Milford Zoning Board Weighs a 90-Foot Rule to Keep New Shoreline Homes From Creeping Toward the Sound

Milford’s Planning and Zoning Board will take up a proposed zoning change Tuesday night that would limit how far back from the street a house can be built on residential lots along Long Island Sound.

The petition comes from Justin Falco of 71 Milford Point Road, represented by Kevin Curseaden. It would add a new section, 3.1.4.2, to the city’s residential zoning rules. In its revised form, the rule says the building envelope of the main house on any residential lot that abuts Long Island Sound could not sit more than 90 feet from the front property line, meaning the edge of the street or the city right-of-way.

Why the city says it matters

City Planner David Sulkis laid out the reasoning in a written staff summary updated Friday. Milford’s shoreline swings between erosion and accretion, he wrote, and accretion, the buildup of sand where there wasn’t any before, has extended the beaches of “a handful of properties in the city.” The proposal would keep new houses from being built out on that newly built-up land, beyond 90 feet from the front property line.

Although we have not had this type of dwelling placement yet, this regulation would prevent it from occurring.

City Planner David Sulkis, in the staff summary

The rule may reach more waterfront lots than just the beachfront. The staff summary notes that under state law, Long Island Sound includes tidal marshes, bays, estuaries, navigable rivers, the harbor, and the Housatonic River up to a certain point.

The proposal changed last week

The version going before the board Tuesday is shorter than the original. As first filed in July, the proposal also would have required every structure to stay at least 25 feet from the mean high water line, or farther if the zone required it. According to the staff summary, Sulkis met with Falco on Oct. 15 and that section was dropped, because staff members had differing understandings of what it meant. What’s left is the 90-foot limit and a line saying it applies to all principal buildings.

The original filing said the goal was to prevent “incremental encroachment toward Long Island Sound,” keep new construction in line with existing development, and support flood resilience.

What outside reviewers said

• The state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection’s coastal office found the original proposal consistent with the Connecticut Coastal Management Act in an Aug. 7 letter.
• The South Central Regional Council of Governments’ Regional Planning Commission found no negative impact on neighboring towns or on Long Island Sound’s habitat.
• The Connecticut Metropolitan Council of Governments found the change not regionally significant.

The DEEP and regional reviews looked at the original two-part version, before the 25-foot section was removed.

Hearing must close Tuesday

The public hearing opened in September and was postponed at the applicant’s request at the board’s Oct. 6 meeting, according to the minutes. Under the deadlines on Tuesday’s agenda, the hearing has to close Oct. 20, and the board has until Dec. 24 to vote.

Also on the agenda: a request from Sharon Lynn to install a fixed, wraparound galvanized steel awning 8 feet 6 inches above the public sidewalk at 34-36 Naugatuck Ave. The city’s own proposed change to the CDD-2 zoning rules is listed as postponed.

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