By Sarah Opdahl

At their meeting on Wednesday, April 2, New Fairfield’s Zoning Commission discussed the property on Ball Pond Road in which upward of seventy cats were living in a mobile home. A house sits on the property, which is nearly three acres in size and is not on the shoreline, with a long driveway on the lot and two other mobile homes. It is not permissible in the town to have multiple mobile homes on a property beyond a brief time period. One mobile home is occupied by relatives of the owners and the other was inhabited by the cats, which are now being rehoused and given care by New Fairfield/Sherman Animal Welfare.

Zoning Enforcement Officer Mr. Evan White explained that the long-term institutional memory of the land was that it was owned by an “old-timer,” who originally had th e property approved as a two-family when that regulation was introduced in th e mid-1970s. The current owners are working through regulation violations, including the excess number of mobile homes, running an unpermitted cat operation with an excess of allowable domestic animals, and violations in fire zoning regulations.

In other news, Zoning members approved the legalizing of an existing outdoor patio at Biscotti’s Restaurant. Owner Scott Hines was on hand to describe the pat io, which has existed since 2005, which he originally received a variance for. However, when they “put an outdoor bar out there, we just never really went through the proper channels of legalizing it, and we’d like to get that done, but it’s been in use since 2005 and never been an issue.” Hines is looking forward to getting everything squared away, especially given that there is a new food inspector in town. It was also noted for the future that the outside area should be no greater than 20% of the seating inside.

White explained that his department is handling violations including illegal multi-family homes, an unpermitted horse boarding and sales business, and unpermitted outdoor kitchens and sheds. He continues to have difficulty communicating with the Mountain View Cemetery at 190 Route 37, which has stockpiled an excess amount of fill that came from the school-building projects. He estimates up to 70,000+ cubic yards of fill were brought in without a single permit and th ere are wetlands on that property. The cemetery “has been asked to shut down and stop work. And, as of today, I was driving by…and clearly they’re looking like they’re going right back in on just ignoring us.” White plans to send them a cease and desist order. They have also applied to the state to add a crematorium, but they did not follow the necessary channels through the town first.

It was noted that a new Indian restaurant is being prepared for the space that was occupied by Subway, but they “don’t have a single permit from Zoning, Health, Building, or anything, or have even reached out,” White said. Further “they won’t be able to operate at all or open their doors, especially the food entity, receiving no permits or even applying for any.”

A discussion occurred regarding possibly holding some regular Zoning meetings in person in the future, especially if the topic is of great interest to the public.

The next regular Zoning Commission meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, May 7, 7:3