By Susan MacEachron

At its meeting on Sept. 10 the Planning & Zoning Commission (P&Z) approved dog park regulations, formed a subcommittee to address dark sky lighting concerns and scheduled a public hearing at 6:45 p.m. on Oct. 7 to review an application to install ground mounted solar panels.

The Friends of the Norfolk Community Dog Park (Friends) proposed an amendment to the regulations governing recreational activities to allow creation of a dog park on a two-acre site. The matter was discussed at a public hearing in August, where the attorney representing the Friends explained that no site has been identified but finding a two-acre site was more likely than the existing requirement of 20 acres. 

P&Z Chair Tom Fahsbender explained that two text amendments to the regulations are needed: a definition of a dog park and regulations governing the site. After considerable debate it was decided that “a dog park is a parcel of land with an enclosed area for off-leash exercise of dogs under the supervision of their guardians.”

Any request to create a dog park in a residential neighborhood will require a special permit, which means there will be a public hearing and P&Z may impose conditions that could be site-specific. P&Z identified the information they would require from any applicant including a site plan, guidelines for operation of the facility, minimum lot area of two acres and a minimum setback of 50 feet from any property line to the enclosed area where the dogs will be off-leash as well as a minimum setback of 50 feet from any property line to the parking area. They were also clear that dogs must remain on leash until inside the fenced area.

The change to the recreational activities regulations to allow a dog park on a two-acre site subject to the granting of a special permit was approved unanimously.

A request for new regulations to control light pollution was brought to P&Z by the Conservation Commission. Zoning Enforcement Officer Stacey Sefcik read an excerpt from their letter, “there is a hope that the commission will consider amending the Planning and Zoning regulations to require new construction to use outdoor lighting that is properly shielded and limited to 3000 kelvins and limit lumens to 1000 or less as recommended by Dark Sky and the CT Audubon Society.”  

Several members of P&Z expressed interest in being part of a subcommittee to consider the matter.  First Selectman Matt Riiska offered to provide the name of the lighting expert the town has used when considering new lighting and suggested they might consider asking the consultant to attend the first meeting of the subcommittee.

Three P&Z members, Jonathan Sanoff, Ned Barron and Wiley Wood agreed to participate on the subcommittee.  Sanoff suggested that the group get together some evening to view lighting around town. Sefcik reminded P&Z members that a site visit must be open to the public with proper notice.  She also said they should not discuss the topic during the visit.  In a follow-up conversation with Sefcik she explained that the reason site visits should prohibit discussion of the issues is that under most circumstances it’s impossible to produce minutes of a site visit meeting, so it should only be used to gather information.