Wesley Drive
Teresa Gallagher
After doing the minutes from last week, I just want to mention that the two houses on either side of 49 Wesley Drive (the one with the pool) were going to purchase open space as well. That was under the same 8-24 as #49 Wesley. However, I don’t think those sales have gone through yet. Last I heard from Jack Bashar (a few months ago), the City wanted the homeowners to hire a surveyor to survey the new line as a condition of the purchase, and they had not done that. So we have two pending open space sales, approved by BOA, but for which no public hearing has been held.
Also, when you were all looking at the GIS Satellite view of Wesley: The parcel layer (yellow property lines) is correct, and the satellite view is correct, but the two do not always line up accurately and the property line layer is commonly shifted over by five or ten feet. That is the case on Wesley. The actual pool at #49 was NOT built in the open space. Rather a bit of the patio around the pool encroached onto the open space. The pool-related encroachment is very tiny in area. The chain link fence, however, was installed about 75 feet deep in the open space, along with a play set and yard. Instead of selling them the 75 feet, the City could have sold them 2 feet and made them move the fence. Just another option.
Also be careful comparing aerials from different years. The angle of the sun and camera, and the vegetation (leafed out) can make it look like an area is clear one year and forested the next, when there may not have been any changes. Just an optical illusion. That is partly what is going on at Wesley Drive, especially with some abutting properties that look at first like there was suddenly a lot of clearing. And some of those encroaching lawn areas were created by the developer, not the homeowners.
Teresa Gallagher
Natural Resources Manager
City of Shelton
54 Hill Street, Shelton, CT 06484