Town Hall 2015

RTM Says Yes to: Checkout Bag Law, Replacing Ox Ridge School, Highland Farm Upgrade, DHS Track

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An ordinance restricting checkout bags at stores in town and a project costing about $63 million to replace the Ox Ridge School building were approved Monday night by the Darien Representative Town Meeting. The RTM also approved proposals to fund improvements at Highland Farm park (the 16-plus-acre tract of land the town bought from the Ox Ridge Riding & Racquet Club) and to accept a gift of as much as $300,000 from the Darien Athletic Foundation to construct a path for the Darien High School cross-country track team path around the edges of the high school campus. All of the votes cast Monday night were overwhelming majorities. The state Legislature on June 3 passed a statewide bag ordinance, which will start taking effect on Aug. 1 if Gov. Ned Lamont signs the legislation into law.

RTM Public Hearing

Public Hearing 8 PM Wednesday, March 27 on Draft of Darien Bag Ordinance, Now With Specifics

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The public is invited to speak about the specific draft proposal for a Darien bag ordinance restricting use of plastic bags at a Representative Town Meeting pubic hearing at 8 p.m., Thursday in the Town Hall Auditorium. “If you wish to speak how this will affect your business, it is important you attend and speak,” the Darien Chamber of Commerce recently told its members in an email. “This is the last opportunity to do so.” Although this will be the last chance to speak to RTM members at a public hearing on the proposed ordinance, you can still email comments about it to the RTM at  DarienRTM@DarienCT.gov through April 3. New Details

The draft of the ordinance now up for public debate has many details that hadn’t been decided on when the last public hearing was held.

Image from APBA brochure

BYO Darien Describes the Proposed Carryout Bag Ordinance This Way

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BYO Darien, the local group advocating for the proposed ordinance restricting plastic and paper carryout bags, has put together this description of the proposal for Darien residents and businesses. The Representative Town Meeting will receive written emails about the proposal through Friday, March 1 (details below). Here’s the BYO Darien description:

What is in the ordinance for Retailers? Retailers keep the charge: Retailers will collect 10 cents for each recycled paper bag provided to a customer. This charge will be retained by the retailer to help defray the cost to the retailer of the recycled paper bags.

Reusable checkout bag plastic bag ordinance

Very Short Written Comments to RTM on the Proposed Carryout Bag Restrictions

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These 17 very short written comments were submitted to the Representative Town Meeting on the proposed carryout bag ordinance. The comments were submitted to the Representative Town Meeting and posted on the Web here (in the “Comments” section) by the RTM Town Government Structure and Administration Committee, among other documents about the subject. You Can Submit Your Own Comments Through Friday, March 1

Additional comments on the “Proposed Ordinance for the Management of Plastic and Paper Checkout Bags in Darien” can be submitted through Friday, March 1 if emailed to DarienRTM@DarienCT.gov.

If the town seems in favor of an ordinance, the RTM will have several key details to consider, said Monica McNally, chair of the RTM Public Works Committee, who presided over the Feb. 6 public hearing on the proposal. McNally said those key details include:

Should there be a mandatory charge on paper bags that are collected and kept by a business establishment?

Checkout Bag Industry Group Memo to Darien Officials About Bag Restrictions

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This communication from the American Progressive Bag Alliance, an industry group, is one of the many documents and written submissions to Darien town officials about whether or not to restrict types of carryout bags:

You Can Submit Your Own Comments Through Friday, March 1

Additional comments on the “Proposed Ordinance for the Management of Plastic and Paper Checkout Bags in Darien” can be submitted through Friday, March 1 if emailed to DarienRTM@DarienCT.gov.

If the town seems in favor of an ordinance, the RTM will have several key details to consider, said Monica McNally, chair of the RTM Public Works Committee, who presided over the Feb. 6 public hearing on the proposal. McNally said those key details include:

Should there be a mandatory charge on paper bags that are collected and kept by a business establishment? What should the minimum thickness be on a recycled bag that a store or business establishment sells? Should there be stipulated standards on the composition of the paper bags that are offered by the stores?

RTM Public Hearing

More Written Comments Submitted to RTM on the Proposed Carryout Bag Ordinance

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Here are 14 written comments from Darien residents on the proposed town ordinance imposing restrictions on carryout bags. The comments were submitted to the Representative Town Meeting and posted on the Web here (in the “Comments” section) by the RTM Town Government Structure and Administration Committee, among other documents about the subject. You Can Submit Your Own Comments Through Friday, March 1

Additional comments on the “Proposed Ordinance for the Management of Plastic and Paper Checkout Bags in Darien” can be submitted through Friday, March 1 if emailed to DarienRTM@DarienCT.gov.

If the town seems in favor of an ordinance, the RTM will have several key details to consider, said Monica McNally, chair of the RTM Public Works Committee, who presided over the Feb. 6 public hearing on the proposal. McNally said those key details include:

Should there be a mandatory charge on paper bags that are collected and kept by a business establishment?

Lynn Brooks

Business Owner Joe Warren, P2P Director Ceci Maher, Environmental Activist Lynn Brooks on Proposed Bag Ordinance

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Here’s what three more speakers on the proposed checkout bag ordinance had to say:
Ceci Maher, Executive Director, Person-to-Person
Person-to-Person is a community-supported agency, and Darien has been an incredible supporter of Person-to-Person over the past 50 years. Every year, we use about 100,000 bags. We have been enormously green. We recycle, we ask for people to give us recycled bags, and we use them. And then clients bring them back sometimes — and mostly, not, but sometimes — and we reuse them again.

Diane Browne pubic hearing plastic bags

Darien Business Owner Diane Browne Explains Why She’s Against the Proposed Town Bag Ordinance

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Diane Browne, owner of Browne & Co. in downtown Darien, gave several reasons for her opposition to the proposed ban on single-use plastic bags and regulations for paper bags and reusable bags when she spoke at the recent RTM public hearing on the matter. Browne spoke briefly at the public hearing and also sent in two written statements with new information. Here are all three statements:

Written statement dated Jan. 31:

I am all for reducing waste and doing away with as much plastic as possible.

RTM Public Hearing

Support for Proposed Checkout Bag Restrictions from Three Groups Outside Darien

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Three organizations — based in Stamford, Norwalk and North Haven — submitted these written comments to the Darien Representative Town Meeting in support of a proposed town ban on plastic bags not meant for re-use:
Skip the Plastic Norwalk
Dear Darien RTM members:

Skip the Plastic Norwalk, a group raising awareness about the impact of single-use plastics on our environment, strongly supports Darien’s proposed ordinance banning plastic checkout bags, and urges Darien to join the growing number of towns and cities across the globe, including Norwalk, in banning plastic shopping bags. Norwalk recently joined Stamford, Greenwich, Westport, and Weston in passing a plastic checkout bag ban that goes into effect on July 8. The ordinance was passed unanimously by Norwalk’s Common Council following remarks from a packed room full of supporters: residents, students, business owners, representatives from the Maritime Aquarium, environmentalists and residents of other towns that already have a ban in place. Every single speaker was in favor of the ordinance. Why a ban?

Bruce Ohr

Against the Proposed Darien Checkout Bag Restrictions: Bruce Orr

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Bruce Orr, a former town official and a biologist with a career in the energy, chemicals, “and, yes, the recycling industry,” gave these remarks at the Feb. 6 public hearing on proposed town-wide restrictions on stores giving customers bags at checkout. Darienite.com is publishing statements from the meeting and from written comments to three RTM committees considering the proposal. You can see a video of Orr’s comments at the bottom of this article. Here are Orr’s comments, as delivered:

I’m a former RTM member, having served this body for over eight years, and I was a member of the Board of Finance for over five years.

In Favor of the Proposed Bag Ordinance: Remarks from Cliff van Voorhees and Isabelle Hole

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About 140 people attended a recent public hearing on a town proposal to restrict the use of checkout bags in Darien. Here’s what two of the roughly two dozen speakers said. Darienite.com is publishing statements from the meeting and from written comments to three RTM committees considering the proposal. You can see a video of the comments at the bottom of this article. Cliff van Voorhees
I see this in the context of the ways, the many ways, that we are destroying our planet, and for me it’s a moral imperative that we do whatever we can to stop environmental degradation.

Checkout Bag Ordinance comments Olena Czebiniak

Opinions on the Proposed Checkout Bag Ordinance: First in a Series

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Darienite will be publishing statements from more than two dozen of Darien residents and others about the new proposal to forbid local stores from providing some disposable plastic bags at checkout and provide reusable bags instead. Here are two statements given at a recent public hearing held Feb. 6. Darienite will be publishing other statements from the meeting (slightly changed, mostly for style purposes or speaking mistakes). Comments submitted in writing and posted on the town government website will also be published in upcoming days.

Plastic Water

Maritime Aquarium Supports Ban on Plastic Carry Out Bags in Darien; Public Hearing on Wednesday

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In light of the Town of Darien considering a ban on plastic carry out bags, The Maritime Aquarium at Norwalk celebrates such municipal efforts and encourages other communities to take up the cause. — an announcement from the Maritime Aquarium

A public hearing is planned for Wednesday, Feb. 6 to gain Darien residents’ input on a proposal to ban plastic bags. If such an ordinance is drafted and eventually approved, Darien would join Westport, Greenwich and Norwalk in Connecticut, and Larchmont and Rye Brook in Westchester County, New York, in prohibiting retail stores from offering plastic bags for purchases. Many other municipalities in Connecticut and New York are considering similar legislations.