After a near three-hour discussion with the Nevins Retirement Cooperative Association and residents associated with it, the Zoning Board’s agenda was not quite complete during its July 19 meeting at town hall.
After a quick break following the Nevins discussion, the board discussed the other case for the night, which concerned Cytec RE Inc. Cytec was looking for two variances: one for Land Zoning Ordinance (LZO) 2.5.1.3.A.1.d that would allow the construction of a retaining wall greater than three feet in height that encroaches 20 feet into a 30 feet right-of-way setback for structures from the property line, and one for LZO 2.5.1.3.H.1 that would allow construction of a paved driveway within 20 feet of the “green area” perimeter adjacent to a right-of-way. These two variances would apply to Cytec’s facility on Four Navigator Road.
According to Milton Mitchell, representative for both Cytec and applicant Ed Zielinski, the variances are being sought due to a suggestion from their insurance company. The company informed them of a potential risk from the current location where they offload methanol alcohol into an underground tanker. Cytec is hoping to move their filling station 35 feet from the main building and putting up a retaining wall in order to mitigate said risk, which would also require the relocation of the road leading to the station. Mitchell noted that the insurance company’s intentions “are to protect our business.”
Mitchell noted that Cytec had already obtained a variance in the past for a retaining wall but requires a new one for moving the wall closer to the building. This left Board Chairman Neil Dunn curious as to whether or not this new wall variance would have any effect on the previous variance. Dunn also expressed some confusion over the specifics of the proposed alterations from the variance, to which the Cytec representatives needed to produce blueprints of the area to further elaborate on what changes would be made.
But, even with the retaining wall, the station is located roughly five feet from the street, prompting member Jim Tirabassi to ask just how large an explosion might be if there was some sort of accident at the offloading station, which the representatives admitted they were unaware of. However, they did note that the retaining wall would instead push the force of the explosion up into the air.
The board saw no problem with the variances, leading to unanimous approval for both.