Inland Wetland and Watercourse Commission
40 Old Farms Road, Willington, CT 06279
February 23, 2009 – 7:30 ~~PM
Meeting Minutes
Members Present:
Ken Metzler
Dave Schreiber
Roger Peloquin
Tess Gutowski
Members Absent:
Leon Kouyoumjian
Frank Dirrigl
Greg Blessing
Also present:
Gary Jones, Wetlands Agent
Regular Meeting
D. Schreiber called the meeting to order at 7:40.
K. Metzler motioned to seat T. Gutowski. R. Peloquin seconded the motion. All in favor.
Old Business
W2003-49 Notice of Violation: TravelCenters of America (the Lessee) and George Giguere of Royce Properties (the Owner) of property at 327 Ruby Rd.
This item was tabled for this meeting.
Correspondence
No correspondence at this time.
Minutes
T. Gutowski motioned to approve the minutes of February 9, 2009 as modified.
Remove the following sentence from page 4: D. Schreiber said they want to deter people from working in the wetlands.
R. Peloquin seconded the motion. All in favor. Motion carried.
Staff Report
Nothing to report at this time.
Draft Aquifer Regulations
G. Jones said he went through the document and did not see any formatting problems.
K. Metzler asked if the Draft Aquifer Regulations have to go to public hearing. T. Gutowski said yes.
T. Gutowski said she would like to have the Inland, Wetland, & Watercourse Commission defined in the definitions.
G. Jones said section 18, of the Table of Contents, should read Registration and Application Fees.
A discussion was held on the 2000 gallon oil or petroleum tank allowed on page 12.
R. Peloquin asked why a public hearing would be held on regulations that have already been adopted by the state. K. Metzler said it is to give the town a chance to voice their opinion. D. Schreiber said we have to acquaint the public with the regulations and the map.
K. Metzler asked how they determine where an aquifer starts and ends. How do you determine the boundary lines? T. Gutowski said the state has given them the map lines. A discussion was held on the map. K. Metzler said if the intention is to have a very clear boundary, then it is in the town, property owner and commission’s best interest to overlay the town property mapping to determine if a property owner is in or out of the aquifer protection area. A discussion was held. G. Jones said Susan Yorgensen is working on the map.
K. Metzler said before we go to public hearing, we have to determine how we are going to properly draw the boundaries. G. Jones referenced the regulations and said you can only increase it. He said the public hearing for the regulations would come first. K. Metzler said the boundary owners should be notified of the Aquifer Protection Regulations before the public hearing.
T. Gutowski said the commission needs to map it out and see who the landowners are. She said any comments or edits on the regulations need to be submitted to S. Yorgensen. T. Gutowski would like to submit the regulations to legal counsel for review prior to the public hearing.
Draft Wetland Regulations
A discussion was held on the fee schedule the commission put together at the previous meeting. The commission discussed the fact that everyone present was in agreement on the fees.
A discussion was held on the public hearing fee. James Poole commented that if he wanted to tree farm on his property and the trees were within the wetland area, then this is a right that is permitted. K. Metzler said only if it is an expansion of agricultural crops. Mr. Poole asked if a public hearing would be required in this case. K. Metzler said a public hearing may be required depending on the circumstances and the proposal. A discussion was held.
A discussion was held on schedule A. D. Schreiber said schedule A is for dredging and filling. K. Metzler said the fees should be to cover cost and not to make money. T. Gutowski agreed and said the commission was very diligent in determining that.
T. Gutowski moved to forward the Draft Wetland Regulations, along with the fee schedule, to legal counsel for review. R. Peloquin seconded the motion. All in favor. Motion carried.
Draft Logging Regulations
Mr. Poole said if the commission decides to move forward with the logging regulations, he will apply his management plan to an application and walk the commission and staff through the process.
K. Metzler asked if the state does inspections of the logging applications. Mr. Poole said only if they are notified. Mr. Poole explained the current process. He said if there is notification from the planning office, then the state will come out and do an inspection. He said he would like to see some management in the logging area. A discussion was held. K. Metzler asked if the process would still operate in the same way if the commission does not adopt the regulations. G. Jones said we need to get a process in place.
A discussion was held on various logging operations in town and the outcome.
R. Peloquin asked Mr. Poole, as a logger, does he not want the regulations to stay with planning and zoning. Mr. Poole said by state statute it resides with Inland, Wetlands.
G. Jones said he is confident that if someone is logging within the wetlands, the commission is going to know about it.
D. Schreiber felt the commission should take on the regulations. K. Metzler said if we decide to do this, the fee should go under Permitted Uses as of Right. If there is no wetland activity, the fee is kept as a logging fee. If there is wetland activity, the wetland fee is waived but all other applicable wetland fees apply per the fee schedule.
G. Jones said he was looking at the logging regulations under the wetland regulations. Mr. Poole said the logging regulations give more stipulation on what the logger can and cannot do. He said he would suggest the commission keep the logging regulations separate rather than embedding them within the Inland, Wetland structure. This would make it easier to make changes as they see fit. R. Peloquin said if the commission keeps them separate, he would like to see the fees cross referenced.
T. Gutowski would like to review the logging regulations at the next meeting. Mr. Poole said the Town of Kent model needs editing as it has holes in it.
The commission asked if S. Yorgensen could re-send the logging regulations to them electronically.
T. Gutowski motioned to adjourn the meeting at 9:00. R. Peloquin seconded the motion. All in favor.
Respectfully Submitted,
Michele Manas
Recording Clerk.
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