East Windsor Planning and Zoning Commission Approves Permit to Store Road Material

The East Windsor Planning and Zoning Commission Tuesday approved a special use permit to stockpile construction material at the town public works facility.

The material being stored at public works facility on Woolam Road is road millings provided to East Windsor free of charge by the state.

Action on the proposal had been delayed as officials waited for water quality tests in the area done by the state. Public Works Director Leonard Norton said he received an email from Michael Caronna, of the North Central Health District, with the results of the tests done around the public works facility.

The district also did tests of the water in wells of homes near the facility. All of the tests found no hyrdocarbon compounds in any of the wells. The tests were done when some nearby residents complained about the piles of millings and questioned whether some of the materials being stored there represent a health hazard.

“I think it’s pretty clear nothing was detected,” Norton said.

The millings are being used for basic maintenance of town roads, parking lots, etc., Norton said. The town has stored the material on the property in the past, he said.

Some neighbors of the property still expressed concern Tuesday about the effect the piles of millings will have on their neighborhood.

Marie Groves, a Scantic Road resident, said she is concerned about what problems the materials may cause in the future.

“How do we know it will not leach in the field?,” Groves said.

Gary Salmon, whose Woolam Road home faces the stockpile, said the millings look like a blighted area.

“This is self-inflicted blight,” Salmon said. “It’s in my front yard. I see this as a nuisance.”

Town Planner Laurie Whitten said the property has been owned by the town since 1961 and was intended for the use it has now.  The special permit was needed to make sure the site plan is in line with town ordinances.

“There was never any question of what was being stored there,” Whitten said.

Officials would love to put up some screening around the area, but the town doesn’t have the money to do it, Whitten said.