HEAT Rises To The Challenge

By CURT CLARK

Published: Sep 11, 2009 12:00 am

To the Editor:

If any of your readers want to know more about the status of the Housatonic Railroadâs permit application for the construction and operation of a solid waste facility (and now to include a volume reduction plant?) Iâd like to point them to www.dontwastehawleyville.com, where they will find everything they ever wanted to know about the subject, and then some.

I am very impressed with how quickly and effectively the grassroots organization Hawleyville Environmental Advocacy Team (HEAT) has responded to the very serious challenges presented by the Housatonic Railroadâs application. The website is so informative and rich with photos and attachments that I keep going back for more. Kudos to the webmaster(s)!Â Itâs a little like watching a horror film with your hand over your eyes because you donât want to miss anything, yet you know itâs not pretty.

Clearly, even with the groupâs success with gaining the support of town and state officials to fight the application, the issue hasnât gone away and the worst may still be to come. After reviewing every photo, article, letter, and document found on the site, itâs scary when you find out what the Housatonic Railroad has been getting away with and what it is trying to do next. I canât imagine what it must be like to be a neighbor of the HRR facility.

Your readers can help by following the recommendations on the site as I did, and call and/or write to Congressman Chris Murphy, Attorney General Blumenthal and Robert C. Isner, Director of CTâs DEP. As the pictures and letters will show, the HEAT now has the support of some state and town officials, but will it be enough?

The Hawleyville Environmental Advocacy Team and its supporters is another example of how effective a group of local citizens can be when they are committed to fixing those things in town that arenât working and to helping others in need. I hope your readers can lend their support.

Kevin Fitzgerald

24 Old Farm Hill Road, NewtownÂ Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â September 9, 2009

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How do you propose tapping the brakes, Dave? 8-30g already trumps any local regulations- you don't have a brake pedal to push. Brookfield, Trumbull and now Ridgefield have a clear case for a moratorium based on the development (thanks to 8-30g) that has already occurred. I don't see a clear case for Newtown to request a moratorium... yet.

Backs Moratorium On Dense Development Applications

Nobody is suggesting shutting the doors on new neighbors. What neighboring towns are doing, and what we should be doing too, is to tap the brakes on all of the multi-family residential development proposals so that we can spend 6 months updating our regulations such that if you want to build dense residential housing here, XX percent of it needs to be affordable (we will never make any headway on increasing our percentage of affordable housing otherwise, short of 8-30g), and the rest needs to be done in as low an impact manner as possible. Low impact on traffic, health & safety, the environment and on the cost of town services.

Hey, there you go! Richard solved it. Thanks, that seems so easy- we'll just get rid of the 2nd amendment and the Supreme Court. Seriously, the 2nd amendment doesn't create violent criminals or mental illness. The Supreme Court doesn't create violent criminals or mental illness. The problem is not the tools, but the criminals & the mental illness. The state of Connecticut seems to be focused on the tools, like Richard, while ignoring the users of those tools.

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Ned, please familarize yourself with 8-30G, and then please share the unique flaws that may be helpful in formulating a denial An 8-30g project can be denied only on very narrow grounds – i.e., if it presents health, safety or other concerns that exceed a town’s need for affordable housing. According to the TOG website, “projects cannot be rejected for incompatibility with a Town’s Plan of Conservation and Development (POCD); density; traffic congestion; height; aesthetics; concerns of neighbors or the community; and failure to comply with local zoning regulations.” 8-30g proposals are rarely denied by planning and zoning officials because the burden of proof on appeal is on the town. Appeals are costly, but a municipality can be successful in a court case if it has sufficiently established that the concerns leading to denial are factual and substantive.

P&Z Should Reject Vessel Proposal

The town should certainly measure its performance against the statewide strategies. Unless I missed it I only know of one small cluster of homes that would meet the affordable housing program. Given the 500 or so new units being added in the last 10 years I think that 4/500 would not meet the metric to allow for a moratorium. I mean, fingers crossed for a Christmas miracle but I suspect we will see a few 8-30's sent our way in a method to avoid the Nimby mob. Thanks, Nimby mob.

Discusses Affordable Housing

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HEAT Rises To The Challenge

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