Monthly Archives: June 2025

Letter with 60 Signatures Sent to Old Lyme Inland Wetlands Commission About Gravel Pit Violations

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Editor’s Note: We were sent a copy of a letter submitted Monday, June 24, to the Old Lyme Inland Wetlands and Watercourses Commission in advance of the commission’s Tuesday evening meeting. A violation status update on the 308-1 Mile Creek Road property is included on the meeting agenda.. Letter organizer Peter Caron gave permission for LymeLine to publish the letter in full—he said it had been signed by 60 residents.

June 20, 2025

To the Old Lyme Inland Wetlands and Watercourses Commission,

Greetings.

We simply wish to convey our dismay at efforts by the owner of 308-1 Mile Creek to once again avoid fulfilling the orders of this commission. Time and again this property has been the site of astonishingly flagrant violations, time and again the town has attempted to bring its owners to operate within the law, yet time and again as cease and desist orders are lifted the conditions ordered with these permissions have gone unfulfilled.

This commission has been incredibly patient. The most recent inadequate application was (despite overwhelming community opposition) approved, but with entirely appropriate conditions requiring the applicant to undo some of the damage illegally done to the wetland. Rather than abide by the terms of that decision or appeal it, the owner instead now proposes to leave most of the most blatant violations in place, and to place additional fill in the wetland buffer. The absurdity of the situation, and the gulf between assertions made in the current owner proposed mitigation plan and reality on the ground were both readily evident at June 10th’s site walk.

Along with equally dominant impressions by many in attendance that the driveway really does not belong there, and that its widening and ad hoc improvement is only making the situation worse (and being struck by the drastically reduced water levels in the siltation ponds, themselves regulated inland wetlands), it was hard to ignore that: between the inadequate culvert (which contrary to promises made to this commission, appeared clogged) and the illegally placed boulders and berm (much of which is now sprouting invasive mugwort), the applicant is engaged in completely under-engineered and unlawful river impoundment impacting the river, its associated wetlands, and neighboring properties, with more severe impacts likely in the future if allowed to continue.

We suggest that, if continued use of the driveway is the objective, the appropriate course of action would be securing the permits required to make the culvert adequate from the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection and the United States Army Corps of Engineers. The still unmapped but abundant vernal habitat in the floodplain upstream would have to be taken into careful consideration, but, if the driveway were to allow the swollen river to pass, it would go a long way towards handling the natural floodplain inundations currently being regularly experienced, without the damages illegal bandaid solutions are incurring.

We find the arguments made by the owner’s soils scientist for not completing the mitigation steps ordered by this commission entirely unconvincing. Erosion of the “millings” (placed without permit and of unknown origin) was clearly visible. References to elevations and wetland delineations in the owner’s latest mitigation proposal are worth little, since, crucially, the wetland’s extent before the fill violations occurred still hasn’t been properly mapped, and an accurate up to date survey showing the relevant driveway and river elevations still hasn’t been performed (despite the false characterization in Indigo’s WRP-1 plan of Annino Survey LLC’s limited data accumulation work as constituting an A-2 survey, it is actually a class D). While we understand the owner may have thought otherwise when he took the property off his former employer’s hands, the long history of egregious harm being committed on the property cannot and does not justify the further and ongoing injury being done to the land, the river, the town, and the law.

In light of the persistent noncompliance with this commission’s orders and the history summarized in the Valentine’s Day letter to this commission signed by scores of residents, we again urge this commission to commence revocation of the fundamentally flawed October 2022 permit in accordance with §14.5 of its regulations. We also suggest it may be appropriate for the most recent permit to be revoked, as its requirements are not being met. Otherwise, we urge the commission to at a minimum insist that the mitigation work it ordered be fully completed under the oversight of a town contracted professional at the owner’s expense.

Thank you for your work. We very much recognize its importance, are grateful for all of your time and efforts, and wish you a relaxing summer.

Sincerely,

Olaf Bertram-Nothnagel and Peter Caron,
Old Lyme.

Letter to the Editor: Sound View Property Owner Asks Old Lyme to ‘Play Fair’ in Sewer Installation Charges

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To the Editor:

I am a newly appointed member of the OLWPCA (Old Lyme Water Pollution Control Authority) but am writing here not as a WPCA representative but as a property owner in Old Lyme.

My property in ‘Area B’ – near the railroad tracks – was recently appraised at $210,900. It consists of 712 square feet, 2 bedrooms, 1 bath. It is seasonal. 

Let’s assume for the moment that all current received bids hold without increases once they expire June 30th and let’s assume for the moment that Miami Beach receives a bid this fourth go-around and Old Lyme Shores receives an acceptable bid in its third go-around. 

My property is assigned 1 [one] Equivalent Dwelling Unit [EDU.] Based on the Chairman Cinami’s latest figures and after an assumed 50% reimbursement is applied, I will owe $38,000 for construction fees. In a written quote from B&L, I will owe an additional $8,700 to decommission my engineered septic system and run a new line to the curb. Then of course, there’s those additional town contractual fees of the project; 1.3 million owed to East Lyme and New London to connect,  plus maintenance, management, bookkeeping, bioxide, easements, legal, consulting fees and repairs, etc. These additional charges cannot be divided by 270 EDUS because the undeveloped lots (including the bus stop!) equate to 9 EDUs that must be subtracted from maintenance billing.

Furthermore, the Chairman has said that some properties will be granted variances to delay connecting so those properties as well, cannot be billed for maintenance until some later date. Hard to guess what all that extra maintenance and contractual fees will cost me then when I connect, but let’s say conservatively it totals another $600 a year, plus $400 a year for actual usage based on flow. In summary then, it’s $1000 a year in contractual and maintenance and usage fees for the next 20 years or $20,000 (we’ll set aside that these contracts have escalation clauses after year 1). I’m up to $66,700 for a sewer to replace my perfectly fine engineered system on my property that is appraised at $210,900. That’s 31.63% of the appraised value. I will be paying minimally $3,445 per year for the next 20 years for something I do not need.

You call that fair? 

There are 29 single family homes in Area B. Sixteen are appraised less than $255,000. They will all be charged just like me. Nadeau Associates stated that the value added to a residential property [after installation of a new sewer system] is 7% and the OLWPCA expert Christopher Kerin [of the real estate valuation and advisory firm Kerin & Fazio LLC] says it’s 10%. All of the 29 residential homes in Area B and the majority of the commercial properties, will fail that test. 

And given the following quote from Graham Stevens [of the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection] in 2023 to OLSSPA [Old Lyme Shoreline Sewer Project Alliance] that, “Determination that project area user charges to finance the project in excess of 2% MHI [Median Household Income] are unaffordable” indicates that only the medium income of Area B/Sound View should be considered – not the town. I am betting that all of Area B, and Sound View will fail that 2% income affordability test if it is applied the right way. Just because our properties are located near the railroad tracks, does not give you the right to railroad us. Play fair Old Lyme!   

Sincerely,

Brian Cornell,
Old Lyme.

TOP STORY: On ‘Make Music Day,’ Artists Converge in Old Lyme’s Continuing Ode to Free Music for All

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Barbara Harvey and Texas Jack Hardesty played from the side porch of Lymes’ Youth Service Bureau. Photos courtesy of Cheryl Poirier unless otherwise noted.

OLD LYME —Make Music Old Lyme rang in the summer solstice Saturday evening with tunes up and down Lyme Street as part of the international tradition promoting free music for all.

‘Two of Us’ attracted listeners in front of Patricia Spratt for the Home.

Economic Development Commission member Cheryl Poirier estimated there were at least 300 people strolling the historic district while more than a dozen musical acts entertained from porches, yards and storefronts.

Chris Gregor entertains at Center School, where folks stopped to listen and to buy something to eat from the Lions Club grills.

Revelers strolled a route extending from fire station, where Old Lyme’s Colin Hallahan played cover songs and originals, to the lawn of the First Congregational Church of Old Lyme on which the 50-year-old Old Lyme Town Band played selections from its 500-piece catalog.

Old Lyme Town Band puts on a show in front of the First Congregational Church of Old Lyme.

Poirier acknowledged the crowd seemed lighter than in previous years, though she said it’s difficult to provide an exact count when attendees are spread out across three-quarters of a mile for two hours.

Howling Hound Dogs wail under the Kousa Dogwood at Cooley Gallery.

Some people walked up and down the street sampling all the sounds, while others sat down to enjoy one band at a time.

The Scoville Jazz Duo became a trio at the former ice cream shop.

The event is produced by the Old Lyme Arts District and the MusicNow Foundation. Launched in France in 1982, Make Music is an international musical festival open to all who would like to participate, and takes place in over 1,000 cities in 120 countries every June 21, the summer solstice.

The Old Lyme Historical Society got interactive with their contribution to ‘Make Music Day.’ Photo courtesy of Edie Twining.

Children made their own music in an activity hosted by the Old Lyme Historical Society during the stroll.

Band of Friends were back on the patio of the Old Lyme Phoebe Griffin Noyes Library.

This year marked the 7th annual Make Music event. Genres represented this year included bluegrass, folk, indie rock, American standards, and pop.

The Celestials croon at Village Shoppes.

The international Make Music phenomenon returns for next year’s summer solstice on Sunday, June 21.

The Lions Club volunteers finish up after a successful event.

Saint Ann’s Announces Summer Programs for Children, Adults

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Saint Ann’s Church stands serene on Shore Rd. Photo courtesy of Saint Ann’s Episcopal Church.

OLD LYME–Saint Ann’s Episcopal Church has announced enrichment programs to engage kids and adults throughout the summer. 

Starting this Sunday, June 29, Saint Ann’s will offer three sessions of the Godly Play curriculum for children from 3- to 12-years-old. The Montessori-based educational program uses an interactive storytelling process to explore the mystery of God’s presence in their lives, according to the church.

Godly Play classes will take place at 9:30 a.m. on June 29, July 6 and August 3. Parents are welcome to attend Saint Ann’s worship service at 9:30 a.m. while their children are in Godly Play, with children to join their parents in the service following the lesson.

For adults, the Summer Bible Study will take place on Mondays from July 7 to Aug. 25, at 5 p.m. in the Griswold Room or via Zoom. 

The focus this summer will be on the Book of Acts, which tells the stories of the faith, joys, accomplishments and struggles of the earliest followers of Jesus.

TOP STORY: Old Lyme WPCA Chair Cinami Seeks to Get Sewer Project Finally Flowing, Requests Additional $7.6 Million

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Old Lyme Water Pollution Control Authority Chairman Steve Cinami addresses a $7.6 million bond authorization request for sewers to First Selectwoman Martha Shoemaker, center, Selectman Jim Lampos, left, and Selectwoman Jude Read, right.

OLD LYME–6/22 UPDATED: Headline amended: Six years ago, a $9.5 million request to install sewers in the Sound View Beach area got the go-ahead from voters at a town-wide referendum – but the project stalled.

Now, amid inflation exacerbated by the COVID pandemic and other factors, the Old Lyme Water Pollution Control Authority (WPCA) is back with a request for another $7.6 million. 

The state-led, decades-long charge to clean up Long Island Sound by ridding the area of septic systems involves a plan to require residents of three private beach associations and the public Sound View Beach community to install sewers. Continued concerns about the cost of the project and successive rounds of construction bids coming in higher than anticipated have dragged out the process.

Steve Cinami, chairman of the Old Lyme WPCA, visited the Board of Selectmen and Board of Finance this week to plead for approval to go to referendum for the bond authorization necessary to support the Sound View portion of the project. But selectmen balked at the lack of information about how the project will affect the Sound View residents who will have to repay the loan.

Old Lyme officials all along have said the cost of the Sound View project will be borne by the system’s users, not the town’s tax base. 

This time around, significant additional funding from the state and federal government will leave those users responsible for about $8.5 million of the $17.06 million project, which Cinami has emphasized is less than the amount requested at the 2019 referendum. 

He said the new numbers shake out to about $26,000 over 20 years, or $1,932 per year, for a property owner whose house has one bathroom, a kitchen, and four bedrooms or less.  

In August of last year – before the latest round of bids came back and before state and federal funding was secured – Cinami at a public meeting told residents the WPCA was estimating the cost to a user would be about $22,556 over 20 years, or $1,368 a year, for a similarly sized home. 

Assessing ‘affordability’

Selectman Jim Lampos at Monday’s selectmen’s meeting asked for more specifics about fees in addition to the annual project payments for which users will be responsible. He said connection costs and future capital spending for infrastructure improvements in the system flowing through East Lyme into New London will affect user’s sewer bills here in Old Lyme. 

“Before we go to a referendum, I think we have to give the property owners a clear idea of what the affordability is going to be,” he said. “And the taxpayers are going to want to know this before going to a referendum. They’re going to ask for it.”

Cinami estimated the average yearly fee would be around $500 per year in the Sound View area. Beyond that, he said he would have to “try” to develop a rough cost structure. 

State Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP) Project Engineer Carlos Esguerra last year said the agency sets the amount that residents can reasonably be expected to spend at 2% of the town’s median income, which he identified at the time as $122,000. That equated to $2,440 a year.

There is also a state law specifying a town cannot assess property owners for any amount higher than the percent increase in the property value attributed to the sewers. He said an assessor hired by the Old Lyme WPCA before the previous referendum estimated sewers would increase home values between 10 to 12%. 

Documents from the Sound View Coalition, a grassroots group opposing the sewer project, show an assessor hired in 2020 by the group found sewers would increase residential property values by 7% and commercial properties by 10%.

Cinami, who has been criticized for his abrasive manner at meetings, also heard complaints at Monday’s meeting from Shoemaker and Old Lyme WPCA member Dennis Melluzzo about the chairman’s alleged attempts to quell questions and dissent. 

Shoemaker said she was made to feel uncomfortable asking questions at the June WPCA meeting, while Melluzzo described feeling disrespected by Cinami while speaking up at last month’s WPCA meeting. 

Cinami said he was just trying to run an efficient meeting. 

“I feel, maybe it’s a misperception, but I feel as though I’m trying to get stuff across and I’m interrupted on a constant basis by members.”

He told Shoemaker he was sorry if she took offense, and said he owed Melluzzo an apology as well. 

Capital Costs

At Tuesday’s finance board meeting, member David Kelsey expressed concern about the financial impact of any large-scale capital upgrades that could happen in the future at the New London wastewater treatment plant into which Old Lyme’s sewage will flow. 

He said he’s heard for the past 10 years that DEEP was pushing for the installation of sewers in Old Lyme “because they wanted more users to spread the cost of upgrades in New London.” 

Cinami said he wasn’t aware that the city was on the verge of any major capital projects. 

New London Director of Public Utilities Joseph Lanzafame in a Wednesday phone call disputed Kelsey’s characterization of the situation. 

“There’s no truth to that. Not from our standpoint,” he said. “Somebody else may have other motivations, but from our standpoint, the contribution that Old Lyme is going to give towards the facility is very marginal.” 

A contract between New London and the four beach communities signed late last year calls for the beach associations to pay 1.2% of annual treatment plant capital costs and the town to pay 0.5%.

He estimated the city has spent $15 million over the past 10 years, but could not predict what the future holds in store. 

“But as far as major upgrades, I mean, we’re not looking at hundreds of millions of dollars of work to be done,” he said. 

He said the city does not have plans to upgrade the plant to be able to handle additional flow, which he described as an extremely difficult undertaking. But if that kind of upgrade did happen, he added that Old Lyme ratepayers would not be affected unless the beach associations or the town wanted to purchase some of the increased capacity. 

The current contract with New London allows the beach associations to send up to 120,000 gallons of sewage per day to the treatment plant and the town to send up to 50,000. They have the right to purchase up to an additional 130,000 gallons per day as more people in the beach communities tie into the system.

Lanzafame said he’ll be happy if Old Lyme doesn’t ask for additional capacity in the future. 

“I mean, I’m going to be quite frank. That’s just what it is. Wastewater capacity is a big deal, and it’s just not unlimited,” he said. 

Back at the finance board meeting, Kelsey predicted the costs to each user – including the minimum $1,932 payment homeowners will need to pay for 20 years, the cost of tying into the system, the annual fees and the increased tax bills from their new property values – are likely to result in angry residents. 

“It’s not going to be pleasant when all these numbers come out, is my basic point,” he said. 

While Cinami acknowledged residents in the affected areas will be required to hook up to the system, he added a caveat. 

“There are some new (septic) systems down there that cost sixty thousand dollars; We will probably not have them hook up immediately,” he said. “But any any system that’s in variance, which is, I would say, 97% of all the systems down there, will have to hook up.” 

Next Steps 

In addition to asking for more information on the financial impact for Sound View residents, the Board of Selectmen emphasized that the details of a Cost Sharing Agreement between the beach associations and the town must be finalized before they will ask residents to authorize more spending at a referendum. 

Another issue still outstanding revolves around the portions of the sewer project to be undertaken by the Miami Beach and Old Lyme Shores Beach Associations, which Cinami said have not yet gone out to bid. He said the beach communities’ project officials, who are waiting for approval by the state DEEP before opening the bid process, are hoping to make their selections by the end of July.

Cinami assured selectmen that winning bids received earlier this year for the Sound View work will remain valid through October, though he acknowledged the bidder selected to build the system’s shared pump station has not formally committed to keep his bid open that long. 

Shoemaker said Cinami’s request to schedule a referendum for August 14 won’t be possible because the traditional polling location in the middle school is being renovated and will not be available.