Date: Fri 10-Oct-1997

Publication: Bee

Author: ANDYG

Quick Words:

P&Z-Kovacs-Sandy-Hook-gravel

Full Text:

Town To Head To Court Over Gravel Operation

BY ANDREW GOROSKO

Frustrated by extended delays in getting a sand-and-gravel mining operation in

Sandy Hook Center completed, Planning and Zoning Commission (P&Z) members are

seeking to bring the matter to Danbury Superior Court and have a judge order

that the project be finished.

At an October 2 session, P&Z members voted unanimously to have the town hire a

lawyer to seek a court injunction to get the mining operation near Pizza Villa

on Riverside Road completed.

In December 1995, Pizza Villa, St John's Episcopal Church, and Erwin Potter

received P&Z approvals to mine almost 40,000 cubic yards of earth material at

4 Riverside Road. The mining would make space for a community parking lot to

serve the restaurant, church, Mr Potter's environmental consulting business,

and Sandy Hook Center at large. That permit was good for one year, expiring in

December 1996.

But repeated trips to the site to get the work done on time proved fruitless,

explained William Nicholson, the town's zoning enforcement officer.

After enforcement attempts failed to bring the closure and regrading of the

mining operation, Mr Nicholson approached the P&Z about hiring a lawyer.

The selectmen are expected to address the P&Z's recommendation when they meet

October 20. Hiring a lawyer would be subject to Legislative Council approval.

In the motion endorsed by P&Z members, Heidi Winslow stated the town should

hire a lawyer because the project applicants have failed to complete required

regrading work, have failed to do plantings to stabilize banks, have not met

erosion control standards, and have failed to erect fencing to keep Sandy Hook

School students from falling down a sand bank adjacent to the school property.

The site is an eyesore and poses an environmental problem and a safety hazard,

Ms Winslow said.

As part of the mining project, the applicants agreed to mine material on the

Sandy Hook School property to provide a cheap source of sand for the town

highway department. Several thousand cubic yards of sand were mined for town

use.

The project was to have been finished long ago, Mr Nicholson said Monday.

"There has been one delay after another," he said.

Mr Nicholson said he had been repeatedly assured the project would be

completed but that has not happened. He said he has issued several "stop work"

orders against the project to get some leverage and get the project completed,

but it has not worked.

"This is a complicated one," he said. Mr Nicholson said he hopes to get the

matter before a judge within a month.

At one point, the excavator working on the project, Kenneth Kovacs of Kenneth

Kovacs Enterprises of Brookfield, apparently dug too far into the Sandy Hook

School property, exceeding the extent of the digging allowed by the permit, Mr

Nicholson said.

The excavator removed more material than was allowed but later refilled in the

overdug slope with other material, according to the enforcement officer.

Potter

Mr Potter said Wednesday that he, Pizza Villa, and the church are as

frustrated as Mr Nicholson in not getting the project done and restored on

time.

Mr Kovacs, the excavator, has delayed his work on the project many times, Mr

Potter said, adding that some delays were weather-related, but others were

not.

Similarly, Verdat Kala, proprietor of Pizza Villa, said Mr Kovacs has worked

on the project sporadically, often doing only a little work and then leaving

the site for extended periods.

Mr Kovacs could not be reached for comment. The contractor reportedly has said

that the delays in getting the work done are not his fault, promising that his

work will be done soon. Mr Potter expressed frustration that it has been

almost two years since the mining permit was issued to prepare the site for

parking-lot construction. Mr Nicholson has made a good effort to get the

project completed, he said.

Renewed Activity

Faced with heightened pressure to get the project done, Mr Kovacs and others

were seen at the site this week, working to complete the job, Mr Potter said.

The landowners have had a chain link fence erected along the Sandy Hook School

property, Mr Potter said. The back slope of the excavation has been seeded and

mulched to establish vegetation, he said. The project should be completed

soon, he said.

After regrading is completed, a crushed stone surface for parking will be put

down, he said. Required subsurface drainage structures have been installed, he

said, and pavement will come in the future. When completed there will be 144

parking spaces for Sandy Hook Center, according to Mr Potter.