Mystic - A report compiled by a group of Masons Island residents says the St. Edmund's Retreat Center has evolved from a small retreat for diocesan priests to a large commercial operation open to the public that violates not only Stonington zoning regulations but the deed through which the Society of St. Edmund received the Enders Island property 56 years ago.

And if that provision has been violated, the deed states that the ownership of the 11-acre waterfront property should go to a group of secondary heirs: Lawrence & Memorial Hospital, Mystic Seaport, Connecticut Boy and Girl scouts and Memorial-Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York.

The report has been compiled by Mystic Neighborhoods Preservation Association Inc. (MNPA), a newly formed group of residents concerned about plans by St. Edmund's Retreat to establish a 14-bed substance abuse center on Enders Island for college-age men who would have already completed detoxification.

According to its website, St. Edmunds provides "spiritual development, adult education, twelve step recovery programs, and sacred art workshops."

The retreat center has withdrawn, possibly temporarily, its application for state approval of a new substance abuse program after a group of neighboring Masons Island residents opposed the plan.

That opposition followed a May 28 incident in which a young New York man visiting the retreat center's smaller substance-abuse program allegedly got drunk, threatened a man with a knife and then broke into a Masons Island home and stole a car. He was arrested. St. Edmund's officials are now talking to residents before deciding whether to resubmit their application.

The center's existing substance-abuse program, which has been in operation for about three years, does not have state approval.

But William Gerrish, spokesman for the state Department of Public Health, said Tuesday that based on the information it has, the agency does not think the facility is providing services that require state licensing.

The MNPA report states that Alys Enders gave the Enders Island property to the Society of St. Edmund's in 1954 for use as a novitiate, or training location for clergy, and a retreat for Diocese of Norwich priests.

It went on to say that the society shall forever own the island provided that it be used for the specified religious purposes. Failure to do so voids the agreement and the property would go to the secondary heirs.

But the report states the retreat center has been converted from a novitiate and retreat for priests to a "religious and secular conference center open to the public and available to any individual, business or organization wishing to rent the facilities."

The report includes a long list of activities recently held on the island, ranging from crafts shows and the Denison Pequotsepos Nature Center's Evening Garden party to a Fairfield University creative writing program and the annual Holy Smoke Cigar Dinner, which attracts hundreds of people.

It points out that the center's summer 2010 newsletter boasts that Enders Island has become "the Northeast's premier retreat and conference center." The center's website states it can sleep and feed up to 70 people in a variety of facilities.

The report states that the retreat center, with its staff of 24 employees and 80 volunteers, advertises itself as open to the public. It hosts 16,000 visitors a year, who use a narrow, twisting residential road through Masons Island to gain access to the retreat center.

The report also questions whether the liability insurance held by the Masons Island Property Owners Association is adequate because of the increased traffic on the private road.

The report states that it is reasonable to suggest that Enders included limitations on her gift of the property because she was very familiar with the tranquil character of Masons Island and did not want to "impinge upon the quiet nature of the residential neighborhood she knew well..."

The MNPA stresses that it does not question the worthiness of the work the retreat center does with support groups for alcoholics, gamblers and sex addicts, but whether the increased island activities are allowed by the deed and zoning.

Karen Wilson, spokeswoman for the retreat center, said Tuesday the questions raised about zoning and the deed "really surprised us at St. Edmund's" because the center has been counseling people with various types of addictions for decades as part of its mission. She said that as the center proceeds through its listening phase with residents, it will offer a response to the zoning and deed questions. She added that there is no timetable for resubmitting the application for the expanded program and that residents would be notified before that occurs.

Stonington officials had also asked town attorney Thomas Londregan to investigate several zoning issues related to the retreat center. On Monday, Londregan submitted a six-page report to the town in which he discussed whether the retreat center operation predates zoning and whether federal law involving practice of religion and handicapped accessibility protects the operation.

Londregan said that although current zoning regulations do not allow the retreat center operation or its proposed new substance abuse program, Stonington land use agencies would have to hold hearings on the issues. In addition, if the operation were found to violate zoning regulations, the burden would be on St. Edmunds to show that federal laws regarding access for those with disabilities and the use of land by religious organizations supercede zoning rules.

j.wojtas@theday.com