SIMSBURY—The Cambridge Crossing website shows a model houses with classic white porch pillars, manicured lawns and top end landscaping, tree-lined streets and cul de sacs, and brags of a low-cost home owners association that will cover snow and leaf removal, mowing and trash service.
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In a note to potential homeowners, Sunlight Construction owner/developer writes that his company's goal is "to provide every client with outstanding service and care as we build their dreams."
But a walk through the half-finished neighborhood off Hoskins Road and near the International Skating Center is far from a dream, local residents say. There are no street or stop signs and street lights remain dark. Storm drains and sewer mains sit above grade because paving has not been completed, even in areas where building has been completed.
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Some houses are partially sided and others have no siding as contractors have stopped work. Curbs and sidewalks are intermittent. Instead of pillars, some homes front porch covers are supported by two-by-fours. Drainage is non-existent in some areas, unfinished in others.
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Frustration has been mounting among homeowners in the unfinished neighborhood, although they were hesitant to speak on the record for fear promised work may never happen.
"Bill refuses to respond to any correspondence from individuals in the community, including local lawyers and mortgage lenders," one owner said, referring to Bill Ferrigno, owner of Sunlight Construction.
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Ferrigno did not respond to several requests for comment about the situation at Cambridge Crossing. A chance encounter at his office on West Main Street in Avon did not yield results either as he declined comment.
Residents have turned to town officials as they look for help getting their neighborhood completed. Simsbury Town Planner George McGregor, who went to work in town about a year ago - the development was approved in 2018 - said the town is using the tools available to it, including declining to issue any more permits for new construction until the current issues are resolved.
McGregor also sent a letter to Ferrigno in January reiterating the residents concerns about the lack of street lights or signs and requested that he take care of the issue by June 1. McGregor also informed Ferrigno that no homes built in the western edge of the development would be given certificates of occupancy until a nearby slope that is eroding is stabilized. Neither the street lights and signs or the erosion control has happened, even after McGregor sent a reminder letter in May.
"The developer has been slow to respond and this has been frustrating to both the town and the residents of Cambridge Crossing," McGregor said in response to questions about the development.
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Different town, similar problem
Simsbury is not alone in its frustration in dealing with Sunlight and Ferrigno. Neighboring Avon has also been working to get compliance with conditions agreed to for the Bailey Road and Stafford Crossing developments.
In a June 1 letter to Ferrigno, Avon Town Manager Brandon Robertson reiterated long standing concerns from residents and town staff about "significant aspects of the development" that remain unfinished.
They include: a lack of final street grading; incomplete landscaping and fence construction; incomplete sanitary sewer installation; an unpaved cul de sac with no curbing; catch basins with improper grading and slope; and unrestored rights of way.
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Robertson said in the letter that he hoped that Ferrigno was not planning to ignore the issues due to recent state legislation that allows developers more than a dozen years to address construction issues.
Avon Town Planner Hiram Peck said the legislation allows developers who had project approved between 2011 and 2021 up to 14 years to complete the work agreed to with towns. The law went into effect in June 2021.
Peck said he believes the law was passed with good intentions to help developers and builders during the pandemic and supply chain shortages, but there have been unintended consequences from a local perspective as major issues related to roads, sidewalks and fences are ignored.
"A lot of this could have been prevented if (legislators) had called land use staff to if there needed to be some conditions," Peck said.
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Owners of homes in Ferrigno's Avon and Simsbury aren't the only ones dissatisfied with their experience with him. There are hundreds of thousands of dollars of legal judgments against him by people who gave him down payments on homes only to have him not build anything, according to legal filings. In some of those cases, plaintiffs accuse Ferrigno of insisting that the buyer give him the down payment instead of having it held in escrow and then built nothing. Five similar lawsuits have been filed in 2023.
He has has had properties attached to make good on two of those judgments. He was also successfully sued for more than $300,000 in unpaid bills by Oxford Lumber and Building Supplies.
There are also mechanics and town tax liens in Avon and town tax and sewer liens in Simsbury that add up to more than $100,000.
Some of those lawsuits were referred to the state attorney general's office. Residents at Cambridge Crossing also complained and were told that because it was an HOA development the agency couldn't do anything. Elizabeth Benton, a spokeswoman for the attorney general's office said that while her office is limited in the help it can provide on condominium developments, a separate homeowner complaint has been filed and she confirmed the state Department of Consumer Protection is investigating.
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Back in Simsbury
Homeowners in Cambridge Crossing have been waiting the last few years for constructiont and punch lists of unfinished work to be completed. Some have given up and spent their own money completing work that was included in the purchase price. Others who are still waiting to have their home finished have given up and put the property up for sale.
The community was also formed as a home owner's association, which means monthly HOA fees of $300 for scarce services on top of an initial $1,800 payment. Enough homes have been closed on to facilitate the election of a board, but that has yet to happen. Homeowners suspect that is because the developer would have to show the total amount collected for fees from more than 30 homeowners would have to be disclosed and what the money has been spent on.
"We don't know if that money exists," said one owner.
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June 21, 2023|Updated June 23, 2023 7:33 a.m.
By Steven Goode
Steven has been a reporter for more than 30 years, spending most of that time at the Hartford Courant. He has covered schools, crime, courts, politics, public safety and business and the mortgage industry. In his free time Steven enjoys camping, going to the beach, reading mysteries, discovering new IPAs and rollercoasters and spending time with his family.