IWC okays pool plan despite brook violation
KENT, Conn.—The Inland Wetlands Commission approved an application the evening of Monday, Sept. 22, allowing installation of a pool and retaining wall at 10 Cobble Road despite an unresolved wetland’s violation on the property.
Land Use Administrator Tai Kern said the pool plan presented no concerns, but that a registered letter had been sent to owner Molly Flynn regarding “a disturbance of a wetland area” resulting from construction of a dam without Inland Wetlands approval.
Commissioner Paul Yagid said he was “apprehensive” about approving the pool application “while there is an active violation on the property,” but Kern said she did not believe the commission could withhold consideration of the pool unless it actively affected the violation.
“I would like to see everything conforming before we approve more,” Yagid persisted.
Kern told commissioners that the diversion of water from Cobble Brook was approved “many years ago to feed a manmade pond” but the pipe was not set low enough. The persistent lack of rains has lowered the water level in the brook, and the dam was created to raise the level again so it would flow into the pond.
“A neighbor has complained that by doing so they are eating away the banks of the brook,” Kern reported.
“They need to undam the brook,” said IWC Chairman Lynn Werner. “It’s got to come out. Damming the brook wasn’t part of the original permit.”
The notice of violation required the owners to discontinue all work related to Cobble Brook, to submit an after-the-fact application to the IWC and to attend, or have an agent attend, the meeting.
The violation could result in a $1,000 fine. “Each day’s continuance thereof shall be deemed to be a separate and distinct offense,” the statute reads.
250 Committee selling commemorative mugs
KENT, Conn.—Matt Busse, chairman of the 250 Committee, said that a third of the initial red, white and blue commemorative water bottles ordered by the committee were sold within a week. The mugs, which are emblazoned with one of artist Eric Sloane’s iconic bells as the logo, are for sale at the Town Clerk’s office, the Parks and Rec office and the Friday afternoon farmers markets.
They sell for $35, cash or check, and $36.10 if paid for with a credit card.
In other business, committee member Marge Smith, curator of the Kent Historical Society, reported that the historical society will focus next summer’s exhibit at Seven Hearths on the discussions that surrounded the looming revolution 250 years ago.
“We will focus on the years leading up to 1776,” she said. “This thing didn’t just happen overnight and Seven Hearths, which was the general store, was where people would have hung out and talked about it.”
She admitted it will be a challenge to find historical references revealing public attitudes to independence from England, but said researchers are looking online to see if they can track down correspondence and letters.
“There will be a lot of supposition,” she said. “We know there were monarchists as well as revolutionaries and we feel the community would have been having conversations, likely at Seven Hearths.”
She said about 20 percent of the settlers in the region were Loyalists and there was also a population of Quakers, who did not believe in violence.
Board of Assessment Appeals sets meeting dates
KENT, Conn.—The Board of Assessment Appeals has set two meetings for 2026.
The special meetings will be held at the town clerk’s office in town hall on Kent Green Blvd. on Monday, Feb. 23, at 6 p.m. to review real estate assessment appeal submittals and plan corresponding hearings, and on Saturday, Sept. 19, at 10 a.m. to hear Assessment Appeals relating to Motor Vehicle Assessments.
Property transfers
KENT, Conn.—The Town Clerk has recorded the following property transfers for the month of September:
Janice Kaplan quit claimed property on Good Hill Estates Road to Ronald Dennett.
Ronald Dennett quit claimed property on Good Hill Estates Road to Janice Kaplan, trustee, Dennett Kaplan Irreversible Trust.
Christina M. Woodward sold property on Pheasant Run to Ashley J. O’Brien for $315,000.
Anna F. Piazza-Harper and Wren J. Harper Jr. quit claimed property on Kent Road to a family trust.
John J. Kelly and Jennifer S. Kelly sold property on South Kent Road to Daniel D. Palumbo for $410,000.
Whitehall Construction, LLC, sold property on Stonewall Lane to Daniel and Melissa Fuschillo for $1,350,000.
