Letter to the Editor: Neighbor Says Old Lyme Gravel Pit Should Follow Same Rules as Everyone Else

To the Editor:

Comments regarding the Mile Creek Road gravel pit have missed the point. The issue is not about when the pit started. It’s about the destruction of wetlands and waterways since the pit restarted back in 2020 after being idle for at least a decade.

In December of 2021, my wife and I witnessed the present owner haul in dirt, rocks and construction debris in dumpsters and pile it within 15 feet of the river, with no erosion control measures in place. Placing this material in the wetlands area was done without a permit, or application.

The zoning officer was repeatedly denied access to the site until April of 2022 when an inspection finally took place. The Inland Wetlands and Watercourses Commission issued a cease-and-desist order in June of 2022, due in part to several members receiving “hostile” phone calls from a representative of the gravel pit, as well as the refusal to allow a reinspection of remediation work that the Commission required and a failure to apply for permits for work in the 100-foot review area. The cease-and-desist was lifted in late October.

In early 2024, just 15 months after the previous violation, they clear-cut an adjacent lot entirely within the wetlands area, stripped trees and vegetation along the river bank, dumped material that had been stockpiled onsite (this was witnessed by the ZEO) and placed large boulders in the river.  Again, this was done without an application or permit or erosion controls in place. This prompted another cease-and-desist order in March of 2024.

The pit owner’s continued refusal to cooperate with the IWWC requirements resulted in forcing the Commission to start legal proceedings. That litigation is ongoing. During this time, instead of correcting the mistakes of his own making, and following the regulations that everyone else in town is required to follow, the owner chose to use petty revenge taken out on the residents surrounding this property, such as, working until late at night and on Sundays, turning the area into a shooting range on Mother’s Day and blocking the entire parking area of the tiny Union Chapel before Sunday morning services. These are only a small sampling of the issues regarding this site.

I don’t understand how – after the Hall Road overlay outrage, and the great concern about the laydown yard on Route 156 for the sewer line project and the caustic commentary about the new owner of the Big Y plaza speaking with someone from Zoning about what is or would be allowed – there wasn’t a peep about the ZEO issuing a permit for a site while litigation is outstanding, without bringing the matter before the IWWC or Zoning Commission.

Are the good citizens of Old Lyme unaware of the intentional destruction of an area that is, by the gravel pit owner’s own soil scientist’s report and quantifications, one of the most pristine wetland areas in the state? It’s also listed on the national database for creatures and species of special concern, is part of the federal flood plain and is shown on state aquifer maps (our drinking water) as an area where the aquifer meets the surface.

If one really does care about the present and long-term wellbeing of the town, they may want to put the unpleasantness and spin of the present political climate aside and insist that this operation and any others like it comply with the regulations JUST LIKE the rest of us are required to follow.

Respectfully,
Peter Caron
Old Lyme

Editor’s Note: Caron lives across the Three Mile River from the referenced site.