The Planning and Zoning Commission on March 19 will take public comment on a special permit application to operate a Dumpster rental business on Maple Road, a residential neighborhood.
Cathy Fales of 120 Maple Road is seeking a special permit under section 3350.6 of the town’s zoning regulations to operate Chuckin’It, a Dumpster rental and yard bag business catering to homeowners, contractors and businesses. The company’s yard bags can hold almost two tons of junk and debris. It also does clean-outs and demolition.
Monday’s public hearing on Fales’s special permit application was rescheduled from Jan. 16. It also comes after a Superior Court Judge in October upheld the town’s cease-and-desist order against Fales for illegally operating a business and for storing commercial vehicles, construction and commercial equipment on the Maple Road property without a special permit.
Homeowners living within 250 feet of the Fales’s property have been notified of the public hearing. Many are urging the Planning and Zoning Commission to deny Fales the special permit. They claim the business has for years disrupted the tranquility of the neighborhood, negatively impacted their property values and is an environmental and health hazard.
“There are trucks coming in and in out of the property, loading and unloading Dumpsters filled of trash,“ said Claude January, a Maple Road resident, who filed a complaint with the town against Fales. “We all have well water, and we have no idea what is in those Dumpsters.”
Bill Coward, who co-owns Chuckin’It with his wife, Cindy, said he works full-time in construction for a company in Stratford, and the rental Dumpster business is a side hustle.
The couple has one diesel truck and a few Dumpsters they use for Chuckin’It to pick up horse manure from local farms and stables and haul it away to Green Envy on Pepper Street in Monroe. They’ll occasionally rent out a Dumpster for a house cleaning and haul the debris to a transfer station.
“We don’t dump anything at our house,“ said Coward. “Nothing stays on our property.”
The diesel pickup trucks coming in and out of his property that his neighbors are concerned about are his and his son’s personal trucks and are all legally registered.
“We drive diesel pickup trucks,” said Coward. ”We own trucks. We use them all the time.”
Fales’s business has been the subject of numerous town zoning violations dating back to 2019. In 2020, when Fales did not comply with the cease-and-desist order and remove the commercial vehicles and construction equipment, the town took her to court.
“The town argued the case in court in support of January’s complaint against Fales,” said First Selectman David Bindelglass.
A Bridgeport Superior Court judge ruled in favor of the town and ordered Fales to erect an appropriate screen around the property at the direction of the Zoning Enforcement officer. Fales was also ordered to file a special permit application within 30 days of the court order and pay a $50 fine for each day that the violations continue.
Coward said he has put some screening, bushes and fencing around the property and is waiting for a surveyor to survey the property.
