Old Lyme Board of Selectmen
Regular Meeting: Tuesday, 19 September 2011
The Board of Selectmen held a Regular Meeting at 7:30 PM on Monday, 19 September 2011 in the Meeting Hall of the Old Lyme Memorial Town Hall. First Selectman Timothy Griswold, Selectman Skip Sibley and Selectwoman Bonnie Reemsnyder were present.
1. Approval of Minutes – 6 September 2011
Selectman Sibley moved to accept the minutes of 6 September 2011. Selectwoman Reemsnyder seconded the motion. SO VOTED.
2. Hurricane Irene – David Roberge, Emergency Management Director
David Roberge, Emergency Management Director, reviewed procedures before, during and after Hurricane Irene. He said that there were several pre-storm meetings with the Chiefs of Service and with personnel in East Lyme (the emergency shelter host town). Shoreline residents were strongly advised to voluntarily evacuate and the Ambulance staff contacted over 140 special needs households offering to help them go to the East Lyme Middle School shelter. Surprisingly, only 83 people from the Towns of East Lyme, Lyme, Old Lyme and Waterford (4 from Old Lyme) used the shelter. First Selectman Griswold declared a town wide “State of Emergency” during the storm on Sunday. About 95% of the town lost power and 55 roads were blocked by storm debris. We had a CL&P liaison, Chuck
Goodwin, who was very helpful following the storm to obtain information from the crews and from CL&P supervisors. Our emergency services volunteers performed very well as did the paid staff. The first priority after the storm was to activate the primary electric circuits (Rte 1, Rte 156, Mile Creek Rd. Lyme St., etc). This enabled commerce to restart which allowed people to obtain goods and services. Clearing storm debris from all the power lines was a huge task, complicated by the potential danger of incorrectly installed generators. Initially, the decision was to charge residents 50% of the standard disposal fees for storm related brush brought to the Transfer Station. However, after observing that the amount of debris was less than expected, the decision was made to accept debris from residents for free and to commence a town-wide pick up of debris along Town (not private) roads. The Town has already tub grinded about 735 tons of
brush and will complete the roadside pick up at the end of September. Those who paid disposal fees for storm debris may obtain refunds if they submit their receipts.
After some delay, the State informed us that we could obtain bottled water and Meals Ready to Eat (MREs) from a Hartford distribution center. These items were available at the Police Dept and the Senior Center and people could obtain flush water at any public building. Ice was a problem but the Town was finally able to obtain ice and distribute it free from Old Lyme Seafood. Once electricity was restored to Lyme St., we were able to activate the High School shower facility for residents.
There will be a critique meeting of the emergency services Chiefs of Staff and staff supervisors to review the Town’s response to the storm. Following that, there will be public meetings to give information and receive input. On balance, the Town did a very good job of responding, but there is room for improvement. We want to learn from this event so we may do better in the future.
3. Communications
a. DEEP – Approved Assignment of Ames Grant from OLCT to the Town
First Selectman Griswold reported that the Town has received an email from the DEEP stating that it has approved the transfer of the State Grant relating to the Ames Property from the Old Lyme Land Trust to the Town of Old Lyme.
4. Appointments
First Selectman Griswold reported that he received an email from Jane Cable stating she wishes to become a member of the Water Resources Committee. Ms. Cable has been added to this Committee.
5. Old Business
a. Snow Plowing of Beach Association Roads – Discussion
First Selectman Griswold reported the following information from the fact sheets received from the Beach Associations: Miami Beach indicates that it has 2.5 miles of private roads, Old Colony Beach has 1.5 miles of private roads, Old Lyme Shores has 3.7 miles of private roads, no response from Roger's Lake yet, White Sand Beach has 1.5 miles of private roads and Point O'Woods has 4 miles of private roads. Excluding Roger's Lake, this equals 13.2 miles of private roads in the Beach Associations. If you include Roger's Lake there would be about 15 miles. At a prior meeting, the Board of Selectmen decided to plow of the private Beach Association roads for fiscal year 2012 (subject to revision by Ed Adanti) and the Board of Selectmen must decide soon how they want to handle plowing for fiscal year 2013.
The Selectmen will ask Ed Adanti for input when making a decision for fiscal year 2013. There are also many other private roads in Town that are not at the beaches and these roads should be included in any future policies.
b. CT River Valley Council of Governments – Land Use Officials and Staff Meeting
Eleven of the 17 Selectmen present at a meeting of the CT River Council of Elected Officials voted to request the Secretary of OPM to re-designate the two regional planning agencies as one regional planning agency. The Secretary has done this and the next step is to have at least 60% of the legislative bodies of the 17 towns ratify the vote of the Selectmen. For Old Lyme, this will require a Town Meeting. In advance of a Town Meeting, the Land Use Board and Commission members should have the opportunity to come to a meeting and listen to Linda Krause, Director of the CT River Estuary Regional Planning Agency, discuss this change. The targeted date for the meeting is 28 September at 5:30 PM. After this, a Special Town Meeting will be scheduled to consider this matter.
c. Duck River Culvert Update
First Selectman Griswold stated that the work on the culvert is finished however the entire project is not finished. The insertion of the liner pipe and the grouting are complete. The masonry head walls at each end of the pipe have been re-pointed and the river banks in the vicinity of the head wall have been reshaped. The large sand bags which formed the dams in the river have been removed from the channel. The last piece of this project will be to install the wire rope guard rails. First Selectman Griswold felt that the project went reasonably well, considering the large amount of rain that came in August.
d. LOL Educational Foundation Road Race
The Selectmen complimented the Lyme Old Lyme Education Foundation on an excellent Road Race that took place on 10 September that involved 350 entrants.
6. New Business
a. WPCA Recommendations – Dimitri Tolchinski
Dimitri Tolchinski and Brian Curtis, of Nathan Jacobson Engineering, spoke to the Selectmen about the work the WPCA has been doing concerning community septic systems. He commented that the Zoning Commission has voted to delete the seasonal distinction from its regulations, so all houses are considered year round for Zoning purposes. This means that previously seasonal properties must satisfy all relevant Building and Health Codes in order to convert to year round occupancy. As a member of Old Colony Beach Assoc., Mr. Tolchinski said that Old Colony has a high water table and that the average lot size is 5,200 square feet. In addition, 43% of the homes have cesspools and 40% have wells. Old Colony and Old Lyme Shores each are conducting studies to consider ways to deal with their septage. One obvious solution is sewers but Mr. Tolchinski wants the Town to help develop information about community septic systems as an alternative to sewers. He wants to develop a list of public
and private land parcels that might be suitable for community systems. He believes alternative systems are not well received by the DEEP and their cost is high.
Brian Curtis stated that one acre containing ideal soils (sand and gravel) would be capable of handling up to 40,000 gallons of septage per day or about 160 houses. The septage would likely require pre-treatment of some sort, meaning a small building and some equipment, in addition to the piping from the beach area. The Board of Selectmen said the costs of such a system must be born by the users/beneficiaries. Mr. Curtis believes such a project should be eligible for Clean Water Act funding, similar to a sewer system. Mr. Curtis said that the DEEP would have to consider a community septic system proposal along with a sewer proposal, if one were suggested. It was agreed that a cost comparison analysis should be performed and an expression of interest from one or more beach associations before the
Town spends any significant time or money on this.
George James reviewed the Malcolm Pirnie Report performed in 1993. This report endorsed community systems and many of the recommendations in the Report are the basis for our sewer avoidance program that was voted on by the Town. Mr. James suggests asking the DEEP for some financial support to participate in this project, using the Report to the Town's advantage.
Mervin Roberts stated that sanitarians in Old Lyme and other towns have been much maligned over the years. Generally speaking the Sanitarian answers to the Town's Health Director. Mr. Roberts stated that a Sanitarian follows the Public Health Code, not the DEEP regulations, to regulate single family systems that discharge under 2,500 gallons per day. The DEEP has historically regulated entities that discharge greater than 2,500 gallons per day but the DEEP is becoming more involved regulating smaller systems. Thus, we are looking at conflicting regulations and this makes it tough for the towns. At one point, Ron Rose found himself in a conflicting situation with Point O'Woods and the DEEP threatened to have his license lifted because the DEP believed he violated their rules, even though
he was working under the rules of the Health Code. Mr. Roberts endorses what Mr. Tolchinski is trying to do and stated that, without the Selectmen's support, the WPCA cannot move forward.
b. Regional Training Institute – Camp Niantic – Ribbon Cutting
First Selectman Griswold attended the ribbon cutting for the new Regional Training Institute at Camp Niantic on 9 September. The $34.5 million Regional Training Institute is an 83,000-square-foot facility that will has 11 classrooms, an auditorium, a kitchen and dining facility, 40 rooms for billeting, a distance learning center, admin space, a physical fitness center and storage. Congratulations were made to the CT National Guard for these fine facilities.
7. Public Comment – NONE
8. Other Business
Selectman Sibley voiced his concern about the destiny of the Observatory located at the High School. He has heard two very different versions of what will happen to it. He believes this to be a valuable asset to the District and would not like to see it discarded because of a decision by the School Board. First Selectman Griswold spoke with Supt. Osga who said there is little or no student interest in astronomy and that is the motivation for discontinuing the program. Mr. Sibley wondered if alternatives have been thoroughly examined, such as regional programs, so that we could make use of the Observatory. He finds it perplexing that the School stated there is no interest in astronomy. Selectman Sibley requested that a forum be held to discuss the future of the Observatory and that it
should be done quickly. Mr. Griswold said he will speak with Mr. Witkins, Chair of the Board of Education about this.
There was a discussion about the new soccer field inside the track at the High School. Initially the grass grew well but that changed quickly. At present, the field is too wet and any play on the fields tends to tear it up. Experts have been called in to study the issue and find a solution. The principal questions are: were the specifications for the field correct and, if so, was the field built to the specifications. If this is not corrected soon, it will mean more games and practices must be held on the Town Woods Park fields and that will not be good for those fields.
The next Board of Selectmen's meeting will be held on Monday, 3 October at
7:30 PM in the Meeting Hall of the Old Lyme Town Hall.
9. Adjournment:
Selectman Sibley moved to adjourn the meeting at 9:58 PM. Selectwoman Reemsnyder seconded the motion. SO VOTED.
Respectfully submitted, ~
Mary Ellen Garbarino
Recording Secretary
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