Enviros Chart Path To Wetlands Protections

Inland wetlands advocates are urging city decision-makers to beef up their environmental education, training and expertise in order to help protect New Haven’s endangered ecosystems.

That was the upshot of the latest monthly Zoom-hosted meeting held by the city’s Environmental Advisory Council on Wednesday night. 

The volunteer city body’s discussion centered almost entirely on how New Haven should better scrutinize development applications that feature plans to build on or near inland wetlands — areas defined by poorly drained soil, resulting in naturally watery territories such as marshes or swamps. Those reviews are currently handled by the City Plan Commission. 

Wednesday’s discussion took place against the backdrop of both looming global climate catastrophe and a number of recent high-profile water-adjacent land-use debates around the expansion of Tweed New Haven Airport and the rehabilitation of Wilbur Cross High School’s athletic complex.

All municipalities in the state have been required for decades to have dedicated inland wetland agencies tasked with overseeing the enforcement of Connecticut’s Inland Wetlands and Watercourses Act. 

Many attendees of Wednesday’s meeting expressed concern that since New Haven merges inland wetland assessments with standard site plan reviews, the special attention required to defend the unique ecosystems from harm is not being paid.

Wednesday’s discussion saw a host of environmental advocates pitch and compare ideas ranging from establishing an independent inland wetlands commission to persuading the charter revision commission convening this year to increase the environmental education requirements or training expected of the volunteers making serious land use decisions.

“My main desire is to see that every decision in the city that has the potential to impact the environment in a negative way is informed and even led by people who are deeply educated on environmental science — whether that’s the commissioners themselves or scientists who are ready to consult on a particular question,” said Gretl Gallicchio, an environmental advocate and Morris Cove resident who lives near Tweed New Haven Airport. 

“My experience,” she stated, ​“has been that economics tends to lead the game with environmental questions, and I have seen the damage that has done to the city. We have fewer inland wetlands left to build on… all the more reason to protect those that are still there.”

EAC Chair Laura Cahn named two projects in particular that she believes have been robbed so far of appropriate inland wetlands reviews: A recently approved application to build a synthetic turf field at Wilbur Cross High School, which is adjacent to the Mill River and surrounding wetlands, and an ongoing debate about how much parking should be allowed at Tweed Airport and what land in Morris Cove would be least damaging to the environment to host fliers’ vehicles (read in the New Haven Register here about cease and desist orders issued to Tweed this fall for improperly allowing drivers to park atop the neighborhood’s wetlands without a permit).

“We really had eggs on our faces when we went to testify about the synthetic turf at Wilbur Cross,” Council member Kathy Fay recalled, ​“because they were asking whether there were studies done at Beaver Pond and we really didn’t know — there wasn’t a process… and we kind of got involved in the whole thing at the very last minute.” 

Council members worried that had their volunteer group not submitted an intervening petition at the very last minute, little conversation concerning the environmental implications of plastic grass would have ever been had by the City Plan Commission. The commission then held a two-hour public hearing and debate that revolved primarily around student equity and stormwater management in lieu of evidence to back the environmentalists’ fears that the turf could mean serious harm caused by plastic fibers polluting the nearby river. 

The prospect of establishing a separate inland wetlands commission, which had been originally listed on the council’s agenda for the night, was almost immediately dismissed by the full council upon feedback from city staffers that New Haven is already understaffed and lacking willing volunteers.

“We don’t have the bandwidth to cover two commissions,” City Plan Senior Project Manager Jacob Robison told Wednesday’s audience. ​“And since there’s not too many inland wetlands applications, there’s not really a need to have a separate commission that does not meet that often.”

“The city has about 40 commissions as it is,” echoed attendee Aaron Goode, ​“and 40 percent of those seats are unfilled.” 

Environmental advocate and land use attorney Marjorie Shansky agreed: ​“Separate agencies are desirable,” she said, and more common than combined commissions across the state. The issue in New Haven from her perspective, she said, was primarily one of commissioner education.

“I drafted the original inland wetlands regulations for the City of New Haven,” she noted, back in the 1980s. ​“I don’t know when the last time New Haven amended their inland wetland regulations was. I don’t even know if it complies with the law.”

The website of the state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP) shows an online ​“comprehensive” training program that at least one member of the city’s wetlands agency or staff is expected to complete. The charter revision commission could potentially alter city government’s guiding document to lay down new requirements for the City Plan Commission’s members. Those changes could include requiring at least one member of the commission to have professional background in environmental sciences or setting a minimum expectation of training and education exercises to be completed by all commissioners.

The city’s new climate and sustainability director, Steve Winter, listened along to Wednesday’s long and wide ranging discussion, concluding the conversation with a general pledge of support for finding and funding better training initiatives for commissioners, city employees and community members. 

“If I had a nuance to add,” he said, ​“it might be that framing it as training,” rather than exclusive professional expertise, ​“seems more egalitarian.”

“We don’t expect everyone to learn everything about every subject,” he reflected. ​“But we do have faith in people to become informed decision makers regardless of what their background is.”