The Wilton Zoning Board of Adjustment will again consider a variance for gravel removal at an Isaac Frye Highway lot after overturning a previous decision.
Isaac Frye Holdings, owned by Ken Lehtonen, sought a variance earlier this year to remove gravel from the site, located close to the Route 101 entrance, despite it being outside the town’s gravel excavation district.
In July, the application was withdrawn, after the Zoning Board ruled the application was too similar to a case the board ruled on in 2006. By law, the Zoning Board can not rule again on issues it has already settled.
During a request for a rehearing on the decision Tuesday evening, Lehtonen’s attorney argued the current application was “substantially different” from the 2006 case.
“The excavation differs in nature and degree. Conditions have also significantly changed since the 2006 denial,” Roy Tilsley, representing Isaac Frye Holdings, argued.
The 2006 application, Tilsley argued, was for a commercial gravel operation, that proposed to move hundreds of thousands of yards of gravel off the site over the course of eight to 10 years. The Isaac Frye Holdings application sought to remove about 26,700 yards of gravel to level a large hill to create a suitable grade to build a single-family home and driveway.
Also, Tilsley added, the site has been subdivided since 2006, creating a different lot.
“It’s a different lot, and a fraction of the amount of gravel being removed,” Tilsley argued.
Silas Little, an attorney representing some of the neighbors on Isaac Frye Highway, argued that 2006 wasn’t the only time the town had ruled on the issue of removing gravel from the property. In 2007, the town rejected a subdivision application which would have removed 90,000 yards of material incidental to construction. In 2016, when a subdivision of the lot was approved, the town required further approvals by the Planning Board before any excavation was to occur on the site.
Little also argued that even a smaller excavation would be disruptive to the neighborhood and create too much trucking traffic, and that development could occur without removing the gravel.
Little noted that the original 2006 application was turned down, in part, because the board at the time found a gravel operation against the spirit of the town’s Zoning Ordinance, citing overwhelming support of a gravel excavation district by voters, and overwhelming opposition to the proposal in the neighborhood and for traffic and safety concerns. Those issues, he said, were not solved by reducing the amount of material being excavated.
“Those decisions stand, without reference to volume,” Little said. “If you look in an objective fashion, what we have in 2021 is an application to gravel this property.”
The board, however, ultimately ruled in favor of Isaac Frye Holdings, that the application was different enough from the 2006 application that it deserved its own variance hearing.
“I think it’s a different application,” said Chair Neil Faiman. “I know I didn’t last time, but I’ve had more time to think about it, and I think it is different in kind and in magnitude – magnitude, obviously.”
Vice-Chair Joanna Eckstrom agreed, saying the 2006 application was for a long-term commercial gravel operation. The current application was for a much shorter term of excavation and was for the goal of developing a single-family home on the property.
“I think it’s a different application,” Eckstrom agreed.
The board ultimately voted 4-0, with one abstention by Jeff Stone, to reverse their previous ruling on the issue. Due to the late hour, the board decided not to immediately enter the public hearing on the case, but to continue the hearing until the next board meeting on Oct. 12.