The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
Residents urge rejection of Shelter Ridge
SHELTON — Flooded basements, polluted wells and eroded septic systems are only some of the concerns raised by residents living near the proposed Towne Center at Shelter Ridge development.
Add in the endangered wildlife, the loss of hiking land and retail proposals they fear will be changed to more apartment complexes.
Judith Augusta and Jimmy Tickey, a Planning and Zoning commissioner, believe blasting through ledge, leveling slopes and downing hundreds of trees will endanger wild life.
Augusta said water running off paved surfaces baked by the hot summer sun will raise the Far Mill River’s temperature killing fish.
Greg Tetro, a founder of Save Our Shelton, believes the latest application seeking approval for what’s being heralded as the largest development in recent Fairfield County history should not even be considered by the Inland Wetlands Commission because state law was not followed when Planning and Zoning granted approval last year.
So goes the fight against the project proposed to take a decade before it fills 121 acres of forest and farmland with a million square feet of retail, office and apartment buildings. Nearly 40 residents appeared at the March 15 hearing and more than a dozen spoke.
“It’s really disgusting that the taxpayers have to create intervenor (status) and get a lawyer with their own money on top of paying taxes ... . This has to be changed.”
Ken Huzi, city resident
“The life-style described at public hearings apparently entitles the 300-plus apartment units in the multi-story tower to an Olympic swimming pool with glaring lights and smoky barbecue pits above our simple and precious scenic road (Mill Street) and draining into the north bank of the wild and scenic Far Mill River,” charged Diane Jowdy, whose home is Shelton’s oldest water-powered mill.
The developers led by Sirjohn Papageorge are seeking approval to excavate 1,160 square feet of wetland on the eastern portion of the project and fill about another 1,000 square feet on the western side. That along with the discharge of runoff into the Far Mill River and Wells Hollow Brook requires approval from Inland Wetlands.
“It should be denied without prejudice,” said Tetro, whose Save Our Shelton began as a neighborhood group to fight this project and has swelled into a political force. “It should go back to another hearing before Planning and Zoning.”
That could only benefit Save Our Shelton since their endorsed candidates now hold three of the commission’s seats.
“They should read the law,” countered Dominick Thomas, the Derby lawyer representing Shelter Ridge’s developers. “The law applies to a site plan. We were before Planning and Zoning on a zone change.”
That change from light industrial to a planned development district was approved by a 4-2 vote last year.
Since then Save Our Shelton hired its own lawyers and engineers to fight the zone change in Superior Court and challenge the application before Inland Wetlands.
“It’s really disgusting that the taxpayers have to create intervenor (status) and get a lawyer with their own money on top of paying taxes...,” said Ken Huzi, a city resident. “This has to be changed.”
Meanwhile Nancy Steiner, who with her late husband Irving and Richard Widomski, have been fighting city hall for decades, believes the flooding and water run-off concerns raised by Robert Kulacz, the city’s engineer and John Cook, the Inland Wetlands coordinator and enforcement officer, should raise a red flag.
“This level of planning inaccuracies might also be said for the entire proposal for Shelter Ridge as presented to Planning and Zoning,” Steiner said. “I think a second look is required for the entire proposal put before Planning and Zoning.”
But for now the matter rests with Inland Wetlands which is considering the project’s impact on five water sources including a vernal pond, Far Mill River and Wells Hollow brook.
Gary Zahornasky, the Inland Wetlands chairman, said Thomas, the Shelter Ridge lawyer, and his experts will be able to address the issues when the hearing resumes 7 p.m. March 29 in city hall..
“The intervenor (Save Our Shelton) will get their chance to respond either that day or at the next hearing,” Zahornasky said. “So there may be a fourth day of hearings but at some point we have to bring this to a close.”