The town is once again at odds with the local Water Pollution Control Authority about tree removal — this time in the area of Lorraine Avenue.
The town in November issued a cease and desist order to the WPCA for clearing about two dozen tress on sewer easement land in the neighborhood without a permit.
The Inland Wetlands Commission held a hearing Monday night, and decided to extend the order until the commission’s next regular meeting Jan. 24 2011. The attorney for WPCA, Stephen Kulas, did not object to the extension during the hearing.
The cease and desist order resulted from neighborhood complaints.
It’s not the first time residents have complained about WPCA tree clearing. In 2009, residents in a different neighborhood complained that WPCA removal of tress reduced their privacy. The complaints led then-First Selectman Robert Koskelowski to order the WPCA to give notice of any future tree clearings.
That apparently has not happened though.
“We’ve been after an arrangement for a couple of years,” said Peter Jezierney, the town’s inland wetlands enforcement officer, following the brief session at Town Hall.
He said he investigated the complaints of trees being removed in the Lorraine area in early November and found the WPCA was behind it.
A sub-contractor performs the work for the WPCA, Kulas said. The clearing is not on private property, Kulas added.
“The clearing is on easements granted to the town and the WPCA, for areas with sewer pipes,” he said following the brief hearing at Town Hall.
About five neighbors attended the brief session, but did not speak or have an opportunity to speak.
In past cases with the town, an attorney for the WPCA had said the WPCA did not require permission to remove trees on land that wasn’t under wetlands control.
However, the wetlands commission wanted a permit process to be followed.
Kulas has been attorney for the WPCA since early this year and said he could not comment on the ongoing matter beyond what was said at the hearing.
The issue will be discussed at the Inland Wetlands meeting in January.
