KENT—An application to remove an above-ground residential swimming pool and replace it with an inground fiberglass pool raised nary a ripple during Monday night’s meeting of the Inland Wetlands Commission.
The application was submitted by Matthew Starr, 12 Good Hill Estates Rd., and included creating a surrounding concrete pad, installing a fence, pump lines and filters, electrical lines and a reduction of existing septic system from 88 feet to 60 feet. It was reported that Torrington Area Health District had reviewed the septic plans.
The area at the rear of the inground pool will need fill and excavated materials from the inground pool will be used for this purpose.
The application, received while Land Use Administrator Tai Kern was on vacation, had not been reviewed before the meeting. Starr said he removed the existing pool without a demo permit because it had ruptured. The deck, however, still remains, and he asked if he could remove it before permits are granted, a process he termed “tedious.” The committee concurred that he should not dig to remove the supporting posts until after approval, but that the superstructure could be removed.
Kern said that there have been water issues on the site. Starr said there is a natural slope to the land but that all the work would be two to three feet higher than the wetlands and 27 to 40 feet from the wetlands at the edges.
Werner said increasing the impervious surface could lead to more runoff and, with the excessive rainfall experienced in Southern Connecticut two weeks ago, there was discussion of chemically treated water overflowing the pool and draining into the wetlands.
Werner concluded that it is important for Kern to visit the site and for Starr to provide information about the construction sequence, where materials will be stockpiled and drainage. “We need to know where the water will go because you are near a wetlands,” Werner advised. “[Because the water could have chemicals in it] we need to make sure there is a long-enough run to clean it. It’s a question that can be readily answered and if we get it for the next meeting, we can act next month.”
Turning to an application from Roland and Betsy Levesque of 218 Bulls Bridge Rd., Kern explained that it is only before them for a subdivision review because there are wetlands on the property. She said the subdivision regulations were written for large tracts and most of them don’t apply to this property because there will be only one additional lot with no public infrastructure. “I went through the check list, and most of them don’t apply,” she told the commission. “There is no proposal for work within the regulated area. I don’t see any concerns.”
Surveyor Gary Hock put the plan together and he said the wetlands consisted of a manmade ditch that experiences no flow unless there is rain.
Werner noted that the current proposal is “just a feasibility plan demonstrating that the lot could support a house.”
“It seems very straightforward,” she said, and the commission agreed to table it for action next month.
