Stonington ― During a routine site plan review this week, Stonington Borough Planning and Zoning Commission members counseled the owners of the borough’s infamous former “Black House” on neighborliness.

“I love this community, and one of the things I love about it is the interaction with our neighbors, and how important that is for all of our lives, and I wonder have you had an opportunity to speak to your neighbors,” commission member Betsy Carr told the homeowners on Thursday.

The home is known as the “Black House” because in 2000 the owners, New Jersey architect George Kimmerle and his wife, Lynn, painted it black to protest the way they said they were treated by the commission when trying to obtain a permit to renovate the house.

George Kimmerle noted that relations with his neighbors had been complicated since the incident that earned the home its local nickname.

“Our neighbors have not talked to us in 28 years other than to yell at us, scream at us, stare at us, gawk at us, make our company feel uncomfortable, so this is not a friendly part of the borough. It never has been for us,” Lynn Kimmerle said.

The commission’s unanimous approval of the couple’s latest application to build a 235- square-foot enclosed breezeway at the 11 Water St. house comes less than six months after the commission approved another controversial project to enclose a widow’s walk.

The project will connect an existing guest house to the more than 2,800-square-foot main house on the property.

The Kimmerles’ attorney, Thomas McGarry, said the breezeway met all requirements for approval and was also necessary as an Americans with Disabilities Act accommodation for Lynn Kimmerle, who requires single-floor living.

In documents associated with the application, the Kimmerles wrote that an 11 foot by 11 foot central area in the breezeway would function as a “garden room,” and could include skylights and a decorative cupola birdhouse on the roof “to entice wildlife at the Point and provide shelter for our avian friends.”

“You talked about birds and having a cupola birdhouse and avian friends, but you also have neighbors who are friends, and I think we live in a village where we need to be aware of that,” commission member Jean Fiore said.

In February, the commission approved an already-completed rooftop addition after Borough Zoning Enforcement Officer Thomas Zanarini admitted that in early 2023, he mistakenly applied a COVID-19 pandemic permit extension regulation to an expired 2018 permit for an enclosed widow’s walk on top of the house.

“It would seem to me, adding to what’s already been said, that use of one’s friendliness would help,” said commission member Betsy Carr.

Plans for the breezeway show that it will be located between 6 feet 1 inch and 20 feet from the adjacent property.

At its closest point, the breezeway will be approximately 7 feet from a non-conforming workshop on a neighboring Omega Street property. The workshop is one foot from the property line separating it from the Kimmerles’ property.

Borough regulations require a 6-foot buffer for side yards.

In emails associated with the application, neighbors expressed concerns that George Kimmerle, an architect licensed in 40 states, had been the one to certify that calculations regarding the property’s floor area ratio were accurate, and requested an independent survey of the property, offering to do it at his own expense.

The commission noted that George Kimmerle has the expertise and licensing to certify the calculations. They did not discuss the request for a new survey.

Ahead of the meeting, Zanarini said that an A-2 survey confirmed the numbers used to calculate the floor area ratio were correct. He said he verified that the calculations were correct, and the project conformed to borough zoning regulations.

The commission approved the site plan with stipulations including that the roof height of the breezeway would be reduced to 12 feet and that the proposed decorative cupola would be eliminated.

After her vote to approve the project, Carr explained she voted in favor of it hoping the applicants would reach out to their neighbors to try to improve relations.