Submitted by Peter Quigley, 20-year town resident
To the Quality of Life in Greenwich, its overdevelopment, being pushed by 8-30g and town capacity to take sewerage with storm water away…i.e. flooding in the streets, basements, schools, …watersheds.
Many would like to ask town leaders, elected and appointed representatives, at all levels of local, state, and federal govt on town overdevelopment, how have they addressed flooding issues to our residential health and safety; to the destruction of natural resources, wetlands, trees, harbors and shorelines, and; to the damage, costs, to existing properties….NOTE: POCDs (Plan of Conservation & Development) have identified ‘flooding’ as one of the #1 issues in town the past 25+ years!
Three (3) questions one asks:
1. ‘Has Greenwich reached a Tipping Point’? – not to the merits of Greenwich unheralded
buildout, but, importantly, to saving precious resources and natural assets, improve quality of residential health and safety, and, importantly, manage serious flood impact and destruction in streets, homes, schools…to existing home owners and property values.
Has the Town of Greenwich reached a ‘tipping point’ of overdevelopment in its capacity to take away what may be the illicit ‘comingling’ of sewerage with storm water (rain) away in storms of 1” rainfall in 1-2 hours, that close beaches – are there violations/responsibilities outlined in its state of CT MS-4 Permit?
2. Are land use application approvals taking town into urban sprawl, adding traffic congestion and population explosions – a metropolitan Frankenstein, exacerbating flood conditions & storm water removal, health & safety issues, adding environmental pollution fill and erosion – ‘fill’ into valued harbors, wetlands, contaminating rivers and shorelines, in to schools & neighborhoods…to what is becoming the destruction of town’s natural resources, negatively impacting quality of life and ….property values? Land Use application approvals without requiring the necessary infrastructure sewer capacity, underground storm water systems, not just at Grass Island.
3. Should there be a ‘moratorium’ on large-scale development, including 8-30g, until Grass Island plant and town’s pumping stations have been fixed for capacity, state inspected, along w/other steps taken to manage serious flooding… and for town to show leadership, take a stand with other like towns to the courts, and what was done at Post Rd Iron Works project in 2016?
Simply, has town reached its capacity to take away what may be the illicit ‘commingling’ of sewerage and storm water at Grass Island plant and handful of pumping stations – of mixing sewerage and storm water in 1-2” rainfall – in 2-3 hours of storm events that are now more frequent to 1-, 2-, 5- and 10-year durations – not the spurious 100-year storms – required by town’s CT state MS-4 drainage permit?
Upon review of recent newspaper articles, has the Town of Greenwich reached a ‘tipping point’ of overdevelopment?
Question: Where does that storm rain water go of 1-2” + in 1-2 + hours that closes beaches?
Might there be better, alternative ways to explore, fix, mitigate, manage flood conditions, other than 75-year reliance of town’s Dept of Public Works Flood & Erosion Control Board, created 75-years ago to fix in 1957-1958?