The Upzoning Double Standard

(The following open letter to Community Development Director Elizabeth Stocker has been received for publication.)

Dear Ms Stocker:

On Tuesday, January 23, 2001, at 12:15 pm, I was with both you and First Selectman Herbert Rosenthal at Edmond Town Hall. As a resident of Norwalk and a Newtown property owner, I requested answers to a number of questions I had regarding the Sandy Hook Industrial Park and the recently enacted upzoning regulation by the Planning and Zoning Commission. Unfortunately, my questions were not answered.

I would like to review the questions I asked. Since I have written to you previously and have not received an answer to my certified mail, I would hope and expect that this letter will not be treated similarly.

I have reviewed the plans for the Sandy Hook Industrial Park and have noted that there are a few lots which are slightly over an acre in size with buildings sized at 5,000 square feet plus additional ground coverage for blacktop parking spaces. These lots and all the rest of the subdivision are located directly on top of the primary recharge area of the Pootatuck Aquifer.

The main question that has yet to be answered is as follows: How does the Town of Newtown justify the approval of the Sandy Hook Industrial Park, which will require an oversized septic system and drilling of a well to supply water for all of the smaller, one acre plus lots, when I have a 2.88 acre property that is now upzoned, that has public water and sewer directly available to the property and is located over a secondary recharge aquifer, not a primary recharge aquifer area?

My property, which has 463 feet of road frontage on Church Hill Road, has been upzoned from half acre zoning to two acre zoning. Where I would have been able to subdivide my property and get four building lots, now all I have is one building lot which has lost over 50 percent of its value.

Explain to me the logic that the town officials have used in determining that commercial usage of the land where septic systems are needed is okay but residential usage of the land, which doesn’t  threaten the aquifer since it has public water and sewers, isn’t okay? Why is a distinction being made between residential and commercial industrial property when the aquifer is the issue in question? How can the P&Z find that this industrial park will have no impact on the Pootatuck Aquifer and is consistent with the Aquifer Protection District regulations?

From my perspective, you are speaking from both sides of your mouth. If the protection of the aquifer is the prime motivating factor for your passing the upzoning regulation, then the town should provide public water and sewer to the Sandy Hook Industrial Park.

As a sole source aquifer for the Town of Newtown, the Pootatuck Aquifer is an irreplaceable asset that our officials should protect at any cost. If it becomes contaminated, it would be a catastrophic event.

A commercial building located on the 1+ acre lot which has potentially 30-50 people contributing daily to a septic system would be far more serious than 6-8 people in the higher density residential usage on the same acreage also using a septic system. In my situation, I wouldn’t have any people using a septic system since my property has public sewers. Explain how Newtown conceives properties with water and sewers as a threat to the aquifer.

I await your reply.

Carmine Renzulli

505 Westport Avenue, Norwalk                                  January 29, 2001