beagenda

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MINUTES<= o:p>

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WATERTOWN ZONING BOARD OF APPEALS

PUBLIC H= EARING

WEDNESDA= Y, NOVEMBER 10, 2004 - 7:30 P.M.

JOHN TRU= MBULL SCHOOL MEDIA CENTER

APPLICAT= ION #787 – NOREEN AND DENNIS BUCKLEY

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PRESENT: = &nb= sp; = Phil Roger, Vice Chairman

= ; &n= bsp; = ; &n= bsp; = ; Enrico Sarandrea, Chai= rman

ABSENT: &= nbsp; &nbs= p; &= nbsp; Mary Bisson, Secretary=

&= nbsp; &nbs= p; &= nbsp; &nbs= p; &= nbsp; Roger Mitchell

&= nbsp; &nbs= p; &= nbsp; &nbs= p; &= nbsp; Nicholas Reynolds

ALTERNATES PRESENT: = John Griffith

&nbs= p; Scott Stewart

ALTERNATES ABSENT: &= nbsp; None

OTHERS PRESENT: &n= bsp; = ; Moosa Rafey, Assistant Zoning Enforcement Officer

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1. = Call Meeting To Order

Mr. Sarandrea, Chairman, called the Public Hearing to Order at 7:35 p.m.

2. &nb= sp; Roll Call

Mr. Roger, Vice Chairman, executed the Roll Call.

Mr. Sarandrea, Chairman, asked Mr. Griffith to sit in for Mr. Reynolds.

Mr. Sarandrea, Chairman, asked Mr. Stewart to sit in for Mr. Mitchell, in his absence.

Mr. Sarandrea, Chairma= n, asked Mr. Stewart to act as Secretary in Ms. Bisson’s absence.

WATERTOWN ZONING BOARD OF APPEALS

PUBLIC H= EARING

APPLICAT= ION #787 – NOREEN AND DENNIS BUCKLEY

NOVEMBER= 10, 2004

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Mr. Sarandrea, Chairma= n, read aloud the Legal Notice for the Record:

“Rules For Condu= ct of Public Hearing

The applicant, or his representative will make his formal presentation to the Board stating his specific hardship and precisely why this merits a variance from the Zoning = Regulations of the Town of Watertown. All comments, discussions, and observations shall be made through the Chair aft= er proper recognition by the Chairman. This is necessary to ensure that only one person at a time speaks on= any issue, thus making it easier for everyone to understand for clear, legal transcription.

All persons addressing= the Board shall begin by first clearly stating their name and address for the record. If necessary, the per= son may be asked to spell his name for the record. Following the presentation of the application the Zoning Board of Appeals will ask specific questions of the applicant. After the Board has asked its questions of the applicant, the Chairman shall then allow any mem= bers of the public who wish to speak either for or against this application, to address the Board. The Chairm= an shall then allow the applicant to respond to the comments of the members of= the general public. The Chairman = shall then allow members of the general public who wish to discuss any additional= information or clarifying discussions, to do so. The Chairman shall then provide an opportunity for the applicant to respond to these additional remarks if he or his representative(s) so wish.=

The Zoning Board of Appeals has 35 days from the date the Public Hearing commen= ces to complete the Public Hearing. The Board may ask the applicant for a 35 day extension of the Public Hearing pe= riod if the Board requires any additional information or wishes to schedule a si= te walk to observe the situation for themselves. The Zoning Board of Appeals has 65= days from the date the Public Hearing is closed to render its decision. The Board may or may not make its decision tonight at its Regular Meeting following the Public Hearing. You may stay for the Regular Meeti= ng if you wish or you may leave at the end of the Public Hearing and contact the Zoning Officer the following morning to determine the status of your application.”

3. Hearing of Cases=

&= nbsp; A. Application #787 of Noreen and Dennis Buckley request for a variance of 18 feet to a si= de yard property line setback to permit the construction of an addition to an existing single family dwelling at 269 Beach Avenue, Watertown, CT in an R-= 30 Residential Zoning District.

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&= nbsp; Recess or Adjourn Public Hearing must be Closed by December 15, 2004 unless applic= ant grants a time extension.

WATERTOWN ZONING BOARD OF APPEALS

PUBLIC H= EARING

APPLICAT= ION #787 – NOREEN AND DENNIS BUCKLEY

NOVEMBER= 10, 2004

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&= nbsp; Mr. Mitchell read aloud the Legal Notice for the record:

“Legal Notice

&= nbsp; The Zoning Board of Appeals of the Town of Watertown will hold a Public Hearing= at 7:30 p.m. on Wednesday, November 10, 2004 at the John Trumbull Primary Scho= ol Media Center, 779 Buckingham Street, Oakville, CT to hear and act upon the following application:

&= nbsp; Application #787 of Noreen and Dennis Buckley of 269 Beach Avenue, Watertown, CT request for a variance of 18 feet to a side yard property line setback to permit the construction of an 18 x 40 addition to an existing single family dwelling t= o be located 2 feet from a side yard property line at 269 Beach Avenue, Watertow= n, CT in an R-30 Residential Zoning District.

&= nbsp; Section 23.5.3.c of the Watertown Zoning Regulations requires minimum 20 feet side = yard property line setback for a principle building in an R-30 Residential Zoning District.

&= nbsp; At this Hearing interested persons and written communications will be heard. A copy of the application is on fi= le in the Planning and Zoning Office, 51 Depot Street, Suite 502, Watertown, CT.<= o:p>

&= nbsp; Dated at Watertown, CT this 28^th day of October 2004.

&= nbsp; Dated at Watertown, CT this 4^th day of November, 2004

&= nbsp;

&= nbsp; Mary Bisson, Secretary

&= nbsp; Zoning Board of Appeals”

&= nbsp; Dennis Buckley, 269 Beach Avenue, Watertown, CT&n= bsp; 06795

&= nbsp; Mr. Buckley: I have pictures.=

= ; Mr. Rafey: I made copies of those pictures for everyone.

= ; Mr. Buckley: I’ll read the letter I wrote= :

WATERTOWN ZONING BOARD OF APPEALS

PUBLIC H= EARING

APPLICAT= ION #787 – NOREEN AND DENNIS BUCKLEY

NOVEMBER= 10, 2004

Page 4

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&= nbsp; “To the Zoning Board of Appeals:

&= nbsp; We are requesting a variance on our property so that we may add additional liv= ing space to our existing home. W= e are a family of 5, 2 that are here, plus my wife and myself, the other one is a= t a friend’s house. We have= only two small bedrooms for 3 children, one slighter larger bedroom for ourselves and only 1 small bathroom on the second floor. After many conversations with vari= ous contractors and architects, we have determined that the only viable place to put our addition is on the left hand side of the house, as you’re fac= ing it. This addition will be compromised primarily of a master bedroom and a master bathroom on the first floor of the house, entering from the current living room of the house. We explored the possibility of explaining to the space above our garage, but were told it is not feasible = and cost prohibitive due to the family room dividing the main house from the sp= ace above the garage. You can see= from the pictures that there is a family room that is in the middle of the main house and our garage, with what they call a bonus room up on top. In addition the existing chimney, = as you can see in those pictures, is directly in the middle of that family room so= it would be impossible to try and get across into that second floor above the garage, preventing us from expanding to the second floor. Besides these two factors, the ele= vation of the two second floors, again where are current bedrooms are and where the bottom floor of that bonus room are not at the same elevation so it wouldn’t work because of that going across. Expanding out to the rear of the h= ouse would also not work due to the topography of the land. We sit on a vast amount of ledge.<= span style=3D'mso-spacerun:yes'> In fact when they put that develop= ment up there 25 years ago they had an extremely hard time getting foundations i= n, getting septic systems in, etc. so there’s a huge amount of ledge. You can see in those pictures ther= e is a huge amount of rock that I have in the back yard so again trying to get off= the back of the house would also be pretty much impossible and cost prohibitive. Also so you can = see in those pictures, there is an extreme drop-off in he back yard, it almost goes into a cliff into the back woods, and they border down into Porter Street d= own below. So therefore we are on= ly left to work on the left hand side of the house.

&= nbsp; Our neighbors to our left, Bob and Shelly Peck, who are again about 300 or 400 = feet back up into the woods have no objection.&= nbsp; I think you’ll see in the application that I have the letter f= rom Bob and Shelly that they have absolutely no objection to the variance, so t= hey have no problem with that and it wouldn’t affect their privacy or qua= lity of life as they put in the letter.

WATERTOWN ZONING BOARD OF APPEALS

PUBLIC H= EARING

APPLICAT= ION #787 – NOREEN AND DENNIS BUCKLEY

NOVEMBER= 10, 2004

Page 6

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= ; Mr. Sarandrea: With the 18 feet, where would this drain be? Would it= be right under the addition then?

= ; Mr. Buckley: Absolutely not. No. 18 feet is only to my property line, actually 20.7 feet to my proper= ty line. From the property line,= see the drain, again my guess is it’s about 6 or 7 feet over so it must b= e on the far right hand side of his . . . .

= ; Mr. Sarandrea: Do you know how big th= is culvert, this pipe is? Is it a sewer or storm sewer?

= ; Mr. Rafey: Sewer, drainage.=

= ; Mr. Buckley: \Actually it’s a sewer. When the = actual . . . . .

= ; Mr. Roger: (Inaudible) storm.

&= nbsp; Mr. Sarandrea: (Inaudible) st= orm.

= ; Mr. Buckley: Yea. They put a sewer in there, I don&#= 8217;t know whether that makes any difference or not. There is a when they put water and= sewer on Beach Avenue about 6 or 7 years ago, because of where we’re situat= ed, the sewer line actually goes right down that line and rains out onto Porter Street. We live back on the n= ew development on Echo Lake Road, the sewer line goes right down and drains in= to Echo Lake Road, across from that new house that’s there.

= ; Mr. Rafey: I went to the property and there i= s a concrete pipe, a drainage pipe that comes from the road, and then it opens there, that is a drainage pipe.

&= nbsp; Mr. Buckley: Okay, that’= ;s different from the sewer line, okay.

&= nbsp; Mr. Sarandrea: Yea, cause if it’s a storm sewer, that’s not a big deal.

= ; Mr. Rafey: When the problem is in the future = if there is more impervious surface area created on Beach Avenue, then they may put another pipe there to handle the additional water.

&= nbsp; Mr. Sarandrea: How many feet = will they have?

= ; Mr. Rafey: 15 feet wide.

WATERTOWN ZONING BOARD OF APPEALS

PUBLIC H= EARING

APPLICAT= ION #787 – NOREEN AND DENNIS BUCKLEY

NOVEMBER= 10, 2004

Page 7

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&= nbsp; Mr. Sarandrea: With his 18 fo= ot addition?

= ; Mr. Rafey: 5 feet of the addition will be on = the easement area.

&= nbsp; Mr. Buckley: Right, but not o= n the drain itself. And again when = you just said impervious area, what does that mean?

= ; Mr. Rafey: If there is other development that requires additional pipe on the road in the future, because sometimes they = put a pipe, and in the future if they need another one they put it next to it.<= o:p>

&= nbsp; Mr. Sarandrea: Does anybody h= ave any idea how big that pipe is?

&= nbsp; Mr. Buckley: I do not know. That area up there is fully develo= ped, there is no room to put any additional houses up there, so I don’t kn= ow what additional piping they would put in there. It hasn’t been touched in 25 years.

= ; Mr. Rafey: I gave you a memo from Chuck Berge= r, the Town Engineer, if you want to read that into the record.<= /p>

= ; Mr. Sarandrea: So it is a drainage easement.=

= ; Mr. Griffith: Storm sewer drainage.

= ; Mr. Buckley: I was (inaudible) I was talking an= swers.

= ; Mr. Sarandrea: So it’s not as bad. If it was sewer, you might have a = little bit of a problem. I’ll = have the Secretary read the letter from the Town Engineer.

&= nbsp; Mr. Stewart, Secretary Pro Tem, read aloud a letter from Chuck Berger, the Town Engineer as follows:

&= nbsp; “Re: Z.B.A. Application #787/269 Beach = Avenue

&= nbsp; I have reviewed the above referenced Zoning Board of Appeals application for = the proposed expansion of a residential house that exists on the property. Please be advised that the Town of Watertown has a drainage easement on this portion of the property. Within this easement area there ca= n be no structures or permanent obstructions that would interfere with the Town’s ability to construct, service, repair, or replace the drainage system A copy of the drainage easement is attached for your reference.&n= bsp; If you have any questions or need additional information please do n= ot hesitate to contact this office.”

WATERTOWN ZONING BOARD OF APPEALS

PUBLIC H= EARING

APPLICAT= ION #787 – NOREEN AND DENNIS BUCKLEY

NOVEMBER= 10, 2004

Page 8

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&= nbsp; Mr. Buckley: I think maybe it’s important to establish exactly where that pipe is. I don’t think it’s, th= at would be, I don’t know where that is, I can’t tell you, but aga= in how often, again I don’t want to build an addition on top of a draina= ge pipe.

&= nbsp; Mr. Sarandrea: That’s t= he problem. If you do that . . .= .

&= nbsp; Mr. Buckley: (Inaudible) couldn’t be done, but it, there is an easement that goes, my guess is= 12 feet over into the other property line.&nb= sp; If there is any work to be done, it could be done from that side.

&= nbsp; Mr. Rafey: The problem with t= he Town is that if they have to go there and repair that pipe or do something,= and they damage your property, your (inaudible) then who will be liable? The Town doesn’t want to tak= e any liability. If you put that addition, and now maybe there is no need, but in the future we don’t = know what is going to happen. That= is what the Town Engineer said, that if they have to go there for service or replacement, they want to have enough room there to work.=

&= nbsp; Mr. Sarandrea: Your neighbor = next door, how far is this pipe from his side yard property? How far is this drainage from your neighbor?

&= nbsp; Mr. Buckley: I believe itR= 17;s right on the line. We’re talking about . . . . .

&= nbsp; Mr. Sarandrea: It’s rig= ht on his line. Okay? So if it’s on his line, what I’m trying to get here is, how far from his line to his house, how mu= ch space is there, do you have any idea?

&= nbsp; Mr. Buckley: 400 feet.

&= nbsp; Mr. Sarandrea: So what you= 217;re telling me is this pipe runs in between two properties, the pipe is on your neighbor’s line, and from the pipe to his house is 400 feet?

&= nbsp; Mr. Buckley: Correct.

&= nbsp; Mr. Roger: Well his neighbors= line is also his line.

&= nbsp; Mr. Buckley: Right.

&= nbsp; Mr. Sarandrea: I know that, b= ut . . . . .

WATERTOWN ZONING BOARD OF APPEALS

PUBLIC H= EARING

APPLICAT= ION #787 – NOREEN AND DENNIS BUCKLEY

NOVEMBER= 10, 2004

Page 9

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= ; Mr. Roger: But he wants to build an addition = within 2 feet from the line, and if the pipe is on the line, then he’s 2 feet from the pipe.

&= nbsp; Mr. Sarandrea: Buy what IR= 17;m trying to get at is if there’s more room on his neighbor’s side= of the property, they may be able to still, he can put elbows or whatever to g= et around this thing.

= ; Mr. Stewart: Hypothetically would your neighbor= have any opposition to relocating the line, or rerouting it further onto his land and I guess from the Town Engineer’s point of view, would he have any problem with doing that and I guess you’d have to make a slight chang= e in the land records to change the easement?

&= nbsp; Mr. Rafey: Then it becomes a = legal issue, they’ll have to change the deed, they’ll have to move the easement from this property all on the next door neighbor’s property. I don’t know = if the neighbor (inaudible).

&= nbsp; Mr. Roger: But only if there’s a problem in the future.&nbs= p; At this point the easement is still going to exist where it is and t= he pipe is going to exist where it is. At this point it’s hard to have them draw up an easement for a future problem if it ever exists, you know what I’m saying?

= ; Mr. Sarandrea: What I’m trying to get at is= that it seems to me that he’s got more land on his side of the property, e= ven if he wanted to put an addition on the side of his house he could put one 2= 00 feet long if he wanted to.

&= nbsp; Mr. Buckley: Right.

&= nbsp; Mr. Sarandrea: That’s w= hat I’m trying to get at. B= ut you might, I mean we could recess this without your permission. What you might want to do is go to= the Town Engineer and ask them if it’s okay to maybe make some kind of stipulation it he easement, you’ll probably have to talk to your neighbor, and see if they could go in there to work, if they had to, they c= ould probably put elbows around. I= mean we all do construction, but they could probably elbow this thing around. This thing may never have a proble= m, but in the event that it did, you don’t want them digging under your addi= tion after you’re there, you’re happy, 4 or 5 years from now, the ne= xt thing you know they’re digging up all around your addition. You’re just going to put a f= ooting and slab is what you’re doing? For the addition? Ther= e is no cellar.

WATERTOWN ZONING BOARD OF APPEALS

PUBLIC H= EARING

APPLICAT= ION #787 – NOREEN AND DENNIS BUCKLEY

NOVEMBER= 10, 2004

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&= nbsp; Mr. Buckley: I believe there = would be a foundation. That’s= what I think (inaudible).

&= nbsp; Mr. Sarandrea: So you’re going to have a cellar under this?

&= nbsp; Mr. Buckley: Correct. (Inaudible.)

&= nbsp; Mr. Sarandrea: Oh, that’= ;s a whole different story.

&= nbsp; Mr. Buckley: Yea, but I don&#= 8217;t think again (inaudible).

&= nbsp; Mr. Sarandrea: No, I’m = not saying that, but the thing of it is, like for instance they’re doing = the river over on Steele Brook. I= n some places, like on Davis Street, they’re taking 89 feet. They needed 80 feet on either side= of this one person’s property that somebody called me up over the weeken= d, they’re flipping out over it, they’re taking all of the trees o= ut and they need 80 feet, so you get in there with a machine, and you’re saying what, 7 feet from the drain?

&= nbsp; Mr. Buckley: Correct.

&= nbsp; Mr. Sarandrea: Well you get an excavator in there, that excavator is going to need to swing, and your addi= tion is in the way, that could cause problems.

= ; Mr. Stewart: If you look at this photo, it look= s like that line is going to be pretty deep too, cause the slope from back to fron= t . . . . .

&= nbsp; Mr. Buckley: Well there is a difference between, I know the sewer line is very, very deep, but I think t= hat we’re talking about a drain . . . . .

&= nbsp; Mr. Sarandrea: We’re ta= lking bout the storm sewer.

&= nbsp; Mr. Buckley: The storm sewer.= I don’t think it’s that deep, cause I know where the hole comes out, but again, maybe we could esta= blish exactly where this sewer is.

&= nbsp; Mr. Sarandrea: Right, cause y= ou have a nice house there and you’re going to put a nice addition on. I mean it would be worth it, I don’t know when you want to get this thing up, are you planning on . = . . . . .

WATERTOWN ZONING BOARD OF APPEALS

PUBLIC H= EARING

APPLICAT= ION #787 – NOREEN AND DENNIS BUCKLEY

NOVEMBER= 10, 2004

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&= nbsp; Mr. Buckley: (Inaudible).

&= nbsp; Mr. Sarandrea: Well there you go. I would go the next step, it’s worth it to you to try to make sure before you build anything to see, check with the Town, I mean they’re pretty flexible. Especially since it’s a storm sewer, there are probably things you can do. And this way at least you got it o= n your deed, and at least everybody is aware of it and then you can put your addition. I’m just spea= king for myself as the Chair, I don’t really see any problem with putting = this addition on, but the only problem I think you got right here is this storm sewer and I would really, just for your own benefit, try to get that resolv= ed before.

= ; Mr. Griffith: I’d talk to the Engineer and I’d talk to your neighbor and see about having the easement moved onto their property.

&= nbsp; Mr. Stewart: I don’t kn= ow how we as a Board could really approve this thing with the Town Engineer coming= and saying he has this here, a resolution got to come to that matter before we = cold really, in good conscience, approve something like this.<= /p>

= ; Mr. Sarandrea: We couldn’t.

&= nbsp; Mr. Buckley: This came to my attention about 5 minutes before . . . . .

&= nbsp; Mr. Sarandrea: Yea, us too.

= ; Mr. Rafey: (Inaudible).

&= nbsp; Mr. Sarandrea: How much time = do we have?

= ; Mr. Rafey: The problem is that you don’= t have a meeting in December. You wo= uld need a special meeting for this application.

&= nbsp; Mr. Buckley: Well why I don&#= 8217;t I, (inaudible) I’d really like to establish where exactly, I don̵= 7;t even know if this drainage line is directly on the property line or if it’s already over on the neighbor’s property line, and so I thi= nk if I speak to them and try and find out where it is, and if it’s not here, it doesn’t show us where that drain is.

&= nbsp; Mr. Rafey: Well the drainage easement is on your property, 7.5 feet is on your property. If you’re talking about wher= e the pipe is, I mean you can go there and check, but definitely there is 7.5 feet drainage easement on your property.

WATERTOWN ZONING BOARD OF APPEALS

PUBLIC H= EARING

APPLICAT= ION #787 – NOREEN AND DENNIS BUCKLEY

NOVEMBER= 10, 2004

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= ; Mr. Sarandrea: What I would do is go there or go somewhere, whoever has the information, and find out how big this pipe is, = find out the calculations on this pipe, and find out what the drainage calculati= ons are. You may not ever have a problem. They may have already established this pipe, especially if you say it’s new, most things to= day get figured out for a 100 year storm. If that’s figured out for a 100 year storm, you may be all set, but the Town Engineer would have to tell you that.

&= nbsp; Mr. Buckley: And he would hav= e to give his approval.

&= nbsp; Mr. Sarandrea: Right.

&= nbsp; Mr. Buckley: And just to clar= ify again, when I was speaking before about the pipe being 7 years old, that was the sewer line, not the drainage line, so the drainage line has probably be= en there as long as the development has been there, and that’s probably = 25 years.

&= nbsp; Mr. Stewart: Is there actuall= y a sewer line there, cause this only talks about drainage?

&= nbsp; Mr. Buckley: Yes, it is compl= etely separate from (inaudible).

&= nbsp; Mr. Sarandrea: Don’t ev= en bring, cause that’s a whole different thing. A sewer line is a whole different = thing, but I would find out about that too.

= ; Mr. Stewart: I’d like to know what’= s in this easement, whether it’s just the storm drainage line or both?

&= nbsp; Mr. Buckley: Well my feeling = and I’m not sure but my feeling is Mr. Petroccia at the time, when he was putting in the water and sewer, I know that the O’Meara’s who l= ived in the next property 7 years ago would actually pay a certain amount of mon= ey to (inaudible) their line down to Echo Lake Road, so I figured if they were paid, the sewer line is probably not the easement, the sewer line is probab= ly (inaudible) the easement. I don’t know.

&= nbsp; Mr. Sarandrea: Well that̵= 7;s what they pay you for an easement. If you own property and somebody wants to come through your property with a sewer or water line, they pay you for the easement.

WATERTOWN ZONING BOARD OF APPEALS

PUBLIC H= EARING

APPLICAT= ION #787 – NOREEN AND DENNIS BUCKLEY

NOVEMBER= 10, 2004

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&= nbsp; Mr. Buckley: Right, and that = would be separate of this existing easement (inaudible).

&= nbsp; Mr. Sarandrea: It’s sti= ll on record. Even though you got p= aid, so that’s saying that you got paid to have an easement, so now that e= ven makes it a little worse because now the person was paid, the Town or whoeve= r paid for that easement, it’s stuck. So one thing, that your neighbor, if he did get paid, maybe you know= . . . . I think you have to talk to your neighbor and the Town Engineer and get= the calculations find out exactly what’s on the ground because you’= re going to put on a nice addition here, you don’t want to spend all this money and then find out, first off, we couldn’t approve it right now = the way it sits right now with this letter that we just got tonight.=

= ; Mr. Rafey: But if we live with that 12 foot w= ide addition they can’t (inaudible).

&= nbsp; Mr. Buckley: (Inaudible) we can’t build (inaudible).

&= nbsp; Mr. Sarandrea: No, it’s= not worth it.

&= nbsp; Mr. Buckley: I will find that= out and I think that this drainage on this map is separate from the sewer easem= ent which is through his part of it, but I will (inaudible).<= /p>

&= nbsp; Mr. Sarandrea: Find out every= thing that is there.

&= nbsp; Mr. Buckley: Well I appreciat= e your advice and sorry about the surprise.

&= nbsp; Mr. Sarandrea: Yea well we ju= st got it tonight too so . . . . .

&= nbsp; Mr. Buckley: Thank you for yo= ur time.

&= nbsp; Mr. Sarandrea: Thank you.

= ; Mr. Rafey: Do you want to have a special meet= ing on December 8^th?

&= nbsp; Mr. Stewart: I think that wou= ld be contingent on whether he has all of his information or not.

&= nbsp; Mr. Rafey: You cannot Close t= he Public Hearing tonight. You h= ave to have a Special Meeting to Close the Public Hearing and then make a decision= .

WATERTOWN ZONING BOARD OF APPEALS

PUBLIC H= EARING

APPLICAT= ION #787 – NOREEN AND DENNIS BUCKLEY

NOVEMBER= 10, 2004

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&= nbsp; Mr. Sarandrea: There leave it= open then.

= ; Mr. Roger: Why can’t he give us an exte= nsion until January?

&= nbsp; Mr. Sarandrea: He’s pro= bably not going to find this out in a month anyway.

= ; Mr. Roger: In a month’s worth of time I don’t think he’s going to find out all of the information he ne= eds to find out.

&= nbsp; Mr. Sarandrea: Because like I= said, I don’t know about the rest of the Board, but this is like a pretty c= ut and dry thing, except for this easement.&n= bsp; I’m just saying from your own benefit, I would find out what&#= 8217;s going on. You have a nice hou= se there, a nice piece of property, you’re going to put on a nice addition. I would find out.

= ; Mr. Griffith: It’s too bad they didn’= ;t build the house farther over on the property.

&= nbsp; Mr. Buckley: I say that to my= self every day and when talking to Bill Butterly the other day, he put the whole real estate deal together years ago and he literally said they (inaudible) = on the right hand side for septic reasons because there was so much ledge, and that’s where our septic tank as before we hooked up to water and sewe= r.

&= nbsp; Mr. Sarandrea: Where does the= water come in?

&= nbsp; Mr. Buckley: Right off of Bea= ch Avenue.

&= nbsp; Mr. Sarandrea: To the front o= f your house?

&= nbsp; Mr. Buckley: Yea, and then the sewer goes out the back, and down (inaudible). I guess one question (inaudible) is there any way where you could release the easement (inaudible)? Is there any course of action wher= e we could get the (inaudible)?

&= nbsp; Mr. Sarandrea: The only way y= ou can is like I’m trying to tell you. First off you go to the Town and the Engineering Department and then, that’s why I bought the question up and just keep that in mind, your neighbor seems to have 400 feet . . . .

WATERTOWN ZONING BOARD OF APPEALS

PUBLIC H= EARING

APPLICAT= ION #787 – NOREEN AND DENNIS BUCKLEY

NOVEMBER= 10, 2004

Page 15<= o:p>

&nb= sp;

&= nbsp; Mr. Buckley: (Inaudible).

&= nbsp; Mr. Sarandrea: Okay, so worst case scenario is I don’t know how those people are, just move it over, whatever the Town needs. I don’t know if he would wan= t to almost immediately put a couple of elbows or something and move that pipe o= ver, or maybe it will be okay. If = you think about it, even if they move the easement the pipe is still here it is, and if they had to work on it, it’s still going to create a problem w= here your addition is.

= ; Mr. Griffith: They’re not going to move the easement off the pipe.

&= nbsp; Mr. Sarandrea: Right, see that’s the thing so that’s what you’ve got to find out.

= ; Mr. Griffith: (Inaudible) down the middle of the easement, in which case they could move the easement over (inaudible).=

&= nbsp; Mr. Sarandrea: That’s w= hat you got to find out. Cause th= ey may want to come up there right now, before, I don’t know. Could we say we’re looking favorably on this application? We can’t say that.

= ; Mr. Roger: The application, like you said, is= cut and dry application. I don= 217;t see any problem approving the application if it wasn’t for the easement. At this point we co= uld not look favorably on the application due to the letter we got from the Town Engineer.

&= nbsp; Mr. Stewart: It sounds like y= our neighbor is very key to this. You said he’s a friendly neighbor. He’s got to be willing to let the easement move somehow and go through whatever legal proceedings that might entail.

= ; Mr. Rafey: If he is willing to allow that eas= ement to be moved entirely on his property. Then there is no easement on your property then you can do that.

&= nbsp; Mr. Stewart: Right and any of= the cost incurred . . . .

&= nbsp; Mr. Rafey: And the pipe is on= Mr. Buckley’s property they have to move the pipe.

&= nbsp; Mr. Buckley: Move the easemen= t but not move the pipe.

WATERTOW= N ZONING BOARD OF APPEALS

PUBLIC H= EARING

APPLICAT= ION #787 – NOREEN AND DENNIS BUCKLEY

NOVEMBER= 10, 2004

Page 16<= o:p>

&nb= sp;

= ; Mr. Sarandrea: That’s what I want you to fin= d out.

&= nbsp; Mr. Stewart: You have to know= the exact location of the pipe. W= hat the Engineer feels is reasonable for room to work only the pipe (inaudible)= .

&= nbsp; Mr. Sarandrea: That’s t= he reason I asked you if you were putting in a full cellar, cause if you’= ;re digging, you might be able to get your site guy over there to move that pip= e, if everybody is in agreement with it, because the Town will let you do work= on your own property, so these are questions you got to ask. If I were you, I would move that p= ipe right now.

= ; Mr. Rafey: My suggestion is that Mr. Buckley = can withdraw this application and go through the entire when everything is conc= rete and done, then submit a new application.&n= bsp; You can waive the fee for them, cause if you . . . . .

&= nbsp; Mr. Buckley: (Inaudible).

&= nbsp; Mr. Rafey: Even if he gives a= 35 day extension to the Commission, it is not enough time to postpone it until= the January meeting. You would ha= ve to have a special meeting.

= ; Mr. Sarandrea: Can we get 2?

&= nbsp; Mr. Rafey: No, the maximum is= 35 days. You can write a letter = and withdraw this application tonight, and then when everything us ready, submit another application. They can= waive the fee for you.

&= nbsp; Mr. Sarandrea: I’ll do = that.

= ; Mr. Rafey: I recommend you do that.

&= nbsp; Mr. Buckley: (Inaudible).

&= nbsp; Mr. Rafey: If you call me on = Friday I will help you and meet with him. Do you mind writing a letter withdrawing your application tonight? Then they can Close this Public He= aring and finish everything and whenever you submit the application.

&= nbsp; Mr. Roger: Just right due to unforeseen circumstances, we’re withdrawing the application. One sentence is plenty.=

WATERTOWN ZONING BOARD OF APPEALS

PUBLIC H= EARING

APPLICAT= ION #787 – NOREEN AND DENNIS BUCKLEY

NOVEMBER= 10, 2004

Page 17<= o:p>

&nb= sp;

&= nbsp; Mr. Rafey: Please write this = and then we should read it into the record.

= ; Mr. Stewart: We’ll definitely waive the fee. You really need to do as= much homework as you can possibly do.

&= nbsp; Mr. Rafey: It gives them more= time (Tape #1, Side A ended – may have missed some).

&= nbsp; Mr. Stewart: When you come ba= ck you might get some questions you can’t answer.

&= nbsp; Mr. Sarandrea: You never know= , we might get a maddening crowd to speak against this thing. You never know what’s in the ground. The costs are pretty = much stable, you just go by the square foot, but the ground . . . . .=

&= nbsp; Mr. Buckley: Without that (inaudible).

&= nbsp; Mr. Sarandrea: Yea, not bad a= t all.

= ; Mr. Roger= You can get pretty close to the pr= operty line but (inaudible).

&= nbsp; Mr. Griffith: Plus your neigh= bor has such a big piece of property anyway.&n= bsp; He’s probably not about to subdivide.

&= nbsp; Mr. Buckley: No, we can’= ;t. The topography of the land (inaudible). Thank you very m= uch.

&= nbsp; Mr. Rafey: You can Close the = Public Hearing and then when you get to the Regular Meeting you (inaudible).<= /o:p>

= ; MOTION: (Mr. Griffith, sec. Mr. Stewart) to Close the Public Hearing for Application #78= 7 of Noreen and Dennis Buckley request for a variance of 18 feet to a side yard property line setback to permit the construction of an addition to an exist= ing single family dwelling at 269 Beach Avenue, Watertown, CT in an R-30 Residential Zoning District.

&= nbsp; Discussion: None<= o:p>

&= nbsp; MOTION PASSED UNANIMOUSLY

WATERTOWN ZONING BOARD OF APPEALS

PUBLIC H= EARING

APPLICAT= ION #787 – NOREEN AND DENNIS BUCKLEY

NOVEMBER= 10, 2004

Page 18<= o:p>

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Public Hearing Closed at 8:17 p.m.

Respect= fully submitted,

&n= bsp;

Enrico Sarandrea, Chairman

Zoning = Board of Appeals

&nbs= p; _________________= _________________

&nbs= p; Lynn M. LaForme, Minutes Secretary