Minutes
North Stonington Affordable Housing Committee
September 27, 2012
In Attendance: Mary Ann Ricker, Kristen Comstock, Michelle Brophy, Tim Pelland and Jim Scaramozza
Absent: Tony Rose
Guests: Juliet Leeming and Heidi Samokar
Location: Wheeler High School Media Center
The meeting was called to order by Co-Chairman Mary Ann Ricker at 6:05 PM. Since there was not a quorum at the last meeting, no minutes were to be ratified or formally approved.
An initial discussion took place about bolstering Committee membership. No consensus was reached on how many more potential candidates would be sought, and once vetted and considered, to be submitted to the Board of Selectmen (BOS) for approval. However, it was uniformly agreed that more members were needed and that any new members should be assessed as to what they can offer to the committee and their time commitments or constraints.
It was reported by Mary Ann Ricker that Tony Rose asked he be taken off of the Committee. While Tony very much wanted to participate in the Committee, he had conflicts that have prevented him from doing so. Mary Ann asked that Tony please consider remaining on, while a replacement is sought. Jim Scaramozza discussed his potentially resigning from the Committee at the end of 2013, however, he made it clear he would not leave if the needs of the Committee were such that his participation was still required or an adequate number of Committee members did not then exist. Others discussed perhaps working for the Committee for a limited period of time going forward as well. But no one Committee member gave a hard date as to her or his resigning from it.
Juliet Leeming was very complimentary as to the participation, energy and quality of this Committee and its participation in the efforts to create affordable housing and housing choices in our Town. She hoped that any new members or replacements would themselves show the same type of qualities that this Committee has demonstrated.
We then turned to the next draft of Planimetrics’ Housing Plan and spent considerable time discussing it with Heidi Samokar of Planimetrics. A great deal of our discussion centered around the “look” of the plan and how it could be reorganized, and “styled” differently, to be more reader-friendly and perhaps a little less detailed. More graphics, pictures and some rearranging of sections were decided to be done. The goal of our consultant and the Committee is ultimately to present a Plan that has a certain symmetry and “flow” to it. It was remarked what an excellent job Heidi has done to date, and that the Committee simply wanted to make sure that the formatting of it would enhance Town interest and participation.
Some more substantive changes were suggested as well. A dialogue ensued amongst Committee members as to what comprises North Stonington today and where the Town may be going in its future. While no universal agreement was achieved, the majority of the members believe that the Town is in transition and considerable changes will take place, and resulting challenges presented, in the future. Concern was expressed over the future of our farming community and how we might be able to assist in the preservation of farming or ensure that those who elected to retire from farming may themselves have choices conducive to not only perhaps fostering housing choices but perhaps conservation and more open space. As is the case with the Town as a whole, a delicate balance is sought to be achieved between opening up opportunities
for development while preserving the character of our Town.
Further discussion took place as to issues of “density” and perhaps creating higher density areas within our Town to promote housing development and opportunity. Heidi acknowledged that she would need to work with the Committee and Juliet to more clearly define on maps and graphs where these areas might be proposed to exist. The Committee also requested that more details be given regarding certain “case studies”. And, Heidi offered to annotate certain parts of the Plan to better illustrate the meaning of a particular graph or chart.
Attention was also given to the potential impact of 8-30 (g). Specifically, the Committee requested that the Plan show how the Plan might emphasize a little more strongly the possibility of one’s seeking approval under this statute for a development (that was not necessarily commensurate with the Town’s character and future goals). A prior development that was seeking such approval, that ultimately withdrew its application for economic reasons, was discussed and might be an example of what could happen under a different economic climate.
Overall, the Committee was very pleased with this draft, but simply wanted to take out some of the arguably unnecessary details, and make sure it was more visually appealing, in the sense it would not get bogged down in too much information or cause one to skip sections or in the worst case not read it. While the details, findings, and analysis are critical to this Plan, the Committee and Heidi agreed that some reshaping and restructuring of the Plan is necessary.
We left it that Heidi would meet with Juliet in the near future and also exchange correspondence with respect to some of the language and grammar employed in this Plan, as well as addressing the matters highlighted in these Minutes.
We then briefly discussed the status of Meadow Court and that project may be back on track, after certain Town officials met with the State’s Department of Transportation, in order to clear up some matters.
Lastly, Juliet Leeming reported that students from UCONN, as part of a Landscape Architects program and course, expressed a willingness to work with the Committee to draft plans and schematics for possible development in areas such as the Wintechog parcel. Juliet, on behalf of the Committee, offered to work and meet with them to see if this could be accomplished. The Committee still believes that this parcel and very large tract of land in particular might prove to be an excellent place to sponsor, create and develop housing, both affordable and market, with committed open space being a component of this too.
Further discussion of this was tabled for our next meeting, and it is expected we will have the next draft of the Housing Plan at that meeting too.
The next meeting is scheduled for October 25 at 6:00 p.m.
The meeting was adjourned by our co-chair Mary Ann Ricker at approximately 8:50 pm.
Respectfully Submitted,
James Scaramozza
Recording Secretary
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