Bridgeport, Connecticut. Image courtesy of Google Maps.

Bridgeport Mayor Joe Ganim has cancelled a year-old zoning approval for an apartment complex planned for the site of the popular Testo’s restaurant in the city’s residential northern end.

The 177-unit project had been permitted by the restaurant’s former owner, longtime local Democratic Town Committee boss Mario Testa, before being sold to New Britain developer Amit Lakhotia. Zoning approvals had been granted by city officials ministerially, as the restaurant building was located in a zone that allowed a building of that size even though part of the project’s parking lot would cover neighboring housing lots zoned for residential uses.

After local residents and the neighborhood’s city councilors complained, Ganim had directed city legal staff to review the permitting process for the project. Saying the review turned up irregularities and process violations, Ganim announced Thursday that the city was permanently revoking the project’s zoning permission, meaning work on the foundation for the apartment building also cannot proceed. Demolition of the restaurant and a handful of neighboring houses covered by the building had already taken place, the Connecticut Post reports.

Since the Testo’s project was approved, however, Bridgeport downzoned the parcels involved so that Lakhotia would have to shrink the building from four stories to three. In a statement provided by Ganim’s office, neighborhood Councilmembers Jeanette Herron and Aikeem Boyd said the 177-unit building was “simply too big and will produce too much traffic for this quiet residential area.”

“It is my sincere hope that the developer of this property will work collaboratively with the City to propose a project that is both proper under the new Zoning regulations and better suited for this quiet residential neighborhood. I am confident that there is a way forward that can accommodate a new development of that site while preserving the quality of life for the residents that live in that community,” Ganim said in a statement emailed to the media.

Lakhotia could not be immediately reached for comment. The Connecticut Post quoted his spokesperson, the project’s general contractor John Guedes, as “There will be a multi-million dollar lawsuit against [the city].”