Task Force Provides Free Professional Soil Scientist Services to Lake Towns

By: Sean Hayden - LWTF Executive Director

          To protect the Lake from the negative water quality effects of land development,the Lake Waramaug Task Force offers the three towns bordering the Lake (Warren, Washington and Kent) construction inspection assistance. The Lake Waramaug towns do not have employees who are soil scientists. Since I am a State Certified Soil Scientist, towns often take advantage of this service, and we accompany the municipal Land Use Enforcement Officers when they perform construction site inspections. Soil eroding from construction sites can quickly degrade water quality in the Lake and every effort must be implemented to keep soil contained on construction sites. The second photo above is a temporary sediment trap that has captured several cubic yards of eroded soils that could have ended up polluting the Lake. Having all the appropriate soil erosion and sediment control measures and structures in place, and having them all functioning properly, made a big difference on this site.          

We also provide advisory soil scientist services to all the residents in the Lake Waramaug watershed. Our goal is to teach landowners how to incorporate water quality protection measures into their land development plans before they go to permitting. All too often water quality protection measures are considered last in the permitting and development process, and by then it’s too late. If you are in the beginning phases of planning a land use change on your property, and would like a water quality consultation, please feel free to contact us.

          Current events have brought changes to the municipal land use permitting process. We recently participated in a webinar hosted by UCONN CLEAR which detailed all the changes promulgated by an Executive Order from Governor Lamont. If you are interested in watching this webinar delivered by a state land use attorney, Click Here. Two big takeaways from the Governor’s Executive Order are that you can attend all land use commission meetings and public hearings via video and/or audio link. And, all documents associated with an application (engineered design sheets, audio of previous meetings and records of all communications) should now be online and downloadable. These changes will make it easier for anyone to follow and participate in the permitting process.

April 9th, 2020