Horizon-line protection headlines P&Z meeting

KENT – Horizon-line developments continue to be a prickly issue in Kent, with three applications for projects located on Kent’s ridges and hills dominating a three-hour meeting of the Planning and Zoning Commission last week.

Since 2005, Kent has specifically regulated proposals for projects that may impact views of the region’s mainly forested ridgetops, which many residents consider a key aspect of the town’s rural character.

The applications reviewed Thursday, Aug. 13, concerned two existing homes within the Horizon-Line Overlay District. A third involved a plan to subdivide a wooded hillside property below a ridge between Beardsley Road and Lake Waramaug to allow for construction of a new residence.

A contentious tone was set early in the meeting, when resident Matthew Winter cautioned the Commission about hilltop developments, pointing to a construction project on Kenmont Road, approved in June 2024, that has disrupted the tree line atop a steep incline visible from Route 7 and Cobble Road.

“The development should not have been approved, in my opinion, and the ridgeline is now permanently scarred,” said Winter, who is a former chair of Kent’ P&Z commission.

Winter was referring to the development of a five-bedroom home, pool and pool house currently being built at the end of a 1,200-foot driveway accessed from 135 Kenmont Road. That project was back on Thursday night’s agenda, but the discussion regarding what property owner Jessica Goldvarg described as unintentional tree removal during construction, was relatively uncontroversial.

Several commissioners noted the obvious impact viewed from Cobble Road and the surrounding area, and Goldvarg, who is an architect, expressed her regret at the situation. She presented a planting plan to fill in the thinned area, which was generally well received by P&Z, though commissioners requested the addition of conifers to thicken the tree cover.

Goldvarg was asked to return before the commission on Aug. 20 with an updated plan.

Another application to extend the first floor and part of the second story of a home on Gorham Road was approved without much debate as commissioners agreed there would be no impact to the horizon-line.

A proposal to establish a residential plot on a prominent ridge in Kent Hollow provoked more conversation.

The plans call for carving out a 5.4-acre parcel from a 45-acre lot that climbs the hillside to the east of Beardsley Road in Kent Hollow. The property currently supports a commercial maple sugaring operation and a single-family home with two barns on 3.8 acres. The remaining land is held by the Kent Land Trust under a conservation easement, but the terms of the easement allow for the construction of a residence, which would go on the 5.4 acre plot.

The project was first proposed to P&Z last month, when Commissioners asked the applicant, land owner Mary Avery Larned, to perform visibility tests to determine if a new structure would affect views of the ridge from elsewhere in Kent Hollow.

Larned returned to the Aug. 13 meeting with data and drone footage from “balloon tests” she performed, where balloons were placed at 35 feet, which is the maximum allowed building height in Kent, at the site of proposed construction. Larned reported that the balloons sat between 25 and 35 feet below the top of the dense canopy, and were impossible to locate from any of the surveyed public road vantage points in Kent Hollow.

Commissioners expressed their appreciation for Larned’s diligence, but had remaining doubts for the proposed location.

“It’s nice to always count on trees as a buffer,” said commissioner Darrell Cherniske, “but for our analysis, based on our regulations and the map that we use, we don’t take trees into account when determining impact.”

“If the amount of clearing occurred up on that ridge to allow for a house, a pool, a garage and a septic system, you better believe you would see those balloons,” he added. Other commissioners asked what the site would look like from the surrounding area in the winter when the foliage is gone.

“The drone footage is beautiful,” Cherniske said. “Part of the reason that drone footage is beautiful is because as you swung around to the panorama,” which showed the pastoral expanse of Kent Hollow flanked by wooded ridges, “the majority of the hilltops are undeveloped.”

While this application is for a subdivision, and any construction plan will have to come back before the commission for additional review, project engineer George Johannesen of Allied Engineering said that a prospective buyer had asked experts to examine whether the proposed plot could support a six bedroom house with a pool house and pool.

“I would assume that when you sell that lot, you’re not going to have control over what they do,” said Cherniske.“And chances are, someone buying a lot at the end of a long driveway near a ridgeline… they’re going to max it out.”

Cherniske asked the applicant to consider a different location further down the hillside, but Larned said that would adversely impact the maple sugaring operation and present further zoning hurdles and issues with the conservation easement.

Land surveyor Gary Hock, who was also present at the Thursday meeting, said that the site is well suited for a residence as “it’s a natural plateau.” He also described it as “mid-slope” rather than on a ridgeline, which was supported by Johannesen’s data that even at maximum height, the top would remain 40 feet below the ridge and not impact the horizon line from any public road vantage point.

Cheniske said that the commission’s horizon-line map, which delineates ridgeline visibility from public roads at ground, not treetop level, shows the opposite. “If we wanted to feel good about approving this we would need our engineer to agree with [Johannesen] and essentially disprove the horizon-line map and say this house will definitely not stick above the ridge.”

The discussion was ultimately extended to next month’s regular meeting on September 10th to allow P&Z’s engineer to conduct an independent review.