What We Don’t Know is Just as Important as What We Do Know -- Part Two

       As I stated last week, Stonington requires an Archeological Study when applying  for a Special Use Permit.  We have no such report in the Cherenzia file.  It’s missing because the developer never submitted one.  Granted, Cherenzia hired Archeological and Historical Services, Inc. That company completed an “Archeological Assessment Survey” and suggested next steps such as setting up test grids and digging shovel pits.

        But does this letter qualify as the Archeological Study? Such a study requires a report on “features and artifacts discovered.” Such a study is meant to be presented at a public hearing for discussion. 

        Cherenzia’s letter also ignores some possible results. It assumes that all artifacts found can be easily removed.  What if more permanent features are discovered?  How will they be protected? There is no mention of “redesign or reallocation of ... buildings to minimize adverse impact.”  The letter makes no mention of “time [or money] required for more extensive investigations.”  Does Cherenzia plan to devote two weeks to this exploration? Two months? Results depend heavily on time and money spent.

       The absence of an Environmental Assessment leads to a very different story, one that begins in the Town’s Planning Department. 

       In the summer of 2010, the Planning Department proposed 38 revisions to the Town’s zoning regulations. The revisions came, as an “omnibus text amendment,” to the Planning and Zoning Commission on June 1, 2010. (A text amendment is a proposed word change. In some cases, new words are added.  In other places, words are taken out.  Omnibus means that many changes are considered at the same time.)

        The requirement to submit an Environmental Assessment when applying for a Special Use Permit disappeared with the stroke of a pen. It was simply crossed out. The official recommendation: “Eliminate ‘Environmental Assessment’ since its content is defined nowhere in the regulations.”

     
       I find it interesting that several years earlier, the Planning Department went to great lengths to describe the contents of an Archeological Study.  I regret they did not take the same approach with the Environmental Assessment, describe and define rather than eliminate.

        Without an Environmental Assessment the Planning and Zoning Commissioners are stripped of valuable information. They are denied answers to basic questions. What environmental value does a particular site offer as it stands?  How will proposed development alter the current balance?  

        Without an Environmental Assessment, commissioners are blind.  They have received no baseline information on water resources. They have no knowledge of how surface and ground water interact. They have little understanding of wildlife currently occupying the space and how displacement will effect the area. They have no list of plants and trees that now hold sway and what changes will occur if the land is clear cut and grubbed.  They have no description of endangered species or an endangered vernal pool or endangered wetlands.  

         Luckily, the Commission might still has a chance to read an Environmental Assessment for the Cherenzia project. 

         An organization that serves 86 towns in eastern Connecticut provides municipalities an Environmental Assessment free of charge. The Connecticut Environmental Review Team is supported by fees paid to the Town when residents submit a land use application. The Team is staffed by seasoned professionals and has reviewed projects in Stonington for the past twenty years. According to their website (www.ctert.org) they want to help municipalities, such as Stonigton, “meet the challenge of development through knowledge of the land, its resources and the probable effects of development.”

       The The Environmental Review Team is ready to help Stonington.  The Town just has to ask. That is, First Selectman, Ed Haberek just has to ask. Call (860 535 5050) or email (ehaberek@stonington-ct.gov) to show your support.  Tell Mr. Haberek you want the commissioners to have an Environmental Assessment of the Cherenzia project available for their review.