Norwalk conservation staff receipts wall work at 292 Phillips St.; public hearing set for Jan. 28

The Norwalk City Conservation Commission and Inland Wetlands Agency received a corrective-action Significant Activity Permit application on Jan. 14 for work done on a roughly 45-foot section of retaining wall adjacent to the dam at Flourisham Pond, and scheduled a public hearing for Jan. 28.

Commission staff said the city received a complaint that work was under way without a wetlands permit and that a notice of violation and stop-work directive was issued; the property owners stopped work, retained a landscape architect and submitted plans to legalize the work. Amelia (staff member) explained the sequence and the staff finding that "the wall that is a portion, a part of or adjacent to the dam is directly within the pond. It does warrant a significant activity."

The applicant, Jackie Howard, a landscape designer with Brook Clark Landscape Architects, told the commission the contractor began rebuilding a segment of wall without a permit and that the project team proposes to rebuild the wall in place, protect the pond with a temporary sandbag barrier and install silt fence and planting as mitigation. "We are proposing to put the wall back, basically exactly where it was, but, fix it," Howard said. She said the contractor believes the existing concrete footing can be reused and that the project will include native shrubs such as clethra, red twig dogwood and inkberry.

Commissioners asked for clearer photos and for more buffer planting where lawn currently sits next to the wall. A staff member pointed out the plan shows the floodway and flood zone and advised commissioners that a public hearing is required because the work lies within a watercourse. The commission said it wants the applicant to refine planting placement to function as a filter strip rather than leaving lawn up to the wetland edge.

The commission voted to schedule the public hearing for Jan. 28 for application S24-65292 (292 Phillips St.). The motion to schedule the hearing was made and seconded and approved by voice vote; the vote was recorded as a voice "Aye" with no individual roll-call recorded on the transcript.

The commission noted it could not approve or deny the permit at the receipt meeting and encouraged the applicant to submit a complete application packet and the legal notice language so mailings to adjacent owners can begin. Staff said it would prepare a draft resolution for commissioners to consider after the public hearing, and that the draft could be altered after public comment.