MONROE, CT — A developer plans to bring in 9,000 truckloads of fill to raise the elevation of the former Vitramon property at 10 and 36 Main St., while preparing the site for future development.
On Thursday night, the Planning and Zoning Commission unanimously approved the excavation and filling permit application brought by Solli Engineering on behalf of the owner, 10 and 36 Main St. LLC.
A total of 158,273 cubic yards of excavated fill material would raise the elevation of the 15-acre-property to an average of 328 feet, taking around 12 to 18 months to complete.
A waiver was granted allowing temporary onsite material sorting, rock crushing and processing for the duration of the permit, which expires on Oct. 21, 2023.
The hours of operation will be from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., but trucks bringing in fill from Main Street to the driveway off Victoria Drive may only come between 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. to avoid peak hour for commuter traffic.
Another condition of the commission’s approval is that no demolition material, including asphalt, will be imported to the site.
The developer must pay a $190,000 site stabilization and erosion control bond as part of the approval.
The Shoppes at Victoria Place
It has yet to be determined what will be proposed on the property once it’s ready for development. But prior to this application, Robert Dunbar, of Monroe, had planned to build The Shoppes at Victoria Place there, before progress stalled.
The commercial development would have offered shopping, a coffee shop and a maximum of two restaurants.
Dunbar had planned a retail development with six buildings totaling 115,000 square feet, cobblestone walkways, wood benches, old time street lamps, potted plants and access to the Rail Trail behind the property. The asphalt of the parking lot would have been broken up with landscaping and plantings.
I wonder if anyone on the Planning & Zoning Commission really believes that Arnold Karp will actually pay for the 9,000 truckloads of material to imported to this site?
Chances are he will be collecting lucrative tipping fees and crushing old concrete, brick and ceramics on-site.
You got that right. He will never pay for fill. Why not just move the mountains of top soil taken from the quarry and mining operations behind Dunkin’ Donuts. After all it’s all right next door and we know where it came from.
If Mr. Karp really intended to import fill for the Vitramon site from the Pondview Site, then he would have kept control of the Pondview gravel operation. Pondview is now run by a new separate excavating operator. Which means Karp will now need to pay $$$ for any material received from Pondview Site.
I recently told the P&Z Commission that I personally witnessed trucks being filled up with the native natural material stockpiled over at 64 Cambridge Quarry. And that I then followed the trucks leaving 64 Cambridge and delivering material to the 10/36 Main St location.
Mark Twain’s quote of “It’s easier fool people than it is to convince them they have been fooled” is humorously relevant here.
Although I personally support the development of 10/36 Main, I feel Engineers and Applicants need to be help accountable for their false statements to commissions that further their own personal agendas. Native natural material that originated from 64 Cambridgeis now over at 10/36 Main and an independent LEP could easily determine this fact.
Next week Engineer Kevin Solli and Applicant Arnold Karp will likely ask the P&Z Commission to grant them a permit which will allow them to be paid to accept “Clean Fill” in the name of “Site Remediation” of 64 Cambridge. The real joke here is that trucks which will import and dump construction debris at 64 Cambridge will then likely be simultaneously be filled up with the site’s native natural material and dropped off over at 10/36 Main on way out of town.
I wish I could sit back and laugh knowing this is not my Circus and not my Monkey. But it does affect my land and my water. And it also affects the rest of the Monroe’s residents that drink from their own wells and pay for road maintenance Not so funny.
Are we now going to be bombarded with scheduled blasting from this new site? The blasting is still going on across from Duchess. It shakes my house, and, caused me to knock my head on the handle of my freezer door when I was shot up with fright from my bent position taking something out. They delayed the blasting but didn’t notify us of the new date. It’s a horrible way to live. Not that the town officials care. Now, it seems, I may be getting it from both sides.
I lost my well once and do not want to have it happen again. They had to dig down 620 feet to replace it.
Mr. Peter Metropoulos’, in person observations, should be studied, by the Planning and Zoning board, and any problems, such as he laid out, but not limited to, and conflicts should be reported, in an open and honest manner, to our citizens, immediately.
Thank you, Peter, for sharing your discoveries with us. I do have a monkey in this cirus, as do all our residents.