An image from the Zoom meeting of the P&Z showing the area that was cleared.
DERBY — Concerned that digging could disturb a membrane meant to protect the public from potentially harmful underground contamination, members of the Derby Planning & Zoning Commission put a stop to work a landscaping company was performing at Home Depot on Main Street.
The landscaper recently cleared a small wooded area at a highly visible spot between the sidewalk on Main Street and the loading dock area of Home Depot in downtown Derby.
The landscaper (NELTS, Inc.) had good intentions — to improve an area that had become ugly, overgrown, and, according to the landscapers, home to “transients,” as evidenced by the discovery of needles and bottles on the ground.
But, prior to the clear-cutting, neither Home Depot nor Derby City Hall staff told the landscaper that when Derby approved Home Depot’s plans some 20 years ago, the small wooded area was important to the project’s approval.
Home Depot’s backside faces Main Street, so the city required the company to put in the trees and bushes as a buffer. Any work performed in the buffer zone, which is also home to a Derby war monument, was supposed to come back to the Derby Planning & Zoning Commission for review.
It was a condition of approval set 20 years ago and on file at Derby City Hall, Ted Estwan, the chairman of the Derby P&Z, pointed out.
It’s Home Depot’s responsibility to follow the zoning rules governing the property, officials said.
The city put a stop to the work at Home Depot until the P&Z can review what Home Depot’s contractor will put in.
Estwan noted the property was once home to a Farrel’s manufacturing facility, and that contaminants were left in the ground but “capped” by a membrane (a common practice). Estwan said whatever work is done must take the protective membrane into account.
Regarding the “transients” constantly taking root in the wooded area, Derby police said they’ve received no calls or complaints about the issue.
The planting plan will have to come back to the Derby P&Z for review.
The issue is an example of how institutional knowledge matters. Those who brought the issue to the forefront included former mayor and current Town/City Clerk Marc Garofalo, whose information was backed up by Estwan and P&Z member David Kopjanski, the former building official.
The complete video discussion can be viewed below.
