There's a lot to learn, so let's get started ....

         Cherenzia Excavation, Inc. has submitted a proposal to build 68 attached housing units and 11 single family along Greenhaven and Mary Hall roads. The site is just up the hill from my home on Mary Hall Road. 

      On June 7, 2011, the Planning and Zoning Commission held a Public Hearing on the proposal. I arrived home the night at 11pm. I was exhausted. I had listened to a full hour presentation by Cherenzia staff with charts and graphs and few questions from the four Commissioners present. I spend another hour listening to the objection from my neighbors. No one spoke in behalf of the project.

      The weather was hot and stuffy. Open doors brought in mosquitoes attracted to electric lights and bare skin. In all, it was a trying night for citizens doing their democratic duties: volunteer Commissions and my neighbors alike.  I woke the next morning depressed to think that my neighborhood would be altered forever.  I pouted for two days, then got to work.

          I made phone calls and met with people. I sought some deeper understanding of the proposal.  I wanted to get beyond the suits talking to each other as they shuffled paper and quoted three digit zoning regulations. I’ve been to the Planning Department so many times in the last two weeks, staff just roll their eyes when I walk in. I’ve been asked to call ahead if I want copies.

          I scheduled a meeting with Ed Haberek, the First Selectman, to clarify roles and responsibilities.  What is the role of Commissions like Inland Wetlands and Conservation?  What is the role of the Planning Department staff?  Who (if anyone) is doing "due diligence" research? Is Planning Staff charged with this function? Or does staff just act as a funnel and push information from Cherenzia to the Planning and Zoning Commission? The Commissioners will make the final decision on behalf of the Town. They will decide if this project will go ahead. Or not. 

  I told Ed how concerned I was. Commissioners have ALL the information they need to make a good decision.  Here’s why ... 

        The “Conceptual Evaluation” prepared for the Planning and Zoning Commission outlines the “basic feasibility” of the Cherenzia project. In short paragraphs, the report ticks off sewers, fire protection, highway maintenance:  feasible. Provisions for preservation of significant ... environmental features: feasible. Project density, impacts on adjoining neighborhoods, architectural treatment, school impact: feasible. In the end, the “Conceptual Evaluation” considers all aspect of the project as doable. 

I disagree.  In my opinion, the “Conceptual Evaluation”, is such a watered down version of the proposal that it is, in fact, a re-telling of the story.  In order to really understand what’s going on, we have to get behind the evaluation.  We have to go back to reports, support documents and memoranda. 

                                                                                                             .... More tomorrow