Old Lyme — The Zoning Commission continued discussions last week over a proposed amendment to the town’s Tidal Waters Protection regulations.

The change, first brought forward last month as a way to start conversations about sea level rise here, calls for restricting new construction within 100 feet from the coastal jurisdiction line, doubling the current 50-foot minimum setback requirement for coastal and riverfront properties, among other changes.

Zoning officials argue that the changes would allow the town to start planning for the unavoidable sea level rise they believe will eventually affect the town’s coastline, while outlining a clearly delineated special permitting process. That process would require owners of water-dependent properties as well as residents abutting rivers and the ocean within the proposed 100-foot setback, to come before the Zoning Commission to apply to make property changes instead of seeking a variance from the Zoning Board of Appeals or permission from the Zoning Enforcement Officer.

The commission said the proposed regulations will help the commission maintain consistency with neighborhood characteristics as property owners make changes such as raising or moving their homes and building seawalls to protect their properties from sea-level rise. The regulations would also streamline the permitting process.

With the proposed change, residents seeking a special permit through the Zoning Commission could cite sea level rise as a reason to change their property without having to go through the often difficult process of applying for a variance, said Zoning Commission Vice Chairwoman Jane Marsh. The variance process could force property owners to alter their properties in order to prove the legal requirement for a variance. 

Zoning Commission Chairwoman Jane Cable stressed the proposal is a work in progress.

"Nothing has been decided. Nothing will be decided in a short time. … Please understand that we are still working on it. Nothing is official,” she said.

Some town officials and residents worried that the regulations would designate swaths of previously conforming properties as non-conforming, abruptly restricting hundreds of property owners from making even the smallest of changes to their homes and land.

But Cable said the proposed changes would only pertain to new construction, and not existing properties within the proposed 100-foot setback. Existing properties would not be deemed non-conforming with the new regulations. However, current property owners within the proposed 100-foot setback would have to apply for a special permit from the Zoning Commission to make changes to their property. 

Planning Commission members, according to a letter that was read into last week's Zoning Commission meeting minutes, also have unanimously opposed the proposed regulations, arguing they do not align with the town’s Plan of Conservation and Development and were redundant with regulations already in place.

Planning Commission Chairman Harold Thompson, in that letter, called the proposed regulations overreaching and in some parts unenforceable.

Shore Road resident Michael Barnes said at last week’s Zoning Commission meeting he has concerns about how the new regulations would affect water-dependent businesses such as marinas.

Marsh said water-dependent properties are already regulated by the Zoning Commission and that the proposed changes would allow the commission “a much more nuanced approach,” to granting special permits.

Zoning Board of Appeals Chairwoman Nancy Hutchinson, who said she was speaking as a resident, questioned whether the changes are really necessary, and if the commission instead needed to communicate more clearly with the Zoning Enforcement Officer about which projects needed to be go before the Zoning Commission and Zoning Board of Appeals for approval.

Hutchinson raised that point after Marsh had explained to resident Ron Swaney, of 131 Shore Road, that his property precipitated the proposed change. Marsh said that when members of the Zoning Commission noticed large construction changes happening at Swaney's home over recent months, they wondered why his property had not come before them  for permits.

Marsh said the proposed changes are designed to get both water dependent uses and other uses to be looked at by the same commission under the same standards, while Cable explained that the present process is highly variable.

The Zoning Commission will continued the public hearing on the amendment changes at their next meeting on Nov. 12.

m.biekert@theday.com