Treegate grips CT as Lamont cited in what’s being called ‘chainsaw massacre’

In a dispute blasted by an attorney as a “chainsaw massacre,” Gov. Ned Lamont has been cited by town officials after contractors cleared more than 180 trees behind his Greenwich home in a controversy involving multimillionaires.

The trees were cut in a fashion to provide a better view of a pond in the upscale neighborhood where Lamont lives. The problem, said longtime Greenwich attorney John P. Tesei, is that the contractors crossed the property line and starting cutting down the neighbor’s trees without permits in an unauthorized move that he considers trespassing.

Tesei represents the largest undeveloped property in the dispute, at 148 Glenville Road, that was once owned by the Rockefeller family. But the current owner, INTC LLC, operates through a limited liability company in Delaware that has an office in Manhattan.

Tesei, a well-known attorney who has handled land-use cases for more than 35 years in Greenwich, said the “chainsaw massacre” involves cutting on his client’s property of more than 90 acres off Glenville Road that was being maintained as a forest for privacy.

“Our clients did not authorize the removal of these trees,” Tesei wrote in a letter to the Greenwich wetlands agency. “Our clients were violated and suffered a horrible trespass. Our clients are really beyond extremely upset, and our clients intend on spending hundreds of thousands of dollars through no fault of their own to implement a very robust restoration plan” of planting trees and shrubs by a Fairfield soil scientist that they hired.

A cease and correct order that was issued to Lamont and other neighbors states that the violation is “unauthorized removal of trees and understory within wetland and wetland buffer areas.” Trees were removed from the property of Lamont’s immediate neighbors, Carrie and Alexander Vik, whose wealth was estimated by Forbes magazine in 2019 at $1 billion. Alexander Vik has been involved in a 15-year legal battle, leading all the way to the Connecticut Supreme Court twice, because Deutsche Bank says it is owed more than $365 million, including interest, from Vik’s software company. A Harvard graduate like Lamont, Vik has won various court rulings, but the case is still pending.

Vik is often not at home in Greenwich, Forbes says, because “he travels constantly, sometimes chartering a private jet, to visit his vineyard in Chile, homes in France and Monaco and hotels in Uruguay.”

Lamont has said little publicly about the issue, other than that it is a dispute involving a neighbor. He has been traveling out of state in the days since the issue became public and has not appeared at public events where he is normally questioned by reporters.

Longtime Greenwich attorney Thomas J. Heagney, who is representing Lamont, referred questions to the governor’s office. Lamont’s office declined to comment, saying that he will be returning from out of state and will be available for comment Monday.

While the overall matter has already been discussed by wetlands officials, a special meeting that will include Lamont’s property is scheduled at 2 p.m. Monday.

Workers running

Fred Jacobsen, a property manager for the former Rockefeller property, filed the original complaint and testified to the wetland’s agency that he heard chainsaws in the area in November 2023. Tracing the sound of the noises, he kept walking until he saw a large area where trees were being taken down. The total cutting, he said, was about the length of three football fields.

“There were more than 10 workers engaged in cutting and clearing,” according to the minutes of the wetlands hearing. “There was a plywood path laid out to provide access for trucks and a chipper to the cutting area. Access was provided from the Vik property. When Mr. Jacobsen walked over, the entire group of workers started running from the area and grouping up to leave the premises.”

Jacobsen tried to call the town’s wetlands department, but the office was closed due to the Veterans Day holiday. He then called the Greenwich police, who visited the property and stopped the cutting.

“Mr. Jacobsen stated that this was a massive undertaking that took days, if not a week or more, to clear all of these trees,” the minutes said. “He believed it was done purposefully. Piles of trees were hidden behind stone walls and trees were limbed to open up views.”

The minutes state that Jacobsen talked at the scene with Randolph Post Eddy, president of Ashton Association, who lives nearby.

“Mr. Jacobsen spoke to R.P. Eddy, saying “Oh, my gosh! Can you believe what’s going on here?”, to which R.P. Eddy replied, “Doesn’t this look great?,” according to the minutes. “Mr. Jacobsen called it a ‘catastrophic violation,’ and that they were trespassing and cutting trees.”

While outspoken at the hearing and in correspondence filed with the town, Tesei declined to be interviewed.

Greenwich first selectman Fred Camillo, a Republican who is a friend of Lamont, told The Courant he was unaware of the case until the past week when it became public. Even though the dispute dates back to early November, it had not been covered in the Greenwich newspapers.

Camillo said he had not spoken personally to Lamont about the situation but cautioned against jumping to conclusions.

“We’re pretty strict about this,” Camillo said of Greenwich zoning. “People do honor and abide by these regulations we have here. Whenever we do a project here and a number of trees come down, usually approvals are granted with the understanding that trees be replaced, sometimes more than were taken down. The parties that took them down will be responsible for putting them back up.”

The minutes of the wetlands meeting provide further details about the initial discovery of the problem in November when the police stopped the cutting.

“Mr. Jacobsen wanted to have the trees surveyed before any claims were made,” the minutes state. “All of this work was done in a conservation easement area and in a wetland without any permits or permission. The work goes beyond the destruction of wetlands. He stated that this was a coordinated destruction of the entire ecosystem. The perpetrator should restore the entire area as closely as possible to the way it was, sparing no expense to facilitate full restoration. They should do whatever is asked of them and not try to negotiate anything less than full restoration.”

Peter Thoren, executive vice president for the company that owns the land at 148 Glenville Road, said at the wetlands hearing that the property owners had not received help from the Ashton Drive Association.

“We were ignored, as were, to the best of my knowledge, the entire rest of the association members,” Thoren said. “The association should be protecting these lands and not agreeing with those who ignore the law and the town’s wetlands regulations for their own benefit.”

State legislature

Some lawmakers declined to comment, saying they wanted to steer clear of the controversy. Others had varied views.

“It’s very disappointing,” House Republican leader Vincent Candelora of North Branford told reporters at the state Capitol in Hartford. “To see a governor just ignore the laws of the state of Connecticut and do what he wants is not a good look for him. I think it’s something that he’s going to have to answer to. It’s very disappointing.”

House Speaker Matt Ritter, a Hartford Democrat, had not been aware of Lamont’s situation.

Upon hearing that the issue was in Greenwich, Ritter said, “That’s not a Hartford problem. I can’t worry about that.”

Christopher Keating can be reached at ckeating@courant.com