A Middlebury citizens group is pressing ahead with a lawsuit meant to stop a sprawling distribution center planned for the eastern edge of town, arguing that hundreds of additional tractor-trailers a day would turn an already dangerous stretch of Straits Turnpike into something worse. Save Historic Middlebury Inc. and several residents sued the Connecticut Department of Transportation in August, challenging the agency's approval of traffic plans for the warehouse proposed at 1535 Straits Turnpike, near the site of the former Timex corporate headquarters.
The lawsuit, filed in Waterbury Superior Court, targets DOT's June 30 approval of the project, according to Bee-News. The plaintiffs also named Swamp Brook LLC, the Naugatuck-based company that owns and applied to develop the land, and Straits Industrial LLC, the property's record owner, as defendants. Save Historic Middlebury President Nick Stuller has said the completed center would push at least 300 additional tractor-trailers onto Straits Turnpike every day.
Narrow Shoulders and a Deadly Crash
Stuller has pointed to the road's physical limitations as central to the group's concern, noting that shoulders along Straits Turnpike are sometimes just two feet wide on both sides, per the same Bee-News account. He has also cited a fatal crash on the road on New Year's Eve 2024, when a car attempting to pass a mail delivery vehicle was involved in the collision. The lawsuit itself describes the corridor as already heavily congested and substandard in lane and shoulder width, and as the site of a documented traffic fatality, according to the Hartford Business Journal.
Plaintiffs named in the case include Edwin Durgy, Chris Vagnini, Joan Krantz and Laura Burk, according to the Hartford Courant. They contend that DOT relied on outdated traffic counts and inadequate safety information and crash analysis, and that the agency ignored pedestrian and bicyclist safety when it concluded the warehouse would not create a significant traffic hazard. The suit argues that daily tractor-trailer traffic would worsen conditions on what plaintiffs describe as an accident-prone stretch of the road.
A Years-Long Fight Over the Site
The proposed warehouse has divided the small town for roughly two years, part of a broader grassroots campaign opposing new warehouses or logistics centers in Middlebury, even as some residents have voiced support for the development as a source of additional tax revenue. The project's reported footprint has varied across accounts: the Courant has described it as 172,000 square feet covering just under 25 acres, Bee-News has put the figure at 171,000 square feet, while Prime Publishers reported the Planning and Zoning Commission approved a 171,600-square-foot site plan submitted by Edward G. Fitzpatrick and Middlebury Land Development LLC. Swamp Brook LLC acquired the land for $690,000, according to the Courant.
Middlebury's zoning board approved the warehouse proposal unanimously in mid-2025, with the Planning and Zoning Commission saying the property lies in a zone created to attract that type of business and that the plan meets municipal requirements. That approval survived an earlier legal challenge: a Superior Court judge ruled in December 2025 that the commission had followed local land-use regulations, the Hartford Business Journal reported. In that related dispute, the Middlebury Small Town Alliance had argued the project should be classified as a trucking terminal rather than a warehouse. The Connecticut Appellate Court denied the alliance's appeal of the lower-court ruling on March 27, 2026, according to the Middletown Press.
DOT Moves to Dismiss the Latest Case
The current lawsuit takes aim at a separate approval: the traffic certificate DOT's Office of the State Traffic Administration issued in June. That office, a unit within DOT, reviewed plans, traffic projections, highway design and other factors before advising that the warehouse could move forward, per the Courant's reporting.
DOT has since filed a 27-page motion to dismiss the case, arguing the homeowners lack standing to challenge its decision. The agency contends the General Assembly amended state traffic-decision law in 2023 to restrict appeal rights to developers or landowners who sought and were denied a certificate, and argues the plaintiffs failed to plead sufficient aggrievement or allege any distinct role in the application process. DOT says it expects to counter the plaintiffs' broader arguments if the case proceeds to trial.
Judge John Louis Cordani issued a filing order on October 20, directing plaintiffs to respond to the dismissal motion by November 16 and giving DOT until December 11 to file any reply. Cordani has indicated he would hold a hearing on the motion once those deadlines pass and has signaled he could rule on the dismissal request relatively soon. According to the latest court records, a hearing on the underlying lawsuit would begin January 14, 2027, if Cordani allows the case to proceed.
