MEETING MINUTES
November 10, 2016
2nd Floor Conference Room, Old Saybrook Town Hall
7:30 pm
CALL TO ORDER – Vice Chairman E. Swenson called the meeting to order at 7:33pm.
ROLL CALL
Members present: John DeCristoforo, Sandra Roberts, Matthew Pugliese, David Cole, Bruce Greenfield, Elizabeth Swenson
Members absent: Joseph Arcari, Carol Conklin, James Keating,
Staff: Susan Beckman, Economic Development Director, Acting Clerk
Guest: Cathy Lezon
Member of the Public: Tony Bacewicz
PUBLIC QUESTION & COMMENT - None
GUEST – Cathy Lezon of Eversource shared information about Eversource and its plans to continue the vegetation management program that has reduced outages by over 75% for customers and a switch to using more natural gas which will require improving access through modernization of the pipeline system throughout CT.
REGULAR BUSINESS
MOTION to approve the October 13, 2016 regular meeting with an amendment to include J. DeCristoforo under Absent Members; MADE by B. Greenfield; SECONDED by D. Cole; VOTING IN FAVOR: D. Cole, B. Greenfield, J. DeCristoforo, S. Roberts, M. Pugliese, E. Swenson; OPPOSED: None; ABSTAINING: None; APPROVED: 6-0-0.
B. Correspondence & Announcements
- Saybrook Stroll support
MOTION to approve support for the Stroll at the same level as last year; MADE by M. Pugliese; SECONDED by D. Cole; VOTING IN FAVOR: D. Cole, B. Greenfield, J. DeCristoforo, S. Roberts, M. Pugliese, E. Swenson; OPPOSED: None; ABSTAINING: None; APPROVED: 6-0-0.
- Exchange Club Flag support – Tabled until the December 8 meeting.
- CT Tourism Listening Tour – The CT Dept of Tourism is touring the state to hear concerns and ideas from constituents. S. Beckman invited anyone interested to attend on Dec. 2 from 1-2:30pm at the Madison Beach Hotel.
OLD BUSINESS – None
SUB-COMMITTEE REPORTS
A. Town-wide Promotion: Wednesdays in Old Saybrook – The campaign has ended and will be renewed again next summer. E. Swenson asked how it went. S. Beckman replied that there were no mechanisms set up this year to determine the effectiveness of the promotion but an effort will be made next year to identify metrics and measure success.
B. Mariner’s Way BAR Planning Project – M. Pugliese, E. Swenson, S. Roberts, and C. Conklin and S. Beckman attended the Zoning Commission (ZC) meeting on Nov 7 to receive feedback regarding the denials of the zoning petitions. Major points noted were that property and business owners were not supportive of the changes, a Special Exception provision does not provide the ZC with enough discretion in decisions, the cap of 85,000sf as it is outlined in current zoning will be used as the standard because of overwhelming public support when it was adopted, the ZC had no compelling reason to make any changes due to lack of public support and lack of a “vision” for what the changes may bring to Town, the definition of Marine Recreation is too broad, the EDC should have asked the ZC for
preliminary discussions of the ideas in the zoning petitions but the role of the ZC is not to give an applicant advice on how to get what it wants, more refined concept plans for the area are needed and must be support by the public for zoning changes to succeed.
The Kick-Off Event for the BAR Discovery +Action Plan on Nov 3 was well attended with about 60 participants. The presentation made by Civic Moxie is posted on the website (http://bit.ly/2fWSmYm). Public input is
being compiled and will also be up on the website. C. Nelson and S. Beckman will discuss next steps with Civic Moxie Nov 15.
C. Marketing Plan – S. Beckman provided a proposal that was received from CERC to assist in creating a marketing plan to promote tourism and recruit businesses. J. Keating, C. Conklin and S. Beckman will discuss the proposal and next steps.
D. Recognition of Long-Term Businesses/Spirit of Saybrook – the event recognizing Walt’s Market, The Paint Shop, Angus McDonald & Gary Sharpe Associates and Luigi’s will be Wed. Nov 16 at 10:30-11am. Four of the businesses have confirmed attendance and we expect to have about 25 total. Becky Coffey has been invited and received a press release about the event.
E. Arts & Culture – Music on Main, our local version of the street piano project, will be promoted in a press release and with a photo in coming weeks. We also have a short video of S. Beckman’s 12-year-old son playing the piano to post on the website and use in additional promotion on Facebook and other sites.
NEW BUSINESS - None
PUBLIC QUESTION & COMMENT – T. Bacewicz asked clarifying questions regarding Wednesdays in Old Saybrook, Mariner’s Way and the BAR Discovery + Action Plan project which were answered.
STAFF REPORT
ADJOURNMENT
Respectfully submitted,
Susan Beckman
Acting Clerk
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