A Google satellite image shows the woods near the intersection of Coon Hollow Road and Chatfield Street in west Derby. The roof of the former VARCA building on Coon Hollow Road is on the right.
DERBY — A lawyer is asking a court to overturn a recent planning and zoning decision allowing a 5‑million water tank to be constructed off Coon Hollow Road.
On June 18 the Derby Planning and Zoning Commission unanimously approved a site plan application from the Regional Water Authority to build a 52-foot, 1‑million-gallon tank in a wooded area between Coon Hollow and the entrance to the high school/middle school campus off Chatfield Street.
In court documents filed July 5, lawyer Gregory J. Cava asks that the decision be overturned and that the court order the Derby P&Z to reject the utility company’s application. In addition, Cava is asking the court to issue a permanent injunction against using the land for a water tank and parking lot.
Cava represents Sharlene McEvoy. and Dorothy Marinelli.
Dorothy Marinelli is a trustee of the Marinelli family trust of Chatfield Street, owner of the closest residence to the proposed water tank location.McEvoy lives in the area of “Telescope Mountain,” where the water company previously wanted to put the tower (off Summitt Street).
The water company abandoned the location after McEvoy and neighbors opposed that application, saying the amount of rock that needed to be removed for the tank would have been like putting a mining operation at the top of a residential zone.
In court documents, Cava takes issue with the way the city and the water company have been dealing with each other.
Back in October the city’s legislative body endorsed a deal that was to see Derby lease about 2 acres of woods off Coon Hollow Road to the Regional Water Authority for $1.
The utility company agreed to buy about 1 acres of woods on Lombardi Drive on the other side of the city that cannot be developed. That land will be purchased on behalf of the city, who will use the land to improve long-standing water drainage issues in the immediate area.
In addition, the utility company has been negotiating to buy undeveloped land from a third party on Coon Hollow Road across from the former VARCA building. That land will be used so that Regional Water can access its tank — and that the city can provide additional parking for new athletic facilities up the road on Chatfield Street.
(Originally city officials said the parking lot would be built to support any future use of the old VARCA building, which has since been sold to a private company).
Cava says the city didn’t follow proper procedures for selling or leasing public land. Cava says the city put out a bid request that guaranteed it would only get one bidder — the Regional Water Authority.
But city officials have repeatedly stressed the situation is not routine. The Regional Water Authority needs the tank because of a water pressure problem in west Derby (and parts of nearby Ansonia).
It’s a public safety issue, city officials have said repeatedly, one that the water company has been trying to address for more than a decade.
“The number one goal of this tank is for public safety,” Charles Sampson, the president of the Board of Aldermen, said at a meeting Oct. 25. “There is absolutely no water pressure on the west side of town whatsoever. I’ve been to structure fires where we’ve had to do extra long (hose) lays, to bring in (water) tankers, which we’ve never had to do before.”
Regarding the June 18 yes vote from the Derby P&Z, Cava says the move was “illegal, arbitrary, abusive of statutory obligations, (and) was and an abuse of discretion.”
More specifically, Cava argues the water tank does not adhere to Derby zoning rules in areas such as maximum height and landscape buffering, and it doesn’t fit the city’s own Plan of Conservation and Development.
In court documents Cava further alleges the construction will destroy trees, displace wildlife and permanently impact the quality of life of the residents nearby.
In approving the application for the water tank, the Derby P & Z determined the proposal was in accordance with zoning regs.
“There is no prudent and feasible alternative to the location of the proposed water tower,” the commission stated in its approval.
