Design Review Board
Meeting Minutes
December 12, 2007
Eaton E. Smith Meeting Room, Town Hall
1 – Chairman Scott Hall called the meeting to order at 7:06 pm.
Present: Chairman Scott Hill, Vice Chairman Diana Marsh, Mary Ann Ciriello, Michael Allstadt, Gary Hall, Linda Axline, Kevin Burnham Others: Jim Carey, Building Enforcement Officer
Not present: Recording Clerk, Denise Wojick
2 - Seating of Alternates- Unnecessary as all members were present.
3 – Acceptance of minutes from November 14, 2007
Recommendations were made on some areas that need to be corrected. Scott will send Denise an email with these recommendations and they will be reviewed at the next meeting.
A motion was made by Scott Hill, seconded by Kevin Burnham to add 6a into tonight’s agenda under continued plan reviews. That the board provides comments on Chatham Center as comments made during the November meeting did not get reported to the Planning and Zoning Commission (P & Z) due to our failure to make a motion doing so. Vote: All in favor
Motion was made by Kevin Burnham, seconded by Michael Allstadt to recommend to P & Z that applicant revises his submission to:
1. Redistributed the stone on the façade to make more sense architecturally. The original placement suggests that the center wall is doing all the bearing where it is more psychologically appropriate to see the corners as the primary supporting elements. There is an opportunity to make the stone veneer appear more believable in its ability to support the upper story;
2. Eliminate parking space # 5 and to add landscaping into place;
3. Narrow entry drive and perhaps to incorporate access into the east side connecting public sidewalk into the building;
4. Eliminate parking space 1 and 4 to add landscaping to a point parallel to the southern edge of former gas pumps;
5. Parking space number 2 should be converted into a handicap parking space. Kevin Burnham amended the motion, seconded by Michael Allstadt to add:
6. The business on the second floor is required to be accessible to the disabled.
Vote: All in favor
4 – Communications and Public Comment
Jim Carey has announced that the Lake Commission is holding a conference on Jan 17 at the Middle School all boards and commissions are invited to attend. If anyone needs a copy of the agenda they can contact his office and he will have one sent to them.
Scott shared the Village Center Revitalization Assessment and a copy of the national registrar’s historical places. Copies can be distributed to board members upon request.
5- Plan Reviews- None
6-Continued Plan Reviews – Chatham Center, Jin S. Bok, 33 West High Street
Recommendation to be sent to P & Z per motion made above as article 6a
7- Old Business DRB Guidelines: Kevin has gone through some material comparing the guidelines with other towns as previously distributed to the board members at the November meeting. He indicated that the guidelines from the Town of Simsbury is the best model and asked everyone to review and share remarks on how to incorporate the appropriate elements of this and those of other towns into our guidelines. Gary agreed that Simsbury was the best model. Scott suggested that Kevin break this down into assignments so that everyone takes part in improving the guidelines.
Linda has completed her tasks and has broken it down into about 14 pages. She has highlighted the parts that she believes pertains to our town’s guidelines. A lengthy discussion took place on the guideline recommendations and what the DRB job is. The bottom line at the end of the discussion was that the town planner would advise with developers. Linda has asked everyone to review her hand out.
Gary Hall recommends a way that the applications come before the board to review when the applicant has filed an application. This way the board can review and prepared for specific questions, they could see the site before hand. Diana Marsh has started putting together suggestion on how to put this into the guidelines. Scott suggested that they continue working on the guidelines. Jim and Scott made sure they have all packets that need to be reviewed by the DRB, Jim will give it some thought and has projects develop he will pass any information along to the board.
Streetscape Committee
Kevin Burham shared a copy of the preliminary plans on the latest edition of the Streetscape Plan. The plan includes landscaping areas within the highway right-of-way that is currently being used by the abutting property owners. These properties are Classic Auto, the Subway plaza, Governors Tavern, Lakeside Package Store and Town Hall. Subway may lose their front parking spots as well as some at Governors Tavern and the Lakeside Package Store. The handicapped space at Governors Tavern will remain, as there are difficult grade issues to overcome in relocating it to the rear. The consultant, TPA, may provide some design work to help these sites work better and reduce the impact. They also talked about the parking at Town Hall making a direct connection with CL&P driveway, relocating the police sign and having more
landscaping on the west side and front of the building. It appears that the Church will have to relocate their sign. Route 66 is being widened about 6-8 feet in this area. The time frame for this project is in the spring. C. Main Street Bridge There is a meeting in January for the Main Street Bridge. Jim Carey will find out the date of the meeting and send out a reminder to the board members.
8. New Business None at this time
Motion made Kevin Burnham and seconded Diana Marsh to adjourn meeting. Vote; All in favor, Meeting Adjourned
Respectfully Submitted,
Denise Wojick, Recording Secretary
| 
