Date: Fri 24-Jul-1998

Publication: Bee

Author: ANDYG

Quick Words:

P&Z-Memoli-Abbey-Ridge

Full Text:

Botsford Application Tests Towns New Earthmoving Rules

BY ANDREW GOROSKO

Planning and Zoning Commmission (P&Z) members are suggesting there would be

too much earth regrading and removal needed to build a road for Abbey Ridge

Estates, a proposed 8-lot residential subdivision eyed for 20 acres east of

South Main Street, just south of Botsford Hill Road.

P&Z members expressed reservations July 16 about applicant Angelo Memoli's

proposal to build a steep road on the rugged terrain to serve the proposed

houses.

In March 1997, P&Z members revised their regulations, strictly limiting how

much earth material can be removed from house lots when subdivisions are

built. Those regulatory changes stemmed from the extensive amount of earth

material which was removed by developers of the Whispering Pines subdivision

in Sandy Hook, radically recontouring the landscape there.

One reason the P&Z changed its rules was to have developers work with the

contours of the land, not work against the landscape, P&Z member Daniel

Fogliano said July 16.

But the P&Z's lawyer has determined that the regulatory wording approved by

the P&Z in March 1997 is ambiguous concerning the removal and placement of

earth materials on building lots versus the removal and placement of earth

materials for new road construction, Mr Fogliano noted. Perhaps the P&Z can

rewrite those rules in the future, he suggested.

Significant Action

The action which the P&Z takes in the Abbey Ridge Estates application is

significant because it is the first time the P&Z will apply its revised

earthmoving rules, Mr Fogliano said.

P&Z member Heidi Winslow said the P&Z changed its rules so there would not be

a major reshaping of the land when subdivisions are built. The recontouring

problems could be solved if Abbey Ridge Estates had fewer and larger building

lots than currently proposed, she said.

First Selectman Herbert Rosenthal, an ex-officio P&Z member, said that when a

residential development is done on a physically difficult site he expects it

would have relatively larger building lots, and thus require less regrading,

than sites which are physically simpler to develop.

Ms Winslow pointed out the intent of the revised earthmoving regulations is

not to create larger building lots, but to prevent the extensive regrading of

a site, which can result in erosion problems.

"The only way to work with the land is to work with the land," Ms Winslow

said. "You're supposed to work with the topography of the land," she said.

The revised regulations are intended to limit the amount of regrading needed

to build a road in a subdivision, she said.

Interpretation

But P&Z Chairman Stephen Koch pointed out that way in which the revised

regulations are written poses interpretive problems for P&Z members.

Mr Fogliano said the Abbey Ridge Estates plans call for 21,000 cubic yards of

earth material to be moved to create the road.

In effect, much more than 200 cubic yards of fill would be removed from some

of the building lots with the rationale being that such fill removal is needed

to create a road grade that complies with applicable road construction

regulations.

If there were fewer lots in the proposed subdivision and road was built at a

different location, less fill would need to be moved from the site, Mr

Fogliano said.

Mr Koch said he supports the revised regulations' intent to limit regrading on

a site, but he said he expects that if the Abbey Ridge Estates project is

rejected for a second time by the P&Z, the applicant will rebel.

"It's an important matter, a very important matter," Mr Koch said of the P&Z's

action on the subdivision proposal.

Ms Winslow suggested that the P&Z's lawyer write a motion for P&Z action at an

August 6 session.

P&Z members sometimes have their lawyer draft a motion when they expect their

action will be legally challenged by a lawsuit, such as the lawsuit filed over

the P&Z's rejection of the proposed 98-house Newtown Village last year. That

lawsuit is pending.

Past Rejection

Last December, the P&Z unanimously rejected a previous eight-lot version of

Abbey Ridge Estates. The revised application addresses issues raised by P&Z

members in turning down the earlier version of the project. Mr Memoli is

represented by Spath-Bjorklund Associates, an engineering firm.

At a public hearing last November, residents living near the site eyed for

development voiced fears that the blasting needed to build there would damage

their properties. They also said the project would hurt traffic safety in an

already hazardous area.

In turning down the initial version of the project, P&Z members said the site

did not contain sufficient open space land.

The 20-acre parcel has been discussed for years as a housing site. In the

past, developer Harvey Gerber suggested it as a site for affordable housing.