Date: Fri 17-Sep-1999

Publication: Bee

Author: ANDYG

Quick Words:

Curtis-wetlands-permit

Full Text:

Curtis Gets Wetlands Permit For Its Industrial Subdivision

BY ANDREW GOROSKO

The Conservation Commission has granted a wetlands construction license to

Curtis Packaging of Sandy Hook in connection with the container company's

proposal to create a 10-lot industrial subdivision near its Berkshire Road

factory.

That industrial subdivision proposal is now pending before the Planning and

Zoning Commission (P&Z).

Conservation Commission members September 8 approved the company's request for

a wetlands construction license. Conservation Commission members are requiring

that if the P&Z alters the proposed layout for the 10-lot industrial

subdivision, Curtis must return to the conservation panel for additional

approvals.

The Conservation Commission approval addresses construction of a plumbing

network required for fire protection at the proposed subdivision, and also

addresses the discharge of water from a stormwater detention basin into nearby

Curtis Brook, said Conservation Official C. Stephen Driver.

Curtis Pond is a dammed pond, which the firm uses for fire protection. It

would be used for fire protection at the proposed industrial subdivision.

The Conservation Commission licensing marks the second approval Curtis has

received from town land use agencies for its four-pronged proposal to expand

its container complex and also industrially subdivide its adjacent property.

In August, P&Z members unanimously approved allowing the packaging firm to

build a 41,180-square-foot warehouse addition next to its factory, provided

that certain conditions are met.

As a condition of that approval, the P&Z is requiring that metal crates,

wooden pallets and scrap materials which are stored outside the factory be

discarded, and that no outdoor storage of materials be allowed on the site.

Also, the P&Z is requiring various changes to the company's landscaping plan

for the site, including brush clearing, tree planting, and construction of a

berm. The changes are intended for visual screening and soil stabilization.

The new warehouse will be used by the company as a storage and distribution

facility for the specialty packaging products which the firm manufactures in

Sandy Hook. The company now uses warehouse facilities in Waterbury, but

manufacturing products in Sandy Hook and storing them in Waterbury is

inefficient, according to Curtis.

Still Pending

Pending before the P&Z is Curtis's request to industrially subdivide 46 acres

at 44 Berkshire Road into 10 lots, one lot of which would contain the

warehouse expansion of the factory, and nine other lots which would be sold

off for other industrial uses.

Also pending before the P&Z is Curtis's application to rezone some of that

property from its current R-1 Residential to M-4 Industrial zoning. Such a

rezoning would cover three lots in the proposed resubdivision.

The P&Z was scheduled to consider and possibly act on those two applications

on the night of Thursday, September 16, after the deadline for this edition of

The Bee.

When land is subdivided, the applicant typically donates at least 10 percent

of the property's area as open space for passive recreation to the town or to

a land trust. Curtis has proposed donating Curtis Pond, the pond's dam, and

some land directly adjacent to the pond as open space.

In a letter to the P&Z on the Conservation Commission's approval of a wetlands

construction license for the proposed subdivision, Mr Driver writes that the

proposed open space includes a steep driveway in a wetland extending from

Berkshire Road to the dam.

The organization which takes ownership of the dam as part of the open space

donation would assume the significant liability associated with dam ownership,

he adds. The only relatively useful section of proposed open space consists of

a small parcel in the southwestern section of the property, he adds. Public

access to that area, however, would be difficult due to a lack of trails, he

states.

Gravel Mine

To prepare its property for an industrial subdivision, Curtis proposes mining

111,000 cubic yards of sand and gravel from the site, an amount of fill

removal which has drawn questions from P&Z members who ask whether that much

material must be removed.

The Curtis property is in the town's Aquifer Protection District (APD). The

company submitted its development application for the site before new

strengthened aquifer protection rules went into effect in June. Those new

aquifer regulations prohibit sand and gravel mining in the APD, such as that

proposed by Curtis. But because the application was submitted before the new

rules took effect, the application is considered under the previous aquifer

protection rules by the P&Z.

At August P&Z and Conservation Commission public hearings on the industrial

subdivision proposal, residents raised several issues about the development

project.

Issues at the P&Z hearing included traffic generation, underground water

levels, the effect on the Pootatuck Aquifer, noise, wildlife and diminished

property values.

Issues at the Conservation Commission hearing included the amount of sand and

gravel Curtis wants to remove from the site, and the effect that the proposed

development would have on the domestic water wells of nearby homeowners.