P&Z Exempts Town From Topsoil Regulation

By Andrew Gorosko

The Planning and Zoning Commission (P&Z) has revised its regulations to allow the town to transfer excess topsoil from one municipal property to another municipal property.

The P&Z unanimously approved the zoning rule change November 1, allowing the town to transfer excess topsoil from the grade 5/6 school construction site at Fairfield Hills to the Newtown High School grounds.

That topsoil would be used for the reconstruction of high school athletic fields. A transfer of municipal topsoil will require that plans be submitted to the P&Z detailing the nature of the project.

Until now, the town’s zoning regulations had prohibited any local transfer of topsoil from one site to another, except for the construction of artificial ponds.

The zoning rule revision keeps in force a prohibition against moving topsoil from one privately-owned site to another privately-owned site. The private topsoil transfer prohibition seeks to prevent an intra-town topsoil market from being created and potentially causing environmental harm.

At an October session, P&Z members had discussed placing a strict volume limit on how much topsoil could be moved from one municipal site to another and considered placing a specific cubic yardage limit on transfers.

But in the revised regulations approved November 1, P&Z placed only a general limit on how much excess topsoil could be transferred from one municipal site to another. Topsoil removal will be limited to areas of a site that will become impervious areas, such as building locations and parking lots.

In their motion to allow municipal topsoil transfers, P&Z members stated that such activity serves the public interest, allowing the town to conserve soil, reusing it wisely and economically.

 Although state law allows municipalities to exempt themselves from the provisions of their own zoning regulations, it sets a good example if the town complies with the zoning regulations, albeit modified, on topsoil transfer, P&Z chairman Daniel Fogliano has said.

At $22 per cubic yard delivered and unscreened, the 2,500 cubic yards of topsoil that would potentially be transferred from the grade 5/6 school site to the high school would be worth about $55,000.

The grade 5/6 school site, which was formerly a farm, contained a layer of topsoil 18 inches deep.

First Selectman Herbert Rosenthal has said the zoning enforcement officer had informed him that topsoil was being taken off the grade 5/6 school site and shipped to the high school, in violation of applicable zoning rules. The first selectman said he then informed school officials that such activity is prohibited by the zoning regulations. School officials then requested creation of a regulatory mechanism that would allow a topsoil transfer.

At a September public hearing, Kim Danziger, a local developer and builder, took exception with exempting the town from the topsoil transfer prohibition. Mr Danziger said it would be discriminatory for the town to exempt itself from a regulation that applies to private developers.

The athletic fields behind the high school have deteriorated to a point where they are no longer playable. The field improvement project would result in more fields and better fields for football, soccer, lacrosse, field hockey, softball, and multiple uses.