Commission pulls bond on Chatfield Farms

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The Beacon Falls Inland Wetlands Commission has begun to process of pulling the bond on Chatfield Farms to do work at the 55 and older adult community town officials have been asking the owners of the property, The Goldstar Group, to perform. –FILE PHOTO

BEACON FALLS — The Inland Wetlands Commission has begun to process of pulling the bond on Chatfield Farms.

Chatfield Farms, a 55 and older adult community on Skokorat Road, has recently come under the scrutiny of the town. Not for anything that the developers have done, but rather for what they have not done.

“Our problem is there’s been no work up there at all and all the detention ponds, all the retention holds, the galleys, the channels have all been overgrown and not maintained. So they’re not doing what they’re supposed to do,” First Selectman Gerard Smith said during the September Board of Selectmen meeting.

He pointed out that the detention ponds were getting higher than they should, which was causing significant run-off and silt to be carried to an open pipe. That pipe terminates in the neighboring property’s pond, which is filling up with silt.

Smith was also worried that the pipe was large enough that a person could fall into it.

Following the meeting, Smith said town officials spoke with the owners of Chatfield Farms who told the town they would fix the problems.

However, that work has not been done.

During its meeting last week, the town’s Inland Wetlands Commission voted to pull the bond on the property to begin the work to alleviate the problem.

Commission Chairman John Smith could not be reached for comment.

Commissioner Richard Minnick explained the commission had a cease and correct order in place for the property.

“What we asked for was a signed, executed contract,” Minnick said.

He said that the town wanted The Goldstar Group, who owns Chatfield Farms, to sign the agreement and begin the substantial work that needed to be done at the property. However, according to Minnick, The Goldstar Group, which is based out of Bethesda, Md., had not made any effort to fix the problems.

“It doesn’t look like any work was being done,” Minnick said. “The board reluctantly decided to start act to pull the bond.”

Minnick said that the commission did not want to pull the bond and would much rather have had The Goldstar Group fix the problems.

Smith said this week he also did not want the town to have to pull the bond.

“The last thing in the world the town wants to do is pull that bond. We will do what we need to do to finish that project but we would much rather the developers comply,” Smith said.

A message left with The Goldstar Group was not returned as of this post.