Traffic gets heavy during commuter hours on Route 7 near where a contractor’s yard is proposed. This is early evening looking south. The proposed development would be on the east side of Route 7, to the left. —Macklin Reid photo
Neighborhood opponents of a proposed contractor’s yard on Route 7 came out swinging against the project Tuesday, fighting the project at a Planning and Zoning Commission hearing through their hired attorney and panel of experts.
About 50 residents, many from The Regency at Ridgefield, attended the public hearing at Town Hall Annex. They spoke only through their attorney, Marjorie Shansky of New Haven, and experts.
A police officer was on duty to keep the peace.
“This application does not pass muster of standards (for stormwater and soil erosion) and should be denied,” said Michael Klein, a soil scientist hired by the neighbors.
The neighbors have won before. In 2013, opponents ultimately chased away the proposed relocation of Danbury-based Ergotech Inc., a light manufacturing facility, to the commercial site, which is on the east side of Route 7 directly across from Little Pond.
Little Pond stands to become polluted by the stormwater runoff from the contractor’s yard, another expert said, pointing out that contractor vehicles will be washed down and refueled, with spillings falling onto the ground and washing into the aquifer protection zone pond.
The longtime owner of the site, Larry Leary Development LLC, is applying for a pair of special permits, one for a multi-unit contractor’s yard to serve plumbers, electricians and other small contractors who need a garage to park their vehicles and warehouse space for work supplies like pipes and cables. The other permit is for the rock crushing, excavation and earth processing related to construction site preparation.
Neighbors have already expressed their anger over the dynamite blasting that is planned for the site. That came at the previous public hearing.
In support of the proposal, the developer’s traffic engineer Tuesday said the contractor’s yard will not add to the busy Route 7 peak time traffic.
“Contractors work hours are from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m., so they avoid the peak traffic times of 7 to 8 a.m. and 5 to 6 p.m.,” said the engineer, Steve Coppola.
The attorney for the project, Robert Jewell, said there would be very little daytime presence at the contractor’s yard.
“These are small jobbers like electricians. They don’t have any office staff,” Jewell said.
The public hearing was continued to June 23.
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