Land Use

The role of the Planning and Zoning Commission is to ensure that changes in the Town of Clinton are in harmony with the heritage of our town and the outlook for the future. We do this by coordinating the long term planning for the town and then developing regulations that support these decisions. Most importantly, we depend on input from the community, both individuals and groups, to develop the plans and regulations for the town.

Our chief planning document is the Town Plan of Conservation and Development. This document must be up-dated at least every 10 years. We develop the plan by eliciting information from the community and examining the progress on issues from the past. Once we have a good draft document formal public hearings are held to provide a chance for additional comments. When the final document is approved, it becomes the template our town will use to evaluate any proposed changes.

The goals of the Town Plan of Conservation and Development need to be supported by regulations that promote the desired activities in each specific area of the town. The Planning and Zoning Commission is responsible for two sets of regulations, Zoning Regulations of the Town of Clinton, Connecticut and Subdivision Regulations of the Town of Clinton, Connecticut. Based on the Town Plan and concerns brought to our attention, we carefully amend and modify both sets of regulations. These regulations seek to balance the rights of individual property owners with rights of other property owners in the area as well as the overall plan for the town.

Large projects and projects that have special circumstances have to come to the commission for approval. Depending on the proposal the regulations will determine if a public hearing is held. The Commission has to determine if the project is consistent with the regulations and the town plan. Decisions of approval or denial are made solely on the consistency of the project with the regulations and plan in effect on the day the proposal was submitted. We cannot block a project just because we don't like it or because there is an angry public hearing. These issues can be used to help us develop new regulations that would impact future development. This brings us full circle to our need to hear from all sides of the Town of Clinton.

The Zoning Board of Appeals is the agency established by Connecticut State Statutes to provide relief from the strict enforcement of the Zoning Regulations, provided that a unique hardship concerning the land in questions can be demonstrated. In order for a variance to be granted, the Board must approve the application with four (4) affirmative votes out of the five (5) voting members.

In addition, the Board is responsible for issuing Certificates of Approval of Location and granting local approval for Dealer's and Repairer’s Licenses. The Planning and Zoning Commission delegated the responsibility of Special Exceptions for automotive uses to the Zoning Board of Appeals.

The final function of the Board is to hear appeals of the decisions of the Zoning Enforcement Officer.

If the existing house is currently encroaching into the setback area, yes, you need a variance.

The Zoning Regulations set the maximum ground coverage allowed for each zoning district. Ground coverage is defined as any impermeable surfaces (such as paved driveways, sidewalks, patios, decks, accessory buildings, etc.) that prevents water from being absorbed into the ground directly below the area.

Yes

Yes. Due to a recent decision by the Zoning Board of Appeals, any property that is currently over on the ground coverage and seeks a permit for construction, a variance is required.

A financial or personal reason for requesting a variance is not a hardship.

$140.00 per application.

If you are located within the CAM zone, and are required to submit a Coastal Site Plan Review Application (CAM application), there is an additional $55.00 application fee and a $60.00 fee to the DEEP.

No. There is a fifteen (15) day appeal period that starts the day the legal notice is published in a newspaper.

You cannot re-apply for the same application for six months or unless substantial changes are made to the project.

As of January 1, 2012:

1. All applicants must submit the documentation required in Section 4 (Procedures) of the Clinton Zoning Regulations.
2. For automobile repair/sales, a certificate of approval of location must be obtained from the Zoning Board of Appeals.
3. In most cases, for automobile repairs/sales you will also have to apply for a special exception from the Planning and Zoning Commission. Contact the Land Use Office of confirmation.

The Clinton Water Pollution Control Commission is directly responsible for the planning, design and oversight of all water pollution control facilities in the Town of Clinton in accordance with federal, state and local regulations. The general purpose of the WPCC is to protect the public health and welfare of the Town through the recognition and prevention of public health nuisances and hazards and environmental degradation that might have a detrimental impact on the quality of the Town's surface and subsurface water supplies.

All municipal wastewater treatment facilities must meet certain statemandated design criteria to account for these situations. Emergency power generators are required to maintain operations during power outages. DEP requires that all processes have redundant equipment, so that full treatment can be provided with any one treatment “train” out of service. (Most treatment facilities are designed with two or more parallel treatment processes, called trains, for this reason. Larger facilities might have 3, 4, or more separate, identical trains.

The current approach is to look at several dispersal sites for discharge of the treated effluent, since the likelihood of any one site handling all the flow is small. The consultants, in conjunction with state and local regulators, will evaluate what the most environmentally sound, costeffective approach is to treat the wastewater and disperse the effluent. This could result in one or more treatment facilities distributing the effluent to several different sites

Current wastewater treatment technology is designed to reduce concentrations of conventional pollutants (BOD5, Suspended Solids, Nitrogen) to levels consistent with state permitting standards. This generally results in BOD5 and Suspended Solids concentrations in the effluent of about 10 parts per million (influent is about 300 ppm), and total nitrogen of about 5 ppm (influent is about 60 ppm). Additional treatment is then available in the soils which will reduce these pollutants further.

Pathogenic bacteria and viruses are killed or inactivated by exposure to intense doses of ultraviolet light (Chlorine, once the standard disinfection method, is used less often now due to its residual effects.)

Other toxins (Pharmaceuticals and Personal Health Care products, or PPHC) as well as other toxic compounds, are dealt with using a combination of treatment, source reduction and regulation. However, the best treatment is educating the users not to discharge toxic substances down the drain in the first place.

Large treatment systems, whether using a surface water discharge or subsurface dispersal, are regulated by CT DEP, who will issue an operating permit (also called a discharge permit) for the facility which includes limits for concentrations of pollutants in the effluent. These treatment facilities are required to constantly monitor their operational parameters (much of which is now done electronically), submit operating data to DEP on a monthly basis, and are subject to inspection by DEP field inspectors.

It’s not clear where the two numbers you are referring to originate. At the present time, the data from Elliott school is still being evaluated, and no estimates for site capacity have been arrived at by the current consultant.

One way a site could have two such disparate values is the following: The lower number could be the theoretical capacity of a site with a conventional septic tank and leaching field, where the soils are being used to provide a significant part of the treatment. The higher number could be the site’s hydraulic capacity; that is, the capacity of the site to merely accept a discharge of water with no consideration or expectation of soil-based treatment. The latter would assume that all treatment was accomplished in a conventional treatment facility before discharge to the ground for dispersal.

The estimated capital costs you identify are correct for Old Saybrook; the operational costs are estimated at between $600 and $800 annually per home. The economy of scale obtained by community systems, as being evaluated for the town of Clinton, helps to reduce the cost per user, both for capital costs and operational costs. It is not unreasonable to expect, however, that the individual costs for the cluster and community systems will be in the $15,000 - $20,000 range per home. This cost may be defrayed by grants from the DEP Clean Water Fund (a 25% grant, and a loan for the balance at 2% for 20 years), resulting in a monthly cost for the typical home of between $57 and $76. Assistance from other funding sources could reduce this further. Operational costs are likely to be in the range of $30 - $50 per month.

Again, a cost-effective analysis will be part of the alternative evaluation and selection process, to help minimize the economic impacts to the users.

Sewer Avoidance refers to a strategy to avoid the need for sewers by assuring the proper design, construction, operation and maintenance of onsite system. (Today the term is Onsite Management). It is a preventative measure, not a remedial measure, and for that reason is not an appropriate strategy for developed areas where problems resulting from site constraints already exist. In other words, Sewer Avoidance won’t make the lots bigger, the groundwater deeper, or the soils better suited for wastewater treatment, and is therefore not a viable strategy in developed areas where those limiting factors already exist.

Surface water bodies which are not already receiving a discharge of treated effluent, or are otherwise impacted by pollution sources, are not allowed to begin receiving such discharges, regardless of the quality for the effluent, under the Federal Clean Water Act and the Connecticut Water Quality Standards. Since the Hammonassett both receives discharges and has historical pollution sources (old landfills, for example) alongside it, it was labeled Water Quality Class B, which allows for additional discharges as long as water quality standards are maintained in the receiving waters, and no degradation will occur due to the operation of the discharge. Other local water bodies (the Indian River, Menunketesuck River, and Long Island Sound in the vicinity of Clinton) are listed as Water Quality Class A, or SA in the case of Long Island Sound (the “S” prefix indicates a salt-water receiving water).

Feel free to send more questions if you want our take on the answers...

Dennis J. Greci, P.E.
Supervising Sanitary Engineer
Municipal Facilities Section
Bureau of Water Protection & Land Re-Use
Phone: (860) 424-3751