Groton Open Space Association

Councilor O’Beirne Flags Floating Zone Proposal

GROTON — Town Councilor Frank “Mick” O’Beirne has raised a cautionary flag about the floating zone amendment proposal that currently is before the Zoning Commission.

“It’s not often that an amendment comes along as strong, as overriding as this,” Mr. O’Beirne said at the July 24, 2007, Town Council Committee of the Whole meeting, according to The Day. He said the matter’s importance made it worthy of the council’s attention, even though the council doesn’t normally intervene in zoning.

A Day article by Katie Warchut said: “O’Beirne wants to know what kind of capabilities the new zone could allow future developers. He also took exception to language that considers the Plan of Conservation and Development as ‘purely advisory.’”

As previously noted, the floating zone amendment would allow floating zones to be established on a case-by-case basis in any of four development nodes on tracts of three acres and above. When the amendment first was proposed by L&L Groton LLC, a division of READCO of Old Lyme, it would have applied to eight development nodes and to tracts of at least 25 acres in industrial zones comprising nearly 1,200 acres.

GOSA opposed the proposal as it applied to the industrial zones, and the proposal was narrowed to exclude these. GOSA has suggested some changes to the proposed procedures for establishing a specific floating zone, but it has not opposed the idea in principle as it applies to the four nodes.

The Zoning Commission hearing on the proposal continues Aug. 1.