TABLE OF CONTENTS
The Red Binder (in the case of members of the "Select Committee..." binders are GREEN) is supplemented by additional documents provided at the Town Clerk's Office and Library. Below, for your review, is a listing of documents. It consists of sections one (1) through eight (8) plus three more items (9, 10 and 11) that are oversized and kept as "supplements" or companion pieces to The Red Binder (links are to summaries from the ABOUT WESTON Internet site):
In March of 1999, the then Weston Town Administrator wrote to the Building Committee reporting on the history of septic systems at the Weston Schools Complex--specifically, at the high school and the middle school. A part of page three of that memo is quoted below.
"In 1998, the Connecticut DEP recommended that the Town consider connecting to the Norwalk sewage treatment system via Wilton. Fuss&O'Neill and the Town Engineer have met with the Norwalk Assistant Public Works Director and the Wilton Director of Public Works to discuss this possibility. Based on their preliminary discussions, Weston could connect to Norwalk's system if approved by municipal commissions and the DEP." Costs had not been determined at this time.
The then Town Administrator's memo continues, "In January 1999, there was a presentation made to the Building Committee by a student about an alternative septic system, called the 'Living Machine'...Water meters at the Middle School and High School are being monitored to determine the exact number of gallons being generated...borings have been done in Bisceglie-Scribner Park..."--this and other records are available of the Town of Weston's focus on the effluent problem.
Options being
considered by the Town of Weston at the time of this memo quoted above
were to have been included and explored. Those such as "Living
Machine"and
others yet unknown--much of what the present "Select Committee..." must
now explore needs to be accomplished in 90 days.
PROPOSED SEWER LINE THROUGH WILTON TO NORWALK
A former Weston Town Attorney opined in December of last year that "there seems to be a fundmental misconception" that a sewer connection through Wilton would bring an explosion of growth in that community--and as that Weston Town Attorney stated on December 10 of 1999: "Because they do not want such development...they do not want Weston to connect any sewer lines to Norwalk."
Enclosed in the attorney's letter is a copy of the Norwalk-Wilton agreement from November 29, 1973. The opening paragraphs state:
"The Water Resources Commission of the State of Connecticut has ordered Wilton to construct a sanitary sewer within the Norwalk River Valley terminating at its common boundary with Norwalk." (We presume this was not done via a casual telephone call.)Considering that the Town of Wilton had stopped Route Seven from advancing into Wilton around this same time, it had to be galling for Norwalk. The frustration of Norwalkers--who had seen parks and parts of downtown "taken" for the right-of-way of what was to be the big north-south transportation link in this part of Fairfield County--stalled by Wilton's legal manuevers--may still fester."The Water Resources Commission of the State of Connecticut has advised Norwalk and Wilton to act together for the connection of Norwalk's existing sewerage system as extended to the Wilton line and treatment plant to the Wilton sewerage system upon its construction for the acceptance of liquid waste from the Wilton sewerage system for treatment and disposal."
So in 1973 Norwalk was ordered to take Wilton's liquid wastes. This is such a long time ago, Donald J. Irwin was Mayor of Norwalk (before Bill Collins, before Jenny Cave and before the many, many terms of the current Mayor, the Honorable Frank Esposito) and "Sewer Avoidance" was the then current U.S.E.P.A. policy. "Sewer Avoidance" is a federal program, and parenthetically, "About Town" notes, it was supported by funding (up to 90% in the beginning, we think) and ready availability of low interest loans.
THE LEGAL CASE FOR OR AGAINST SEWER LINE EXTENSION
In the 1990's Towns were still seeking to limit the extension of sewer lines. Information about Newtown (1992 and 1994), Greenwich ("bad faith") sewer district lawsuit (August 22, 1999), Orange (February 15, 1996--"D'Amato v. Town of Orange Water Pollution Control and DEP") are referenced several times in The Red Binder--once by the Weston Town Attorney (#1), once by DEP letter (#2) and once again (#3) by Attorney for the Planning and Zoning Commission of Weston (February 1, 2000). Everyone seems to have the same information--and there are at least three different ways to interpret it!
The critical analysis that "About Town" favors is that of a consultant for one of the off-site properties identified for large-scale acceptance of treated effluent. In a letter dated June 9, 2000, on page five,this engineer points out the difference between residential and school wastewater, both in terms of what is actually in it and the differing flow rates. His conclusion is that there is a solution that can treat excess material in Bisceglie (from the Middle School and the High School) if action is taken to build beyond certain standards (a better design than the State requires).
"The conventional requirements for the design of septic systems for schools increase the potential for operating problems." By skimping on some requirements (perhaps because it is felt that more sophisticated systems will not or cannot be maintained by Towns) and using the most natural, predictable and reliable methods (either great soils and leaching capacity that just won't quit--or using sewers), Connecticut's DEP has found its comfort zone.
CORRESPONDENCE: Planning and Zoning's Attorney
In The Red Binder is a letter dated February 15, 2000 from the Chair. of the Planning and Zoning Commission to the First Selectman. P&Z here submits Attorney Michael Ziska's 10 page letter of February 1, 2000 (requested as part of P&Z's update of the Town Plan of Conservation and Development) to the First Selectman. (NOTE: the First Selectman is ex-officio to all Boards and Commissions; also please note that P&Z adopted a new Town Plan of Conservation and Development effective June 30, 2000.)
"The Weston Planning and Zoning Commission has asked me for advice regarding the potential impact of sewer installation on the Town's comprehensive plan of zoning" Attorney Ziska begins. "Specifically, I believe that the existence of the sewers will reduce the Commission's ability to control the density of residential development through its zoning regulations" the February 1, 2000 letter states.
RESTRICTING SEWER CONNECTIONS TO A DEFINED DISTRICT:
Attorney Ziska ends his long letter by saying "...a careful delineation of a sewer district and the creation of appropriate regulations or ordinances are essential to minimizing the risk of damage to the Town's residential zoning plan." And finally, P&Z is advised: "...physical availibility of sewers could provide an opportunity for a relatively dense development that might not otherwise exist" because of the State's ability to supersede local zoning controls in the case of affordable housing applications.
Subsequent to the February 1, 2000 letter, all members of the Board of Selectmen sent queries to Attorney Ziska. One question evoked the response that "...it is much easier for the legislature to pass bills superseding town decisions" because unless the State commits its own funds to building affordable housing, "its best means for increasing the stock of such housing is probably to shift the burden to municipalities."
Several questions posed "what if" scenarios, which could not be answered definitively, and analysis of the comparitive development pressures of 1)sewer connection, 2)sewer line to existing wastewater treatment plant or 3)sewer to groundwater discharge were also asked.