Date: Fri 25-Dec-1998

Publication: Bee

Author: ANDYG

Quick Words:

P&Z-aquifer-protection-regs

Full Text:

P&Z Considers Proposed Regulations For Aquifer Protection

BY ANDREW GOROSKO

The Newtown Planning and Zoning Commission (P&Z) is considering revisions to

its aquifer protection regulations which would greatly expand and more

explicitly state the rules it uses to safeguard the quality of existing and

potential underground drinking water supplies.

The proposed revisions also call for a cooperative relationship between the

Conservation Commission and P&Z under which both agencies would review

development proposed for aquifer protection areas.

Conservation Commission opposition to a development proposal would mean that a

4-to-1 majority of the P&Z, not a simple 3-to-2 majority, would be necessary

for P&Z approval of a project within the designated aquifer protection zone.

The intent of the proposed rules is to promote the community's health and

general welfare by preventing the contamination of groundwater to ensure a

safe and healthy supply of underground drinking water.

The proposed regulations would foster a clean water supply by prohibiting uses

that can contaminate groundwater, and by regulating other land uses that can

potentially contaminate or downgrade existing and potential groundwater

supplies.

The proposed rules apply to "stratified drift" aquifers, or those such as the

Pootatuck Aquifer, in which underground water supplies are contained within

layered in bands of sand, gravel and boulders.

The aquifer regulations would be "overlay" regulations. Those rules would be

enforced in addition to the zoning regulations which apply to the underlying

zoning districts in the aquifer protection district, such as residential or

business zones. If there is a conflict between the regulations of the aquifer

protection district and the regulations of the underlying zoning district, the

more restrictive requirements would apply.

The proposed aquifer regulations include six pages of single-spaced text. The

existing aquifer rules amount to about one-half page of text.

"What's there now is fairly subjective," town Conservation Official C. Stephen

Driver said of the existing zoning regulations on aquifer protection.

"What's proposed... is much more precise... very specific," he said.

A subcommittee of P&Z and Conservation Commission representatives formulated

the P&Z's proposed aquifer protection rules.

Wellhead Protection

As the P&Z is revising its zoning regulations on aquifer protection

regulations, the Conservation Commission is awaiting the state Department of

Environmental Protection's (DEP) promulgation of model "wellhead protection"

regulations for municipalities. Such wellhead protection regulations are

intended to environmentally protect the areas near wellheads for underground

public drinking water supplies. Those model regulations, which municipalities

in the state may use as minimum standards for wellhead protection, have been

under development by the DEP for several years.

The promulgation of those model regulations by DEP may come two or more years

from now, according to Mr Driver. The Conservation Commission has been

designated the town's aquifer protection agency by the Legislative Council. As

such, the Conservation Commission will be in charge of local wellhead

protection.

Elizabeth Stocker, the P&Z's planning adviser, told P&Z members December 17

the proposed zoning regulations on aquifer protection would include the

wellhead protection areas that are situated within the larger aquifer

protection zone. The aquifer protection zone is in the central Pootatuck River

Valley, she said.

Ms Stocker said aspects of the proposed P&Z aquifer rules need some refinement

by the subcommittee which proposed them and also need legal review by the

commission's attorney.

A proposal to require minimum two-acre residential zoning in the aquifer

protection zone is "somewhat troublesome," Ms Stocker said, noting she hasn't

seen such a restriction in similar regulations in other towns. The two-acre

minimum requirement wouldn't apply, though, to areas in the aquifer protection

zone which have public sewer and water service.

Conservation Commission member Sandra Michaud said the two-acre minimum

requirement is based on state recommendations. Ms Michaud is on the

subcommittee which developed the proposed P&Z aquifer regulations.

P&Z member Michael Osborne pointed out three landfills have been created

either above or near the Pootatuck Aquifer -- the former town landfill off

Ethan Allen Road, the former town landfill located where the Exit 11

interchange of Interstate-84 now sits, and the state's former ash landfill for

the Fairfield Hills incinerator. All three landfills are inactive.

If Newtown continues to expand its population, it must have adequate aquifer

protection because the Pootatuck Aquifer is the designated "sole source

aquifer" for the town, Mr Osborne said.

Unless a suitable mechanism is put in place to protect the aquifer, future

water contamination problems might arise, he said.

"The town has been lucky so far," he said.

"I think Newtown really has to be pro-active in this area... the growth of the

town and the future really depends" on aquifer protection, he said.

P&Z member Heidi Winslow urged that the proposed zoning regulations on aquifer

protection provide more detailed statements on the rules' intent and purpose,

and also that the standards by which development applications are judged be

made more complete.

Lilla Dean, another commission member, observed "I think this is a great

document." Ms Dean urged that the subcommittee that developed the aquifer

protection proposal to document the source material that it used in

formulating the proposed regulations.

Subcommittee members are expected to revise the regulatory proposal which will

be further discussed at an upcoming P&Z session. The proposal that is finally

endorsed by the commissioners will be the subject of an upcoming public

hearing.

Particulars

Land uses permitted in an aquifer protection district would include

single-family houses on lots with a minimum two-acre lot size; open space and

passive recreation areas; managed forest land; and land owned and/or managed

by a public water utility company.

Prohibited land uses in the aquifer protection zone would include: landfills;

septage lagoons; wastewater treatment plants; printeries; public garages and

filling stations; car washes; road salt storage facilities; kennels;

facilities which manufacture, use, store, transport, process or dispose of

hazardous materials or hazardous wastes; the excavation, storage and removal

of sand and gravel; the underground storage of hazardous materials; dry

cleaners with on-site cleaning operations; hotels and motels without public

sewer and water supplies; garages for sheltering and maintaining commercial

vehicles and construction equipment; maintenance and outdoor storage of public

utility service vehicles; handling and smelting nonferrous metals; and medical

or dental offices, veterinary hospitals, beauty and nail salons, funeral

parlors and research or medical laboratories, except where public sewers and

water supplies are available for such facilities.

The proposed rules specify the minimum standards for aquifer protection

concerning stormwater management, floor drains, pesticide and fertilizer use,

and the storage and handling of hazardous materials.