TOP STORY: Old Lyme Wetlands Commission Denies Swaney’s Request to Change Permit Conditions at Three Mile River Gravel Pit

OLD LYME–More than a year and a half after environmental complaints publicly surfaced on the banks of the Three Mile River, the owner of a controversial gravel pit on Tuesday said he will undo changes local officials said he never should have made in the first place. 

The move came after the Inland Wetlands and Watercourses Commission on Tuesday declined to take up a request by 308-1 Mile Creek Road owner Ron Swaney to walk back conditions placed on an “after the fact” permit approval the agency granted in March to bring Swaney into compliance with local regulations. 

Swaney’s request, if approved, would have allowed him to sidestep the commission’s requirements to rectify unpermitted work that had taken place. This work included the addition of pavement millings to the driveway and the placement of boulders within the banks of the river, among other violations. 

The news was greeted as a victory for the contingent of neighbors and environmental advocates who have mobilized around the issue. The group includes 59 people, who signed onto a June 20 letter opposing any changes to the conditions. 

“Time and again this property has been the site of astonishingly flagrant violations, time and again the town has attempted to bring its owners to operate within the law, yet time and again as cease and desist orders are lifted the conditions ordered with these permissions have gone unfulfilled,” the letter said. 

Shore Road resident Peter Caron after the meeting applauded the commission for not amending the conditions.  

“All in all, we’re happy that the commission stuck to their guns and they want to protect the river as much as possible,” Caron said. 

Commission member Michael Aurelia during the meeting said getting Swaney to come to the table with a permit application was a labor-intensive process. 

“It wasn’t easy,” he said. “We had to actually start court action to get an application.” 

The lawsuit, which was filed in November of last year, is pending, but not active now that Swaney is working with the commission to address the compliance issues. 

William E. McCoy, Swaney’s attorney, after the meeting said he disagreed with the contention that it took a lawsuit to spur his client to act. He would not elaborate. 

Swaney declined to comment.

The Alternative

McCoy warned commission members during the meeting that enforcing the conditions could do more harm than good. 

An April 13 report from certified soil scientist Joseph Theroux proposed leaving a portion of the millings, keeping some of the boulders, and adding a new section of berm to protect the river.

Theroux was hired by Swaney to come up with a mitigation plan as required by the commission. The assessment came after he visited the site to find conditions “stable” in the areas he recommended leaving untouched. 

The millings, boulders and berm “all stabilize the erodible stream banks/road bed, partially prevent flood waters from flooding across the roadbed and silting up the ponds, and prevent erosion and sedimentation on the road bed from entering the river,” Theroux wrote. 

McCoy said his client would go along with the commission’s conditions if necessary, but emphasized Theroux’s plan, “Potentially is a better remediation program than was put together at the last meeting of the commission, when it decided this.”

The commission’s permit conditions also require Swaney to ensure the culvert near the entrance to the property remains clear to prevent flooding. Swaney and his team have blamed beavers for continually clogging the culvert with their dam activity. 

Aurelia during Tuesday’s meeting said it became obvious to him during the commission’s June 10 site walk that the culverts were failing. He said he also saw fragments of roof shingles in the road millings that commission members worried would get washed into the river. 

Commission member John Mesham said he believed the culvert is not adequately sized. 

“So if you want to not do some of this remediation, bring us an engineering report and a resizing of the pipe, because that’s what most of this goes back to,” he said. 

Mesham referenced a letter from resident Raina Volovski, who identified herself as a certified soil scientist, wetland scientist, and erosion and sediment control professional with 15 years’ experience. 

Volovski said she attended the commission’s site walk as a member of the public, where she found issues that exacerbated flooding conditions in some areas while also contributing to low water levels in the three interior ponds on the site. 

“The property is within a mapped floodplain. Flooding is supposed to happen. The unpermitted impacts and proposed mitigation are not going to eliminate the flooding and will potentially increase flooding issues and additional wetlands impacts,” she said. 

Consensus Decision

The commission did not take a formal vote based on advice from Land Use Coordinator Eric Knapp, who cautioned members that a motion on the matter would constitute an appeals process that would add another layer to the ongoing legal situation. 

The commission directed Knapp to work with consulting town engineer Geoffrey Jacobson to approve the bond Swaney must post with the town before work can begin. The amount, which is meant to ensure the commission’s conditions are met in a timely manner, was tentatively set at $10,000 by Swaney’s project engineer. 

Knapp said he will review Swaney’s work to ensure compliance, with the option to bring in a consulting expert if necessary.

A permit from the zoning department authorizing Swaney to excavate the site expired in May. Knapp on Wednesday said the Zoning Commission will not take up a permit application until Swaney has “fully complied” with the inland wetlands permit. 

Knapp noted that a surface water discharge permit from the state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection has also expired.