Homeowner says town stormwater design left property flood‑prone while land assessment doubled

At the Fairfield Board of Assessment Appeals hearing on March 2, a homeowner who identified himself in the record as the owner of 883 Burls Road/Aelia Lane described recurring flooding and asked the board to lower the land assessment that he said leapt from roughly $272,440 to $536,340.

The appellant presented planning and engineering maps supplied by the town, photos and three videos on USB showing standing water and a detention pond behind his property. He told the board the town’s engineering design includes multiple detention areas that feed a small cement pipe on town property that he said is too narrow to evacuate stormwater; "when we get a couple days of rain... the water rises right next to my house," he said, and described yearly basement flooding and the need to buy flood insurance despite the lot not being mapped as a flood zone.

He said the constrained drainage and a right‑of‑way that places the town pipe on municipal land make portions of his lot effectively unusable, blocking additions such as a detached garage, and argued that the town’s land valuation does not reflect those limitations.

Board member Peter Rupert accepted the materials for the record and said the appellant’s submission will be presented to the board for deliberation; no vote occurred at the hearing. The appellant was advised of the same next steps as other petitioners: mailed notice of the board’s decision within seven days of deliberation, the right to refile next year if denied, and the option to appeal to court.