Steve "Conflict of Interest" Zemo

Last Wednesday, a hearing with the Selectmen was held to get public feedback on the Charter Commission recommendations. One item was the separation of the Inland Wetlands Board (IWB) from the Planning & Zoning Commission (P&Z). The 9 members are the judge and jury for both the building plans and the environmental impact (though none of the current members are Wetland or Environmental experts). One member of the public pointed out that many candidates running for P&Z are not even aware that they are also running for IWB (this has been documented). The Conservation Commission argued that the combined Commission/Board has not used best practices and gave examples. One of the examples was a cement wall at the new Coach Homes site that separates it from the wetlands (which damages the wetland and can be life threatening to animals). I did not get the impression that Selectman Zemo liked criticism of the project. He was hostile while questioning those in favor of having an independent IWB. At one point he stated that he had “one more question” saying that he’d like to thank the Planning and Zoning Commission for the “great job they do”. Of course, it was not a question; Mr. Zemo just wanted to take the opportunity to start an ad campaign for a commission that approves everything he puts in front of them. It must be nice to be a builder/developer who is a Selectman. At the end of the evening, Mr. Zemo campaigned to his fellow Selectman that P&Z and IWB should not be separated (despite the fact that only 7 towns in CT have a combined board….the majority of those are cities). His argument was “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”. Of course, it ain’t broke for Selectman Zemo, but it doesn’t mean Ridgefield doesn’t deserve environmental experts as stewards on an IWB. Not every resident gets rich on new projects being built. If the residents don’t get a chance to vote on separating P&Z from the IWB, we can thank Mr. Zemo for unduly influencing his fellow Selectman. One thing is clear, Steve Zemo SHOULD HAVE recused himself from voting on this issue; a clear conflict of interest.