Experts Called In To Argue Against Ridgefield Winter Club

RIDGEFIELD, CT — Science and legal experts took the floor in the latest public forum held to discuss the proposal to convert the Pinchbeck property into a Winter Club, the News Times is reporting.

In all, about 100 residents attended the Planning and Zoning Commission and Inland Wetlands Board’s public hearing at East Ridge Middle School on Tuesday.

An amphibian zoologist argued that the proposed club would damage the wetlands and eliminate a critical part of the habitat for wood frogs. A planning consultant expressed concerns over the currently unquantified volume of activity the grounds would see in seasons other than winter. A traffic engineer noted the possibility that the club would generate traffic congestion at the intersection of Old Post Road, Smith Ridge Road and Peaceable Street at the New York border. An engineer with Wright Pierce worried that chemicals from the painted ice flowing into a septic system would be hazardous to the environment.

An attorney for the Peaceable Neighbors Alliance, which formed in opposition to the proposed club, expressed his opinion that the club should not be allowed to be built in a residential zone, and that clubhouse should have been submitted under a separate application.

The developer plans to outfit the clubhouse with a golf simulation room, four lanes of bowling, a tabletop game room, homework rooms, casual dining with bar, and locker rooms. The Ridgefield Winter Club also predicts a five-fold increase in the property taxes that they will pay, in addition to the new jobs it will add.

The next public hearing is scheduled for Oct. 16 at 7 p.m.

For more on the story, see the News Times.

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