives there has refused their pleas for change.

Complicating any legal action is ownership of the property — it belongs to Deutsche Bank although the former owner still lives there — and eviction and other remedies were put on hold because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Since December 2020, more than $30,000 in fines have been levied against and sent to the owner — Deutsche Bank — with an additional $100 added every day because of the conditions, Assistant Town Attorney Aamina Ahmad said.

Deutsche Bank has not paid the fines nor any taken action to evict the occupant, even though the federal eviction moratorium has ended, Ahmad said recently.

“This is a pretty bad situation on the property,” Ahmad said. “We have been in contact with the neighbors, and we’re trying pretty hard to do something and get that stuff out of there. Deutsche Bank unfortunately has not been very cooperative with us.”

The town has “reached out to them and asked their attorney to please move on the eviction case, and basically, we have been told that Deutsche Bank has a hold on it,” he said.

Attorney Justin Ortega, who represents Deutsche Bank in the matter, did not return phone calls or an email seeking comment. The occupant could not be reached for comment via phone; his listed number is not in service.

Definition of nuisance

Under the town charter, a nuisance is defined by what sits on a property, including “motor vehicles and motor vehicle parts, appliances, furniture, metal, plastic, cardboard or glass containers ... visible from any third-party residential premises; and which are hazardous or injurious to the public health, safety and welfare or which cause substantial depreciation in the value of real property in the neighborhood.”

Neighbors say they have been putting up with the situation for years, with no relief.

“My heart just sinks when I see this,” neighbor Eileen Smiles said. “I worked my whole life to be able to live on a road like this and have my kids grow up on a street like this. I continue to work hard and pay all my taxes and pay all my bills — and this is what I have to look at every day.

“This is taking away from all our property values. I was told by a Realtor I couldn’t sell my house if I wanted to because of this. Nobody wants this,” she said of the nearby property.

Carlos Serra, who owns the property next door, has similar concerns about the current state of the property. He described it as in “declining condition” over the past five years — and said the lot resembles a junkyard, except it’s in a neighborhood zoned only for residential use.

The relationship between the occupant and the neighbors has been contentious since at least 2015, when the former owner was taken to court in a dispute over parking vehicles on a parcel of land between his property and that of a neighbor.

[You can catch that fun here — Ed.]

Neighbors said they have no personal grudge against the original owner: They say they just want the property cleaned up.

“To me if feels like there’s been a lot of hope and promise from the town on this, but nothing’s ever been done,” Serra said. “It’s really frustrating. … It’s been five years and they’ve done nothing.”

But officials say the town has done what it can.

“The state of the property has led town staff to take measures to the greatest extent possible under the Nuisance Ordinance,” Town Director of Planning and Zoning Katie DeLuca said recently. “We are working with the property owner(s), who have agreed to correct the violation. They are in the process of evicting the tenant and once that has occurred, they will have full control to bring the property into compliance.”

DeLuca said she believed the bank was “within very short order of a successful eviction.”

Yeah, well, good luck with that.

The owner of 2 Random, Paul Koch, borrowed $2,075,000 from WaMu (of course) in 2005, and at some point afterwards he quit paying the debt. WaMu folded, Deutsche Bank picked up its portfolio of failed loans in 2009, and began to sort things out. Mr. Koch was not eager to help them in that endeavor..

The Court docket for the foreclosure action itself stretches from 2009 through July, 2018, when a judgment of strict foreclosure was finally ordered by the court. Then, after a year to rest up and remember that it owned the property, Deutsche Bank began eviction proceedings in August, 2019, to remove Mr. Koch from his former abode. That, too, has not gone smoothly, from the bank’s perspective.

My guess? That junkyard will stay where it is until Mr. Koch grows tired of maintaining it or, eventually, the courts grow tired of Mr. Koch. 2025?