beagenda

MINUTES

&nb= sp;

WATERTOWN ZON= ING BOARD OF APPEALS

PUBLIC HEARING

&nb= sp;

WEDNESDA= Y, APRIL 26, 2006 - 7:30 P.M.

WATERTOWN HIGH SCHOOL TECHNOLOGY CENTER

&nb= sp;

APPLICATION #823 – GARY AND = AMY SWINGLE

&nb= sp;

&nb= sp;

PRESENT:            =             &nb= sp;            =     Mary Bisson, Secretary

            =             &nb= sp;            =             &nb= sp;          John Griffith, Vice Ch= airman (arrived at 8:05 p.m.)

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

        &= nbsp;           &nbs= p;            &= nbsp;           &nbs= p;            &= nbsp; Phil Roger

  &nbs= p;            &= nbsp;           &nbs= p;            &= nbsp;       Enrico Sarandrea, Chai= rman

ABSENT: &n= bsp;            = ;            &n= bsp;            = ;   None

ALTERNATES PRESENT:            = Gary Swingle

ALTERNATES ABSENT:            &= nbsp;   Chris Lafferty

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

&nb= sp;

1.         = Call Meeting To Order

            Mr. Sarandrea, Chairman, Called the Public Hearing to Order at 8:13 p.m.

2.     &nb= sp;   Roll Call

            Ms. Bisson, Secretary, executed the Roll Call.

            MR. SWINGLE RECUSED HIMSELF FROM THIS APPLICATION AND LEFT THE ROOM.=

WATERTOWN ZONING BOARD OF APPEALS

PUBLIC H= EARING

APPLICAT= ION #823 – GARY AND AMY SWINGLE

APRIL 26= , 2006

Page 2

&nb= sp;

3.         Hearing of Cases=

        &= nbsp;   D.        Application #823 of Gary and Amy Swingle request for a variance of Section 7.4 of the Watertown Zoning Regulations concerning access to a commercial property loc= ated in the Town of Bethlehem via a residential property at 2579 Litchfield Road, Watertown,= CT.

&nb= sp;

        &= nbsp;   Recess or Adjourn, the Public Hearing, must be Closed b= y May 31, 2006 unless applicant grants a time extension.

Mr. Mitchell, Acting Secretary, read aloud the Legal Notice for the record:

“Legal Notice

The Zoning Board of Ap= peals of the Town of Watertown will hold a Public Hearing at 7:30 p.m. on Wednesday, April 26, 2006 at the Watertown High School Technology Center, 324 French Street, Watertow= n, CT to hear and act upon t= he following applications:

Application #823 of Ga= ry and Amy Swingle request for a variance of Section 7.4 of the Watertown Zoning Regulations concerning use of land for access to permit access to an existi= ng commercial building located in Town of Bethlehem via an existing driveway at 2579 Litchfield Road, Watertown,= CT in an R-90 Residential Zoning Dis= trict.

Section 7.4 of the Wat= ertown Zoning Regulations states “access to any use in a business or industr= ial zone, or access to any business or industrial use on any property, in any z= one, or property not subject to Zoning Regulations shall be prohibited on or acr= oss land in a Residential Zone.”

At this Hearing intere= sted persons and written communications will be heard. A cop[y of the application is on f= ile in the Planning and Zoning Office, 51 Depot Street, Suite 502, Watertown, CT.<= o:p>

Da= ted in Watertown, CT this 15^th day of April, 2006.

Da= ted in Watertown, CT this 20^th day of April, 2006.

Mary Bisson, Secretary=

Zoning Board of Appeals”

WATERTOWN ZONING BOARD OF APPEALS

PUBLIC H= EARING

APPLICAT= ION #823 – GARY AND AMY SWINGLE

APRIL 26= , 2006

Page 3

&nb= sp;

George Simoncelli, Attorney Representing Swingle

Atty. Simoncelli: The last time= I was in front of this Board with this situation was 7 years ago, and we’re right back here. The Board I believe is familiar with the settlement agreement which I believe was signe= d at your last meeting. What we= 217;re looking at, and I have some maps showing the entire perimeter of the Swingle property.

Mr. Rafey: The map that I gav= e you I copied from this large map. That doesn’t show the entire property, just where the frontage is and where the Bethlehem and Morris town lines are.

Atty. Simoncelli: The driveway = that we’re talking about is shown on the map as the existing driveway, it starts at Route 63 and goes up into the Swingle’s property in Be= thlehem. I think everybody is aware that th= ey have a 14,000 square foot building in Bethlehem, as well as a cell tower. The existing driveway is because of the topography of the land, is the only realistic access to this property in Bethlehem. And that’s the reason weR= 17;re asking for this variance. You should have letters from Mr. and Mrs. Greaves, Mr. and Mrs. Hoffman, and Mr. and Mrs. Monihan. If you have= any questions I’d be happy to try and answer them for you.

Ms. Bisson: This really isn&#= 8217;t a variance, it’s a (inaudible)?

Mr. Rafey: This is an applica= tion for a variance. Just to make = it easy, the Town of Watertown Zo= ning Regulations doesn’t allow to use residential property driveway to access a commercial property. This is an existing situation, and= they want this variance to continue the existing driveway to access their proper= ty in Bethlehem.

Atty. Simoncelli: And the parcel in Bethlehem is about 10 acres in total.

Mr. Griffith: Is there anyone in the public who w= ishes to speak for against this application?

Mr. Mitchell, Acting Secretary, read aloud the following letters:

&#= 8220;Town of Watertown

Zo= ning Board of Appeals

424 Main Street

Watertown, CT 06795=

WATERTOWN ZONING BOARD OF APPEALS

PUBLIC H= EARING

APPLICAT= ION #823 – GARY AND AMY SWINGLE

APRIL 26= , 2006

Page 4

&nb= sp;

Re= : Gary = and Amy Swingle

&= nbsp; 2579 Litchfield Road

&= nbsp; Watertown, CT

La= dies and Gentleman:

We= reside at 282 Watertown Road, Morris, CT 06763= and our neighbors are Gary and Any Swingle. We are writing to support their ef= forts to obtain permission and any necessary permits to continue their business i= n Bethlehem. Mr. and Mrs. Swingle have a horse = stable riding academy and a retail railroad salvage type business, with sales held about every 2 weeks. They have operated these businesses for the past 9 years. More recently a cell tower has been erected on the premises. In t= he past we had a number of disputes with the Swingle’s concerning our property’s boundaries and rights, however = we have recently resolved those issues to everyone’s satisfaction. We never had any disputes or conce= rns regarding their business or the manner in which they are conducted. We think Gary and Amy should be al= lowed to continue to operate their business.&nbs= p; We urge you to take whatever action is necessary to permit the Swingle’s to continue operating their businesses. Thank you for your consideration.<= /p>

Ve= ry truly yours,

Ro= ry and Cynthia Hoffman”

&#= 8220;Zoning Board of Appeals

424 Main Street

Watertown, CT 06795=

Re= : Gary = and Amy Swingle

&= nbsp; 2579 Litchfield Road

&= nbsp; Watertown, CT 06795=

We= reside at 266 Watertown Road, Morris, CT 06763= and our neighbors are Gary and Amy Swingle. We are writing to support their ef= forts to obtain permission and any necessary permits to continue their business i= n Bethlehem. Mr. and Mrs. Swingle have a horse = stable riding academy and a retail railroad salvage type business, with sales held about every 2 weeks. They have operated these businesses for the past 9 years. More recently a cell tower has been erected on the premises. In t= he past we had a number of disputes with the Swingle’s concerning our property’s boundaries and rights, however = we have recently resolved those issues to everyone’s satisfaction. We never had any disputes or conce= rns regarding their businesses or the manner in which they are conducted. We think Gary and Amy should be al= lowed to continue to operate their business.&nbs= p; We urge you to take whatever action is necessary to permit the Swing= le’s to continue operating their businesses.&nb= sp; Thank you for your consideration.

WATERTOWN ZONING BOARD OF APPEALS

PUBLIC H= EARING

APPLICAT= ION #823 – GARY AND AMY SWINGLE

APRIL 26= , 2006

Page 5

&nb= sp;

Ve= ry truly yours,

Ja= mes and Beatrice Greaves”

&#= 8220;Zoning Board of Appeals

To= wn Hall

Watertown, CT 06795=

My= name is David Mann, my wife and I live at 2527 Litchfield Road, Watertown,= CT.= My next door neighbors are Gary and Amy Swingle of Sugar Mountain Farm. I’m writing this = letter to protest the on-going legal and zoning battles by the Zoning Board of App= eals and the Swingle’s. Mr. = and Mrs. Swingle are running a small stable and retail business from their prop= erty and are a nuisance to no one, especially me, the= ir closest neighbor in Watertown<= /st1:City>. These people are fine, upstanding taxpayers and should be allowed to continue with their business ventures without the Town intent in driving them out of business because of a road i= ssue that is of little consequence to anyone.&n= bsp; Instead of spending all this wasted money on legal and zoning battle= s, wouldn’t the Town be better served on spending this money on more important issues like hiring more qualified teachers and police officers, <= span class=3DGramE>etc. I&#= 8217;m hoping these legal issues between the Town and the Swingle’s will end= and some kind of compromise be reached by the two parties, so this needless spending of our tax dollars will come to an end.”

Mr. Rafey: I sent 2 letters to the Town of Morris and Bethlehem for them to see if they have any comments, but I haven’t received any= comments from them yet.

Melissa Conron, 16 Meadow Hill Lan= e, Morris, CT

Ms. Conron: We are Melissa an= d Dan Conron of 304 Watertown Ro= ad, Morris, CT abutting owner., or almost abutting owners of the Swingle’s. We do not currently reside there, it’s been so stressful for the past 10 years we’ moved. There’= s been a lot going on over the past 10 years that we’ve been waiting to see what’s been happening. = Many things, issues that I can’t go into at the moment, it would take too long, but needless to say I did not get notified of this Hearing today until Monday the 24^th at 4:00 p.m.&nb= sp; Now I know the Town Hall had the application Friday, the 17^{th
and which we got a copy of from them today. When my husband went up there she =
said
she had a copy of it. I know =
that
some of the other abutting owners still have not received a copy even of th=
e Hearing.
I don’t take a Watertown paper.<=
span
style=3D'mso-spacerun:yes'> When was it published in the paper=
? Was it the 13^th or the =
20^th? There are 2 dates on the paper.}

WATERTOWN ZONING BOARD OF APPEALS

PUBLIC H= EARING

APPLICAT= ION #823 – GARY AND AMY SWINGLE

APRIL 26= , 2006

Page 6

&nb= sp;

Ms. Bisson: Both dates.

Ms. Conron: Now the date of t= he paper that I received from Mary Greene is dated April 21^st; the = one at Town Hall is dated April 17^th. I’m sorry, not the 21^st=, no that’s the Agenda, but anyway I had no time. Now one of the major contingencies= upon which I think this should be postponed or ask the applicant to put it off, = and I understand until May 31^st, is (1) lack of preparation on my pa= rt (2) apparently a settlement has been reached that I have not seen and when I asked Moosa about it on Monday, late afternoon, it wasn’t ready, and it’s very pertinent to my property and my land values. I’m the one who has to have = 500 cars go up and down every other Sunday in my back yard on a dirt driveway raising plumes of dust. And 18 wheel tractors going up and down. It’s bad enough our property= abuts 63, but this is right along our back yard and our pond of which we have many water issues as well, water drainage issues from a driveway that was put in, that used to be a cow path, that was not done properly. So for all of these reasons, when = he bought the property he knew that it was landlocked Bethlehem piece of property. If you give him one toehold into B= ethlehem, are you going to safeguard my rights to say he won’t put a Wal-Mart t= here or maybe a dump, because you can’t zone and regulate Bethlehem and I = have to live with it and the cars going up and down, and that’s a property that’s been in his family for over 150 years when we owned all of the= ir property and the farmhouse that we currently own, and it’s really a s= hame cause it’s a beautiful little pond that you can’t enjoy because= of the drainage and the silting and the cars going up and down on a Sunday aft= ernoon. And if you give him a toehold into= this, is he going to operate it, not once every two weeks, but how about every da= y, and how above if he changes the business up there? And how about every other minute, = I did not own, and I was there, we’ve owned property prior to the Swingle’s, actually we didn’t, his family did, I apologize for = that one, but all I’m saying is that now I’m on a corner lot with ro= ads on both sides. It’s a d= riveway. And you already have very good rea= sons I’m sure when you made that law not to allow access to commercial property from a residential area. We’re zoned residential too.<= span style=3D'mso-spacerun:yes'> Everything around us is residential. The nearest commercially zone anything is probably a mile and a half up the road, I don’t know that for a fact, where they sell those golf carts, so I ne= ed time to look over what it is what the Town of Watertown and Mr. Swingle, wh= om I did not know was on the Board, and I hope, I don’t know how many it t= akes for a quorum for you guys.

Mr. Sarandrea: We have a quor= um, we are regular members.

Ms. Conron: I didn’t re= alize that either. We’ve been= out of touch and just recently found out that things have obviously moved very quickly. He applied for it on= the 12^th.

WATERTOWN ZONING BOARD OF APPEALS

PUBLIC H= EARING

APPLICAT= ION #823 – GARY AND AMY SWINGLE

APRIL 26= , 2006

Page 7

&nb= sp;

Mr. Roger: When we had this application originally, were you at those meetings? 7 years ago?

Ms. Conron: Yes. We had a lawyer in 1999 and 2000.<= span style=3D'mso-spacerun:yes'> And then because the Town had an i= ssue going and abutting neighbors had issues going, we backed off to monitor.

Mr. Conron: We were asked to = wait and not follow the court cases, and we would do that for ourselves.

Ms. Conron: So now that the c= ourts seem to have been working on something, we need time to look at what it is = the Town has . . . .

Mr. Conron: The Town has sett= led with the Swingle’s.

Ms. Conron: Well we were not informed of that and that was dated April 12^th, the same day the variance was filed for, and we just . . . . .

Mr. Rafey: The application fo= r this variance was submitted the day after that meeting. March 12^th was the meet= ing that this Board approved the settlement agreement and on April 13^{th
Mr. Swingle came to the Planning and Zoning Office and submitted this appli=
cation
that is in front of the Board tonight.}

Ms. Conron: As abutting prope= rty owners do you think we had a right to be informed that the Town of Watertown was set= tling something that abuts my property?

Mr. Sarandrea: It was settled= in court, we had nothing, all we had to do was just approve the agreement.

Mr. Roger: We had no part in = the agreement that was made between the Swingle’s and the Town, we were j= ust informed that there was an agreement made and it was settled and we needed = to approve it. That was the exte= nt of our involvement in this so far.

Mr. Conron: We have some water issues, I have some pictures, can I show you?

Mr. Sarandrea: Yea, sure.

Ms. Conron: And that’s actually aside, I just want time, I want time. The Town of = Watertown apparently from what I unders= tand quit claimed a piece of property that may not be his to quit claim. We own contiguous . . . .

WATERTOWN ZONING BOARD OF APPEALS

PUBLIC H= EARING

APPLICAT= ION #823 – GARY AND AMY SWINGLE

APRIL 26= , 2006

Page 8

&nb= sp;

Mr. Conron: This building is = in Bethlehem, this p= ipe I don’t know where, I didn’t go on their property but it retains water and then sends it towards Morris towards the Town line. So his entranceway is here, I thin= k that pipe goes this way. My proper= ty is down here.

Ms. Bisson: So that water shouldn’t bother you.

Mr. Conron: Wait a second.

Ms. Bisson: It goes up from t= heir property and they don’t care.

Mr. Conron: No it doesn’= ;t ma’am, it goes down hill, this is all hill= . This driveway is all hill. This is some more of the water.

Ms. Bisson: I see what you= 217;re (inaudible).

Mr. Conron: This ravine has b= een made by the water over the 7or 8 years we’ve been talking. This is another picture of the hill. This is here is where t= he water turns in and goes into my property, then i= t goes down here and then turns in again. It doesn’t go all the way down. (Inaudible) pond here and again it enters here and down here, he has a pond over here. It’s not on this map, but th= is is a culvert, there’s a pond here and here. No, my house is here, this is Morr= is, this fence is on the north side where the Town line, this cottage is on the south side, that’s Gary<= /st1:City>’s rental, his main house is further up behind it.<= span style=3D'mso-spacerun:yes'> No, that is my house, that's Morris. This is Watertown, this is Morris. This is the driveway in question.<= span style=3D'mso-spacerun:yes'> This is what happens in the Winter. = This is my pond before we go ice skating, the dirt and silt comes out and goes on t= op of the ice. This is a 12 inch= pipe underground and it diverts the water towards Morris, I don’t know if it’s in Bethlehem or not. I think the pipe goes across this way. This is my <= span class=3DGramE>house, this is Gary’s house here. This fence is on = the Morris Watertown line.

Mr. Sarandrea: It looks like = your pond is eroding. It looks lik= e the water is going onto their property.

Mr. Conron: No, this goes ont= o my property.

Mr. Sarandrea: It looks like = it’s coming from yours, coming down this way.

Mr. Conron: It comes down and= goes into my property. It starts a= t the top of the hill, sir, and it follows this all the way here.

WATERTOWN ZONING BOARD OF APPEALS

PUBLIC H= EARING

APPLICAT= ION #823 – GARY AND AMY SWINGLE

APRIL 26= , 2006

Page 9

&nb= sp;

Mr. Sarandrea: This is going = down towards Litchfield Road?

Mr. Conron: Yes, it’s g= oing downhill, this is downhill. I marked here with a little red tape where the water makes a bend at some led= ge, this is ledge and then it turns here and then it goes under the fence here = and goes into my property. I had a water issue before and I talked to Gary in November and I think that was the first time in a long time. But the water is being diverted to= wards Morris and it’s not being caught; we’ve talked about it, we haven’t done anything, and I’ve been trying to do it nicely and= I think this issue should be taken care of.&= nbsp; It’s been awhile. This is what happens sometimes in the Winter, the sil= t from the hill goes onto our pond. = This is dock.

Mr. Griffith: This is your pr= operty over here?

Mr. Conron: No, this is Mr. Swingle’s property. Thi= s is just water starting at the top of the hill. The Morris line I think is over here. This is the midway wher= e it comes down this side and reaches around.

Mr. Griffith: I’m famil= iar with the area.

Mr. Conron: After that pipe (= Tape #1, Side B ended – may have missed some). This is a nice shot (inaudible).

Mr. Griffith: Your property is on the other side= of the fence?

Mr. Conron: That’s correct. This is where it turns onto my property. Did you look at the= se again?

Mr. Griffith: No.

Mr. Conron: I can leave them here if you like,= but I’ve had a water issue and I wrote a letter, (inaudible), and we did = have a silt problem and a lot of sand came down and covered the land prior to the pond.

Mr. Sarandrea: What are the conditions right now,= like today? Those pictures are 199= 8.

Mr. Conron: These were done last weekend. Heavy rain.

Mr. Roger: 5 inches of rain, anybody flooded.=

WATERTOWN ZONING BOARD OF APPEALS

PUBLIC H= EARING

APPLICAT= ION #823 – GARY AND AMY SWINGLE

APRIL 26= , 2006

Page 10<= o:p>

&nb= sp;

Mr. Conron: It’s a good time to take pictures. And it’s stil= l the same, but anyway I talked to G= ary about it and what happens is it gets all wet in here, this is the fence, an= d it stays moist, but it’s creating a wetland. I tried to grow squash or pumpkins= along the pond, but usually they get too wet and it just doesn’t happen. We moved in 1997 (inaudible).

Mr. Sarandrea: Do you still own it?

Mr. Conron: Yes, we still = own the property.

Mrs. Conron: And it’s been in the fam= ily over 100 years, and we’re not really, we were essentially gifted the house.

Mr. Conron: We want to move back there.

Mrs. Conron: And retire there, but not with 500= cars every other Sunday up and down our back yard, and the possibility of 7 days= a week from 9:00 until 7:00 since nobody can zone what business happens in Bethlehem, how, if you allow a permit to go through, a variance, can we be safeguarded against anything that happens in Bethlehem? That’s my concern, although = we did I do have a letter that you guys can look at at your leisure of Gary and Am= y trying to resolve the issue with the water, he cut down the fence, he went over th= ere last November, I got phone calls from my tenant saying he was on my propert= y, I had not okayed it, I guess he had spoken to my husband and thought it was o= kay, he states in this letter that . . . .

Mr. Rafey: Those letters are to you or to thi= s Board?

Mrs. Conron: The envelope is on the back and the letter is on the front of when he mailed it to us in early January this yea= r.

Mr. Rafey: If this is not to you, then this le= tter is not to the Zoning Board of Appeals?

Mrs. Conron: No.

Mr. Rafey: For information you can take it.

WATERTOWN ZONING BOARD OF APPEALS

PUBLIC H= EARING

APPLICAT= ION #823 – GARY AND AMY SWINGLE

APRIL 26= , 2006

Page 11<= o:p>

&nb= sp;

Mrs. Conron: So I don’t now if itR= 17;s an appropriate time (inaudible) or not, but it does state that he is trying= to resolve it and he’s still willing to work with us on that issue. It also states several other thing= s that we chose to essentially ignore, because as far as we knew nothing had been settled yet, and now that we have found out that things have been settled, = we need time. And if you notice = the letters of approval from the neighbors, they’re undated, they were pa= rt of that honky dory little settlement I guess because they’re undated = and I don’t know if that makes a diffidence or not, I’m sure they’d be willing to date them, 2 of them are right here, but it̵= 7;s a little suspect they’re exactly the same letter, front to back and undated. = Exactly the same letter. Thank= you for taking time to listen to us and essentially I would like time. You’re saying May 31^{st<=
/sup>
to have any decision made, apparently Gary
will not be in on any of your . . . .right and
obviously you’ll have a quorum at that time. It’s a little sticky him bei=
ng on
the, I didn’t realize, I definitely should have brought a lawyer. Little sticky.=
Thank you for your time.}

Mr. Mitchell: That water, is that a constant= ? Is that 7 days a week?

Mrs. Conron: Every time it rains. It is all down= hill, it all goes into our pond on that side.

Mr. Mitchell: So it’s not a regular running brook?

Mrs. Conron: No, the regular running brook is o= n the other side (inaudible) buried when he put in the road.

Mr. Conron: The culvert is a running brook (inaudible).

Mr. Sarandrea: Is there anyone else who wishes to= speak for or against this application?

Sibond Farms, J.W. or B.T. Greaves, 266 Watertown Road, Morris, CT

Ms. Greaves: We had many issu= es with the Swingles. We have se= ttled our issues, we can’t go on like this and we came to a compromise and I hope that the other neighbors can do the same, but see I’m not affect= ed like they are with the road. I’m on top of the hill, they’re on the bottom of the hil= l, so I have no issue with Gary having the road access to his property, his (inaudible) but that’s up to you folks to figure it out. Thank you.

Ms. Bisson: Have you had any complaints from the tenants?

WATERTOWN ZONING BOARD OF APPEALS

PUBLIC H= EARING

APPLICAT= ION #823 – GARY AND AMY SWINGLE

APRIL 26= , 2006

Page 12<= o:p>

&nb= sp;

Mr. Conron: The only complaint is it’s just dusty and it’s usually weekends when they have the sales.

Ms. Bisson: Well it would be = very easy for him to take a water truck and water down the road so it won’= t be dusty; that’s very easy.

Mr. Conron: Or pave it.

Ms. Bisson: (Inaudible) dusty= and (inaudible) dust in my face all the time (inaudible).

Mr. Conron: I agree with you.=

Mr. Roger: Moosa, being that = this land is located in Bethlehem and the prope= rty accessing it is in Watertown, it’s not possible for us to put restrictions on this, is it?

Mr. Rafey: You can put condit= ions of approval for your variance, but I don’t know how much we can enfor= ce in Bethlehem.

Mr. Roger: My only concern is= a concern that any neighbor would have, the expans= ion. I wouldn’t like to see any expansion going any further than what they have now.

Mr. Rafey: You can put that condition on your variance if you grant the variance, but some of these iss= ues with the neighbors, with all due respect, unfortunately or fortunately this= is an existing situation and this Board is not going to approve the constructi= on of a driveway or a road, whatever is there is there, whether it’s goo= d or bad, I don’t know. It&#= 8217;s an existing situation. If the= re is a drainage issue, I’m not disputing that there is or there is not, but unfortunately if this Commission makes any decision, it̵= 7;s not going to solve that problem. That water is coming down the hill whether they approve this or deny= it, and that driveway will stay there.

WATERTOWN ZONING BOARD OF APPEALS

PUBLIC H= EARING

APPLICAT= ION #823 – GARY AND AMY SWINGLE

APRIL 26= , 2006

Page 13<= o:p>

&nb= sp;

Mr. Sarandrea: If you’re concerned about them developing or whatever, in the event something did hap= pen, they’d have to go to Planning and Zoning and then they would confirm = if there were any variances needed, come back here, then they’d have to = go to Wetlands, right now it’s an existing use, and just as Moosa said, whether we approve or deny this variance, it’s not going to matter ei= ther way because they’re still going to be using the property the way it’s been, the buildings are there, the road is there, everything is there, the riding ring is there, it’s there, and the only thing that = you, as neighbors, probably have to address with one another is how to fix the w= ater problem from what I can see. = The whole rest of the Board has been seeing here, there’s a water problem, but as far as a Wal-Mart going up there, it almost sounds like the people w= ho were here a couple of weeks ago thinking that maybe the Grand Oak Villa was going to sell it and put a strip club in.&= nbsp; I don’t think that kind of stuff is going to happen, not that = far out.

Mrs. Conron: Watering down the= area would be a good idea and (inaudible) existing thing, they all went in first= and them permits and everything else came after, and then (inaudible) with one neighbor or another or the Town, for who knows how long, at least since 199= 9, so excuse me if you say it’s already existing, it’s been existi= ng under injunctions. I may be <= span class=3DGramE>wrong, I’m not a lawyer, but all I’m sayin= g is you’re saying oh it’s all existing.

Mr. Sarandrea: But that’= ;s all been settled in court so evidently some judge or judges . . .

Mr. Roger: Couldn’t car= e.

Mr. Sarandrea: Not necessaril= y, I mean there’s rules and regulations and guidelines that everything was (inaudible) on and they must have met because if not the judges throw it ou= t of court or send it back to us, or we get sued or Planning and Zoning gets sue= d, I mean if it was all settled in court, all our charge was to sign this agreem= ent because it was approved in court.

Mr. Conron: Who owns the road= , or the driveway, cause his boundary is on one side and ours is on the other?

Mr. Rafey: The driveway is lo= cated on Swingle’s property, they own it.

Mrs. Conron: Well we just foun= d that out, that’s what the courts just said.

Mr. Rafey: Mr. Chairman, do y= ou want the applicant to respond to some of these comments that the neighbors made?

WATERTOWN ZONING BOARD OF APPEALS

PUBLIC H= EARING

APPLICAT= ION #823 – GARY AND AMY SWINGLE

APRIL 26= , 2006

Page 14<= o:p>

&nb= sp;

Mr. Conron: How did the drive= way becomes Swingle’s, through adverse possession?

Mr. Roger: Well he posed the question now you need to (inaudible) come up and answer= the questions.

Atty. Simoncelli: This application for a variance was a concession on the Swingle̵= 7;s part to submit themselves to your authority to g= et your approval. We maintained = in court and we still maintain today that this area that they’re using to access their property is a highway, but because of this regulation that Watertown has, as= part of our agreement with the Town, we agreed to come before you to request a variance. Now the Town quit c= laimed any interest they had in that area to Mr. and Mrs. Swingle, that means it m= ay not transfer title at all, they’re just giving up any right that the = Town may have to that strip of property. We think that gives the Swingles the fee title to that property but = that is not for you to decide. Jus= t let me make one thing clear, I want to make sure that the record reflects that = Mr. Swingle was not in the room at any time while this Public Hearing has been going on. Mr. and Mrs. Conron= got a letter from Mr. Swingle in January saying we’ve had some problems, ca= n we settle this. This is the first we’ve heard. He telepho= ned them about 6 weeks ago, never got a return call. He’s willing to work with th= em, but the Conron’s haven’t responded, so as they’re not prepared, we weren’t prepared for them to show up here and complain a= bout these conditions. I'd also li= ke to point out a couple other things. The letters of support mentioned the riding ring. The riding ring exists, it’s not being used for commercial purposes. If they want to do that they’= ;re going to have to come back for a special permit. Mrs. Sw= ingle uses it on a pleasure basis to ride her own horses. The other thing is the application, there is an indication that says no new construction is to take place, it should say is to take place in Watertown, in other words we’re not applying for any new kind of construction in Watertown, we’re not loo= king for some sort of certificate of zoning compliance at this point. If you have any questions, I’= ;d be happy to try and address them. I also want to point out that the Conron’s did have an attorney who made one appearance back in 1999 and stirred up the hornet’s nest, then we never heard from them again.

Mr. Roger: You= said something about no more expansion in the Watertown area, but my concern is = that this driveway accesses Bethlehem and this driveway goes over Watertown prop= erty into Bethlehem, and you’re going to expand in Bethlehem, it will affe= ct the traffic which affects the decision.

Mr. Sarandrea: What’s the deal with Bethlehem?

Atty. Simoncelli= : Bethlehem has no zoning.