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WPCA Minutes 03/12/2019
Town of Old Lyme WPCA minutes of the meeting held March 12, 2019
Mezzanine conference room at the Memorial Town Hall

Call to Order
Chairman Prendergast called the meeting called at 7:31 p.m.

In attendance: Chairman Rich Prendergast, Vice-Chair Donna Bednar, Treasurer Doug Wilkinson, Frank Chan, Joe Carpentino, Andrea Lombard, Rob McCarthy, Dimitri Tolchinski. Absent: Sal Cancelliere, Steve Cinami. Also in attendance, 3 townspeople.

Approval of February Minutes
Motion by D. Tolchinski to accept the February minutes. Second by D. Bednar. No discussion. Motion carries unanimously.

Chairman’s Report
Carlos Esguerra of DEEP gave an update on record of decision

(J. Carpentino arrived)

Chairman Prendergast passed out comments to review. OPM is reviewing record, hope to have it done soon. No specific date. Regarding the motion to write letter to Zoning Commission, will discuss in old business.

Budget Update:
No bills received. For the testing budget there is $20,521 left from carryover plus $30,000 from this year. Not spending on anything else at this time.

Correspondence:
  • S. Cancelliere has submitted an email indicating his resignation as a member of the WPCA.
  • Chairman Prendergast shared the letter that he submitted to the Zoning Commission (thanks to D. Bednar and F. Chan for editorial assistance).
  • Chairman Prendergast sent a copy of a letter that will be sent to haulers officially notifying them of the change to Carmody.
  • Chairman Prendergast contacted Barry Weiner, WPCA chair of New London, and asked for update and clarification of inter municipal agreement (IMA). Frank Noe of private beach associations (PBAs), was concerned we were not going to partner with them for sharing costs. PBA agreement with New London specifies that we weren’t going to join. Chairman Prendergast explained that’s what NL wanted, and existing agreement states we can’t join. Can amend. PBA agreeable to amend to add our effluent into system. Mr. Weiner has not responded.
(A.Lombard arrived)

  • Chairman Prendergast played phone tag with Peter Green of Waterford to set up a discussion on IMA. Will also reach out to East Lyme.
Old Business:
Ground water study – No update. This is an off month. We have done 4 tests so far. Still trying to post most recent results on the town website.
IMA issues with neighboring towns – Don’t have agreements with private beach associations. Have contract to do land lease pump house. PBAs have not signed that agreement. Scott Boulanger is exploring an alternate site not on town property. Mr. Boulanger officially said it’s still a back up part of their environmental impact plan to have town property first, his property second. They have to build their system by DEEP requirements, which includes capacity for our project. Our engineers picked that as secondary site already. Already talked with New London. Will reach out to East Lyme. Technically don’t need agreement with them but like to set up a meeting. Waterford’s contract with East Lyme does not exclude East Lyme from adding more volume.

Zoning change request - Kathy and Scott Boulanger put in petition for zoning change. As discussed and voted on at last month’s WPCA meeting, Chairman Prendergast wrote a letter of support on behalf of the WPCA and presented it last night at the Zoning Commission meeting. Current regulations prohibit building in high hazard areas – specifies what can’t be built, including pump stations. Zoning commission said the language was given to them by the State of CT. Lawyer said no other communities have language and had not heard of state requiring language. Members of the Zoning Commission said a variance can be given. Chairman Prendergast made the case that not allowing the improved water or sewage system does the opposite of the intention to protect public water. Pointed out they way it is set up would trigger a variance to come back to Zoning Commission instead of relying on state and federal guidelines and local experts. State also sent a letter asking to repeal.

New Business:
Planning for referendum – Need to come up with a list of what we need in place prior to the referendum, including: IMAs, review costs; speaking with Finance Dept to organize bond council meeting; advertising and public outreach; pick a date – target during summer months – sometime in July; another presentation to public – define what beaches we are talking about. Chairman Prendergast will create a draft document with key deliverables, which he will pass around, and try to finalize at next meeting. Send your input to him directly. D. Tolchinski suggested writing an article/letter in The Day.

EDU determination Revisit – Chairman Prendergast sent via email the spreadsheet he had previously made with a summary of the four options. We need to have a good response to how much it will cost to anyone who asks. The WPCA had voted on Option 4 in the past, but issues with this method have been expressed. Discussion followed, including building assessment, square footage, volume and usage, comparison of similar properties, commercial properties vs. residential, houses vs. condos, size of building vs. location. A. Lombard suggested looking at option 3 again and suggests looking at Groton Long Point. D. Tolchinski stated the range should not be so large from lowest to highest. R. McCarty asks if there should be a cap, or a minimum and maximum then by square footage in between. Could be option 2a. Conversation will resume next month.

Election of Vice-Chair
D. Bednar is moving. Need to elect new vice-chair. D. Bendar nominates Frank Chan as Vice Chair. Second by D. Wilkinson. Frank accepts. Motion carries unanimously.

Public Comment:
David Mitchell: Looking for December water test results, hoping to see it in the next 2 weeks. Shouldn’t say “sewer avoidance” on them. As for EDUs – any method you take will have exceptions. Having min, max and cap will help. Need EDU before you go to the public. Can have assessment reviewed. Congrats to Frank.

Rob Breen: Congrats to Frank. EDUs are really critical – such a variety of properties in Sound View. Not going to fit neatly. Trying to go with metering input, need to have complete control of water supply, and we have no control over water. Appreciate conversation. Get familiar as possible with situation on ground.

Chairman Prendergast responds: Will work to get test results on website - noticed that sewer avoidance was removed. EDU method we know is challenging. All agree it’s critical. We have details of all properties, with notes that we’ve added. A. Lombard commented that regarding CT Water vs. wells, if you don’t have metered water, there is a set charge.

Adjournment:
Motion to adjourn by D. Tolchinski. Second by J. Carpentino. No discussion. Motion carries unanimously. The meeting was adjourned at 8:52 p.m.