Killingly zoning commission passes moratorium on new warehouses
Alison Cross
Killingly — A yearlong moratorium on new warehouse developments will take effect in July after receiving near-unanimous support from the Planning and Zoning Commission on Monday.
The moratorium represents a major win for residents whose opposition to large-scale distribution centers has dominated zoning, wetlands and town council meetings since January.
While the moratorium will have no effect on the group’s most loathed projects — a 1.3 million square-foot Amazon fulfillment center at 228 Westcott Road and a pair of 178,750-square-foot and 297,500-square-foot warehouses at 90 Putnam Pike — the moratorium will put a 12-month pause on any new zoning applications for warehouse or distribution centers starting on July 20.
The architects of the moratorium, former Town Councilor Michelle Murphy and Lisa Danberg of the Keep Killingly Rural coalition, said the goal is to provide zoning commissioners with time to evaluate whether the town's regulations adequately address the scale, scope and environmental impact of modern distribution centers.
“The intent of this application is not to shut down the building of all warehouses. It's really only geared towards the giant distribution centers, fulfillment centers, e-commerce centers,” Murphy said. “The moratorium will allow the Planning and Zoning Commission time to reassess and revise its regulations in keeping with the goals of the town's plan of conservation and development and the town's aquifer protection areas and to hear the concerns of the citizens of Killingly.”
In a statement after the decision, Murphy thanked the moratorium’s supporters and thanked the commission for “hearing the people of Killingly.”
“Thank you to everyone who stepped up and helped us tonight to get the moratorium in place so that the commission can step back, slow down, and reevaluate the regulations that allowed these two mega distribution center monstrosities to come into our town,” Murphy said on Monday evening.
The moratorium received support from every commissioner but John Sarantopoulos, who warned that the moratorium could open up the town to lawsuits from property owners.
Before the vote, Sarantopoulos argued that the moratorium “would not be legally defensible” and “would be viewed as exclusionary and reactionary zoning.”
“Our responsibility is to regulate land use fairly and consistently, not to prohibit uses simply because they are unpopular at a particular moment,” Sarantopoulos said.
Sarantopoulos also argued that “Killingly already has the tools to regulate warehouses responsibly” and address concerns related to traffic, noise, stormwater runoff, building scale and environmental impacts.
“A moratorium would discourage investment, push development to neighboring towns, reduce future commercial tax revenue, (and) increase reliance on residential property taxes,” Sarantopoulos said. “Our charge is to plan for responsible, balanced growth, not to halt economic activity without cause.”
Town Planner and Zoning Enforcement Officer Jonathan Blake said moratoriums are not a new concept. Blake said the town adopted a moratorium on subdivisions in 2010 and a moratorium on cannabis establishments in 2021 to reevaluate its zoning regulations.
“It is a planning action that has been done historically in the town,” Blake said.
According to its language, the warehouse moratorium will prohibit developers from filing new applications for “distribution centers, fulfillment centers, e-commerce centers, truck and freight terminals” in the town’s general commercial, mixed-use interchange, business park or mill mixed-use development districts until June 30, 2027.
The moratorium received a unanimous endorsement from the Town Council.
“At least this is an attempt to try to look at the regulations again,” Town Council Chairman Ed Grandelski. “If we say ‘There’s no issue,’ then everybody who’s come forward the last five months was for naught.”
Councilor Ulla Tiik-Barclay noted that beyond height requirements and a mandatory 50-foot setback from residential property lines, the zoning regulations do not set standards for building square footage.
“There’s no restrictions, there’s no limits, it’s just a wide open door for these developers to come in and level the town,” Tiik-Barclay said.
Resident Jasmine Berti said that the upcoming warehouse developments will be "the stepping stone to what we allow in our town."
"This is our last green valley, and if we let these people come in and do warehouse after warehouse, we're going to have nothing left," Berti said. "You can't come back from that."
Greenwich approves new $41.2 million Dorothy Hamill ice skating rink after years of debate
Eric Bedner
GREENWICH — Despite objections from some, members of Greenwich’s Representative Town Meeting overwhelmingly gave final approval to a new $41.2 million Dorothy Hamill ice skating rink.
The project also calls for a complete redesign of Eugene Morlot Memorial Park, including relocating a baseball field, adding parking and creating a new entrance and exit.
Following a lengthy and sometimes contentious debate on Monday, the proposal passed after a 159-32 vote, with 13 abstaining.
While the majority of speakers supported the project, many of the critics argued the proposal should be rejected, citing a lack of transparency, impact to residents adjacent to the park, potential adverse impacts to open recreation space, and potential for costs to increase significantly.
Proposals to build a new rink at the former teen center on Arch Street were reviewed and voted down twice by the Hamill rink task force, due largely to the property being in a flood zone, RTM Finance Committee Chairman Scott Kalb said.
Many RTM committees, including the Finance Committee, voted unanimously to approve the project.
In the case of the Finance Committee, “the committee did not see any material reasons to justify the rejection” of the proposal, Kalb said.
Regarding transparency, First Selectman Fred Camillo said the Hamill rink task force had 38 public meetings and two public hearings, providing ample time for input.
“There has not been a more transparent and more vetted project in the last 50 years than this rink,” he said. “This task force looked at every single possibility.”
Task force member Steph Cowie said the group received “hundreds of letters in support of this site,” and the town’s plan of conservation and development was “a dominant factor.”
“This project is about finally delivering a safe, modern gathering place for our children, families, veterans, athletes and residents of all abilities,” she said.
Hockey coach and resident Neal Rich said the plan improves the community, “turning a location into a destination that is on par with representing Greenwich, CT.”
Public Works Commissioner James Michel said his department worked for a year and a half to address concerns raised by the public, and also heard “overwhelming support” from the RTM when members voted to fully fund the project when deciding on the town’s budget last month.
He said input from the public will continue to be welcome over the final design period in the next several months before breaking ground sometime in 2027.
Peter Berg, one of the most vocal opponents of the project, called supporters of the proposal “suckers” for buying into an idea he claims will cost taxpayers more money than necessary.
The RTM member also said the task force was a “sham” that ignored his ideas.
“There is something seriously wrong with a municipal improvement process that ignored a lower-cost plan, the one with less impact on cross-town traffic and more affordable skating fees,” Berg said. “You should be outraged. I am outraged.”
Moderator Alexis Voulgaris reprimanded some speakers, including Berg, during the meeting for their lack of decorum.
Last month, RTM members from Districts 9 and 10 attempted to cut $38.5 million from the rink project — leaving only $2.7 million for final planning and architectural designs — but the measure failed by a margin of roughly 90 votes.
Those in favor of the cut argued the approval of both design and construction costs at the same time limits the oversight of the RTM as the project advances and costs potentially increase.
Members against cutting rink funding, however, said the project has been thoroughly vetted, will provide a safe and modern space for residents and visitors, and was the result of a transparent process.
Gold medal Olympian and local legend Dorothy Hamill — and namesake of the current rink — voiced her support for the project during a Board of Estimate and Taxation public hearing in March.
Federal funds bring Hamden closer to new emergency operations center, fire station
Brian Zahn
HAMDEN — Just like the complex network of first responders who have to work together during an emergency, the town of Hamden and the state are collaborating to help create a new emergency operations center in town.
On Tuesday, Hamden received over $1 million in earmarked federal funds for a new emergency operations center, to be located at a planned new fire station in the southern part of the town.
“This is a result of years of cooperation and of partnership between the residents of Hamden, elected officials and emergency services personnel,” said U.S. Rep. Rosa DeLauro at the Tuesday morning press conference in the Memorial Town Hall rotunda. “We are celebrating today.”
The total project — including both the fire station and the emergency operations center — is expected to cost about $17 million. Town Engineer Stephen White said the federal funds bring the amount raised for the project, known as Fire Station 2, to $13 million. The new structure will be at 466 Putnam Ave. and construction is slated to begin in late 2027.
DeLauro said the town completed a comprehensive feasibility study and secured the necessary matching funds before the procurement of the federal funds to make it “a shovel-ready project.”
She said the $1.03 million in federal dollars will support “a comprehensive update and renovation” of the town’s emergency operations center that will provide “a nerve center during emergencies” for police, fire and rescue crews with new technology and communications equipment, flexible work stations and “state-of-the-art audiovisual systems allowing real-time information sharing between field operations and the command staff with the specialized technology they need” around the clock.
Currently, the town has an emergency operations center located within its police department, but town officials said the space is not large enough to accommodate modern technology or communications systems and is not readily accessible, as the police station is a secure building which requires an escort. However, Fire Chief Shelly Carter said there is not always someone working the front desk at the station around the clock, which can deter and delay representatives from utility companies seeking to access the center.
Mayor Adam Sendroff said that the Fire Station 2 project is a key priority of his administration. Sendroff, who is in his first term, is serving the town’s first four-year mayoral term after residents voted to amend the charter in 2022.