Norwalk inland-wetlands agency approves revised wall, erosion controls for 292 Willow/Phillips Street

The Norwalk Conservation Commission and Inland Wetlands Agency on Jan. 28 approved a revised landscaping and erosion-control plan to rebuild a fallen stone wall at 292 (listed in materials as both Willow and Phillips) and required a performance bond and other conditions.

The commission voted to adopt a draft resolution prepared by staff that includes a $5,000 bond, a timeframe for completing the work, required sediment-and-erosion controls, establishment and maintenance of a planted buffer and photographic documentation on completion. The vote passed with the motion and second recorded and no negative votes; one commissioner abstained from the record on the public-hearing vote earlier in the meeting.

The applicant’s landscape designer, Jackie Howard of Brook Clark Landscape Architects, told the commission the project will rebuild roughly 45 feet of a collapsed wall, install a temporary sandbag dam during construction, and place silt fencing to limit runoff into the adjacent pond. Howard said per the commission’s earlier direction a planting bed was moved to the upslope side of the work so planted material would better intercept runoff.

Staff confirmed the public hearing had been properly noticed twice in the Norwalk Hour and that adjacent property owners had been mailed notice. No members of the public spoke on the item during the hearing. After the public-hearing portion the commission moved to close the record and then adopted the draft resolution prepared by staff.

The resolution approved by the agency will become the wetland permit and staff said it will be mailed to the applicant once the paperwork is complete. Conditions require the bond be posted and the sediment controls be installed prior to construction.