#MiddleburyCT #SaveHistoricMiddlebury #StraitsTurnpike #Traffic #Lawsuit
Middlebury residents and Save Historic Middlebury (SHM) on August 14, 2026, filed a lawsuit in Waterbury Superior Court asking for a reversal of the Connecticut Department of Transportation (CTDOT) approval of the traffic plan for the proposed 171,000 square foot distribution center at 1535 Straits Turnpike in Middlebury. This location is not far from the entrance to Turnpike Office park. CTDOT approval was needed for the project to proceed.
The newspaper contacted CTDOT spokesperson, Eva Zymaris and asked for a comment on the lawsuit. Zymaris responded, “CTDOT cannot comment on pending litigation.”
In addition to the Connecticut Department of Transportation, defendants in this case are the landowner and applicant, Swamp Brook LLC, and the record owner of 1535 Straits Turnpike, Straits Industrial LLC. Swamp Brook LLC is a Delaware business formed in May 2025. Its mailing address is the Naugatuck office of attorney Edward G. Fitzpatrick. State records show the principals in Straits Industrial were Joseph L. Zink and David Drubner, but Zink signed a statement of withdrawal of registration for the business on June 12, 2025.
SHM President Nick Stuller, in an August 14, 2026, email about the lawsuit, announced his email as “the most serious and important message we have sent in the two-plus years since we incorporated. As shared prior, combating the industrial sprawl of the four approved/planned distribution centers is clearly part of our effort to preserve Middlebury’s historical character.”
He said a highly dangerous side effect of the 1535 Straits Turnpike project transcends historic preservation and becomes a responsible citizenship issue. Because of this, SHM joined a group of residents who live on Straits Turnpike, Richardson Drive and Kelly Road in the lawsuit asking for reversal of the CTDOT administrative approval of the Major Traffic Generator application for the 1535 Straits Turnpike project.
He said they believe conditions that led to a Straits Turnpike traffic death on December 31, 2024, will get exponentially worse if the approved project is not stopped. Commercial vehicles make frequent and routine stops on Straits Turnpike northbound, north of the intersection of Routes 63 and 64, as they deliver packages and mail, thus requiring north and southbound traffic to shift to the west.
For many Connecticut roads, this would not be terribly dangerous. Straits Turnpike, however is unique because, on stretches of the road, the shoulder is unusually narrow, sometimes just two feet wide on either side. He said when school buses, Fedex trucks, UPS vans, Amazon delivery vehicles, and, as in the case of the fatality, a United States Postal Service truck delivering the mail, use the road, the margin for error is small when drivers pass the stopped vehicle.
He noted he saw a nearly identical accident narrowly avoided recently when a driver drove around a postal truck and violently swerved into the opposite lane, nearly causing a head-on collision at 45 miles per hour. He said he has heard from others who have seen this dangerous dynamic up close and their experiences are frightening.
Stuller stated that 300 or more additional tractor-trailers will drive this section of Straits Turnpike every day if the distribution center project is not stopped. He said the statistical odds of another death will be astronomically higher because there simply is not enough room for a de facto three-lane road, and the margin for error will shrink since tractor-trailers are wider than other vehicles.
SHM is asking for donations to help cover the legal costs of the lawsuit. The plaintiffs are represented by Reid and Riege, the firm that handled the most recent 1535 Straits litigation and is handling the Supreme Court case for the Middlebury Small Town Alliance fight against the Southford Park distribution center on the site of the former Timex headquarters.
Readers will find the appeal at civilinquiry.jud.ct.gov/CaseDetail/PublicCaseDetail.aspx?DocketNo=UWYCV266098282S
Stuller said the plaintiffs believe reducing the risk of additional traffic fatalities is more than enough reason to join this new effort. However, other positive results that would come from this action include opposing yet another distribution center (one of four in Middlebury), reducing pollution, preserving Middlebury’s semi-rural status and other reasons that prompted residents to oppose the first distribution center. “Helping stop one, helps stop them all,” he stated in his email.
Because SHM is a nonprofit, donations for this distribution center fight are 100% tax-deductible. Stuller asks people to make donations by using the SHM gofundme account, gofund.me/b95fca9df or by sending a check to Save Historic Middlebury Inc., P.O. Box 1320, Middlebury, CT 06762.
Stuller is available at 917-533-5593 to answer questions on this critical initiative and is happy to meet with you as well.
