Warren Connecticut

By Dr. Everett Vreeland

In the northeast most all of us have cellars and they are mostly used in similar ways. In mine, which is the usual collection of practical things, there is a radical change in ambiance and usage with the advent of an active wood stove. It becomes a haven for me to warm myself away from enemy winds and sneaky drops in temperature. Wood fires are acceptably good things to stare at. #1 is a camp fire, #2 is a fireplace at home, in a bar, or when visiting beautiful friends, if they don’t talk too much.

During the parts of the day when the sun, at a low angle, shines through ground level windows to light up areas rarely observed, it shows me that fungi grow actively on the logs I have stored; it highlights webs fashioned by a very special cellar spider; it exposes the now used trails of winter visiting rodents and also reveals set-aside jobs I forgot to finish but are welcomed now as productive work.

The spider I spoke of is a special fellow with a long abdomen and relatively long legs. They are numerous and, when threatened, set up violent gyrations in the web meant to terrify intruders. I was curious to see what they lived on and stumbled on the fact that there are numerous, very small winged insects living and reproducing all winter in the cellar. They can be found at most cellar windows and living on - who knows? It may be that I contribute to this world by bringing in wood every season.

The rodents are entertaining in my world but when they invade upstairs are decimated by the warring huntress I have married. I have always admired the reproductive capacity of those critters that are food for foxes and falcons alike. They function like minnows in a river or herring in a sea.

Deer and raccoons head the road kill list currently and in addition, many deer are going down to the hunters’ guns this month. These methods function well except that deer remain a problem in the counties to the south where firearms are feared and horticulture admired. The people there would do well to welcome the archers with food and fanfare.

The deer I have seen are robust and healthy. It is later in the winter that losses show up as some very young don’t learn to browse and some very old can’t quite make it any more and starve due to bad teeth or are dragged down by predators, including dogs.

Take a closer look at your cellar as its value is often under done and it is a critter place of interest.

The Planning and Zoning Commission held its last meeting of 2003 on December 9.

[b]Applications[/b]:  Chris and Patty Butler of 15 Laurel Mountain Road applied for a temporary car and tool shelter.  The application was brought before the board because it is non-conforming. The application was granted.

[b]Elections[/b]:  The meeting was turned over to the Zoning Enforcement Officer to conduct the election of officers.   Wayne Wilson was reelected chair by a unanimous vote.  Bob Bolte was reelected vice-chairman.

Inquiry will be made as to status of the Regional Planning Council.  The commission deferred election of a representative pending determination of its status.

[b]ZEO authority[/b]:  Can the ZEO decline to sign off on a building that is in compliance if an unrelated building on the property is not in compliance?  This question had been deferred from the November meeting so that the ZEO could be present to discuss it.  The commission answered “yes.”  If the ZEO is inspecting some new construction, but notices another building on the property that never had a permit, he can hold up the certificate of occupancy for the new construction until the other buildings are brought into compliance.  Mike Ajello said he generally informs the parties verbally of the need for additional permits and the parties take care of it immediately. It is very rare for the parties to delay coming into compliance. From now on, the ZEO will inform the commission of such issues at monthly meetings and add them to his monthly report.

[b]Size of structures[/b]:  Wilson has reviewed regulations of other towns and has not been able to find rules abot exempting certain structures from the permit process based on minimum sizes.  One member indicated New Milford goes by value of the building as to whether a permit is needed. State Building code is expanding sizes of buildings that do not require code compliance according to the ZEO.

It was clear that no matter what rules are adopted, all setback requirements must be met.

Howard Lethbridge suggested that up until the issue of the chicken coop, there had been very few issues of this type brought before the commission.  The ZEO warned that there are a lot of so-called temporary buildings and they may stand for a long time.  Garbage shelters, mail boxes and dog shelters are often outside the setbacks.

The commission agreed that there may be a need for policy about the size of structures that can be built without a permit, but within setback lines.  This will be needed to ensure that enforcement is equitable and consistent.

Policy could address such issues as:  how to treat chicken coops;  whether one dog house in the setback is OK, but not 3.  Policy could address how some size limitations would be applied. Wilson asked the ZEO to start writing down some of the issues that he sees regularly so that the commission could deliberate with specifics available.

[b]New State Time Lines for Land Use Applications & Public Hearings[/b]:  Most of the new changes do not have much implication for Warren.

[b]Complaint[/b]: The Commission received a letter of complaint from a resident, who raised issues about unregistered vehicles and other irregularities on a neighbor’s property. The commission discussed the issues and what the course of enforcement should be.

They decided that the first level of remedy will be to contact him, inform him he is in violation of the state law on unregistered vehicles and some zoning permit rules and seek cooperation and they decided to ask Jack Travers to do this.  They agreed an appropriate letter will be sent, seeking cooperation with the rules.

[b]ZEO report[/b]: The ZEO report noted that three new applications have been approved.

Carlos & Helen Santiago, 292 Brick School Road for a driveway and log home with garage.

Paul & Lisa Tarantino, 95 Carter Road, for a bedroom addition and porch.

Bill Roode, Jr.  45 Sunset Lake Road for a deck addition and three accessory building.

A conversation with Beecher Perkins

I had the pleasure to talk with Beecher Perkins this summer about the history of Warren buildings and schools.  I learned that the Perkins family immigrated to this country from England in 1830. They moved to New Haven, then to East Cornwall and then to Warren.   The family bought 3 small farms. The people who sold the farms did so because they said it was too rugged here. They moved to Ohio and named their new town Warren.

At one time there were several one-room schools in Warren. The Center School was located across from the store in or near the routes 45 and 341 intersection.  It was moved north on route 45 and is now the home of Wendell Cote. There was the Brick School, College Farms School (Bob Tanner’s home), Lake School  (corner of North Shore Road and Hopkins road), East (?) School located on Hardscrabble Road with foundation and chimney still there, the Milton School, now the site of the reservoir and

Selectmen’s meeting Dec.12,2003

Present were Jack Travers, Marian Smith and Cal Tanner.

The minutes of the Nov. 18th meeting were read and approved.
Jack Travers stated that the water conditioner was installed in the Town Hall, Town garage and Firehouse. It is working and pressure problems are being solved.

The 2004 Council of Small Towns will meet soon and Jack will attend.
The selectmen will determine the garbage schedule for tonnage for next year. The town is required to guarentee a set amount of tonnage to ship to the plant. The town will consider recycling plastics and may have to go to recycling on a weekly basis. It costs $32 a ton to recycle and $64 a ton for garbage.

There will be an upcoming budget workshop with the region 6 selectmen and the superintendent of schools. They will discuss issues and changes for next year in regard to administrator’s and teacher’s contracts. Jack is concerned about the costs involved related personal and sick days. In the present contract, school staff can accumulate these days, and be compensated at retirement. Currently administrator’s buy out for accumulated sick days is at their per diem salary of $400. Jack feels this amount is excessive. It was stated that Supt. Tim James can sit in on negotiations, but selectmen are not notified of meetings.
The meeting was adjourned at 5:25 pm.

submitted by Marylyn Hendricks

This is a PDF version of the December, 2003 Warren Observer newsletter. Click on it to download it to your computer, then print it and you’ll have the exact same newsletter that was sent out.

Warren Observer 12-03

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