Farmington commission accepts intervener petition on Noble Energy proposal; hearing continued after experts raise vernal-pool, runoff concerns

The Town of Farmington Inland Wetlands Commission voted to accept an intervener petition and to continue the public hearing on a proposed commercial development by Noble Energy Real Estate Holdings to May 20.

The petition was presented by intervenor Stephanie Roman, a nearby property owner, who said the plan would convert residentially-zoned land to commercial use, add impervious surfaces for an 18,000-square-foot warehouse, an 8,400-square-foot travel center with diesel fueling and more than 100 parking spaces, and thereby threaten more than 50 acres of high-functioning wetlands and two vernal pools. Roman cited a 2024 Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP) report and alleged the project’s proposed stormwater systems and separators would be insufficient to treat dissolved pollutants such as hydrocarbons and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs).

"This plan would substantially increase impervious surface cover in this area, which will cause long-term harm to the wetlands," Roman said, adding she will present expert reports and assessments at the continued hearing.

Applicant counsel Robert Reeve said Noble reduced the project from earlier filings: a warehouse was cut from roughly 28,000 to 18,000 square feet, the travel center was reduced, a previously proposed restaurant was removed, and impervious area was decreased by about half an acre. Reeve said the applicant proposes a conservation easement covering roughly 75 of the site’s 86 acres — roughly 86% of the parcel — and that the active development area…