Date: Fri 30-Jan-1998

Publication: Bee

Author: STEVEB

Quick Words:

Rodgers-ordinance-council

Full Text:

Ordinance Committee Chairman Considers A Moratorium

BY STEVE BIGHAM

Legislative Council member Will Rodgers announced last week that he may soon

put a moratorium on all proposals for new laws in town.

Mr Rodgers, the chairman of the council's ordinance committee, is concerned

that too many ordinances are being passed without having all the facts.

"I think our ordinance drafting and implementation process is lacking at the

present time because there is no coordination with town offices, especially

those that will be directly affected by the ordinance," Mr Rodgers said.

Case in point: the committee spent several months on a proposed underground

oil tank ordinance, which, in the opinion of the town Fire Marshal George

Lockwood, was a waste of paper. The ordinance as written said nothing about

requiring residents to pull their old tanks out of the ground before the onset

of leakage -- a point Mr Lockwood felt was essential.

As it turns out, that section of the proposed ordinance had been removed

nearly a year before without any consultation with Mr Lockwood, the person

most knowledgeable in the field.

"This ordinance doesn't amount to a hill of beans," the fire marshal said

following an ordinance committee meeting last summer. "We need to get these

tanks the hell out of the ground."

Town Clerk Cindy Curtis Simon and her staff were hit with an enormous amount

of work after the ordinance committee and council recently passed a scenic

road ordinance. The application process is lengthy, requiring much paperwork

and processing by Mrs Simon's office. The town clerk was never consulted

during the writing of the ordinance.

"We didn't know our involvement in this until someone came in and asked for

petitions," Mrs Simon explained. "It's a lot of work on my part."

Mr Rodgers believes these experts need to be more involved in the process as

it develops and not just at the public hearing at the end. The town agencies

would not dictate the law, Mr Rodgers said. They would simply provide expert

advice.

Mr Rodgers said the scenic road ordinance is already causing problems as

residents have begun seeking scenic road status just as a defense against

development. It may have to be revised. He said better rules for drafting

ordinances are essential.

Mr Rodgers wants his committee to better check new ordinances against older

ones to ensure that they do not conflict.

The ordinance committee will hold off on a decision on underground oil tanks

for now. However, the issue is not expected to go away. Mr Rodgers called the

underground oil tanks the "meatiest" ordinance on the committee's plate. Mr

Lockwood wants an ordinance that would require the removal of all underground

tanks more than 20 years old. Removals cost more than $2,000, a fact that

prompted previous ordinance committees to leave that provision out.

To the dismay of Mr Lockwood, the oil tank ordinance, as written, only

prohibits further tanks from being buried.

"This is why we need to call on the expertise of our town agencies," Mr

Rodgers said.

Since 1993, one fourth of all underground oil tanks dug up in Newtown have had

leaks that spill contaminants into the soil and nearby water sources.

The next ordinance committee meeting is scheduled for February 4 at 7 pm.