Home Care In Fairfield, CT

FAIRFIELD — Fourteen businesses received the most serious health violation on record during the Health Department's inspections last month.

Tümü amassed the most priority item violations with 13 across two site visits, followed by South Bay with six and Shumi Revolving Sushi with four. Staff must correct priority items within 72 hours under Food and Drug Administration regulations, which use a three-tiered system of violations to flag health hazards around food service facilities.

The more minor violations include priority foundation and core foundation, which must be corrected within 10 days and 90 days, respectively.

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A Health Department sanitarian spotted 10 priority item violations during a Feb. 5 visit at Tümü, which had to toss out expired meatballs, vegetables, lentil soup, cilantro, rice and adobo birria. Tümü also received priority item violations for bare-hand contact with ready-to-eat food, unprotected food in a grab-and-go case, weak sink sanitizer and improper cooling of rice and corn.

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Staff corrected all violations on site, according to an inspection report from the Health Department.

The restaurant still had three priority item violations when the sanitarian returnedthree days later and found the sanitizer still too weak and raw bacon stored over ready-to-eat food. Owner Karla Krassin said the restaurant changed brands for its dishwasher disinfectant, which hadn't been working, to resolve the sanitizer issue.

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"It was just a routine inspection, and everything was fine," Krassin said.

South Bay's six violations flagged unclean dishes stored with clean dishes, unlabeled chemical bottles, low dishwasher temperature and roach spray and raw eggs stored over ready-to-eat food. The restaurant corrected all violations on site, except for its kitchen dishwasher, which it fixed the following day. South Bay did not return a request for comment.

The Health Department handed Shumi Revolving Sushi four violations for management issues, hot holding temperature of soup in a slow cooker, a missing supplier letter confirming fish is frozen and the lack of separation between raw meat or eggs and ready-to-eat food.

"Not sure person in charge knows enough currently," the inspection report states.

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The business did not return a request for comment.

Chipotle on Grasmere Avenue received three priority item violations for staff not washing their hands after touching their face with gloves, unapproved sanitizer used on food-contact surfaces and dishwasher bleach that was too strong, according to its report. A Chipotle spokesperson did not return a request for comment.

Testo's Pizzeria also received three priority item violations for bare-hand contact with ready-to-eat food, cloth placed on chicken and sanitizer that was too strong, according to the department. Staff corrected the three issues on site. A person who answered the phone at the pizzeria but did not give their name said the Health Department told staff that their violations were fixed and declined to comment further.

Bella Sera, Fairfield University's Tully Dining Commons, Paci Restaurant and Sophie's Pizza Bar each received a pair of priority violations.

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The Health Department cited Bella Sera for unclean food utensils and medication stored with food. The restaurant did not return a request for comment.

The Tully Dining Commons picked up priority item violations for improper hot holding of steak, which staff corrected on site, and improper separation of food by cooking temperature inside a walk-in cooler, according to its inspection report. Jennifer Anderson, Fairfield University's vice president of marketing and communications, said a warming unit malfunction and an updated cooler storage code accounted for the violations, which staff addressed immediately.

“Fairfield University’s dining services team takes pride in providing a nutritious and wholesome dining experience for our students," Anderson said in a statement.

Chartwells Higher Ed, which operates the site, did not return a request for comment.

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The pair of priority item violations at Paci Restaurant both involved bleach strength issues with products that were too weak and too strong. Staff corrected the strong bleach on site and the weak bleach the following day, according to the inspection report.

Roberto Giansanti, a manager at Paci Restaurant, said a technician had to fix a dishwasher where soap and product hadn't been mixing. He stressed the business has a positive relationship with the Health Department and maintains a clean environment.

"We have one of the cleanest, if not the cleanest restaurant in Fairfield," he said.

Sophie's Pizza Bar received two priority item violations for improper cleaning and sanitizing of surfaces that food touch, which staff corrected on site, and not using pasteurized eggs in recipes where they're required, according to the department.

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Health Department personnel handed one priority violations to each Il Pellicano, Malibu Taco, Swift Fresh Market, Tasty Yolk and Toscano Pizzeria.

Il Pellicano, Malibu Taco and Swift Fresh Market each picked up a priority item violation for sanitizer issues. Bar sanitizer had been malfunctioning at Il Pellicano and too weak at Malibu Taco, and Swift Fresh Market had a sink sanitizer dispenser in disrepair, according to health inspection reports. The market's violation also flagged a meat slicer that wasn't cleaned or sanitized after use.

Melonie Stout, who works at Il Pellicano, said the business had a chlorine issue in its bar dishwasher, but it has since been serviced and fixed.

Abeera Chaudhry, a manager at Swift Fresh Market, said the sanitizer's hand pump wasn't working, but the business has arranged for it to be fixed by someone who hadn't been available to resolve the issue earlier.

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"Everything will be fine for the next inspection," Chaudhry said.

Malibu Taco did not return a request for comment.

An unlabeled spray bottle at Tasty Yolk, which was corrected on site, and a bowl used as a scooper in bread crumb and corn flour containers at Toscano Pizzeria accounted for the final two priority item violations reported in February. Tasty Yolk and Toscano Pizzeria did not return requests for comment.

FAIRFIELD — Bob’s Stores has closed its establishment in Fairfield, while a prominent home-furnishings retailer is set to open in the same location.

Sunday marked the last day of business for Bob’s Stores in the Fairfield Shopping Center at 889 Post Road, where the apparel-and-footwear store was the anchor tenant. Bob's had held a closing sale there in the past few months.

The space will not stand empty for long because Restoration Hardware has signed a 35,000-square-foot lease for an outlet store at 889 Post Road, according to officials at Fairfield-based True Commercial Real Estate, which represented the property owner in the leasing negotiations.

“Restoration Hardware Outlet was one among several interested parties over the term of our leasing assignment, and, ultimately, my client felt they were the best fit for the shopping center and the market,” Dominick Musilli, True’s founder and managing partner, said in a written statement when the deal was announced last October.

Greenwich Avenue in Greenwich, where Restoration Hardware has a gallery and a baby-child-teen store, is the only other location in Connecticut where Restoration Hardware has a brick-and-mortar presence.

A message left this week for Restoration Hardware inquiring when it planned to open the Fairfield store was not returned.

As for Bob’s Stores, it is planning to open a new store in Fairfield.

“We are currently in the process of identifying the ideal location,” Kevin Campbell, executive vice president of operations for Bob’s Stores and Eastern Mountain Sports (EMS), which are owned by the same company, said in a written statement.

At the same time, a closing sale continues at the Bob’s Stores establishment at 380 Main Ave., in Norwalk. It will be replaced by a new store at 542 Westport Ave., in Norwalk, that will carry Bob’s and EMS merchandise. The new Bob’s-EMS store will operate in a storefront that previously housed a Bed Bath & Beyond store, which closed last spring.

All employees at the current Norwalk store will transfer to the new location, Bob’s officials said.

“We do not yet have an official closing date for the Bob’s Store at 380 Main Ave.,” Campbell said. “We are happy to share that construction is already underway for the new Bob’s Stores and Eastern Mountain Sports flagship location in Norwalk, and we look forward to sharing an update on an expected opening date in the coming weeks.”

Alongside the changes in Fairfield and Norwalk, Bob’s has recently expanded its footprint in Connecticut.

Last October, it opened a store at 835 Queen St., in Southington. Last August, it returned to Hamden, with a reopening at the Hamden Mart shopping center — the same site where it had closed a store in December 2020.

Within Connecticut, there are also Bob’s locations in Ansonia, Manchester, Middletown, Milford, Newington, Simsbury, Waterbury and Waterford. The sole EMS in Connecticut is located within the Bob's establishment at the Crossroads shopping center in Waterford.

Bob’s is a homegrown business for Connecticut, started in 1954 by founder Bob Lapidus with a single store in Middletown, to 27 stores throughout the northeast, according to its website.

FAIRFIELD — Tablao Wine Bar and Restaurant has added another piece of prime downtown real estate as it continues to grow its presence in Fairfield County.

Tablao opened in Fairfield last week on Sanford Street, between the Fairfield Metro Station and the series of shops that line the Post Road's business corridor. The December opening marks Tablao's third location since the Spanish tapas restaurant opened in South Norwalk in 2016 and later Ridgefield's Main Street strip in 2019.

"We've got a lot of traffic from the main road, and also we have the train station," Galo Aleman, one of Tablao's owners, said of the Fairfield location. "There's a lot of people, believe it or not, the train leaves, you see a lot of people walking this way, taking their cars, going through the restaurant having a drink like we noticed yesterday, so that's the best option to go for."

Aleman said Tablao's vicinity to the station, Fairfield Theater Company, Post Road and both Sacred Heart and Fairfield universities can attract foot traffic, and visitors come from neighboring Bridgeport, Trumbull and Westport. He said the business jumped on the Sanford Street space as the owners were searching for a new spot in Fairfield.

"Downtowns always offered that foot traffic," he said. "Every town, every city — downtown is part of the soul of the city or town wherever businesses are."

Aleman said the Fairfield location would host live music each week, ranging from flamenco — a traditional Spanish folk music featuring guitar and dance — on Thursdays once or twice a month, to either live bands or DJ sets on Friday and Saturday.

"Besides the tapas, we want to do a day where everybody can enjoy a little bit being in Spain, providing food, paella, sangria, music," Aleman said. "So that's how we've been doing it in Norwalk, and we try to do that here."

Aleman said he's noticed Spanish cuisine becoming a centerpiece among European-inspired food, especially boosted by celebrity chef José Andrés, who owns restaurants across the country and leads international humanitarian projects. Tablao's menu features more than 30 tapas, or small dishes, and a selection of classic, seafood and vegetarian paella — a Spanish rice dish.

Aleman said the restaurant employs about 20 workers between the kitchen and dining room crew.

"It's not just a random random chain where you go," Aleman said. "Here everything is from scratch, traditional."

Aleman experience in the restaurant industry comes from bartaco — a chain of taco restaurants that has Connecticut locations in Westport, Stamford and West Hartford. He said one of Tablao's chefs, who happens to be married to the owner of the South Bay restaurant that stands roughly a block away, carried industry experience from Norwalk's since-closed Meson Galicia eatery and joined the staff to open Tablao's first location on South Norwalk's Washington Street.

Now with its third location in the last seven years, the restaurant will look to continue building its brand in Fairfield.

"I think human nature is if you have a house, you can have a second house, and then maybe you can buy a third house," Aleman said. "So we have the same mentality as — to grow and to do better. Why not build?"

FAIRFIELD — The National Trust for Historic Preservation has thrown their support behind local advocates opposing a $225 million proposed project by United Illuminating, warning of the plan’s “potentially devastating” impacts to historic properties.

Since 2017, the utility company has been replacing aged transmission lines along the Metro North rail line to strengthen its grid, and has completed work in West Haven, Milford and Stratford.

But UI’s most recent proposal for Fairfield, Southport and Bridgeport has sparked opposition from residents, officials and advocacy groups, as it would require 19.25 acres of permanent easements on houses, businesses and historic buildings, 6.5 acres of vegetation clearing and the construction of 68 new monopoles.

Last week, the National Trust for Historic Preservation joined the fray and attempted to intervene in UI’s application process. The group also invited Fairfield, Bridgeport and Southport to join an annual list as some of the most “endangered historic places” in the country.

“We’re hoping that we’ll be able to bring more attention to the impact of this proposed transmission line on historic resources in Southport, Bridgeport and Fairfield,” said Thompson Mayes, chief legal officer for the organization.

In order to carry out the project, the utility company requested approval from the Siting Council in March. The council has granted intervenor status requests — meaning interested parties can present arguments against the project — from residents and advocacy groups, including the town of Fairfield. On Nov. 9, Mayes applied to join the movement.

On Wednesday, Mayes told CT Examiner that the council has not adequately taken the potential impacts on nearby historic properties into consideration.

“They’ll have the transmission line running over their property, or even through their property,” Mayes said. “So, really potentially devastating impacts.”

Included in the scope of UI’s project is the Southport Historic District, the Mary and Eliza Freeman Houses, the 134-year-old Pequot Library and houses constructed in the 18th century. Because the proposed monopoles could range from 100 to 135 feet tall, Mayes argued the project would have an “incredible visual impact” on the properties.

A national invitation

Along with intervening in the Siting Council application, National Trust invited Fairfield, Bridgeport and Southport to apply for its 2024 “America’s 11 Most Endangered Historic Places” list which, Mayes said, is somewhat unusual.

“There are many threatened places throughout the United States, and many of them hope to bring attention to their sites by being listed in the 11 most endangered list,” he said. “Only a small percentage of those end up being invited to submit a full application.”

According to the National Trust’s website, the list helps historic preservationists to raise awareness and rally support for threatened sites.

While the Siting Council must rule on the project application by March, the final endangered historic places list will not be published until May. Regardless, Mayes said the invitation alone emphasizes that the impacts on local properties would be “significant.”

Jane Montanaro, executive director of Preservation Connecticut, told CT Examiner on Wednesday that her organization found out about the project through concerned Southport residents, who then reached out to National Trust for guidance.

Preservation Connecticut is currently working with members of the Pequot Library to construct an argument, find supporting materials and draft the final application, Montanaro said.

Asked if a spot on the national list has helped preserve other Connecticut properties, Montanaro pointed to the Freeman Houses in Bridgeport, one of the 11 places listed in 2018.

“It really was able to broaden the outreach for the organization and build support for saving those houses and bring funding in,” Montanaro said. “It’s been a long road, but that was a critical first step in really turning that organization around.”

The Mary and Eliza Freeman Center for History and Community has been working for years to restore and preserve the houses which, the center’s website explains, are listed on the National Register of Historic Places for their significance to African Americans and women. For years, the buildings have been under threat of demolition.

After making the 2018 list, the center received grants from Connecticut Humanities, a preservation grant from the state Department of Economic and Community Development, National Trust’s African American Cultural Heritage Action Fund and Preservation Connecticut.

But due to the new UI plan, Montanaro said, the Freeman houses are still at risk.

“Now they’re under threat again with this proposal from UI,” she said. “So we’ll be working with the Freeman Houses and developing some of the content for this application.”

Andrea Ozyck, a Southport resident and co-founder of Sasco Creek Neighbors Environmental Trust Inc., urged the importance of support from national and state preservationists.

“I think we’re hitting a critical mass here,” Ozyck told CT Examiner.

Ozyck said she and her husband founded the nonprofit in August after discovering the impact of UI’s proposal. The organization has since held a well-attended protest and earned intervenor status in the Siting Council application. Ozyck said the National Trust’s opposition has helped increase public awareness as well.

“Based on where the poles and the wires will be and the size of the easements that are required on those properties, a number of them will either become nonconforming — which means there’s a significantly high risk of complete seizure — or they could be deemed dangerous because the wires are overtop of the houses,” she said.

She added that the vegetation clearing would also shift Fairfield’s landscape from “charming and historic” to “industrial,” as the utility company may cut down trees that block their existing monopoles. Without its charm, Ozyck said, prospective residents and businesses may be less likely to move to Fairfield.

An alternative

Ozyck clarified that her organization’s goal is not to keep UI from strengthening its grid, but to encourage the company to find a less invasive alternative, such as burying the lines underground.

Ozyck and Mayes said they hope National Trust’s backing will motivate the Siting Council to request a new plan.

On Wednesday, UI spokesperson Sarah Wall Fliotsos defended the company’s current proposal.

She said the company has submitted the “most prudent plan” to the Siting Council, as well as multiple alternative proposals. According to its application, UI disclosed an underground option but explained why it was eliminated.

“Ultimately, the Siting Council will make a comprehensive determination on which proposal is most fiscally sound, most environmentally responsible, and best reflects their decisions on previous phases of the program,” Wall Fliotsos said.

She added that the utility company worked closely with federal, state and municipal organizations to identify project proposals, and urged the importance of upgrading the technology.

“Upgrading and improving the century-old transmission infrastructure across UI’s service territory is essential to UI’s fundamental obligation: Ensuring power reliability and resiliency despite a changing climate and in the midst of preparing for a clean energy future,” she said.

Sophia Muce covers Fairfield County for CT Examiner. T: 203 997 2780

[email protected]

HARTFORD — The state Supreme Court had some tough questions Friday for lawyers representing neighbors and the Fairfield Planning and Zoning Commission's fight against the height and scope of a proposed five-story 40-unit apartment building that town officials claim is too close to the Old Post Road historic district.

During two hours of hearings on the developer's lawsuit against the town, the panel of six justices, with the addition of state Appellate Judge Robert W. Clark, pushed back against attorney Barbara M. Schellenberg, representing the town, as well as attorney Joel Green, speaking for neighbors opposed to the .65 acre development, which would have a dozen affordable units. At the heart of the arguments was the state's controversial affordable housing laws under what is called the 8-30g statute.

Schellenberg said the zoning commission's rejection of the larger-scale project "struck an appropriate balance between the need to protect an important environmental resource and the need to increase affordable housing in the town. The commission appropriately placed the height condition on its approval of that application in order to safeguard an important environmental resource. The fact that the property is not in the historic district does not mean the commission cannot consider a negative impact on the district, which in this case is a negative visual impact."

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Pointed questioning was led by Clark and Associate Justices Gregory D'Auria, Steven Ecker and Andrew McDonald.

"That's true, in an affordable housing context that they can evaluate the site in relation to an entirely different area of the community?" McDonald asked.

Schellenberg, noting that the commission wanted a scaled-down, 40-foot-tall, 30-unit structure, said the developer, whose principal according to state business listings is Danielle Bijanda of Trumbull, did not present a business plan.

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"On what basis can the commission reject it?" D'Auria asked. "The commission is trying to balance competing interests," Schellenberg said. "The historic district is very valuable to the town."

"The problem is, do these things get built?" D'Auria said. "And so you can approve them at lower capacities and kill it that way."

Schellenberg noted that town officials asked the developer to return with a smaller plan. "So the commission can just say 'we think you can do it' without knowing it's feasible?" McDonald said.

"Impact on historic resources is recognized under other matters that the (zoning) commission may consider in balancing the need for affordable housing with the proposed development," Green told the panel. "Did those experts quantify the harm?" McDonald asked. "There's degrees of harm, right? It might be a minor intrusion that is easily screened; it could be devastating harm that couldn't be remedied or ameliorated in any form, ever."

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Green quoted a previous expert testimony on the potential "significant harm" to the historic district.

"What does that mean though?" McDonald interrupted. "To what end? Harm in the sense that what? The values of the homes in the historic district are going to plummet?"

"The character and the preservation and value of the historic district would be impaired by virtue of this building being at the gateway into the historic district," Green said. McDonald said that the word "character" has been used by many municipalities in "subterfuge" to stifle affordable housing and discourage lower-income people from moving in.

"That's a subject for expert testimony?" Ecker asked. "Does that mean only an expert will notice the impact. Do you have to be an expert in order to know whether or not there is an adverse effect?"

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Attorney Christopher J. Smith, representing 131 Beach Road LLC, the developer of the former Masonic temple site near commercial buildings along the nearby Post Road, said town planners wanted to reduce the project to three stories, including two floors of residences over a one-story parking area totaling 40 feet in height. Amid underlying discussions of esoteric zoning laws, Smith said that the town's opposition to the 60-foot-tall proposal is an effort to reduce the percentage affordable apartments in the proposal.

"By cutting it down to 40 feet, that means they can't go higher than essentially three stories, at 12 feet a story that's basically what my client can do," Smith said, stressing that the Superior Court level, the developer said a smaller building is not financially feasible.

"They have to identify a harm," Smith said. "Even if that all happens, does that clearly outweigh the need for affordable housing in the town of Fairfield? The issue with an 8-30g is, is there an identified and quantified harm to a substantial public interest, whereby the decision is necessary to protect against that harm and does that protection of that harm outweigh the need for affordable housing? There is no identified harm here. They can't identify a harm in any way. If you don't know what the harm is, then you don't know how to avoid it."

McDonald focused on the zoning commission's height restriction in relation to the need for affordable housing. "They say that the harm is a negative visual impact to the historic district, and then they say they can't quantify that," Smith said. "So it's just a judgment call?" McDonald asked. "It's very subjective," Smith said. "And that's not what the statute provides for. The statute says you have to identify and quantify the harm."

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"Does the economic feasibility have anything to do with anything?" Ecker asked.

"Right now in zoning, whenever you appear for a special permit, a site plan, whatever it is and the commission says 'we'd like to know your business plan,' I just say you're not entitled to that," Smith said. "This is a zoning application filed pursuant to your regulations. There's no reason why an applicant, a landowner in our state, has to explain from a business perspective why they're proposing a 10-lot subdivision, why they're proposing a duplex or a pharmacy on their property. That's not the statutory standard for review."

Clark noted that the height limit in the zone is 32 feet, but the proposal is for a 60-foot-high structure. "Is this building just going to stick out as twice the size as anything else in the zone?" Clark asked. "Beach Road, it's all commercial," Smith replied. "There's the Post Road that's heavily built-out, Route 1. There's nothing in the record that indicates that any portion of this property can be viewed from the one road that's within the historic district, the Old Post Road right up the street, which is the claimed significant environmental resource to be protected."

Dec 16, 2023

Ken Dixon has covered government and politics from the State Capitol since 1994, spanning the administrations of five governors. A graduate of Ohio University, Dixon has won multiple awards from the National Society of Newspaper Columnists. He’s been recognized for both columns and reporting by the National Press Club. His reporting has been honored by the National Society of Professional Journalists, and he has won numerous awards for both columns and reporting by the Connecticut Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists. In 2019 he was inducted into the Connecticut Journalism Hall of Fame.