Newtown Inland Wetlands Commission (IWC) had five pending applications to discuss during its recent meeting at Newtown Community Center March 23.

The first was a continued public hearing for Application IW #22-02 by TMR Realty Newtown, LLC, property located at 1 Simm Lane for a wetland violation which requires confirmation for the proper functions of the on-site drainage, the water reclamation system, and the soil testing.

At the February 9 meeting, Lawrence “Larry” LePere, of Solli Engineering, represented the applicant, who owns and operates QuiXpress Car Wash in town. He explained that the violation was issued last year, and they were requested to come to this board.

At the current meeting, LePere was accompanied by his colleague and former Newtown resident, Alex Magoulas, as well as Nick Walters of TMR Realty Newtown, LLC, who owns the property.

Walters gave some of his background, saying, “I bought the location June 1, 2018, so we’re coming up on four years of business in Newtown. I’m sure a lot of you have either visited the site or are familiar with the site. It has been a car wash since around 1994 and it was originally modeled as a full-service car wash. Since I took it over, I converted the business model to more of a quicker — called a QuiXpress model — car wash.”

IWC Chair Sharon Salling asked that they give an overview of their plan.

LePere showed specific areas of the property, including the water gathering/recycling system and the drainage areas. He noted that there were three main issues that led them to be written up.

“One was the drainage issue. We looked at the site to make sure that all the drainage was functioning properly,” LePere said.

They found there was a hole at the bottom of the outlet structure and patched it. The other issue, LePere said, was that the day the applicant was given a violation, there was discharge from overflowing tanks.

He said that “there was supposed to be a truck there that morning” to remove the water from the system and get it treated.

LePere said the water recycling “is now functioning properly, as well.”

The third violation was in regard to needing to do soil testing. He said they have done some soil testing and have discussed it with (Department of Energy and Environmental Protection) DEEP.

“There are still some things that need to be done,” LePere said.

He plans to come back with those updates, but he considers the first two issues to be resolved.

IWC member Craig Ferris asked, “How often do you have to empty those tanks? Everyday?”

Walters responded, “No, it really just depends on the volume.”

He added that after he received the violation and had to shut his business down for a few days, he installed a “water level alarm” to notify him when the water is getting too high for the tanks.

Walters also indicated that they put into place an automatic pump out schedule with their vendor H.I. Stone & Son. It was also mentioned that there are three 3,000-gallon tanks of water on the property.

IWC member Mike McCabe inquired, “If the alarm does go off, what is your course of action?”

Walters answered, “We’d call H.I. Stone to get pumped out … If that alarm ever goes off, we can wash approximately 100 cars before we get into that danger zone again.”

He also shared that the day they had the violation given, the truck was supposed to come to pump out the water at 4 am; they were reported for the violation around 10 am; and the truck came around 2 pm.

“It was bad luck … as a result, we’re here,” Walters said.

Senior Land Use Enforcement Officer Steve Maguire noted, “This wasn’t an isolated event.”

It was again decided to continue the public hearing for the application to the next meeting.

Pond Dredging

The second item on the agenda was for Application IW #22‐03 by Pennington Grey, LLC, property located at 71 Sugar Lane, for a pond dredging. Ryan Eagan, operations manager at Pennington Grey, LLC, represented the application.

He asked if the commission had any questions for him after observing the site or reviewing the packet. When Ferris asked how long it will take, Eagan said depending on the weather it will be two to three weeks to complete and that they have a backup pumps in case any fail.

The IWC moved to approve the application with “standard conditions A, B, C, D, E, F, O, & P” and the following additional conditions:

*Work shall be completed in the month of August.

*The Land Use Enforcement Officer shall be notified once dewatering complete, erosion controls installed, and bypass has been completed.

*A significant rain event is expected during dredging, contractor shall be on site with additional erosion controls and install as needed in event of water entering the excavated area.

The motion was approved.

Driveway Crossing

An Application IW #22‐06 by the Zencey’s & Colares’s, property located at 21 & 23 Baldwin Road, for reconstruction of a driveway crossing was received. Carl and Susanne Zencey, who live at 21 Baldwin Road, were at the meeting representing themselves, as well as their neighbor Romulo Colares, of 23 Baldwin Road.

Salling asked for an overview of their plan.

Carl explained, “Back in September, we had a really excessive rainfall that, as it turned out, washed out a bank of the brook that our driveways cross. We have twin driveways that come together to go across the deep brook. Sometime after that we noticed a sink hole that opened up between the two driveways.”

They had a contractor come out later and there are areas of concern.

Carl said, “What we are proposing is to get excavation and a footer put in at the bottom of the stream, so that a wall can be built — retaining [wall], but also a pier wall to hold up the concrete slab that’s over there right now. Then we would have back fill, and we are looking to do two concrete caps.”

They are not replacing the whole bridge.

Susanne added that they are looking at this as an “emergency repair.”

The applicants are still looking into selecting a contractor, and Carl — who is a former engineer — designed the plans.

“I am impressed with these drawings. They’re very specific,” Salling said.

She added that she wants to be sure that the plans are going to do what they think they will do and she is not an engineer. She asked Maguire for his thoughts.

Maguire said, “I think in the view of this focusing on wetlands, I think this will be successful and stop further erosion there. Impact-wise, in regard to engineering, I really can’t speak on that myself either.”

After some discussion, the IWC moved to approve the application with “standard conditions A, B, C, D, E, F, O, & P.”

All were in favor and the motion was approved.

Deck Construction

The final IWC item of the night was for Application IW #22‐07 by Lenny Manz, property located at 62 Bennetts Bridge Road, for the construction of a deck and extension of the lawn. It was mentioned that a representative from the Town went out to the property and requested they come to the IWC.

Manz shared that there had been damage after storms to the property, so they cleared up fallen trees. He would like to put plantings along the brook. The project “evolved” into the request of the construction of a deck for an upcoming wedding.

Maguire noted that not only were fallen trees removed, but so were healthy trees, and it led to the loss of a buffer.

After some discussion, the commission decided to continue the application with the request that the area be flagged no later than April 10 to visit the property.

During the meeting, it was noted that Application IW #22‐05 by Paul Hilario seeking restoration and mitigation of filled wetlands on property at 15 Cider Mill Road was postponed due to scheduling conflicts with the representatives of the application.

The next IWC meeting will be Wednesday, April 13, at 7:30 pm. For more information about upcoming IWC meetings, visit newtown-ct.gov/inland-wetlands-commission.

Reporter Alissa Silber can be reached at alissa@thebee.com.