The city has issued a stop work order for a project at the home of Paul Gaetano, the supervisory assistant state’s attorney for the Ansonia/Milford judicial district.
Gaetano did not get required city permits before hiring Mark IV Construction to fill 7,000 cubic yards of dirt in his back yard, according to city zoning official Rick Schultz.
Now, members of the Planning and Zoning Commission are reviewing an after-the-fact application for the project. They are concerned about environmental issues with the material in the fill, and with the steep slope created as a result of the work.
An estimated 300 truckloads of fill was dumped at the property.
“There are a lot of unanswered questions,” Schultz said.
The commission held a public hearing Wednesday on the application for the already-completed work, but didn’t take action.
The stop work order will remain in place.
The Yard
Gaetano said the land behind his home was eroding away, and he was concerned about safety.
It’s not unheard of for steep slopes in the Valley to cause concern. Just last month, a home on North Oak Avenue was in jeopardy of sliding down a hill after a mudslide.
Gaetano said his wife asked in City Hall how they should proceed. She was told that as long as they weren’t putting up a structure, they didn’t need a permit, Gaetano told the Valley Indy.
“We are law-abiding citizens,” Gaetano said. “We’ll comply with the rules. We were told we didn’t need the permit.”
The city issued a stop work order in December after neighbors complained about the work being done at Gaetano’s property.
(This isn’t the first time an after-the-fact application has come before the Planning and Zoning Commission.)
Neighbors who spoke at the public hearing Wednesday said they were concerned about the way Gaetano’s yard looks now and about material from the dirt contaminating nearby wells.
Neighbors said the yard used to be a wooded, sloped area, but now it looks like a plateau with a steep cliff overlooking neighboring yards.
The Valley Independent Sentinel is not disclosing the address of the home due to Gaetano’s employment as a local prosecutor.
The Fill
Mark IV Construction brought in fill that included material from a sewer project in Trumbull, Schultz said. The fill includes asphalt and concrete, Schultz said.
The city wants to have the fill tested for contaminants and have a more detailed explanation of where the material came from before the next hearing.
The commissioners were also concerned about the slope, and suggested that grading might be needed on the property, Schultz said.
The commissioners will take up the issue again at their next meeting, scheduled for Feb. 9.
