Ridgefield News
June 8, 1999

Bennett's Pond Hearing Draws Record Crowd

July 8 -- More than 400 townspeople came out tonight to hear the details of the latest plan to develop the Bennett's Pond property in northern Ridgefield. Sweltering through an unusual spring heat wave in the non-air conditioned Veterans Park auditorium, Ridgefielders heard the developer, Eureva V LLC, explain how they had cut back their earlier plan after being made aware of townspeople's resistance at a December 1998 hearing.

Carl Goldberg, Principal with Roseland Properties of New Jersey, one of the partners in Eureka V LLC, the organization formed to develop the Bennett's Pond site. The other major player is Douglas Elliman Realty, one of the largest real estate firms in the country, which is headed by Howard Milstein. Mr. Goldberg went to great lengths to explain the extent to which the developers had scaled back their proposal, and their great desire to be sensitive to the concerns of Ridgefielders. He said that the developers were very focused on three priorities for the town: open space, the traffic impact, and the impact on the town's "ratables" (developers' jargon for "tax base").

Here's one of the charts displayed at tonight's hearing. This shows what the zoning of the propoerty would look like after the change which is sought by Eureka. Actually, the rezoning request is relatively minor; more people are concerned by the density of the proposed developemnt thatn by the small rezoning which is being requested.

Planning and Zoning commissioners huddled before the hearing, as townspeople signed up to speak at tonight's hearing. Here, P&Z Chairman Nelson Gelfman (left) and Di Masters (middle) confer with Town Planner Ozzie Inglese (standing), which Dave Huntoon (seated, right) looks away.

David Portman of Frederick P. Clark Associates, community planning consultants, was one of nine speakers for the developers.

Eureka V LLC speakers waited patiently in the front row of the auditorium for their turn to address the hearing. Generally, you could spot the Eureka speakers by their ties and, in some cases, jackets, even in the sweltering June heat.

[The following summary of the meeting is excerpted from the Ridgefield Open Space Association On-Line Newsletter]

RECAP OF TUESDAY NIGHT'S MEETING
[There was]... a huge, capacity crowd at Veterans Park School (nearly 400), in spite of the heat emergency which closed the schools that day. The hearing, which began at 8:00 p.m. with the Eureka representatives giving their presentations, followed by the reading of correspondence and some comments from the public, was ended by the Chairman at 11:00 p.m. and will be continued to Tuesday, June 15 at 8:00 p.m. A third night, if needed, is slated for Wednesday, June 23.

... ROSA supplied water to the crowd throughout the proceedings, which netted ... some goodwill, contributions, as well as 70 more names for [their] mailing list... During the reading of technical correspondence, George Orlan, Chairman of the Conservation Commission read a very strong letter in opposition to the changes in regulations proposed by Eureka, which provoked a spontaneous outburst of applause from the audience. He was followed by Rich Longo, Chairman of the Economic Development Committee, who indicated that the ECD supported the status quo on the land - CDD only. Obviously they do not support [the] effort to preserve the property as open space, but neither do they support the introduction of residential development in the CDD zone.

[ROSA's] attorney, Frank Cochran, then made his statements in opposition to both the zone change and change in regulations, and ... his arguments were well received by many of the Commissioners, based upon their reactions and note-taking during his presentation. Frank was followed by ROSA members Eric Kristoffersen and Bob Kleinberg, and Redding resident Victor DeMasi.

ROSA'S EFFORTS TO OPPOSE EUREKA'S PETITIONS

1. Frank Cochran, in addition to his oral presentation, submitted to each Commissioner and for the record a Memorandum of Law on our behalf which addresses all of the legal issues to be considered by the Commission.
2. ROSA has filed as an intervenor in this proceeding under Connecticut General Statute 22a-19, which makes us a party to this process, compels the Commission to consider environmental concerns in their decision, and to look at all "feasible and prudent alternatives" to what Eureka has proposed.
3. ROSA has submitted to the Commission an C.G.S. 8-3(b) protest petition, signed by the owners of more than 20% of the area of the lots within 500 feet of the Bennetts Pond CDD-zoned property. The petition imposes a two-thirds majority vote requirement for approval of the change in regulations, rather than the simple majority called for in our zoning regulations. This protest petition was prepared and circulated by ROSA members, and the identification of the eligible owners and lot area calculations were done by ROSA members Eric & Beth Kristoffersen. Eric is a member of the Board of Directors of ROSA, and is a licensed land surveyor.
4. Many ROSA volunteers helped distribute flyers all over town on Saturday to get people out for the hearing.

PLANS FOR THE CONTINUED HEARING
The hearing will continue on this coming Tuesday night (June 15) with the "Questions from the Public" segment. This section will go on as long as members of the public wish to speak, and then will be followed by "Questions from the Commission". Eureka's attorney, Casey Healey of the Wilton-based firm Gregory & Adams, has reserved time for rebuttal prior to the closing of the hearing.

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