Stonington addresses weed killer concerns Stonington has plans for Campbell Grain Building

Town says control of roadside vegetation critical to traffic safety

Stonington — The increased spraying of weed killer along town roads, after a 15-yearold flail mower the highway department uses to cut the weeds broke, has prompted criticism by residents on social media over the past week.

First Selectman Rob Simmons said Tuesday that the town has now ceased the spraying and is leasing a new mower for a few weeks as it prepares to ask the Board of Finance on Wednesday to appropriate an additional $10,213 to fix the mower. Simmons said that about $50,000 for a new mower had been included in the proposed 2018-19 budget but it was cut to help keep the tax rate low at a time when there was uncertainty about state funding cuts.

Simmons said the town had sprayed weed killer along its roads for many years while the state has done so along routes 1 and 2 and Pequot Trail. He said the town has decreased spraying in recent years until the mower broke, which also resulted in highway employees using weed wackers, which he said is inefficient and dangerous because it places the workers near moving cars.

The town has posted an explanation of the issue on its website, stating the control of roadside vegetation is essential to traffic safety by ensuring clear sight lines. It adds that the town does this through the use of manual, mechanical and chemical methods.

The town started the spraying of the guardrails and all downtown curb lines two or three times a year in 2009 and continued until 2014. The town states it used a herbicide called glyphosate but since 2014 public works employees significantly have reduced spraying and focused primarily on guardrails, where the mower and other devices were difficult to deploy. The town now only sprays 2 to 3 days per year.

Spraying also is done annually at the Pawcatuck Dike with glyphosate.

This spring, with the flail mower out of service, the town hired TruGreen Rocky Hill, and the work was managed by a state-licensed supervisory applicator and arborist. Spot spraying was done last month at guardrails and parts of road rights of way.

Streets sprayed on May 17 and 18 were Flanders Road, Jerry Brown Road, Wheeler Road, Al Harvey Road, North Stonington Road, Stony Brook Road, Jeremy Hill Road, Taugwonk Road, Farmholme Road, Sommers Lane, Main Street, Old Mystic, Greenhaven Road, Burdick Lane, North Anguilla, South Anguilla and Stillman Avenue.

The herbicides Aqua Neet and Garlon (also known as Triclopyr) were used, both of which the town said are approved for use by the state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection within the municipal right of way. Triclopyr has been found to be slightly toxic to ducks, moderately toxic to fish and not toxic for humans.

The town also reported that on May 23, a local beekeeper said there had been a bee dieoff as a result of the spraying.

The town said it passed on the complaint to a DEEP official, who said it was unlikely the herbicide being used would kill bees. The DEEP asked the beekeeper to provide a sample of a dead bee to be tested at state expense. The town said there have been no other complaints pertaining to bees.

Stonington — The town says it plans to knock down the remainder of the Campbell Grain Building and then place a $40,000 lien on the property so the owner can sell the two-acre site as part of the revitalization of downtown Pawcatuck.

Building owner Frank DeCiantis had begun the demolition in 2016 and was financing the work by selling the post and beams recycled from the building located at the end of Coggswell Street. But Director of Planning Jason Vincent said that after 80 percent of the building was taken down, DeCiantis found that the sale of the remaining wood would not cover the remainder of the demolition costs and the work ceased.

Town officials see the twoacre site along the Pawcatuck River as an integral piece of the effort to revitalize downtown Pawcatuck, an effort that has taken some significant steps forward over the past year.

Vincent said the town reached out to DeCiantis to see how it could assist him instead of just sitting back and imposing daily fines for blight. Vincent said DeCiantis is cooperating with the town’s plan, in which it cited him for a violation under the blight ordinance and now plans to tear down the remainder of the building at a cost of $40,000. It will then place a line on the property so when it is sold, the town will get its money back. Vincent said there is little risk to the town, as there is no debt on the property and the town is the first lien holder.

The town also has a $70,000 lien on the property for work it did to demolish a section of the building damaged in 2011 by Hurricane Irene.

Vincent said that next month the town will go to the Board of Finance and ask for an additional appropriation of $40,000 to tear down the building, which fire officials see as a hazard.

“We have a property owner who lives in Virginia, who is an older gentleman who does not have the capacity to finish the project. It is important to the neighborhood we finish it so we said, ‘What can we do?’” Vincent explained about the decision to work out a solution with DeCiantis.

“When people see blight, it sends a signal that something is wrong here,” Vincent added. “It erodes confidence and we need people to be confident so they invest in the community.”

Vincent said the town also may use the same tactic to deal with the blighted southern portion of the Thread Mill complex on Pawcatuck Avenue and has had discussions with its owners. The northern section has been turned into apartments. He said the town also is looking for a way to shore up the abandoned Connecticut Casting Mill on Stillman Avenue.

Vincent said the town also is looking to amend its zoning regulations to exempt properties in historic districts from having to make costly flood elevation requirements, and expanding the size of the Mechanic Street historic district in downtown Pawcatuck to include commercial properties on adjacent West Broad Street. The town already has made a significant change that allows owners to invest up to 50 percent of the property’s value in one year on improvements without triggering the flood improvements, as opposed to the previous five-year “lookback period,” which town officials say was a barrier to investment and revitalization.