The Inland Wetlands Commission will weigh in Thursday (Aug. 13) in the case of the mysteriously felled trees on Cranberry Hills Estates off Armstrong Road.
In April, someone cut down more than 40 trees at the site of the site that will house the subdivision, according to the New Haven Register.
A stop worker order was issued by Shelton May 8. The Cranberry Hills developers — including John Guedes — say they don’t know who cut the trees, but, since it is their property, they have to deal with it by coming up with a tree replacement plan.
At a Planning and Zoning Commission meeting Tuesday, Stephen Bellis, a lawyer representing Guedes, urged the commission to lift the stop work order because the delay endangers the project’s financing.
Bellis reiterated that his client did not cut down the trees, some of which were in wetland.
“There’s no reason why this stop order shouldn’t be lifted. The developer didn’t do anything wrong,” Bellis said.
However, Shelton officials haven’t signed off on the developer’s proposed tree replacement plan.
Members of the Planning and Zoning Commission Tuesday they weren’t ready to lift the order without first hearing from Inland Wetlands.
“There’s more that needs to be resolved by the Inland Wetlands Commission,” said Anthony Pogoda, chairman of the Planning and Zoning Comission.
The zoning panel could have asked Zoning Administrator Rick Schultz to lift the order, but it would likely stay past Thursday because the city Conservation Commission must also review the tree replacement plan submitted by the developers, who also include Anthony Nizardo of Allen Street in Stratford, Schultz said.
The Board of Aldermen also has a say in the process, Schulz added.
“There are many pieces of the puzzle,” Schultz said after the meeting.
The developers want to build 42 single-family units near the Cranberry Hill bog on Armstrong Road. The bog is the largest in southern New England, Schultz said.
The developer’s tree replacement plan is one condition for the lifting of the order, but it was not enough for John R. Trautman, an ecological consultant hired by neighbors Irving and Nancy Steiner of Partridge Lane.
In an Aug. 11 letter to Pogoda, Trautman called for a show cause hearing to discuss the “character and magnitude of the ecological damage associated with the violation.”
Trautman said mature black and white oaks and a large black birch tree were felled, and would be replaced with inferior trees under the developers’ proposal.
“All it is is a tree-planting plan, a glorified landscaping plan,” he said after the meeting.
Schultz later said the zoning panel would not hold a show cause hearing and that the Inland Wetlands Commission at its July meeting also refused to hold one.
The Inland Wetlands Commission meets at 7 p.m. Thursday in Room 303 in City Hall.
Additional background on the tree cutting mystery is available from the Huntington Herald.
