The 36-unit condominium development proposed for a River Road property owned by Mayor Mark Lauretti appears headed for approval over the vociferous objections of one member of the Planning & Zoning Commission (PZC).
At a meeting Tuesday, PZC member Joan Flannery listed pollution as the major reason, but not the only reason, for her opposition.
Flannery and Chairman Ruth Parkins grew testy at one point when Parkins observed that Flannery shouldn’t oppose the application because of pollution if no evidence of pollution is on the official public hearing record for the application.
“There is no way anyone can say this property is safe,” Flannery said.
Reminded that the applicant presented an engineering report claiming the pollutants posed no health risk, she replied she didn’t believe the report.
“If you have documentation about it, you should have presented it at the public hearing,” Parkins said.
The other members of the PZC, including Anthony Pogoda, who participated via speaker phone because he is on vacation, did not share Flannery’s concerns.
Parkins asked the commission’s staff to prepare a resolution for approval for the next regular PZC meeting on Dec. 11.
The official applicant, Country Club of CT, LLC, has requested approval for a Planned Development District zone change and a 36-unit condominium development at 550 River Road.
The 9.3‑acre property is owned by Lauretti. Torrington-based ATA Realty has a contract to purchase and develop it.
The property generated plenty of controversy about a decade ago when Lauretti bought it after the city turned down purchasing it for open space because part of it was contaminated with chemical waste.
Critics, including two former mayors, filed ethics complaints on the grounds that Lauretti should have given the Board of Aldermen the choice of only buying the uncontaminated portion. Lauretti was cleared, but still speaks bitterly about it.
The chemical contaminants are capped with a thick plastic cover and three feet of dirt, but Flannery said that they might still pose a health risk.
She also warned that the property might be the site of an ancient Indian burial ground.
If so, said PZC consultant Anthony Panico, the applicant might find construction halted by the state archeologist.
Most of Panico’s concerns had to do with how the layout of the driveways would affect the ability of trucks to maneuver through the complex.
He said he thought those problems could be addressed with the loss of a few visitor parking spaces, which wouldn’t be a problem because the proposal provides for more than enough parking.
The proposal recently received unanimous approval by the city’s Inland Wetlands and Watercourses Commission.