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Town Council Minutes 02/02/2012
AVON TOWN COUNCIL
MEETING MINUTES
February 2, 2012


I.         CALL TO ORDER

The meeting was called to order at 7:30 p.m. at the Avon Town Hall, in the Selectmen's Chamber by Chairman Zacchio.  Members present: Mrs. Samul, Messrs. Pena, Evans, and May.

III.      MINUTES OF PRECEDING MEETING:   November 16, 2011 Special Meeting
                                                                                     November 23, 2011 Special Meeting
                                                                                     December 1, 2011 Regular Meeting
                                                                                     January 5, 2012 Regular Meeting

On a motion made by Mrs. Samul, seconded by Mr. Pena, it was voted:
RESOLVED: That the Town Council accept the minutes of the November 16, 2011 Special Meeting as submitted.
Mrs. Samul, Messrs: Zacchio, Evans, and Pena voted in favor.  Mr. May abstained.

On a motion made by Mrs. Samul, seconded by Mr. Pena, it was voted:
RESOLVED: That the Town Council accept the minutes of the November 23, 2011 Special Meeting as submitted.
Mrs. Samul, Messrs: Zacchio, Evans, and Pena voted in favor.  Mr. May abstained.

On a motion made by Mr. Pena, seconded by Mrs. Samul, it was voted:
RESOLVED:  That the Town Council table the minutes from the December 1, 2011 Regular Meeting and January 5, 2012 Regular Meeting to the March 1, 2012 meeting.
Mrs. Samul, Messrs: Zacchio, Evans, Pena, and May voted in favor.

IV.       COMMUNICATION FROM AUDIENCE

Nancy Anstey, Director of Farmington Valley Visitors Association (FVVA), thanked Council for their support.  She reported that the FVVA serves as an information and resource center for residents, businesses, and individuals relocating and their other job is to promote the Valley with a place to live, work, and play.  She added that the FVVA represents eight towns (Avon, Canton, Farmington, Simsbury, Granby, East Granby, New Hartford, and Burlington) and their office is located in Old Avon Village.  She reported that their signature piece is their Guide to Farmington Valley with 60,000 copies printed and found all over the Valley including town halls, libraries, welcome centers, UCONN medical complex, and anybody who requests.  She noted that all fifty states requested last year and seventeen foreign countries and going strong this year.  She reported that the FVVA is in business because of membership dues including the Valley towns and fundraising efforts.  She reported that their position is the more people they can get involved in the organization and through the communities, the more our towns and businesses will be visible.  She noted that they have lodging packages, historic sites barn tours, and have added a film commission that has been going on just over two years and their point in that is to create a production guide so they can entice people to come into the Valley as opposed to going down state.  She noted that their biggest fundraiser is the haunted miniature golf and unfortunately this past year Storm Alfred took away their second week of this event.  She reported that this year there are two exciting fundraisers: a black tie optional Oscar evening on February 26th and a mob’s murder mystery dinner theater.  She reported that within the span of a year the FVVA puts out 150 relocation packets and noted that last year she asked the Town of Avon for a brochure that they could put in there and thanked the Town for recently putting together a brochure and thinks it looks wonderful.  Mrs. Samul noted that although the miniature golf fundraiser was snowed out for the FVVA the Town appreciates the FVVA sending the donuts and cider to the shelter.  Nancy Anstey responded that the FVVA is very fortunate, although the businesses are not in Avon, that Shop Rite in Canton donated eighty dozen donuts for the fundraiser.  Chairman Zacchio, on behalf of the Town Council, thanked Nancy and the Board on their outstanding work and getting Avon and the Farmington Valley out front is admirable and appreciates all the work that she is doing, keep it up and they will keep supporting her.

Michael Farrell, Chairman of the Avon Water Pollution Control Authority, gave a brief update to Council on some of the projects that the Authority has been involved in.  One project is the Deepwood Drive sewer project and was completed within the past year; it was conducted in two phases because of the timing of it and ran into problems with depth of some of the sewerage there; the bills have been sent out on time and under budget.

Mr. Farrell reported that the second project is the fats, oils, and grease program (FOG) which is a DEEP mandate and be instituted no later than July 2011.  He noted that the Authority had a lot to do in a short period of time including creating new policies and the essence of the program is that if you run a food establishment within the Town including the municipalities if you discharge fats, oils, and greases into a collection system there has to be some means or mechanism of recovering those prior to that sewerage or waste water going into the municipal collection system and comply by the regulations prior to November 2012.  He added that it is a very extensive program and does not think there will be a lot public outcry over it as a lot of the people in the restaurant/food prep industry were aware of this for a couple of years prior to the Authority becoming aware of it so a lot of places have already made provisions but from the Authority side they know have to establish inspection protocol, follow-up protocol, and have developed an extensive package and program to address this.  He added that it may involve the hiring of some part-time personnel if they come to that point the money would be most likely funded through the Sewer operating budget.  He noted that they cannot fully appreciate the impact because they have not gotten into the enforcement phase of this proposal yet; once they do they will get a better feel for whether or not we need to hire additional personnel.  He noted that there are limited people through Engineering and already wearing many hats through the Authority’s perspective and will most likely require either a summertime partnership with Public Works and explore those options if and when they have to.  Chairman Zacchio asked if they envision an annual inspection.  Mr. Farrell responded yes and they want to get this program where it is idling along.  He noted that once the Authority and the food prep establishments get through the growing pains within the next year or so the program will run just fine.  He added that everyone has a very cooperative attitude and has been an amicable implementation of the program; people understand that this is a mandate from DEEP and not a municipality issue.  He noted that they are working very closely with the Farmington Valley Health District on this as well.  He reported that the only potential issue they foresee is when they have non-compliance.  He noted that the Authority is comfortable with their relationship with the community on this.  Chairman Zacchio commented that most commercial kitchens must already incorporate some waste collection system.  Mr. Farrell responded that what they are finding is that a lot of them have already taken upon themselves to do that only because this has come down the pipe; independent of this, it is a costly issue as some systems are $10,000 to $20,000 for a larger establishment.  He reported that at the end of the day if an unscrupulous business owner wanted to try and get a way with it that will be one way that they are going to try and cut costs but unfortunately ignorance of the law is not going to work.  He reported that they have been pretty fortunate and does not think the Authority is going to have any issues.  Chairman Zacchio asked what the Authority’s authority is for enforcement.  Mr. Farrell responded that they have language in that which allows for those provisions.  He noted that the first sanction is a timeframe, ninety days to come up with a plan, that they allow to come into compliance and incremental after that.  Chairman Zacchio asked if the Authority is collecting data from surrounding towns or best practices that they would want to be in line with.  Mr. Farrell responded yes.  He noted that the South Windsor and Torrington health districts have an excellent model that the Authority used and that was invaluable to them in terms of developing the entire plan, the implementation, the inspection phase, etc.  He noted that when they got into the penalty phase of their model they stretched it out over a longer period of time; some of the other municipalities dealt with it with a little heavier hand and the Authority did not think that was necessary because it is new so they chose to adopt an informational/educational model first and then go into more enforcement levels.  He anticipates that it will be fully implemented in terms of the application requirements by November 2012.  Mr. May asked if DEEP has provided guidance to the Authority.  Mr. Farrell responded yes that DEEP has held FOG seminars, provided boiler plate information that municipalities were able to use, and very good to work with; they were appreciative of the position that they were putting local authorities in so they had a vested interest in making that work amicably for everyone; they were a tremendous resource for the Authority and did take full advantage of it.  Mrs. Samul asked the status of our municipal buildings.  Mr. Farrell responded that the municipal buildings are subject to it; as far as compliance he could not speak accurately to that yet.  He added that there are some facilities that were not in compliance.  He noted that if it is a school building, for example, he is not sure what we have done in so far as contacting the Board of Education to say that the schools have to come into compliance.  He reported that we are not that far along yet where we have even begun to visit these buildings and just going off institutional at the table when they were estimating which establishments would or would not be compliant.  He added that the firehouses are subject to it and every building in town that is a food prep establishment is subject to it and they are classified.  He noted that some are exempt in compliance issues but they do have to apply to the program.

Mr. Farrell reported that the Town had a major sewer line break during Storm Irene in the Eddy Street area.  He noted that it had very minimal impact to the neighborhood and DEEP was notified; there was a significant release over an extended period of time but were able to liaison with private contractors and the Town who made an expeditious repair.  He added that everything significant was absorbed through the operating fund from the Sewer department and still in the process of going through a recovery process through FEMA for some of the costs as it was an act of god and state of emergency.

Mr. Farrell reported on the Haynes Road sewer project and that they did an out of the box approach and get into a public-private joint venture with Bill Ferrigno.  He added that Bill Ferrigno was developing some property he had on the top of Haynes Road; he approached the AWPCA to see if they would be willing to get into a joint venture with him and nine months and numerous public hearings later with the neighborhood they were able to successfully work out an agreement where Bill Ferrigno and some of his sub-contractors did the sewerage of that neighborhood off the West Avon Road lateral and the good news so far is that they are on schedule and through this joint venture assess those homeowners at a rate of approximately $4,000 less than some of our conventional projects that they have done prior to this.  He noted that the AWPCA and the neighborhood are very happy with that.  He reported that there were some eminent failures in the neighborhood that they were able to take care of in a timely fashion so residents were happy.  He noted that because of the cost reductions residents who had functioning septic systems that were not crazy about sewer lines coming up their street have bought into the project.  He added that there are gas lines up there, new sewers, and the Avon Water Company has redone all the water mains up there so at the end of this project there will be some significant increases in property values to the neighborhood.  Chairman Zacchio commented about coordination of utilities and that this is a best practice that we want to make sure that we are paying attention to.  Mr. Farrell reported that he is very proud of the work by the Authority and Engineering Department with this project.

Mr. Farrell reported that the Authority has had some responses from the community regarding our user fees.  He added that they have looked at other municipalities with similar demographics and population and they find that the Town of Avon is a bargain as it charges a $300 flat fee.  He noted that there has been some interest from some members of the community to revisit that fee because we charge a flat fee meaning a single person living in an 800 square foot ranch pays the same amount as a family of ten in a larger home and feel that there are some inequities in that.  He reported that the Authority did tackle this issue approximately four or five years ago and chose not to take action on it.  He reported that it will become an agenda item on the next AWPCA agenda and it is time to revisit this given the economic climate that we are in and they expect to hear from two interested members of the community at their meeting this coming Thursday and suspect that the Authority will be amendable to some sort of a relief program for residents who do come in with exceptional circumstances with legitimate cause to show that they have a minimal impact on the system.  He added that recognizing that the Authority will probably address some sort of a relief fund.  Chairman Zacchio commented that a few years ago when this discussion came up there was an option of metering the amount of water flow coming through or net-metering going out.  Mr. Farrell reported that the essence of the program is water in and water out and easiest way to meter someone’s usage.  He added that Avon is a little different as we have neighborhoods that are on wells but they are sewered so the water in and water out does not always work unless you ask the homeowner to absorb the cost of a meter and the flip side would be that the Town would have to utilize personnel to go out and read the meters.  He reported that the benefits of implementing that portion of the fee schedule would not be worthwhile for the Authority neither cost effective to the property owners.  He added that the Authority will look at a program where one appears before the Authority, state their claim; it should be the exception rather than the rule.  He noted that if it becomes a bigger issue the Authority might look into revisiting the water in, water out and metering.

Mr. Farrell reported that the Authority has done a tremendous amount of work outside of the purview of the Authority, dealing with outside agencies, members of the public, and held numerous meetings.  He reported that there is one member who is an attorney and have tapped into him so much and is a tremendous asset.

Mr. Farrell recognized the following people for making his job as Authority Chairman tremendously easier and he believes have done a fantastic job in representing the Town of Avon and their particular departments in the public’s eye: Larry Baril – Town Engineer, Tim Foster – Superintendent of Sewers, Suzanne Essex – Engineering Secretary and AWPCA Clerk, and Tom Armstrong – resident attorney and AWPCA member.  He noted that the FOG model that Mr. Armstrong has created is tremendous that everyone seems to have embraced both in the business community and here at the Town.

V.        COMMUNICATION FROM COUNCIL

Mr. May commented on a recent article in Avon Patch regarding the D.A.R.E. program.  He noted that we have 176 of our students that just graduated from the program.  He thanked those students and recognized Officers Todd Akerley and Lisa Petkis for becoming a liaison with the students.  He also thanked the support of the Board of Education, Peggy Roell, and support of the Town’s Police Chief Mark Rinaldo.  Chairman Zacchio added that the officers do a great job and he sent an e-mail to them as well and it is a program that will always get the support of the Council sitting here and has always gotten the support of the Board of Education.

VI.       OLD BUSINESS

11/12-37       Appointments
  • Planning & Zoning Commission (R – 12/31/2015)
On a motion made by Mr. Evans, seconded by Mrs. Samul, it was voted:
RESOLVED:  That the Town Council appoint Chris Gackstatter to the Planning and Zoning Commission with a term ending December 31, 2015.
Mrs. Samul, Messrs: Zacchio, Pena, Evans, and May voted in favor.

  • Natural Resources Commission (R – 12/31/2015)
On a motion made by Mr. Evans, seconded by Mrs. Samul, it was voted:
RESOLVED:  That the Town Council table agenda item 11/12-37(b) Appointment: Natural Resources Commission to the March 1, 2012 meeting.
Mrs. Samul, Messrs: Zacchio, Pena, Evans, and May voted in favor.

  • Zoning Board of Appeals Alternate (R – 12/31/2015)
On a motion made by Mr. Evans, seconded by Mrs. Samul, it was voted:
RESOLVED:  That the Town Council table agenda item 11/12-37(c) Appointment: Zoning Board of Appeals Alternate to the March 1, 2012 meeting.
Mrs. Samul, Messrs: Zacchio, Pena, Evans, and May voted in favor.

  • Avon Clean Energy Commission (D – 12/31/2013 & R – 12/31/2013)
On a motion made by Mr. Pena, seconded by Mr. May, it was voted:
RESOLVED:  That the Town Council appoint Mitch Kennedy to the Avon Clean Energy Commission with a term ending December 31, 2013.
Mrs. Samul, Messrs: Zacchio, Pena, Evans, and May voted in favor.

On a motion made by Mr. Pena, seconded by Mr. Evans, it was voted:
RESOLVED:  That the Town Council table agenda item 11/12-37(d) Appointment: Avon Clean Energy Commission (R – 12/31/2013) to the March 1, 2012 meeting.
Mrs. Samul, Messrs: Zacchio, Pena, Evans, and May voted in favor.

VII.      NEW BUSINESS

11/12-42      Eagle Scout Proclamation: Ross P. Harmon

Chairman Zacchio reported Ross Harmon has attained the rank of Eagle Scout, one of the few who have come before Council in the last few years and we are very proud to be able to present Ross with a proclamation from the Council that he read aloud.

On a motion made by Mr. Pena, seconded by Mr. Evans, it was voted:
RESOLVED:  That the Avon Town Council present to Ross P. Harmon the following Proclamation:
February 2, 2012
Ross P. Harmon
Permit the Town Council to join your many friends in offering our heartiest congratulations upon your achievement as an Eagle Scout.
This is indeed an appropriate honor for the many years you have spent as a Boy Scout.  As a Boy Scout you have had to show qualities of leadership, integrity, loyalty and service to your troop, community, school, church and your friends.
The high standards of the Boy Scouts of America are well known and your elevation to Eagle Scout most certainly attests to your fulfillment of their high standards.
Congratulations on your outstanding achievement!
Mrs. Samul, Messrs: Zacchio, Pena, Evans, and May voted in favor.

11/12-43      Avon Park North – Master Plan

Steve Kushner, Director of Planning and Community Development, reported that we really began talking about the beginnings of this project in 2005 when the Planning and Zoning Commission commissioned the study for Avon Center and in 2006 that was incorporated into the Plan of Conversation and Development and that led to the adoption of new zoning rules and regulations which were approved by the Planning and Zoning Commission this past July.  He added that with these new regulations there is the possibility of this property in Avon Park North being rezoned from Industrial Park as has been for the last forty years to this new district called the Avon Village Center Zone.  He reported that the importance of that zone is that it encourages a mix of uses whereas traditional zoning limits uses, like kinds of uses.  This new district encourages the mixing of business uses, commercial retail, restaurants, offices, possibly light manufacturing with residential.  He added that the new district allows in some cases the mixing of those kinds of uses within one structure.  He noted that in order to get the zone changed you do not just ask for a zone change, you have to prepare a Master Plan.  The master plan is an intermediate step between actually getting approval to build something in the zone and the importance of the master plan is that it sets the tone for the kind of development that will then occur years later.  He reported that the zoning regulations are also unique in that unlike traditional zoning which has very rigid standards for things like building height, setback, lot coverage, parking requirements; this new district allows more flexibility for a developer to think outside the box and propose something that the Planning and Zoning Commission might deem to be appropriate.

Mr. Kushner reported that the property owner, Ensign Bickford Realty, who owns ninety-three acres of land in Avon Park North, submitted an application to the Planning and Zoning Commission in December and the Commission began a hearing in December, it was continued to their last meeting on January 24th and continued again to their next meeting on February 14th.  He noted that the Commission is likely to close the public hearing on February 14th, may vote or table until March depending on how many loose ends are outstanding on the 14th but the general report is that the Commission has been pleased with the progress that Ensign Bickford has been making and an exciting project to work on.

Mr. Kushner reported that Ensign Bickford is proposing to take the ninety-three acres of vacant land and divide it into nine development districts as part of the Master Plan; of those nine districts, they intend to sell eight individually to private developers and District #8 will be deeded to the Town as a public park and Ensign Bickford will be responsible to make certain improvements to that property before they deed it to us.  Ensign Bickford has made their first attempt to start to design what some of the amenities would be in that park and includes a small pond to be used for skating in the winter, some landscape amenities using the large oak tree as a focal point, some benches, brick patios, public gathering area.  He noted that equally important there are a series of trails that they would propose to build and all of which connect back to the Farmington Valley Greenway.  He reported that the Greenway is an important of this plan as part of it would be relocated into the fourteen acre park and clear connections back into the commercial/retail aspects of the project also.  He noted that with the trail changes, as one comes through the Town Hall complex if you are on a bike you have to ride through the parking lot behind Buildings 5/6/7 and not ideal; there are police vehicles coming in and out all day and potential for conflicts.  He reported that in this plan the trail would come around and outside the Town Hall parking lot and would be a separate dedicated path to eliminate that conflict.

Mr. Kushner reported that one of the most significant parts of the Master Plan is the proposal for a new East/West Main Street.  He noted an undeveloped parcel which is the piece that Ensign Bickford prepped for development a number of years ago where they cleared the trees, mined out gravel; initially the Commission had approved two 60,000 square foot office buildings which were never built and in lieu of that on the Master Plan they are showing approximately 150,000 square feet of commercial/retail space something on the scale of Riverdale Farms.  He reported that the landscape architect working for Ensign Bickford described the new Main Street to the Commission by saying if it is done right and authentic enough with on-street parking, sidewalks, buildings that are pushed out to the street with parking tucked to the rear, it might appear to the casual observer that in fact this was the original Main Street and that Route 44 was a bypass road that the State built some years later.

Mr. Kushner reported that the Master Plan also has a residential component to it.  He noted that it is roughly 1.2 million square feet of space in total and with approximately 500 residential units.  He added that the Commission wanted to see an alternate plan that broke down the scale a little bit more and more responsive to the natural topography as there will need to be a significant amount of earth work done in one particular area.  Chairman Zacchio asked how many housing units.  Mr. Kushner responded in the high four hundreds right now.  Chairman Zacchio asked if they are mixed, over 55, or any restrictions.  Mr. Kushner responded that there would not be any restrictions at this level and that would be a discussion later on when the site plan is submitted.  He noted that what the Commission said was that they would keep an open mind and encourage a mix of different housing types and different age groups.  He added that if we are trying to promote a vibrant Main Street it might be helpful to have not only a group of 55 and older but a younger crowd.  He reported that we have our own consultant in Town that is helping with this and had an economist take a look at the Master Plan and they think the data that was submitted and their findings were reasonable and what they are showing is a fairly significant net positive to the Town on full build out and one of the reasons for that is they are projecting, even with 475 housing units a very modest number of school-aged children because of the housing types they are likely to build.  He noted that the apartment houses and condominiums would be on common land owned by the association and if we look to the association projects that are already in Town, i.e. Farmington Woods, Hunters Run, Rivermead and look at the number of school-aged children coming out of those projects it is very small.  He reported that when the 2006 Plan of Conversation and Development was completed they got data from the Board of Education and cross-tabulated it by street address and project and found in the range of 0.3 to 0.5 school-aged children per housing unit for some of those projects so very low.  He noted that there will be some with this Master Plan but not so much that it has a negative influence on the fiscal impact study.

Mr. Kushner reported that under the zoning regulations if Ensign Bickford is successful in getting the Master Plan approved which he thinks they will be by March, the next step is for Ensign Bickford to sell the parcels.  He noted that when they take an option to purchase that development group will have to submit another round of applications before the Planning and Zoning Commission and it will include a traditional site plan application and another special permit application so it is not as if the Commission is losing much in the way of discretion as they still have the ability to influence the quality of design and the outcome of the project.  He reported that these new regulations were adopted under a special section of the State statute called 82J - Village District Act and what it does unlike conventional zoning rules and regulations is it empowers the Commission to make its decision when they receive the site plan application if they choose to yea or nay on the basis of architecture and the quality of design.  He noted that under the normal set of rules that we operate under we can consider architecture and appearance but the law does not allow the Commission to approve or deny solely on that basis.  He added that in addition the Commission is empowered to hire an architect or a landscape architect to help critique it and the applicant is required to pay the Town for those services.  He reported that we are creating a path here that he thinks is going to in a sense make it easier for Ensign Bickford to market it because a developer if they apply to the Commission for a project that has a lot of the elements that are similar to what is shown on the plan it should make it easier but on the other hand the Commission has not really given up the discretion they want to maintain for the final approval.

Mr. Evans asked procedurally that at the next Planning and Zoning Commission meeting if they are looking to approve both the zone change to the Village Center Zone and the Master Plan.  Mr. Kushner responded yes.  Mr. Evans asked if Mr. Kushner has a sense that there is support for that.  Mr. Kushner responded yes and that it will probably be unanimous approval by the Commission.  Mr. Evans asked if Ensign Bickford will continue to have some level of control such as any restrictive covenant on what type of housing, shape, design, etc. going forward.  Mr. Kushner responded that Ensign Bickford has not really discussed that with the Commission, yet he does not think that they will maintain that much control but they may have conversations with the buyers because they do not want to do anything that is going to hurt them when they go to sell the remaining pieces.  He noted that the only pushback that the Commission has really had from Ensign Bickford to date is that they are looking to preserve as much flexibility as possible when they go to sell the land.  The Commission is making comments like the scale of residential units for example, and the overall number.  He added that he thinks the most demand will be with the residential pieces as there are not that many opportunities to build condominium and apartment houses in Avon; it is a great place and even with the pieces that are already in the Town Center it is a great center.  He noted that there have been a few developers that have come to some of the Planning and Zoning Commission public hearings.

Mr. Kushner added that the way the regulations are setup is to encourage this mix of uses and the way he wrote the regulation it says that they can come and apply for a residential project first but they can only apply for approximately 100 units to start and before they can apply for the next 100 units they have to accomplish approximately 100,000 square feet of commercial/retail space since the main objective is to extend Main Street and to add some vibrancy to Avon Center they did not want to get to a point where they build 200 to 300 units and then come back to the Town and report that they could not find the developer for the commercial piece and if they turn the business park into a residential project.  He noted that the regulations are very strict in that sense and have been reminding Ensign Bickford about that and the Commission has also and hopefully if they start with a residential project they will find a commercial developer soon after.  Mrs. Samul asked if that would require that they begin construction on more than one pod at a time because one pod is designated residential and they would not perhaps be able to finish building that out until a second commercial pod was developed and if this is what the Commission is suggesting.  Mr. Kushner responded yes.  Mrs. Samul noted that they would have to find more than one buyer almost concurrently.  She asked where the timing of the park fits into this.  Mr. Kushner responded that the Planning and Zoning Chairman had the same observation at their December meeting and as a result Section IV on the Master Plan map has been divided into three sub-phases now with approximately 100 units per each sub-phase so they could potentially find one developer who would build it in three phases.

Mr. Kushner reported that Ensign Bickford is telling the Commission that they want to have the maximum degree of flexibility and they are suggesting that amongst the eight areas there could be a number of different sequences as to which ones get built in what order.  He added that the zoning regulations do not allow them to do that at their complete liberty because again the relationship between the residential and commercial construction but also there are parts of the infrastructure that have to be built in some kind of logical sequence as well.  He reported that the new Main Street includes three different development pods, the middle one is where the existing brownstone buildings are that Ensign Bickford owns and will continue to own based in the short-term as they have done very well with these buildings and almost 100% leased out; they are showing a possibility to add onto some of these.  He added that Ensign Bickford will be responsible for building a portion of the new Main Street.  Mrs. Samul asked if the commercial space in that particular pod counts toward the residential that they can construct since it is existing.  Mr. Kushner responded that the regulations talk about new commercial and they would not get credit for existing space.  Mrs. Samul asked what the timing is on the park.  Mr. Kushner responded that they are not sure yet and he also raised the same question.  He noted that Ensign Bickford has been very good to work with and has been a very positive relationship but the one criticism he has is that they have been a little bit too casual about some of these kinds of requirements and that they believe and are correct that their interests are similar to the Town’s interests in many ways.  He noted that before the Commission approves the Master Plan that is one item that has to be addressed.  He added that they are also looking for greater clarity and assurances as to who is going to be assigned to build the various pieces of infrastructure that need to be built and when and what guarantees Ensign Bickford can offer to the Town so they are budgeting for that and do not get stuck somewhere half way through the project where there isn’t enough profit to be made from the sale of some of the later parcels in order to support the infrastructure improvements that are needed.

Mr. Kushner reported that Ensign Bickford has a traffic engineer on the project and one of the things that they are suggesting is that there will have to be some limited work done to Route 10 and Route 44 when approximately fifty percent of all of the space is completed.  He added that our comments to Ensign Bickford have been that is fine but they need to figure a way on how to budget for that so that the developer who comes along and buy phase four, for example, which crosses that threshold and now the State is saying you have built $2 million worth of improvements so we want to make sure that there is some monies that have been allocated from some of the prior sales to make sure that can happen.  Mrs. Samul asked if there has been any discussion of traffic along Route 10 and the possibility of needing a traffic light at the end of Woodford.  Mr. Kushner responded that the traffic engineer did not conclude that was necessary; the Town consultant, Milone & MacBroom, working with the Commission has recommended that Ensign Bickford take a look at Woodford and think about making a modest engineering change to it.  He noted that the traffic engineer suggests that the majority of traffic will use the signalized intersections, Ensign Drive and Climax Road; there will be some number of people that will use Woodford depending on the time of day just like people use it today.  Chairman Zacchio asked if what is really being approved is the categories of use in theory and what is being encouraged is the mixed use and as we encourage those uses when it comes time to actually choose the types of businesses, the folks that buy that property will come back before the Boards with their business opportunity.  Mr. Kushner responded yes.  He added that even though the regulations are going to permit a whole lot of different kind of uses it might be difficult for the Commission to say that the use that you are proposing is not allowed but yet the Commission will still have a lot of discretion because the site plan and special permit as well as the design of the project still has to be approved by the Commission.

Chairman Zacchio asked about big box retail.  Mr. Kushner responded that there are no big boxes shown on the drawing yet the regulations do not prohibit big boxes but clearly intent is not encourage them so one of the Commission’s last comments was that they wanted Ensign Bickford to make a statement on the record that they would not seek developers who would propose a big box.  He noted that the biggest box shown on the current Master Plan is in District #1 with a 35,000 square foot footprint with two stories.  Mrs. Samul commented that it might accommodate another hotel of some type.  Mr. Kushner reported that Ensign Bickford would consider that site for a possible hotel.  Mr. Pena asked if Mr. Kushner envisioned multiple 25,000 square foot buildings in the Master Plan.  Mr. Kushner responded that there could be but with the current plan there are only two buildings that are over that square footage.  He noted that the existing Marriott Residence Inn is approximately 75,000 square feet and the plan view has a lot of interest to the footprint of the building and not just a square box; our consultant would not rule out a 75,000 square foot building if it can be designed in a way that makes it attractive.  Mr. Kushner commented those are the minority of buildings as the majority will be more of a village scale.  He noted that Riverdale Farms has the Hartford Hospital Wellness Center which is 75,000 square feet, Avon Plumbing and Heating is approximately 30,000 square feet.

Mr. Evans asked an estimate in terms of timing overall and when Ensign Bickford will break ground to all the way to completion.  Mr. Kushner responded that he really had no idea.  He added that it would not surprise him if the Commission had an application from a residential, apartment, and/or condominium developer for the first 100 units in the spring or summer.  He noted that the tougher nut will be to find a real estate developer who can attract some quality retail tenants for portions of the project.  Mr. Pena asked if there is a possibility of one developer taking care of that.  Mr. Kushner responded that if we can find one quality developer that would be great.  He noted that Ensign Bickford is saying the likelihood of that is probably not too good.  He added that many developers seem to specialize in either the residential or the commercial side.  He noted that the developer who did The Shoppes at Farmington Valley is the same company that did Avon Marketplace initially, a big company like that has connections all over the country with other projects that they are involved and can bring to a project some real class tenants and know how to do it.  He commented that there are a number of commercial retail developers now that seem to like this town center form of development.  He noted that there are some developers that build projects that look more like The Shoppes at Farmington Valley which realtors and planners call lifestyle centers and emulate a real town center and come close.  He noted that the Master Plan is supposed to do that but be more authentic.  Mr. Pena commented that from what he has heard from developers are that things are moving in Avon.  Mr. Kushner responded that Fresh Market will be a home run for this town, the owner of that mall is having conversations with the owner’s next door about their piece of property about a possible expansion, The Colony Grill is going in the old 99 Restaurant, and the owner has the potential for another well-known retailer that might want to occupy some of that space.

Adam Lazinsk, 88 Deepwood Drive, asked if there has been any thought or analysis as to what impact new commercial development would have on all the vacant existing commercial properties on Route 44.  Mr. Kushner responded that they have talked about that as well as Ensign Bickford’s experts.  He reported that we have vacancies on Route 44, they are higher than they were before we entered this period of recession, but they are not huge.  He noted that because we are focused on trying to get the economy recovered we tend to focus on vacancies in ways that we did not before.  He reported that over the last twenty years Route 44 is always a game of musical chairs with vacancies and new tenants coming in.  He noted that the good news is that when we’ve had vacancies they seem to be getting filled.  He reported that the former Boston Market is going to become First Niagara Bank.  He commented that vacancies are higher than they are in great times but not certainly as desperate as other parts of the country.  He noted that some commercial brokers will still say today that Connecticut is under built when it comes to commercial retail space.  He reported that we are not ignoring the situation but the hope is that the economy is going to rebound and there is room for more.  Mr. Lazinsk commented that he realizes that it is not Ensign Bickford’s problem about some other property owner’s vacant commercial space, perhaps the thought of if you build it here they will come there.  He also asked about the bike path and being rerouted away from Buildings 5/6/7 but still have to use the tunnel under Route 44 and if the Police Department will still be impacted.  Mr. Kushner responded that the details have not been worked out yet but the understanding is that we will try to come out of the tunnel and rather than the cyclist having to encroach onto the town property we will try to get them as quickly as possible up that grade onto the private property outside the Town property.

Mr. Pena asked the status of the AT&T cell tower.  Mr. Kushner responded that the AT&T cell power as far as construction is completed.  He noted that there was a problem with CL&P regarding energizing the tower.  He added that the landscaping is done; the Town and the State have completed final inspections.  Chairman Zacchio asked if the Town has any play with energizing the tower.  Mr. Kushner responded that even though AT&T is exempt from local zoning requirements they do have to comply with building code requirements so our Building Department inspected it.  He noted that the Connecticut Siting Council has signed off on the project.  He commented that as to when it will be energized and broadcast a signal is a negotiation between AT&T and CL&P.  Chairman Zacchio noted that Roaring Brook School is in that dead zone and it will be a huge improvement just from a communications standpoint.  Mr. Kushner added that the neighbors seem to be reasonably ok with the result.

Bob Paine, 68 Tamara Circle, commented that he went to the Planning and Commission meeting when Ensign Bickford made their presentation.  He noted that conceptually this is unbelievably unusual.  He does not know that we have had any models like it anywhere or we as a Town can understand what can happen and how it will be resolved.  He commented that we do have some physical problems and that is we have here one of the no-no’s of construction and that is having individual competing units of economics going on and now we will have a new set of competitions.  He commented that the normal course of development is that everyone wants to go to the new site because there normally are incentives along with the new site by developers and builders.  He noted that there are other concepts here that are absolutely fantastic as he loves townhouses and agrees with the analysis that we probably will not get many people living in them with children so that and the commercial aspect of development being part of the thing give us some economic advantages.  He noted that the negative side might be will any of this development negatively impact on the viability and continued economic viability of Route 44, Avon Old Village, Riverdale Farms, etc.  He wonders if anyone asked Ensign Bickford or if we made any kind of an economic evaluation of that development.  He asked if Simsbury will decide to do something above and beyond that or along Route 10 or is Simsbury Planning and Zoning Commission aware of what we are trying to do here.  Mrs. Samul commented that it seems both of these questions are centering on questions as to whether it will be a homogenous and complimentary development to the properties along Route 44 or is it going to be carnivorous.  She asked if there is any reason to expect that it is going to be carnivorous or is it going to be more homogenous the way Riverdale Farms has been done in stages and has blended in and not taken away from Route 44.  She asked if there is any reason to believe that just the natural fair market system won’t prevail and because of this current situation in housing there is  a demand for apartments and that is why you are seeing the demands for apartments there rather than the demand for commercial but if you have one shoe store all by itself it does not do well but if you put four shoe stores together everybody does well.  She asked which kind of a scenario does Mr. Kushner see this as being.  Mr. Kushner responded that saying he is not an expert in commercial real estate but he would say that the scale of the project is not huge and not talking about trying to build even a half scale of Westfarms Mall; it is a couple hundred thousand square feet of commercial retail space.  He added that in terms of cannibalizing uses from other places he would have to say something like The Shoppes at Farmington Valley had that impact; it is a much larger scale project.  He noted that there is dynamic that as you build up a core amount of commercial retail space the area becomes more of a destination because it becomes more and more recognized for the opportunities that it has for shoppers and tends to draw people from a bigger radius.  He noted that was the situation at Buckland Hills; there was nothing over at that intersection, the retailers started to develop there, and more brought more and more brought more and all of a sudden they are drawing from a very large radius.  He commented that Avon was a pioneer in that regard in the 60s when some of the retailers started to appear on Route 44 and to the extent that Canton is having success with The Shoppes and a lot of that is because of the success with the shoppers that are coming to Route 44 in Avon; Canton does not have a population center to support that development so it is really the shoppers that are already attracted to the Farmington Valley and Avon which is giving them the recognition to help them with that.  He commented that the scale of the project is fairly modest, the Valley will continue to grow in population, and the people with a lot more expertise than he has in this area are not going to build it here unless they think they can fill up the space with quality tenants that can pay the rent.  Mrs. Samul commented that the new residential construction will also contribute to the demand for the retail.  Mr. Kushner noted that one of the things they learned early on in the process in talking with experts in this area is that we can never really build enough new residential units in the core area that we are talking about to make a significant dent in the amount of retail traffic that will be needed to support those stores which makes sense.  He added that it will put feet on the street so getting people out on the street and walking helps; it helps Ensign Bickford with the economics of this as they will be able to find buyers more readily and hopefully it comes together as a package.  He will share Council’s comments with the Planning and Zoning Commission and maybe we can drill down a little bit more with Ensign Bickford and see what their experts say.

11/12-45      Review, Discussion, and Set Date for Public Hearing: Accept a Recreation
                    Trail Easement – Avon Park South

Chairman Zacchio reported this is a piece of property near Public Works and would allow us to continue the Greenway north, parallel to Old Farms Road following the old railroad tracks and across the bridge on Arch Road behind RR Donnelley to avoid the road altogether and mixing in with Public Works.  He commented that this goes back to a site approval from 2002.  He asked why it has taken us so long to get to this point.  Mr. Kushner responded that prior to that the company sold three times so it took awhile and RR Donnelley does not own the real estate.  Chairman Zacchio clarified that there was complexities around the change in ownership.  Mr. Kushner commented that once we got to the right people and they understood where it was RR Donnelley said it would not affect their operation at all.  Chairman Zacchio commented that assuming a successful public hearing and we accept the recreation trail easement and noted that there is no funding available for it right now and we would look for grant money, he asked what it would cost to relate the trail path.  He noted that to him it is a safety issue right now as it shares an entrance with Public Works.  He commented that now that we will have the ability to take away some of that risk what the cost associated to that is, especially in terms of local fundraising, Unplugged Learning Project interest in helping us with the sidewalk study fairly recent.  The Town Manager responded that was one of the projects that we recently applied for a STEAP grant and have been successful for three funding cycles but we were not successful this last funding cycle but we did go through and update those numbers.  The Assistant Town Manager commented that it is somewhere in the ballpark of $200,000 which included some light renovation work on the bridge and a small parking lot that could be built in the area where the tree farm is now at Public Works along Arch Road.  Chairman Zacchio responded that we could do the project in stages, we have some access in parking today, not as big a concern with the parking as there is with the kids on bikes in that area.  Mr. Kushner reported that the Town already has a license to use that portion of the former Boston Main Railway.

On a motion made by Mr. Evans, seconded by Mr. Pena, it was voted:
RESOLVED:  That the Town Council schedules a public hearing to consider the approval of a recreation trail easement granted to the Town of Avon by the owners of 60 Security Drive to be held at the March 1, 2012 meeting.
Mrs. Samul, Messrs: Zacchio, Evans, Pena, and May voted in favor.

11/12-46      Supplemental Appropriation: Consulting Services, Avon Center Master Plan,
                    $12,750

The Town Manager reported that this item is from Ordinance 55.  He noted that this was adopted in March 2010 and allows for the Town to retain a consultant to review particularly complicated land use applications and Avon Park North falls into that category.  He added that Milone & MacBroom was retained to advise the Planning and Zoning Commission and staff.  He reported that the Planning Department has paid a number of their bills; we have a check from Milone & MacBroom.  He reported that we are looking for Council to recommend to the Board of Finance a supplemental appropriation so in essence the Planning Department’s budget is reimbursed for those expenses.

Mrs. Samul commented that in reviewing this she remembered at the November Town Council meeting that Mr. Kushner came before Council and estimated the cost was going to be $8,500.  She noted that $10,000 is the threshold for sending this out to bid and he presented it as a preponderance of precaution.  She added that now it comes in at $12,750 which is a 50% increase over what we suggested and no criticism but an observation that maybe in the future because you are going to be wanting to use this type of service on other projects that you might want to review and be cognizant of what happened this first time around from an accuracy standpoint and somebody is going to have to pay for it.

Mr. Kushner responded that they have not actually incurred $12,750 in billable expenses from the consultant to date; as of right now it is approximately $9,000 and they are not quite finished with their reviews but as he mentioned the application is nearing the end.  He noted that the estimate from the consultant was $8,500 and the way the Zoning regulation is setup is that Ensign Bickford has to deposit with the Town that amount plus a 50% contingency and so the difference between $8,500 and $12,750 is that contingency.  Mrs. Samul responded that their estimate is much better than what she was reading this as.  Mr. Kushner responded that they are a little over the estimate right now and will probably go a little further but end up returning a small amount of the check that Ensign Bickford deposited with the Town.  

On a motion made by Mr. Evans, seconded by Mr. Pena, it was voted:
RESOLVED:  That the Town Council hereby recommends that the Board of Finance amend the FY 11/12 Budget by increasing:
REVENUES
General Fund, Other Local Revenues, Refunds & Reimbursements Account #01-0360-43612 in the amount of $12,750.00 and increasing:
APPROPRIATIONS
General Fund, Planning, Service & Consultants, Account #01-7101-52184 in the amount of $12,750.00 for the purpose of recording funding received from Ensign Bickford Realty Corporation for consulting services by Milone & MacBroom for Avon Center Master Plan.
Mrs. Samul, Messrs: Zacchio, Evans, Pena, and May voted in favor.

11/12-47      Supplemental Appropriation: DPW Trailers, $29,989

Chairman Zacchio reported that this is a request from the Department of Public Works to purchase three trailers and an appropriation of $29,989 to be transferred from the designated capital fund balance for purchasing equipment that we fund through the sale of surplus equipment.  He noted that the purchase request is for three trailers, one is a used 21-ton trailer and two 10’ landscape trailers.

The Town Manager reported that this capital account has a balance of approximately $50,000 and the Department of Public Works has submitted a request to purchase three trailers, two of the trailers are to replace existing trailers and these are the smaller trailers that are used to move lawn maintenance equipment; they get heavy use and the current trailers have seen better days and need to be replaced.  He noted that Public Works is estimating $5,000 a piece for those two new trailers.  He reported that the third trailer would be a much larger trailer and used to transport larger construction equipment and the cost estimate is $19,000; it is under the bid threshold requirement.  He noted that Public Works has gone on a list to see who has this kind of equipment available and found a surplus.  Mr. Evans asked the cost of a brand new larger trailer.  The Town Manager responded that he knows the used cost is approximately $19,000 but brand new he is not sure.  Mr. May asked who would look at the condition of this used larger trailer.  Chairman Zacchio added that we want to know that we are getting our monies worth.  The Town Manager responded that before we would purchase it our Deputy Director of Public Works, who also functions as the Fleet Manager, would take a ride out and do an inspection to make sure that it is going to meet our needs.

Chairman Zacchio asked if this used larger trailer is replacing an existing larger hauler trailer.  The Town Manager responded no.  He added that the two smaller trailers are replacing existing trailers.  Chairman Zacchio asked what the new needs are for the larger trailer.  The Town Manager responded that they need the larger trailer to transport this heavier construction equipment; Public Works has identified the need in the past and this will save a lot of time for them.  Mr. Pena asked if they had been looking for this type of trailer or it just came up.  The Town Manager responded that he had not heard about the larger trailer until recently but they have talked over the last year or so about the two smaller trailers and the fact that the existing ones are not in good condition.  Mr. May asked where they secured this 21-ton trailer.  The Town Manager responded there are Public Works list serves and have access to surplus government equipment.  Mr. May commented that it goes back to the condition to make sure that it is worth its value as it is a significant amount of money to spend.  Chairman Zacchio commented that he is uncomfortable with this process as it would be an item that normally would be judged against other projects in CIP.  He noted that he has not seen CIP requests for Public Works yet and it falls just under CIP threshold amount of $20,000 recognizing that in the future even the use of those funds recognizing they are funds that we have encouraged DPW to accumulate over time by use of sale of excess equipment.  He noted that with the expenditure he would like to go through a more robust process; Council is asking a lot of questions and there is other capital equipment needs that they will have in the CIP budget that Council will be reviewing shortly.  He asked if this is the highest priority used for that money and just because that money is there from the accumulation of selling goods he would like to talk about and hear from the Town Manager through the Town Manager’s Report at the next meeting some controls around this and how this surplus account is going to get spent in the future just against capital items.  The Town Manager responded that the two smaller trailers are critical but with the third larger trailer he can have the Fleet Manager come in and talk about it or we can defer action.

Mr. Evans asked if the larger trailer will still be available next month.  The Town Manager responded that he did not know if it would be.  Chairman Zacchio commented that usually when they go through a capital project they determine how critical it is, they understand the need, they understand how it weighs against other priorities in the capital budget, and in this case it seems like it goes around that entire process which is why Council has questions and would be the same questions they would have on any capital item.  He noted that it is not a reflection of the request or a question of the need, we have some of the best DPW staff around and if they need it they need it, but they need some process around the expenditure as they are sort of approving something blindly that he thinks there is a general uncomfortable level with.  Mr. Pena asked if the surplus account at the end of our fiscal year go down to zero.  The Town Manager responded no, that it does not lapse so the appropriation remains.  Chairman Zacchio noted that it is a designated capital fund balance.  He asked if there would be an issue if Council approves the two smaller trailers and delay the purchase of the larger trailer and noted the only concern of there being a timing issue around it and will it be gone and is there really a critical need.  The Town Manager responded that DPW has made it this far without it so the need is not critical; he cannot guarantee that we will still be able to purchase the larger trailer but if they found one once they will likely find one again.  Chairman Zacchio asked about the option of giving the Town Manager authority for deposit on it if it truly turns out to be something of a time sensitive issue and we can approve funding for it at a future meeting or would the Town Manager feel more comfortable if Council delays it.  The Town Manager responded that he thinks Council is either comfortable with it or they are not; in terms of the deposit he does not know how the mechanics of that would work and does not know if it would be refundable.  His suggestion is that if there is a lack of comfort with this we should defer to next month, have the Fleet Manager come in and talk about it and if it is not available at that point then we will wait for another time.  Chairman Zacchio commented that it is not likely that we will be moving landscaping equipment around in the next month.  The Town Manager commented that if Council was comfortable with the purchase of the two smaller trailers they could adjust the appropriation to $10,000.  Chairman Zacchio commented that he has seen the smaller trailers and recognizes that they need to be replaced and spring is coming; the other larger trailer he just does not have the feeling of the need and how it reflects in the priorities for DPW CIP budget since we are right on the CIP budget he would feel more comfortable if we took some time.  Mr. Pena commented that not only does he have a problem with the dollar amount for the larger trailer but also the process as you look at the other items by priority.

On a motion made by Mr. Evans, seconded by Mr. Pena, it was voted:
RESOLVED:  That the Town Council hereby recommends that the Board of Finance amend the FY 11/12 Budget by increasing:
REVENUES
General Fund, Other Local Revenues, Sale of Property, Account #01-0360-43911 in the amount of $10,000,
and increasing
APPROPRIATIONS
General Fund, Roadways, Equipment, Account #01-3101-52194 in the amount of $10,000 for the purpose of purchasing two replacement Public Works trailers.
Mrs. Samul, Messrs: Zacchio, Evans, Pena, and May voted in favor.

11/12-48      Approval: Refund of Real Estate Taxes, $15,595.78

Chairman Zacchio reported that these are several cases where real estate taxes were paid twice, once by a lien holder or bank and the other by the property owner.  The Town Manager commented that Council has adopted a policy in the past where the Town Manager can sign off on any tax refunds at a $1,000 or less but these well exceed that and require Council approval.

On a motion made by Mr. Evans, seconded by Mr. May, it was voted:
RESOLVED:  That the Town Council approves real estate tax refunds to the following: Corelogic Tax Services $4,633.65, BAC Tax Services $7,450.77, Ajayan & Larraine Kadirgamar $3,511.36.
Mrs. Samul, Messrs: Zacchio, Evans, Pena, and May voted in favor.

11/12-49      Resignations: Natural Resources Commission

On a motion made by Mr. Evans, seconded by Mr. Pena, it was voted:
RESOLVED:  That the Town Council accept with regret the resignations of Daniel Schwartz and Terence Ryan from the Natural Resources Commission.
Mrs. Samul, Messrs: Zacchio, Evans, Pena, and May voted in favor.

11/12-50      Resignation: Town Council Representative - Senior Citizens of Avon

On a motion made by Mr. Evans, seconded by Mr. Pena, it was voted:
RESOLVED:  That the Town Council accept with regret the resignation of Anona Broadman as Town Council Representative for the Senior Citizens of Avon.
Mrs. Samul, Messrs: Zacchio, Evans, Pena, and May voted in favor.

11/12-51      Resignation: Building Code Board of Appeals

On a motion made by Mr. Evans, seconded by Mr. Pena, it was voted:
RESOLVED:  That the Town Council accept with regret the resignation of William Brown from the Building Code Board of Appeals.
Mrs. Samul, Messrs: Zacchio, Pena, Evans, and May voted in favor.

X.      TOWN MANAGER’S REPORT/MISCELLANEOUS

Misc. A:   Purchasing Update:  The Town Manager reported that there was not really any purchasing activity in January although there is a lot of activity coming up so we will be gearing up for that.  He commented that we have a contract service inventory that divides all of our service contracts by department by year by value and identifies effective dates.  He added that we have provided that inventory to the Superintendent of Schools and his staff as well as the Farmington Valley communities and talked with them about it at the last Farmington Valley Collaborative meeting.  He noted that the idea is that we have this activity coming up for new contracts as of July 1, 2012 and we put it out there to say that if there is anything that they are interested or room for discussion with respect to joint purchasing to let us know and we will see if we can accommodate it.

Misc. B:   Construction Update:  The Town Manager reported that the major construction project that we are managing is the library.  He noted that as of the middle of January we are about 74% expended, construction money we have spent about 80% of the budget and spent about 63% of the contingency.  He reported that we are looking for a substantial completion in the middle of March, get a temporary CO, have a four to five week shutdown while staff will be in the building with the movers getting everything situated but it will be closed to the public, and a grand opening at the end of April.  Mrs. Samul commented that before the renovations the sidewalk extended all the way in front from West Avon Road down Country Club Road past the library; it now comes down to the library and go to the front door.  She asked if we are not planning on putting the sidewalk back to its original condition.  The Assistant Town Manager responded there was a good bit of discussion about that.  He noted that they were struggling with the grade to tie it into the driveway after they put in the new book drop and based on the fact that the vast majority of foot traffic was coming from the Middle School and that direction they decided to sweep it up to the building rather than have it go across the driveway where there is no sidewalk at this point.  Mrs. Samul asked if we do not have a general goal to extend the sidewalks for pedestrian traffic in general, walking, etc. and for the Church across the street to come over and use the parking.  Chairman Zacchio commented that the sidewalk that was on the other side of the driveway was mostly connected to folks walking across the streets so they had a foot path.  Mrs. Samul commented that it originally went the entire length of the library property to the old driveway and now it is just to the new driveway.  The Town Manager asked if that was part of the site plan approval from Planning and Zoning.  The Assistant Town Manager responded that Mr. Kushner was fine with the change.  He added that part of the reason that extension according to the Director of Public Works made sense not to put back in was because it was part of the project the prices we received from the trade to do the modifications that needed to be done at the unit cost being proposed was 50% higher than what Public Works could do out of his sidewalk budget at a later date.  He commented that it was one part that there is not a lot of traffic and another part that it would be significantly cheaper to do it ourselves after the fact.  Chairman Zacchio commented that there are plans to consider that in the future.  Mrs. Samul commented that the issue or the concern that she has is that as a Town we have required private businesses to put in extensive sidewalks at their expense and we are now saying Caesar operates under different standard.  She is specifically thinking of Carmon’s Funeral Home who went through significant expense extending sewer lines which the library is not going to use all the way down Country Club Road they were required to do it even though they did not need it, they were required to put in an extensive sidewalks even though people do not walk to the funeral home, and now the government is saying but those rules do not apply to us.  She is concerned about the double standard.  Chairman Zacchio asked the Town Manager to prepare for their next Council meeting a little more discussion around the sidewalk issue, the decision making process, what the timing might be around it.  He noted that Mrs. Samul raises a good point in terms of what was there.  He commented if they are trying to encourage people from the parking lot to use the back way and not bring them towards the road.  He added that there should be some explanation around the decision making process there and what our thinking is short or long-term.  Mrs. Samul commented that she thought we had a long-term policy of extending sidewalks also.  The Town Manager responded that he would report back at the next meeting.

The Town Manager reported that we received a notice from Office of Policy and Management (OPM) that they were accepting grants to do with energy related improvements and there was a very quick turnaround on this grant so we pulled it together, submitted a grant for $36,000 to upgrade to LED lights on Town Hall campus and hopeful that will get funded.

Misc. C:  Storm Debris-FEMA Reimbursement Status:  The Town Manager reported that this process will take a few months; there have been a couple of meetings already with FEMA staff and the site is basically cleaned up, all the chipped debris has been removed from MH Rhodes, they are doing some remediation on the site.  He noted that we will be working very closely with FEMA over the next couple of months to ensure that we take all the steps we can to get the money in by the end of the fiscal year.

Misc. D:  Street Lights:  The Town Manager reported that we have somewhere between 750 and 823 street lights in Town and we are trying to nail that down and we will.  He noted that CL&P received approximately 70 requests for street light service and approximately 43 of those required repair.  He commented that CL&P reports that most of the street lights have been repaired with a couple of stragglers that may require some additional work.  Mr. Pena commented that he reported 23 street lights that had gone out and all of them had been taken care of within the first couple of weeks.

Misc. E:  Legislative Agendas:  The Town Manager reported that the legislative session this year will be short this year and gets underway on February 8th.  He commented that at this point both CCM and CRCOG have adopted their legislative platforms.  He noted that COST which the Town also belongs to is going to adopt their platform at the end of the month which will probably look very much like CCM’s platform and will forward it to Council when it is adopted.  He noted that at the Farmington Valley Collaborative meeting last week they talked about putting together a platform specifically for the Farmington Valley communities and that platform will look very similar to COST and CCM.

Misc. F:  Economic Development Brochure:  The Town Manager reported that we pulled a brochure together, prepared by staff, reviewed by Nancy Anstey, and also sent it off to the Metro Hartford Alliance and really incorporated any comments that they had.  He asked for any comments from Council once they have had a chance to review it.  Mr. Evans commented that the brochure was really well done.  He asked under the Economy section where it reads, “Avon has evolved into a full service community.”  The Town Manager responded that what he thinks it means that from a recreation perspective, there is a sewer infrastructure and offer a full menu of municipal services.  Mr. Pena also commented a good job with the brochure.  He asked how we are going to use the brochure, who is going to use it, and how are we going to get it out.  The Town Manager responded that we would put the brochure in all of the locations that you would suspect, the Library, Town offices including Planning, Assessor’s, Tax, Police, hotels, etc.  He added that we would also scan it in and get it on the town web site.  He noted that throughout the year he is doing a number of business visits and averaging between six and ten a year and can bring it with him.  He reported that we would get it out to as broad a range as we possibly can.  Mr. Pena commented on the development that is happening in Farmington with Jackson Labs with 800 construction jobs; it is a good time for Avon to shine.  He noted that those 800 people have to eat somewhere other than just Farmington and many of the 700 people that are coming in for the research center are possibly locating into the area.  He suggested that we work with realtors to get our packages for relocation out there as these people will likely be working with realtors and Human Resources Department as that is where everything starts from for the relocation.  He recommended that the Town Manager as our lead Economic Development Officer work with those areas as this is a good opportunity to sell some homes, etc. and we can take advantage of the situation.  Mrs. Samul commented with the brochure for hotels she would suggest hotels outside of the Town of Avon.  Mr. Pena commented that temporary lodging will be needed for this project and a good opportunity for us to get a word out about Avon.

Misc. G:  Avon Old Farms Road Project:  The Town Manager reported that the most important and interesting development is approximately a week ago we had a meeting at UCONN to talk specifically about the Health Center expansion and the Jackson Labs project.  He noted that generally with respect to how it is going to impact Avon and this already overstressed transportation infrastructure which is along with Route 4 and Route 44 it is a major east-west corridor that is not designed for what it is actually carrying.  He reported that we raised that issue with the administrators at UCONN.  He added that he attended a public hearing last week on the environmental impact evaluation for the UCONN expansion.  He noted that the comments were that it is an important project and will have a lot of positive benefits but as part of the environmental impact evaluation that the State has to conduct the Town of Avon’s position is that we do want these projects on Old Farms Road to be taken into consideration.  He reported that they have to proceed with a written response regarding those comments.  He noted that the comment period closed on Tuesday so we will see what we get back.  He commented that we did think it was important to at least put our two cents in and try to hitch our wagon to that train.

Chairman Zacchio commented that with the Old Farms Road project Bill Shea was our Town Council liaison and worked pretty extensively with them and has given Chairman Zacchio a willingness to continue to serve for us in that capacity if we want to.  He added that there is a deep history there with the project and the continuity that would probably be good for us.

Misc. H:  Police Department Training Activities:  The Town Manager reported that there was a Police Department Training Day last week; the entire department gathered at the Avon Old Farms Hotel.

Misc. I:  Sub-Committee Reports:  The Town Manager reported that the Administrative Service Study Committee at their last meeting in the beginning of January had some discussion about crafting a revised charge for the Committee.  He noted that the idea was that at this point they have met their responsibilities under the Matrix Report; their goal was to make sure that the Report did not sit on the shelf and it has not and a lot of the low hanging fruit has been implemented.  He added that the Committee is satisfied and he and the Superintendent of Schools are thinking about it actively and doing what we can to implement the recommendations.  He reported that there was discussion about broadening the charge for the Committee to include as a form for discussion of other areas for intradepartmental communication between the Town and the Board of Education, inter-Town coordination, and generally other issues that may come up where we can coordinate.  He noted that the Committee technically expired back in June 2011 so they are meeting on a special meeting basis at this point.  Mr. Evans commented that the first issue was the expiration of the charge where the Committee did not think there was any further purpose being served if the Council’s charge had expired.  He noted that the additional consensus was that the Committee had largely over a period of its time addressed the things on the Matrix Study and that a committee going forward to address general increased efficiencies in the Town was a good and positive thing.  He commented that the Committee had made progress but it should go outside the four corners of the Matrix Study and meet not monthly but maybe twice a year to make sure people were coming together and having discussion about those efficiencies and reporting back to their respective Boards.  He noted that the Committee is looking for the Council to make a new charge, keep the same composition of the Committee, one member from each of the major three Boards to meet to continue to have a public dialogue on things that we can be doing better on a going forward basis in the Town and how we handle things, not to suggest that things are not going well.  Chairman Zacchio reported that we are going to sunset the Committee on the Matrix charge because we have accomplished what the Council set out to do initially and the second part of that is a different conversation and whether or not we have Tri-Board meetings or a subset of that or we work into the professional’s job duties to work on initiatives and we set a goal per year and he looks forward to that discussion.

The Town Manager reported that in terms of the Health Insurance Sub-committee that met in early January they are in the processing of developing what the Sub-committee is referring to as a “white paper” and the idea with the “white paper” being drafted by Steve May from Milliman, our health insurance consultant, is to explain how we budget for health insurance.  He noted that the way it came up is if you have a newly elected official coming on board and does not know anything about how we budget for health insurance or how we do health insurance in Avon this document can be handed to them and it is basically a by-the-numbers explains how it works.  He reported that they did talk about the renewal coming up and what we should be budgeting and the number included is 8.5% and both the Town and Board of Education are budgeting that number for the renewal.  He noted that there was some discussion regarding stop loss coverage and the self-insurance fund and reserves in general but no actions contemplated at this time and basically educational.

Misc. J:  Redistricting:  The Town Manager reported that the Supreme Court has until the middle of February to approve the plan but based on the proposed plan the number of voters in District #19 would increase substantially to the point that they do not feel the Town Hall can accommodate those numbers anymore.  He noted that the Registrar of Voters have talked with the Town Clerk’s office and identified Company #1 as a potential alternate voting site; they had a very successful meeting with Chief Trick.  He thinks it is quite possible that is where it will end up and will have another report for Council probably next month.

IX.      EXECUTIVE SESSION: Pending Claim / Litigation – Tree Cutting on Public  
           Property / Collective Bargaining

On a motion made by Mr. Evans, seconded by Mr. Pena, it was voted:
RESOLVED:  That the Town Council go into Executive Session at 9:45 p.m.
Mrs. Samul, Messrs: Zacchio, Pena, Evans, and May voted in favor.

The Town Manager, the Assistant Town Manager, and the Clerk attended the session.

On a motion made by Mr. Pena, seconded by Mr. Evans, it was voted:
RESOLVED:  That the Town Council come out of Executive Session at 10:20 p.m.
Mrs. Samul, Messrs: Zacchio, Pena, Evans, and May voted in favor.

XI.      ADJOURN

The meeting was adjourned at 10:20 p.m.
        
Attest:  


Caroline B. LaMonica
Clerk