Cart before horse?

NORTH CANAAN — A public hearing on a plan for an expansion to the Mountainside Addiction Treatment Center brought an involved discussion Aug. 8, but no conclusion by the Planning and Zoning Commission (P&Z).The applicant will eventually need a special permit for the planned detached residential treatment facility on 6 acres adjacent to the Route 7 South facility. For now, Mountainside is seeking preapproval on permitting to allow them to complete the preconstruction process — and before paying for professional design work. Initial tasks include buying the property to the north from Peter and Karen Richard, and obtaining a mortgage. A contract signed with the Richards is contingent upon getting financing. Mortgage approval from Salisbury Bank & Trust Co. is contingent upon zoning approval, according to Mountainside attorney Tony Nania. Last month, P&Z approved a zoning amendment proposed by Mountainside to add such a facility to the allowed uses in a residential/agricultural zone. Under the zoning addition, requirements for such a facility would be municipal sewer and at least 25 contiguous acres. P&Z also approved, at Nania’s request, allowing two or more adjoining lots, owned by the same entity, to satisfy that acreage minimum. Mountainside will keep the properties and facilities legally separate, but both will be subsidiaries of the same corporation.At last week’s hearing, the only comment beyond those of the applicant came from South Canaan Road resident Tom Gailes.“This is something we should think a little bit about,” Gailes said. Although it wasn’t clear specifically what he meant, it is believed he was referring to comments made by P&Z Chairman Steve Allyn at prior meetings that Mountainside is a good business to have in town. “I am a neighbor and was recently added to the Sewer District, with the impression Mountainside would pay for 90 percent of the project. There was an additional $32,000 in costs. We thought Mountainside would be a good neighbor, but promises weren’t kept.“Also, the state police assured me they were quite certain it was two people from Mountainside who stole our car. There are consequences to this.”No application, no decisionAt the hearing and subsequent discussion during the P&Z meeting that followed, it remained unclear exactly what the public hearing was a prelude to. P&Z had no application in hand at the time. Nania said this project is different from the kinds of projects that usually take place in North Canaan. Therefore, he said, it will be difficult to proceed as usual under existing zoning regulations. “We will have no specific plans until we have a deed and a financing plan. We need a determination that it qualifies,” Nania said.Zoning Enforcement Officer Ruth Mulcahy said she could not see the difference. No matter the size of the project, some information about the project needs to be in the hands of the commission before it can come to any conclusions, she said.Nania was allowed to be part of the discussion by the commission during the regular meeting; normally, applicants and members of the public are only allowed to speak during the hearing. There was much back and forth about how P&Z might be able to accomplish what Mountainside needs. Nania stressed the time constraints , finally revealing the company has until Oct. 1 to complete the purchase/financing deal on the table.Commissioners saw it as putting the cart before the horse. While they discussed ways to expedite the process to allow Mountainside to meet its deadlines, they refused to be rushed into a decision. Instead, they upheld Mulcahy’s suggestion to seek the advice of Town Attorney Judith Dixon.With the property foreverMulcahy read from the regulations to show how they could not legally proceed. She noted any approvals would remain with the property forever, and so should be carefully considered. She was particularly concerned that a decision now would override the main purpose of a special permit; to allow for consideration of a specific property and conditions that might be put on development plans.“I’ve never seen [this approach] in my 18 years [as a zoning enforcement officer].” Mulcahy said. “It is also unusual because Mountainside is a pre-existing nonconforming use that has never come before the commission before. We need it on the record that we’re not taking away the conditions of a special permit.”In pushing for an approval that evening, Nania said there is a 50/50 chance the town attorney will take a conservative position that the regulations don’t support preapproval of a permit.“It’s a critical decision at a critical time,” he said. “In the heat of battle, generals don’t look for the rules.” At that point, Chairman Allyn called a point of order, and ruled Nania could no longer take part in the commission discussion. Soon after, a motion was unanimously approved to table the matter until further notice. The commissioners will seek what they hope will be a timely opinion from Dixon on how and whether they can proceed on the matter at this point. If possible, they will schedule a special meeting prior to the regular Sept. 12 meeting.