The Planning and Zoning Commission Wednesday night hammered out a concensus that could result in 175 truckloads of fill being removed from the property of Paul Gaetano, the supervisory assistant state’s attorney for the Ansonia-Milford judicial district.
While a stop work order remains in effect at Gaetano’s home, he is expected to comply with the commission’s requests so that an “after-the-fact” permit can be issued for work last year filling in his property.
The now-flat backyard will be excavated down to a slope.
Gaetano hired workers who dump fill in his yard to make it level — but never received the required city permits.
Gaetano told the Valley Indy his wife inquired in Shelton City Hall and was told no permit was needed.
“The asphalt will be removed, the rebar, trees and branches will be removed,” said Ruth Parkins, chairman of the commission, reading off the list of requirements Gaetano must satisfy to receive the permit.
The commission also wants Mark IV Construction, which is performing the work for the Gaetanos, to monitor plantings, including evergreen tree,s to be certain they are healthy.
The firm must also test neighboring well water during the excavation — as well as a year from now — and post bonds for site completion and landscaping material guarantees.
Mark IV last year dumped an estimated 7,000 cubic yards of dirt in the yard to eliminate Gaetano’s slope.
It has been an emotional issue with neighbors.
The next meeting, at which the temporary special exception could be issued, is set for March 4. Neighbors have attended the public hearings and expressed concerns about their wells, among other issues.
The engineer for the project has assured the neighbors that tests show no evidence of oil on the property. They were concerned because some of the fill was asphalt, which is partly made from petroleum.
“I still have an issue with the runoff, the contaminants left on the property,” said neighbor Thomas Hanko, who spoke at the continued public hearing Wednesday. “I am in no way against anybody upgrading their property. It’s not an aesthetic issue anymore. I’m interested in the value of my health and my personal property.”
Mary Peck, who said she lives directly below the backyard, also expressed concerns about her well.
“What I have now is asphalt that could go into my well system. Nowadays, this is 2010, people are more aware of their environment and the dangers. I don’t like asphalt buried in there.”
Attorney Dominck Thomas, who represents the Gaetanos, said he will discuss all the requirements with his client before the next meeting and believes the matter is being resolved.
The commission also wants Mark IV to provide a site monitoring plan and provide telephone numbers of people who can be contacted on weekends, when regular businesses and City Hall is closed.
Thank you for an excellent forum -much more detail than the NHR. It is always an insult to read an article on this subject, being a Gaetano neighbor, as the Gaetanos appear to consider their neighbors to be stupid. They continually state that they applied in person at P&Z to get a permit, and were told they didn’t need one. What person/dept.? did they apply to? Even the PZ Chairwoman told them to stop referring to this ridiculous story.
Also, if you read the P&Z minutes, it is on record that the contractor – Della Bitta -stated that Mrs Gaetano told him that she and her husband already had a permit, and that it was OK for him to do the work.
How could the Gaetanos even pretend to think that no one would need a permit for this size project? No one could possibly build a platform 27 feet high with a 1 to 1 drop off (a virtual cliff!)and not think a permit was required. That just doesn’t make any sense. What difference if it was made of wood/nails/ or mud/cement/entire trees/parts of trees/illegar rebar w/steel, etc. Building a 27-28 ft tall is still a structure-regardless of supplies used.
We in the neighborhood are still afraid that this mass may do a “meltdown” or “liquefy”, as was earlier stated by Rick Schultz, p&z administrator, during a ‘major rain event’. At the 1st or 2nd meeting, he called this the LARGEST amount of fill ever brought in on a piece of land this size, in the history of Shelton- without a permit. I’ll bet there’s a reason for that!!!B/c this much fill 7-10,000 cu yds., shd never be brought in without a specific plan. So that it doesn’t create mudslides, landslides, well-damage, etc. The Gaetanos continue to say that they didn’t know that they needed a permit. Well, did it ever occurr to them, as they were freely bull-dozing that 7-10,000 cu yds of fill around, that perhaps they needed a PLAN? Whoa! What a mess! 20-30 ft high plateaus. No plan, other than to make their yard the highest and most level on the block. No thought as to whether this fill was stable at all! Not even for themselves. If someone had taken a header off of one of the plateaus, serious injury or death was inevitable. The plateaus had a 1 to 1 ratio edge – which means a virtual cliff. Who would build a yard like this? Maybe good for a castle wall-to keep intruders out?
You can’t convince me-for even a second-that these people thought of their adjoining and other neighbors for even a nanosecond before starting. All that they wanted was a big flat yard.
Period.