IWWC 1-8-07
Inland Wetlands and Watercourses Commission
40 Old Farms Road ~~Willington, CT ~06279
January 8, 2007 - 7:30 P.M.
~Meeting Minutes
Call to order
Ken Metzler called the meeting to order at 7:36 P.M.
Roll Call
Present:
Ken Metzler, Chairman
D. Schreiber, Vice Chair
R. Peloquin
Excused:
Frank Dirrigl
Absent:
Leon Kouyoumjian
Greg Blessing
Dan Driscoll
Seat Alternates
D. Schreiber made a motion to seat R. Peloquin as voting member, K. Metzler seconded the motion. All members voted in favor, thus R. Peloquin was seated.
PUBLIC HEARING:
1.~~~~~~W2006-60 – Application for 3-Lot Subdivision on corner of Daleville School & Busse Rds (Map 11, Lot 20, Zone R80) Owner/Applicant: S & P Ventures, LLC (Received 11/13/06; Public Hearing on 12/11/06, continued to 1/8/07, Decision by 2/12/07)
Rob Hellstrom was present to discuss the application. He passed out revised plans to the commission. Mr. Hellstrom went over the memo he received from Gary Jones. Mr. Hellstrom addressed the concerns in the memo, he stated that they will place stone around the foundation drain, they will add additional stock piles and silt fencing, as well as have an erosion control check list on site during construction. Mr. Hellstrom noted where the limits of disturbance where on the plans and marked them, he also showed where the engineered septic systems will be. Mr. Hellstrom pointed out the stone wall by the driveway on lot three will be written into the conservation easement and if there are any weak points on the wall they will be repaired during construction.
The commission pointed out that there might be alternatives to this proposed five lot sub-division such as combining lots two and three. Mr. Hellstrom said that would not be feasible economically. He stated that even if they only built three lots they would still be doing work in the buffer zone. Mr. Hellstrom pointed out that he feels that they are not doing any damage to the wetlands by building the five lots.
D. Schreiber stated that he is uncomfortable with the amount of building that is occurring in the upland review area and would like to see an alternative plan with less building lots.
John Ianni, the soil scientist for the application stated that there will not be a change in the impact to the wetlands by changing the number of lots that are built on the property.
R. Peloquin asked if the applicant could move the driveway for lot three away from the wetlands. Mr. Hellstrom said that if he moved the driveway he would lose the lot.
D. Schreiber asked about a common driveway.
S. Yorgensen asked if these were going to be three bedroom houses with no garages, because she feels that there is not enough room on the lots to make them larger then three bedrooms. She discussed future impacts on the wetlands since the normal course of people who buy the houses is to want to put on additions, put in pools, extend lawns, and put up sheds.
Mr. Hellstrom said he would limit the homes to three bedrooms.
K. Metzler asked Mr. Hellstrom to go over the conservation easement for the lots. Mr. Hellstrom stated that the conservation easements will be written into the deeds that they can not build on or disturb the areas marked as conservation easements.
S. Yorgensen asked if the footing drain on lot two discharges in the conservation easement. Mr. Hellstrom said no it does not, the drain ends before the wall. Mr. Hellstrom took a second look at the plans and noticed that it did discharge into the conservation easement, but said that he can move it back.
R. Peloquin asked if the driveway will be paved or gravel. Mr. Hellstrom said that it is gravel.
K. Metzler opened the floor to hear public comment
Kathy Demers from the Conservation Commission asked if there is any standing water on the property.
John Ianni said that there is a Red Maple swamp, but it does not have breeding activity for amphibians, due to not being deep enough.
Ms. Demers stated that there will not be any place for amphibians to go if they live in that wetland area, she stated that they will need to cross the road to look for new breeding grounds.
S. Yorgensen said that the animal life within the wetlands rely on uplands to survive and she was concerned that in developing virtually all the upland within the wetland corridor excepting for the one portion that is not protected from future development, that the wetlands would ultimately be impacted in that their character would be changed. D. Schreiber asked if there is anyone who monitors conservation easements. S. Yorgensen said that the conservation commission tries to but they do not have enough time to monitor all of them in town.
S. Yorgensen stated that she is concerned about residents coming to the commission in the future to make changes to their property and the further damage that that would cause to the wetlands. Mr. Ianni said that the currant applicant should not be held accountable for what a resident may or may not do in the future. He stated that they are not proposing these changes or additions. S Yorgensen said that the Commission could consider future activities associated with, or reasonably related to, the proposed regulated activity which are made inevitable by the proposed regulated activity and which may have an impact on wetlands or watercourses. With residential house development come additions, sheds, garages, pools, lawn expansion, herbicides pesticides etc.
D. Schreiber stated that it is important for them to consider future impacts as well.
R. Peloquin restated that he is extremely concerned with how close the driveway on lot three is to the wetlands.
D. Schreiber made a motion to close the public hearing. R. Peloquin seconded the motion. All members voted in favor, thus the hearing was closed.
~W2006-59 – Proposed activity within regulated area for proposed 60 condo unit development on River Road; (Received 10/23/06, Public Hearing on 12/11/06, continued to 1/8/07 ; and W2006-49 – Application for a ruling of no jurisdiction for proposed subdivision on River Rd (Map 10, L 21-0A, Zone R80) ~Owner/Applicant: ~Willington River Corp. ~(Received 10/23/2006, Extension requested and granted 12/11/06; Decision by 2/12/07)
Hank Torcellini the applicants engineer was present to discuss the application. Mr. Torcellini stated that the applicant will be requesting an extension to keep the public hearing open as they have not been able to speak with the town engineer regarding the water system.
Mr. Torcellini stated that the applicant is proposing a four lot sub-division, with a sixty unit active adult community on lot three. He said that currently he is working with Birmingham on the water system but they are not sure if they will ultimately go with that company.
Mr. Torcellini stated that for the past two years they have been monitoring test pits, studying the soil and monitoring how water and sewage would flow down the hill.
Mr. Torcellini went over how the septic system would work, including dilution rates. Mr. Torcellini stated that the septic system will be designed for 18,000 gallons of water per day, but the average water used in this many condo units is usually 9,000 gallons.
Mr. Torcellini discussed his communication with the Department of Transportation regarding an easement to discharge water to the opposite side of route 32. The commission discussed how the water will flow down the road and hill to route 32. Mr. Torcellini said that the detention basin will hold a 100 year storm.
K. Metzler asked how deep the test holes were before they hit bedrock. Mr. Torcellini said that they dug seven to eight feet with no ledge; bedrock was at fourteen to fifteen feet and did not have ground water on top of it.
K. Metzler asked for the wetland impacts to be summarized, including those impacts on the aquifer. Mr. Torcellini did so.
Mr. Torcellini discussed the storm water system. He stated that he is still working with the engineers to determine how much water flow can be handled.
Mr. Torcellini went on to discuss the Conservation Commissions concerns that they submitted at the last public hearing.
Ellen Grenier, President of the Condo Association on Baxter Road brought the condo associations concerns to the public hearing. She stated that they are concerned that the septic system for the new condos is being built very close to their existing wells. Her second concern was that the water that currently goes into the ground to feed their wells will be diverted to the new ground water filtration system being built for the new condo complex. Ms. Grenier’s third concern was that the blasting that will be done will cause damage to their homes.
Mr. Torcellini addressed Ms. Grenier’s concerns.
Ed Ouellette- 22 River Road- stated that he lives at the bottom of the hill and has water flowing through his property on a regular basis. He said that it goes through his backyard, around his house and down his driveway. Mr. Ouellette stated that this was never a problem before the original condo complex was built. He stated that he constantly runs his sump pump in the basement. Mr. Ouellette agreed to allow the applicant to walk his property with him so he could show them the water flow.
S. Yorgensen asked the applicant about the erosion control plan. Mr. Torcellini stated that they would not be submitting it today.
D. Schreiber made a motion to except the 35 day extension to keep the public hearing open. R. Peloquin seconded the motion all members voted in favor, thus the motion passed. The public hearing will continue on 1/22/07.
The regular meeting of Planning and Zoning was called to order at 9:28 P. M.
New Business
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Review of Storm Water System for Library.
K. Metzler stated that he would like the town engineer to look over the final draft of the water system, so no decisions would be made tonight.
Cease and Desist Order issued to Joseph Voboril Re: Clover Springs Subdivision Wetlands Permit #W2004-04 off Battye Road. Site Walk 11/4/2006 at 9 a.m.
S. Yorgensen stated that she gave Joseph Voboril a list of what needs to be done in order for the town to approve the road. She stated that these items have not been completed yet.
File #2003-49 - Notice of Violation: ~Travel Centers of America (the Lessee) and George Giguere of Royce Properties (the Owner) of property located at 327 Ruby Road.
The commission discussed F. Dirrigl’s review of the documents that the TA presented to the commission. The commission stated that they are still concerned that the TA is not following the conditions that they established to make sure that future oil/gas spills did not occur, such as having a person monitor oil/gas deliveries.
Pre-application
~~~~~~~Discussion regarding proposed 5-lot subdivision on Lustig Road and Tinkerville Road.
Doug Ellis came to the commission to discuss a proposed five lot sub-division. He stated that he previously proposed a thirteen lot sub-division to the commission, but withdrew it when it was not met with a positive response. Mr. Ellis wanted to get information from the commission as to whether this proposal may be more feasible. He stated that he was proposing a common driveway for three of the lots to cut down on the amount of disturbance to the land.
K. Metzler asked about the storm water drainage. Mr. Ellis said that he would be placing bio-filters around the driveways, which are at less than 12% grade. Mr. Ellis said that the driveways were placed into the contour of the land as to have the least amount of cutting and filling.
K. Metzler asked what size houses Mr. Ellis was proposing to build. He said that they will all be five bedrooms. K. Metzler asked if any test holes have been dug. Mr. Ellis said that he has only dug deep holes for perk testing. He stated that they hit ledge around eight feet.
Mr. Ellis asked the commission if any environmental studies need to be done. The commission stated that they would like to see a report from a soil scientist.
Mr. Ellis stated that an easement would be given to the town from the back lot which would add approximately six acres to Fenton Ruby Park.
K. Metzler asked Mr. Ellis to provide the commission with a storm water plan and a slope stabilization plan. He stated that if the plan was convincing enough due to the work being done outside the upland review area the IWWC may have no jurisdiction.
Staff Report
Staff reported that there have been some complaints regarding the catch basins in town. People have reported that some of them have not been cleaned out. The commission decided that a letter would be sent to the town requesting a town maintenance plan.
The commission discussed updating their regulations, specifically those on logging and aquifers.
The commission asked S. Yorgensen to email D. Driscoll to see if he is able to continue to serve on the commission.
Minutes
D. Schreiber made a motion to approve the minutes with the following amendments: page four line 37, D. Schreiber stated that he feels that there will be more damage done to the land if the building is not done in steps…
R. Peloquin seconded the motion, all members voted in favor, thus the motion carries.
R. Peloquin made a motion to adjourn the meeting at 10:04 PM, D. Schreiber seconded the motion.
Respectfully Submitted,
Melissa McDonough
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