Zoners pooh-pooh port-a-potty plan
Commission turns down South Norwalk storage yard
NORWALK — The owner of Fairfield County Portables is mulling whether to appeal after the Norwalk Zoning Commission slammed the lid on his plan to store port-a-potties on Merritt Place.
“I’m going to wait for the written decision,” David A. DeLeo said Monday of his plans for 8 Merritt Place in South Norwalk. “They (opponents) held us accountable for what went on there in the past and that was quite unfair to us.”
Under the proposal, Fairfield County Portables affiliate C&S Portable, LLC asked the commission to amend city zoning regulations to allow storage of clean portable toilets as a new principal use on land zoned for Industrial No. 1 uses.
DeLeo said he planned to clean up the property, store four trucks and up to 100 portables inside the existing building, which he hoped to expand and ultimately relocate his Stamford-based business.
“I had great plans for that place,” DeLeo said Monday. “I was going to turn it energy efficient, turn it green, put in solar panels, eventually put my offices there and make it look nice.”
Zoning commissioners, after a public hearing at City Hall on Oct. 17, voted unanimously to reject the plan.
Chairman Nathan Sumpter said South Norwalk is already “heavily industrialized” and doesn’t need additional such uses. “We need to continue on this path we’re headed, which is to clean up South Norwalk.”
Commissioner Kelly Straniti said she could not think of anywhere in Norwalk where the proposed facility would be appropriate. The plan isn’t consistent with the city’s Plan of Conservation and Development, she added.
Commissioner Lou Schulman, reiterating arguments made by C&A Portables, said “something else that is far more obnoxious could go in there by right and we would have to approve it,” but he found that no reason to approve the requested zoning amendment.
“I am concerned about
“I had great plans for that place. I was going to turn it energy efficient, turn it green, put in solar panels, eventually put my offices there and make it look nice.” David A. DeLeo, Fairfield County Portables owner
what the residents say, the potential impacts, both real and perceived — not just
by them but by others as well,” Schulman said. “Plus the fact that if we approve this amendment, it applies to the entire Industrial 1 zone and facilities like this could then, again, by right go into any part of Industrial 1.”
Earlier, Schulman noted that the city’s Planning Commission recommended against the plan, thus requiring a five-vote supermajority by zoning commissioners.
Al Vasko, the Norwalk attorney representing DeLeo before the commission, acknowledged residents’ concerns about the plan.
“We’re aware of the perception that portable toilets have an unpleasant odor,” Vasko said.
“However, these units are far different from the old port-apotties.”
Such comments didn’t sway over people living near the property. Scott Arthur Davis, a Realtor who lives on nearby Lubrano Place, expressed concerns about property values taking a hit from allowing such use.
“As a Realtor, perception is reality,” Davis said. “When I say ‘port-a-potties,’ that’s going to be a huge red flag.”
In 2016, residents battled AMEC Carting and ultimately got the city to force the company to remove its construction debris storage containers from a contractor’s yard between Lubrano Place, Kossuth Street, Hemlock Place and Chestnut Street.
The property at 8 Merritt Place had been home to Premier Firewood, which cut and dried firewood to the aggravation of neighbors.
Lou DiMeglio, who lives on Lubrano Place, welcomed the company’s departure and asked the commission to allow no further industrial uses on the property across his fence.
“This was our first summer in eight years that we had peace and quiet,” DiMeglio said. “You could hear the birds and not smell wood being baked and having noise ‘til 8 o’clock at night.”