The battle over the future of Belleview Drive will have to wait at least another month for a resolution.
The Derby Planning and Zoning Commission postponed a decision Tuesday night on a rezoning proposal until its Dec. 21 meeting, after a group of residents submitted a petition against the move. Members agreed to the delay because the board’s lawyer needs to review the petition to figure out whether the commission would need a supermajority to approve the change.
It’s a relatively simple request: developer Ray Sadlik wants to rezone a piece of land that’s now slated for residential and industrial use to all residential. But Sadlik ultimately wants to build a four-home subdivision in the area, which would require a second, and separate, vote by the commission.
The specter of those homes hangs over the current discussion, which will now stretch into a third month because of strong opposition from the neighborhood.
“Our voice has never wavered,” Belleview Drive resident Tony Berlinger told the commission. “Why is it so hard for you guys to understand that we know what’s best for our neighborhood?”
Residents who spoke at the meeting, as they did during last month’s hearing, said they were worried about traffic, as well as whether more homes would be a good addition to Derby’s tax base. They said people and pets have been injured on the street, and that things would only get worse if Sadlik gets his way.
Neighbor Bill Nicolette, who presented the petition to the commission, said Sadlik should have to present his entire plan for the subdivision “so that everyone can make an educated decision.”
Nicolette also raised questions about the letters Sadlik brought to last month’s meeting from Derby’s police and fire chiefs.
Nicolette said he’s next in line to head the city’s fire department, and that he knew nothing about the letter from the outgoing chief – and that the department shouldn’t be weighing in anyway.
“I think it was a little deceptive that this was written, and I think it has no bearing on an application,” Nicolette said.
Sadlik pointed out that the land that abuts part of Belleview Drive is zoned for light industrial use, and that the change he’s asking for would actually increase the buffer space between the neighborhood and a future commercial development.
Sadlik said he had tried to ease a number of the residents’ concerns, but “the one thing I can’t address is the not-in-my-backyard syndrome, which is clearly what we have here.”
Commissioners were clearly agonized by the decision they have to make, especially because they’re not actually considering the larger subdivision.
Commissioner Glenn H. Stevens said that if this were just a simple zoning change, he’d be for it because it puts more room between the neighborhood and the industrial zoning.
“However, I think the mistake here has been that someone has distributed the four-house plan, which has skewed everything,” he said. “If we vote to make the zoning change, we’re one step closer.”
Commissioner Albert Misiewicz was blunter, asking, “What are we really gaining by changing this zoning? What is the town gaining?”
The petition allowed the commission to punt for another month. Board lawyer Joseph Coppola said that if the petition features the signatures of 20 percent of the property owners within 500 feet of Sadlik’s property, the board would need five of its seven members to vote “yes” instead of the usual four.
Belleview Drive residents said they’d be back for next month’s meeting, even if it might intrude on their pre-Christmas plans.
In other business Tuesday, the commission approved an exception to allow veterinarian Jeffrey Schpero to move his office to 380 New Haven Drive.
Commissioners agreed to hold a special hearing for Debbie Parlow, who wants to move her dance studio to 198 Seymour Ave. Parlow couldn’t prove that she had sent out the required notice to neighbors of the new location, so the board couldn’t hold the public hearing Tuesday.
After pleas from Parlow and Glenn Dworkin, whose brother is Parlow’s would-be landlord, commissioners agreed to meet Monday at 7 p.m. to discuss her application.
