Noank Zoning Request Sparks Controversy

On paper, the request appears benign; a seemingly simple zoning application to make some verbiage changes to a local zoning rule.

But in this bucolic burg by the sea, a community seeped in seafaring history where boats surely outnumber cars, the public hearing slated for tonight at the Zoning Commission promises to be anything but sleepy.

The proposal would permit parks, playgrounds and other municipally-owned recreational facilities and buildings within a low density district by “special exception” only,  rather than through  site plan approval as they are now. The proposal is contentious because it would require public input on plans by any town department related to parks, playgrounds or other town-owned recreational buildings.

“We think the change is fairly simple," said William R. Sweeney, a lawyer representing a group of Noank residents called the "Prospect Hill Conservancy". "Now plans are permitted by right. With this (text amendment), a public hearing would be required. It doesn’t prohibit anything; it just says we’ll all discuss it. We work to balance a proposal to any adverse implications for (neighbors).”

“It’s about an open and transparent process. That’s it,”  said Sweeney, a former municipal land use and environmental planner.  “We think in a democracy, we should be promoting just that.”

At least one town board opposes the request. The Groton Planning Commission issued a memo indicating it will not support the application, calling it “inconsistent” with zoning regulations.

A number of other town departments including public works, parks and recreation, the town manager and Town Council may also make statements about the proposed text amendment.

A public hearing will be held at 7 p.m. today at the Noank Fire District building on Ward Avenue.

Sweeney said there has been “a lot of talk about the obsolete (Noank) elementary school …what its use might be (including) basketball courts, passive recreation, community center, sports complex, office space for recreation. Neighbors are concerned about what can be done. We think that needs to be a public process.”

The Planning Commission issued a memo last week -- which it copied to Town Manager Mark Oefinger and the town’s parks and public works department heads – delineating three reasons for opposing the application. One, it found it “illogical” to ask for a special exception in this type of residenital zone and not in similarly zoned areas. Second the memo said the change would contradict the town’s 2002 Plan of Conservation and Development Community Structure Plan.  Finally, the Commission said it saw no “relevant or legitimate” reason to subject existing public facilities including Esker Point Beach and the former Noank School to a proposed ‘special exception.’