Several national experts will testify on behalf of South Lyme Property Owners’ claim that the Town of Old Lyme seasonal restriction does not benefit the environment. A trial date has not yet been scheduled, but may occur later this year.
Mark Gross, Ph.D., P.E., a Professor at the University of Arkansas, Department of Engineering and a widely-published expert on the functioning of septic and sewer systems, is expected to testify that the Town of Old Lyme did not have an adequate basis to conclude that an imposition of a restriction against the off-season use of homes in the Old Lyme beach communities would benefit the environment. In fact, he is expected to testify that the restriction could actually reduce the effectiveness of the septic systems in treating wastewater during summer months. Professor Gross is also expected to testify that, under the existing public health code, municipal sewer systems or community treatment systems are the only methods to significantly reduce pollution resulting from residential use of properties along Long Island Sound. Old Lyme is one of only four communities in Connecticut along Long Island Sound that provides no sewer services to beach communities.
Mary Clark, a Senior Project Scientist with Stone Environmental, Inc. of Montpelier, Vermont, is also expected to testify. She and her firm have assisted communities across the United States in managing wastewater in areas of concern, including Malibu, California, and the Boston Harbor. Although her firm specializes in seeking alternatives to traditional sewer systems, Ms. Clark is expected to testify that a sewer treatment of wastewater generated in the beach communities is the only effective way to reduce pollution to Long Island Sound.
These experts are expected to testify in a case filed in 1999 and pending in the Federal District Court. The case was filed by an association of hundreds of property owners in the beach communities of Old Lyme known as the South Lyme Property Owners Association, Inc. to challenge the 1995 Regulations adopted by the Town of Old Lyme that prohibit the off-season use of residential homes located on lots less than 10,000 square feet. A large number of homes existing in the beach communities in Old Lyme are on properties less than 10,000 square feet.
In the fall of 2000 and 2002, the United States District Court imposed an injunction barring the Town of Old Lyme from issuing further seasonal notices after ruling that the procedure utilized by the Town of Old Lyme was unconstitutional. During that hearing, representatives of the Town of Old Lyme suggested the seasonal limitation was adopted primarily to protect Long Island Sound from pollution. Following that hearing, the property owners added an additional claim in their lawsuit seeking the court to determine, under the Connecticut Environmental Protection Act, that municipal or community owned treatment system to treat wastewater is the only effective way to significantly reduce pollution to Long Island Sound and to order action by the Town to implement such a system.
The property owners have also been working with the state legislature regarding a bill proposed to authorize municipal water pollution control authorities to propose a plan to enable alternative technologies to be utilized to treat wastewater. Under the current public health code, alternative technologies to traditional septic designs used in other states such as Rhode Island are not authorized in Connecticut. They worked with legislators to seek the elimination of language inserted in the proposed bill that would authorize water pollution control authorities to bar off-season use of residential properties. Such a restriction is unrelated to the use of alternative technologies and, in the view of the South Lyme Property Owners Association and its experts, would not serve to benefit Long Island Sound.
Halloran & Sage Environmental Law & Land Use Attorney Kenneth Slater Jr., serves as the legal counsel for the South Lyme Property Owners Association and Halloran & Sage Government Affairs serves as the Association’s lobbying team.