If you didn't know better, and you only read yesterday's article in Voices, your opinion of the Feb 28th Middlebury Conservation Commission Meeting would be a victim of the same 'multiverse event' that the Voices reporter apparently was. What makes this 'event' even more interesting is how much space Voices dedicated to this article compared to a lack of articles on this story since January. Furthermore, the second half of the meeting is completely missing from the article's coverage, and that was the best part of the whole night!
It's not like the reporter was rushing to make a same day deadline, and just didn't have time to stay for the whole meeting. The article was published yesterday, March 15th, covering an event that happened on February 28th. The entire meeting was on Zoom...oh wait, there were so many people who tried to log onto the meeting, the Zoom meeting limit of 100 was exceeded. The meeting minutes have been posted online for some time, and the Intervenor and its experts' contribution to the meeting is clearly documented there, but not here. It might be important to know that the drainage engineer hired by the Middlebury Small Town Alliance (aka The Intervenor) clearly and definitively stated that the proposed storm water management plan (including the bio-retention basins suggested by the non-drainage engineer peer reviewer) does not comply with CT DEP regulations because it is the wrong system in the wrong location given the type of soil on the property, plus the system doesn't address water quality at all. That makes the third attempt by the applicant to propose a storm water management plan, and the third set of plans that don't comply with state regulations.
There was also no attempt to talk to any of the almost 200 residents who attended the meeting and stayed until it concluded at 10:20pm. Maybe because they were all wearing red in opposition to the project, they were actually invisible. Or maybe all the 'No Distribution Facilities in Middlebury' yard signs don't send a clear enough message. Or just maybe, when Middlebury's Inland Wetlands regulations define "significant impact" to wetlands, the definition excludes the complete destruction of wetlands to allow for the biggest, most polluting building possible on the property (WARNING: there was an extreme amount of sarcasm in this paragraph if you didn't already notice).
The public hearing on March 28th at 7pm has been moved to the Pomperaug High School Auditorium to accommodate the large number of residents who clearly have something to say about the destruction of wetlands to accommodate a high-pollutant load site. Don't be content with half a Voice - let's make sure the Conservation Commission hears ALL our voices loud and clear!
