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Land Use Department Plan of Development Sewers: Sewer lines serve the entire downtown Bethel area, Francis Clarke and Berkshire Industrial Parks, Hoyts Hill and the Route 6 corridor (completed 1991-92). (See Figure 12.) In the downtown area, the sewer service area is virtually coterminous with the water service area. Preliminary designs for sewers in Stony Hill and Chimney Heights have been prepared. Currently these areas and all other non-sewered areas are serviced by on-site septic fields. Pursuant to a 1993 court order, the Danbury Sewage Treatment Plant processes the sewage generated in Bethel's serviced areas. The Bethel Waste Water Treatment Plant was converted into a large pumping station. This eliminated the contamination, and improved the quality of Still River, as well as rectified the over-capacity problems during rainstorms. The Danbury plant was enlarged in order to accommodate Bethel's needs. As it stands, maximum capacity of the Danbury plant is 1.8 million gallons a day. Bethel contributes 1.1 million gallons a day. Water: There are two water service areas in town: Stony Hill, Chimney Heights, and Berkshire Corporate Park in the north which are served by Bethel Consolidated Water Company, a private utility, and the downtown/central area which is served by the Bethel Water Department, a municipal utility (see Figure 13). The town-owned Eureka Reservoir and Chestnut Ridge systems supply potable water from Eureka and Mountain Pond Reservoirs, located in Danbury. According to the 1995 Bethel Water Supply Plan, these two water bodies have a combined safe yield of 0.33 million gallons per day (MGD). The Eureka Reservoir System is supplemented by the Bethel-located Chestnut Ridge Reservoir and Maple Avenue wells. Eureka Reservoir serves all industrial zones as well as most of the commercial zones. The Maple Avenue well field has a safe yield of 1.16 MGD, giving Eureka a total safe yield of 1.49 MGD. The Eureka Reservoir can be supplied in an emergency by water diverted from Murphy's Brook to Mountain Pond. The Chestnut Ridge system, supplied by the Chestnut Ridge reservoir, has a safe yield of 0.17 MGD. It serves a predominantly residential area with a small amount of commercial use along Greenwood Avenue. The Bethel Water Department currently serves about 7,778 people or 46% of the population. Both private and public water utilities have water supplies in excess of current demand; their supplies are expected to permit projected population increases and anticipated system expansion without adversely affecting the existing quality of service. The safe yields for Chestnut Ridge Reservoir are 0.17 MGD, Eureka Reservoir - 0.20 MGD and Mountain Pond - 0.13 MGD. The combined safe yields for the Maple Avenue Wells are 1.16 MGD. The maximum amount of water that the Bethel Water Department can dependably supply equals the sum of the safe yields of all sources during the critical dry period, or 1.66 MGD. The amount of available water in excess of demand is expected to permit projected population increases and anticipated system expansion without adversely affecting the existing quality of service. Figure 12: Sewer Service Areas Figure 13: Water Service Areas The service area ratio (number of residential services/total number of housing units) of the Bethel Water District (BWD) has remained constant over the last decade, but will begin to decrease in the near future. This is because the future service area of the BWD has very little developable land, while outside the service area, development can continue at a greater rate. Based on current zoning regulations, 389 dwelling units could be developed (see Table 13). Based on population projections through 2040, as population increases outside the BWD service area, the service ratio will decrease.
Bethel owns 42% of the Eureka Reservoir Watershed, 46% of the Chestnut Ridge Reservoir Watershed and 100% of the Maple Avenue wellhead radius. There are 635 acres dedicated to water department use. The office site, 6.6 acres, is out of the watershed. None of the 635 acres could be released for private development. Bethel Water Department has been exploring possible new well sites. One has already been selected for future wells and two more are under consideration. Test wells have been drilled on the 64 acre site behind the Police Station in the East Swamp Aquifer. Bethel's source protection program is composed of several non-regulatory and regulatory measures. Currently, there is no local program for groundwater protection. Actions taken by the BWD which have land use and development policy implications are:
Several system needs were addressed, and recommendations were made in the recently approved 1995 Water Supply Plan. One such issue was the delivery of large volumes of high quality water and providing adequate fire protection. Additional facilities and improvements to the existing system may be necessary to meet anticipated peak load needs projected for the planning period. The BWD has a short-term capital improvement plan through 1999 requiring $840,000, and a long-term plan through 2015 requiring $1,615,000. Water: The 1984 Plan of Development projected demand on water supply. At that time, the system was adequate for the existing demand. But using data from the Army Corps of Engineers Housatonic River Basin Urban Study, the plan showed that the then-safe yield of 1.3 MGD (millions of gallons per day) would be "borderline" sufficient to meet projected population demand by 2000 and 2030. The sources of future water supply with the greatest potential were found to be the East Swamp Aquifer well field development, Dibble's Brook Aquifer, and Murphy's Brook Aquifer. In response to the 1984 recommendations, the Bethel Water Department explored possible new well sites. One has been selected for future wells, with another two under consideration. Test wells were drilled on a 64-acre site behind the Police Station in the East Swamp Aquifer and it was determined that these wells would be the priority for source expansion, having between 0.8 and 1.00 MGD available. Other preliminary investigations have found additional potential water sources in the Dibble Brook Aquifer near Kristy Drive and in the Murphy's Brook Aquifer in the Francis J. Clarke Industrial Park. This latter one has been reserved for future use. Expansion of the existing public water service area will be limited to encompass the immediately adjacent land. There is a limit of 500 new homes allowed within the service area and industrial development may only occur on land currently zoned for such use. The water department has also identified additional facilities and improvement needed to meet anticipated peak loads through 2015. The Water Department has a short-term (through 1999) improvement capital plan requiring $840,000, and a long-term (through 2015) plan requiring $1,615,000. Given that 1,163 acres or the bulk of vacant, residentially-zoned, and developable land is zoned for a minimum of two acres (R-80), most new houses in Bethel will not need to be served by a private or public water company but will use on-site wells. If a new housing development features single family homes on smaller lots, aggregated together to preserve open space, the houses may rely on a privately managed community well. There are 111 vacant and developable acres in land zoned R-20 (one-half acre minimum lot size). New R-20 houses lying south or east of the downtown would tie into the existing Bethel Water Department system. R-20 homes north or south of Route 6 could tie into the private Consolidated Water Company depending on proximity. The issue of expansion of water utilities and development is clearly discussed in the Housatonic Valley Council of Elected Officials' excellent Regional Water Resources and Supplies (Regional Planning Bulletin #74, 12/93.) We quote here from that text: "The expansion of public water supply systems serving multiple users is a complex process and a heavily regulated aspect of regional growth. Connecticut is one of several national leaders in the streamlining and managing of this process, expressed through "An Act Concerning a Connecticut Plan for Public Water Supply Coordination" which in 1985 mandated a coordinated approach long range water supply planning. Throughout the State "Water Utility Coordinating Committees" (WUCC's) were created.... A key to the WUCC's plan is the designation of "exclusive service areas" for all public and private water utilities, defined as areas where public water is or will be supplied by one system.... Public water can reach as yet unserved portions of exclusive service areas by extending existing water mains or by interconnection with a nearby water utility.... The declaration by a water company of an exclusive service area cannot induce local Planning and Zoning authorities to promote the spread of public water service where those commissions state it is inappropriate.... Importantly, state statutes require local planning commissions to have prior evidence of state approval of proposed new water systems, before they grant local approvals to new developments intending to make use of such new systems. If a planning commission should grant local approvals before state approval and if the water utility should subsequently fail, the municipality is then required to take over and run the system." As part of the WUCC's process, Bethel's two water utilities have claimed future service areas. The Bethel Water Department has claimed a "[s]light expansion along western, southwestern, and northeastern edges of existing service area." The private Bethel Consolidated Company, serving Chimney Heights, has claimed "[e]xpansion of approximately 1000 feet around the circumference of the two existing service areas except along the Route 6 corridor. Area along Route 6 corridor to extend from Payne Road (at the Danbury Town line) to intersection of Route 6 and Weed Road." Sewer: In February 1995, Greiner Engineers produced a study on the feasibility of extending sanitary sewer service from the Route 6 trunk sewer to R-20 and R-30 residential areas north and south of Route 6. Six potential service areas were investigated: Vail Road, Old Hawleyville Road north of Route 6, Benedict Road, Payne Road, Oak Ridge Road, and Colonial Drive. In total, about 1,205 lots would receive sewer service at an estimated construction cost of $12,500,000 or about $10,400 per lot. The study found that about 80% of the study area has soils that are severely limited for septic field utilization and septic tank absorption fields, and another 10% is moderately limited. Indeed, the area reported 152 septic failures between 1975-1995, or nearly 13% of the area's lots reporting failures. The failures are largely due to the local clay soils and the one-half acre lot sizes. Thus, the report concluded that the Stony Hill area could be sewered and probably should be. However, at present, there are no active municipal plans to undertake this program. In addition to planning new sanitary sewer systems, the town can designate areas outside the service areas for sewer avoidance. Development here would be subject to on-site solutions and stringent oversight by the town. Connecticut's Department of Environmental Protection makes the following recommendations for minimum lot sizes for single family residences using septic systems:
Using these recommendations as a guide, Bethel should study the areas of town where sanitary sewer systems are not desired and modify the zoning if necessary. |
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