By Gretchen Webster

WESTPORT — A request to waive town rules prohibiting encroachment in the public right-of way, sought by a property owner whose paving stones violate that  policy — a violation shared by 70 or more local properties — triggered debate at Wednesday’s Board of Selectwomen meeting.

The selectwomen’s dilemma arose when they were asked to determine if it was fair or legal to require Richard Yu, of 28 Fairfield Ave., to rip up Belgian block paving stones lining the front of his property when at least seven other houses on the same street — and many others around town — also have pavers installed on town property along a road’s edge.

The board is empowered to grant waivers to violations of the encroachment policy if it finds the request has merit. The selectwomen, however, rarely grant such waivers, which are nearly always opposed by engineers in the town’s Department of Public Works.

The encroachment into the right-of-way by Yu’s pavers — covering about 215 square feet — came to light when inspections of two new neighboring homes were conducted by town officials, Ted Gill, a town engineer, told the selectwomen.

“Every single one of these properties [on Fairfield Avenue] with gravel and Belgian block are impacting the life of this road,” he said.

“Why this house versus other homeowners?” asked Selectwoman Candice Savin, referring to other properties on the street with the same apparent issue. “It’s hard to look at that street and single this one property out.”

Ultimately, the selectwomen voted unanimously to grant the waiver to Yu, overriding advice from town engineers who said the stone pavers could damage DPW snowplows, interfere with utility work and eventually damage the town road.

“My recommendation is not to go along with” granting a waiver, Town Engineer Keith Wilberg told the selectwomen.

Wilberg questioned Yu’s contention the Belgian blocks help remediate flooding on the property, which was under several feet of water after Hurricane Irene in 2011 and Super Storm Sandy in 2012, Yu said. 

“I am very aware of the flooding in this neighborhood,” Wilberg said. “The flooding in this neighborhood is bad. But I don’t see where the applicant has made a case that the Belgian blocks will help the flooding problem.”

Wilberg added that if officials decide to adopt a townwide approach to the problem — taking action against other property owners with encroaching pavers — it would be a huge undertaking, costing the town money and overwhelming his staff.

On the other hand, the town currently has to pay for repairs to snow-removal equipment damaged by paving stones, as well as pay property owners for damage caused by town snowplows. 

“There’s a practical reason why we don’t want Belgian block or other exotic material at the edge of the road,” said Public Works Director Peter Ratkiewich. “Every spring … I get tons of calls to fix what we’ve damaged during snow removal. The town pays for it.”

Several legal questions emerged during the meeting, including whether it is fair to deny a waiver to a property owner with the same violation as many others who have not been cited.

To help clarify the issue, Assistant Town Attorney Eileen Lavigne Flug said the board should consider if the town previously had granted variances to other properties with paving stones encroachment violations when determining whether to grant the waiver to Yu, and also that the town could revoke the waiver at any time for “good cause.” 

If a waiver is granted, the property owner is required to sign a hold harmless agreement and pay for insurance on the piece of encroached property to protect the town from liability, she said.

Another consideration arose over which town agencies have authority in the Yu case because the owner is also coming before the Zoning Board of Appeals and the Planning and Zoning Commission for other unrelated issues.

Planning and Zoning Director Mary Young said Yu is scheduled to come before land-use boards for issues unrelated to the driveway waiver, and that those issues are not under the purview of the selectwomen.

Freelance writer Gretchen Webster, a Fairfield County journalist and journalism teacher for many years, was editor of the Fairfield Minuteman newspaper for 10 years and teaches journalism at Southern Connecticut State University.