When earth-moving equipment and dump trucks mobilized to the 1961 Boston Post Road site this month, it surely surprised those neighbors whose court challenge of the July 2014 Zoning Commission (ZC) decision for the site was still in active litigation.

The ZC actions subject to the court challenge were these: First was the ZC decision to change the zone designation of the property from neighborhood commercial to planned residential development (PRD). Second was the decision to approve an application from 1961 Boston Post Road, LLC, and co-applicant, Vista Vocational Services, to build a 24-unit multi-family development on the site.

The proposed residential condominium development, to be called Chapman Beach Commons, was to have as its residents 24 VISTA Vocational & Life Skills Center clients capable of living and working independently in the community.

But for the property’s neighbors in the Chapman Beach area, the approved development was not acceptable. So one year ago, a neighbors group led by named plaintiff John Pellico filed a court challenge to the ZC decisions. Given the court backlog of cases, a court challenge meant project delays.

To try to cut short the long court process, the developer’s attorney Ed Cassella reached out to the plaintiffs and their attorney to see if a settlement agreement could be negotiated. This back and forth discussion and weighing of proposals began in fall 2014 and continued through summer 2015.

One plaintiff proposal was to eliminate the zoning-approved storage building in the site plan and instead, substitute a smaller pergola. Another proposal was that the developer should add more extensive landscaping to the property than ZC had approved. In the end, the parties could not reach a negotiated settlement so the court case remains in litigation.

Now, the developer, after a year of attempts to settle the case, was nearly at the end of the 2015 construction season, so he decided to take a risk and this month started field work to prepare the site for the project the ZC approved in July 2014.

“The developer is moving forward at their own financial risk under the conditions of the [2014] zoning permit,” explained the developer’s attorney Ed Cassella. “The permit is still in litigation.”