Contentious permit draws a crowd
About 80 residents flooded the third floor meeting room at town hall to try to halt a contractor company from using the gravel pit on Old Westport Road as its new headquarters. After several hours of testimony, the hearing was extended to Nov. 4.
J.B. Lanagan & Company, Inc., a site contractor company, is seeking a special permit from the Zoning Board of Appeals to use the location of Pine Hill Sand and Gravel on 498 Old Westport Road as its headquarters. A public hearing was held on Tuesday night regarding the matter.
The proposed headquarters would include office space, an area for storage of construction materials and a garage for equipment repairs.
The 90-acre property sits in an area zoned for residential use. Its past use as a sand and gravel pit was allowed as a "pre-existing, non-conforming use."
Continuance of the property's use for anything other than single-family housing would require a determination that it has been in continuous use as a sand and gravel pit without any gap lasting more than two years.
Or, if that is not the case, the Zoning Board of Appeals could issue a special permit if it determines that the new use would be no more detrimental to the neighborhood than the existing use.
Abutters of the property were informed of the public hearing on Aug. 31, kickstarting a grassroots effort to stop J.B. Lanagan. James Costa, an abutter of the property, submitted a petition to the board during the public hearing that was signed by more than 170 people.
In order for the Zoning Board of Appeals to grant the special permit, Daniel Perry, the attorney representing J.B. Lanagan, has to prove that the site has been in continuous operation without gaps lasting longer than two years. The community members who sat in during the meeting contended that the site has not been in use for several years.
Perry also needed to prove that the proposed headquarters would not be more detrimental to the neighborhood than the existing use.
During the public hearing, Perry went over the history of the site and offered aerial photographs to show that the business was operational through 2012. As further proof of the site’s use, he submitted invoices from 2014 and 2015 in the application for the special permit.
He said that, while the gravel pit at the location has largely been exhausted, material still arrives from off-site.
Jacqueline Figueiredo, chairperson of the Zoning Board of Appeals, said she walked the property.
“I was looking for evidence of sand and gravel excavation. There was none,” said Figueiredo.
Costa was the first resident to speak when the hearing opened to public comment. He alleged that the site does not have electricity.
“There’s been no power to this site in years. The power was disconnected back in 2004. I saw that the electric company had removed the padmount transformer, which feeds the rock crusher,” said Costa.
Costa also called into question the validity of Pine Hill Sand and Gravel’s business certificate and the invoices offered in the application. He also submitted photographs to the board taken from satellite imagery on Google Earth. Costa said that, for the past six years, vegetation has taken over the site.
After hearing comments from several concerned citizens, Figueiredo instructed board members to review the evidence and the testimony to see if the business has, in fact, been operational without discontinuation for two years' time.
“If we are to consider approving this petition, [we] have to make a finding that the change of use is not more detrimental than the previous use. That’s your homework. We need to be thorough,” she said.
The public hearing on the matter will continue at a Zoning Board of Appeals meeting scheduled for Nov. 4.