Milford Zoners Alter Trash Plant Regulation

The Planning and Zoning Board this week approved a regulation change that bans recycling plants and trash-hauling operations in one of the city’s heavy industrial zones.

The change to the Housatonic Design District, a large swath of land along the Housatonic River north of Interstate 95, received unanimous support from the PZB, but received heavy criticism from business interests.

The change, which goes into effect July 22, bans all “trash hauling, solid waste processing, construction and demolition debris storage and processing, recycling plants and volume-reduction facilities” in the district.

The banned uses, however, are allowed if they are “accessory to a permitted principal use.”

With the change, existing transfer stations and recycling centers are grandfathered in by the old regulations and can continue operations. They are, however, considered a “non-conforming use” and cannot expand the operations.

Critics contended at a public hearing that the change would alter the character of the district, hurt the city financially and amount to illegal spot zoning and illegal taking.

But City Planner David Sulkis said a language change to the original proposal tightened the regulation and should have eliminated “99 percent” of the concerns.

“It’s going to basically protect the neighborhoods surrounding this zone from heavy traffic typically generated from the waste-hauling industry,” Sulkis said. He said the regulation would also protect the nearby Housatonic River from possible environmental damage.

Sulkis said the change passed Tuesday night with little discussion.

“We heard some forceful objections to this regulation change at the public hearing, many of which were from businesses that will not be impacted,” PZB Chairwoman Jeanne Cervin said. “When the wording was tightened up, it was clear that the power company, Iroquois Gas, Gas Equipment Engineering Corp. and, of course, the city transfer station and the sewer treatment plant, which are not subject to our regulations, will not be impacted.”

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New York Rejects Broadwater!

Thank you Governor Patterson, and everyone here in our state who made the LNG go away. This marks a major victory for the environment, the safety of CT's residents and the fish and wildlife who depend on the Sound.

This has been a long hard fight that gives each and everyone of us hope and faith that together we can make a difference.

The question now remains where is the LNG headed to next?, has the Shell Oil Corp. Given up on CT? and are new sites being planned? According to Attorney General Richard Blumenthal the LNG is best suited for the industrial area located within the vicinity of the shipping ports of the Meadowlands in N.J.

Blumenthal believes that those sites are the best ones as they already have most of the provisions and industrial infrastructure in place to accommodate such a massive project. For now we can assume that Broadwater has not given up on our energy needs and I would expect they will continue searching for a new location.

With this now behind us, I am concerned about our energy needs in the long run. It is now more possible to have a supply constraint on natural gas. This is because gas demand becomes more of an issue during extreme cold or extreme heat; especially next year when United Illuminating puts their new gas burning plants online. If demand exceeds supply, homeowners may be inadvertently driving up their electric costs. This is because UI's new plants produce our peak electricity with natural gas! Should a supply constraint occur we could expect natural gas prices to soar in tandem with peak electric production. This makes conservation extremely important!

Hopefully we can solve these energy issues by relocating this barge to a safe alternate area, or by creating an environment where high energy prices accelerate eco-friendly energy products and investment bringing them to market sooner.

These could include ethanol, hydrogen, or hybrid based fuels. The market is now completely ready and willing to accept the next generation of these inventions to meet our energy needs and young innovative companies are thriving in the process.

Today's LNG defeat brings all of America one step closer to next generation technology and our future energy independence.