Sound View Commission
Meeting Minutes — Unapproved
25th September, 2017
7.30 pm
Shoreline Community Center
Present: Frank Pappalardo (Chair), Joann Reis Lishing, Michaelle Pearson (Secretary), Sandra Ziemba (alternate)
Also Present, Ex-Officio: First Selectwoman Bonnie Reemsnyder, Selectwoman Mary Jo Nosal
Absent: Harry Plaut, David Kelsey, Frank Maratta (Alternate), Jackie Miano (Alternate)
7.35 pm Meeting called to order by Chairman Frank Pappalardo.
Sandra Ziemba seated for the absent Dave Kelsey.
Approval of August Minutes: Sandy Ziemba motioned to approve, seconded by Joann Lishing
All in favor.
7.37 correspondence: Letter from Dennis Melluzzo (7 Portland Ave) to Ledge Light Health District, Old Lyme Board of Selectmen, Sound View Beach Association, and Sound View Commisssion re: blighted property located at 9 Portland Avenue. (Citibank is the owner)
Also received correspondence from owner of Rollin’Reds. Moved down the agenda to other business.
7.32 pm: Sound View Improvements
Road repaving has been moved to 9/28. Raindate 9/29. At that time punch list items will be completed as well. Epoxy striping will be done after pavement is complete. Requires a two week curing period.
Repaired a panel of sidewalk near Gail’s Green on Hartford Avenue, and rub curb faces for pour #1 and other locations.
To be completed:
- Turf establishment
- Decorative banner & sign posts
- Rub curb faces for pour #1 and other locations
- Paving (corrections required) — Proposal from B&W paving pending
- Line striping (epoxy resin) — after final paving
- Replace merestone at #84 Hartford
- GPS sign locations
- Check bike rack installations and water service at Carousel
Complete project walkthrough on 10/16.
Joann Lishing asked again about the the Heart Safe Community sign still needs to be replaced. Selectwoman Mary Jo Nosal said she would follow up.
Michaelle Pearson said the trash cans still need to be painted. Frank Pappalardo said Dave Kelsey is working with Ed Adanti to paint the cans to match beach sand color.
7.46pm Zoning Board of Appeals Variance Approvals Information:
UMARS, 281 Shore Rd., Public Hearing: September 11th?
Hearing continued. There have been significant changes made to the plan. They have been very responsive to our questions and concerns. Agreed to put a sidewalk in out front to match the Gateway Plan.
There is still an issue regarding the gate on Swan Avenue and the traffic flow plan. Tom Metcalf, town engineer, had some issues with it. Umars proposed that they would put in a sliding gate at the top of Swan Avenue and a gate into their parking lot. Town engineer was concerned that this would create “driver indecision” and suggested a traffic study. Frank Pappalardo photographed and noted every gate on Route 156. There are 15, plus 3 on Old Shore Road. These gates, and the ones on Portland and Swan have been in place for many years, and there is no evidence that they encourage driver indecision. Frank Pappalardo presented this evidence to Zoning. May require further study or may just let the gates go in.
Hours of operation will be between 6am and 11pm. It is state law that the pumps must turned off at night. Umars has been fined for this before. Must be no music or talking gas pumps. SVC has stated strong opposition to any audio advertising. Umars has stated verbally that they do not intend audio advertising. Fire and building departments have also presented some concerns.
The hearing is now closed. Zoning has 65 days to render its decision.
Note: This is the only Sound View area application presented to the Zoning Commission other than the approved dentist/ lawyer’s office on Route 156. No other applications have been received this year for any projects in the Sound View area.
7.48 Beach & Security:
Received a message from Miami Beach Association President Mark Mongillo regarding the planned conference call to discuss the impact of the MBA gates over the summer.
Because the fence issue is now in litigation, Mark has been advised by MBA’s attorney not to comment further. So the conference call was cancelled.
Sound View Village District Subcommittee update:
Letter dated 8/31 was sent to Board of Selectmen. Frank Pappalardo attended the meeting. Selectmen forwarded it to Zoning and ZBA. Jane Cable (Chairwoman of the Zoning Commission) responded personally that though the plans were a bit more detailed, than what the owners had presented a year ago, they didn’t change any of the issues Zoning has been opposed to, e.g., density, height, etc. This would create a spot zoning situation and would likely not be viewed positively because the requests being made are so far outside of what is currently permitted in SVVD. It was noted that the Zoning Board of Appeals and Zoning Commission are both independent, elected Commissions, and are thus separate from the Board of Selectmen (BOS). Unless something changes, Messrs. Noe and Randazzo will have to significantly
revise their plans and resubmit through the established process, i.e., Zoning, ZBA and SVC. First Selectwoman Bonnie Reemsnyder said that the BOS had been advised by counsel on a separate issue several years ago that the Selectmen have limited authority over other Elected Boards and Commissions. The BOS must remain separate to avoid possible ethics issues.
Blight ordinance currently under review, likely to come to a vote in the next few months.
Hartford Avenue Banner Poles: Need to put out a request for designs to the community for “Welcome to Sound View” type banners. Concepts should reflect Sound View’s status as a Connecticut Historic Place and America’s oldest public beach (Est. 1892). There are many artists and designers in Old Lyme who would welcome the opportunity to showcase their designs. Frank Pappalardo will follow up.
WPCA Update:
Pump station in town parking lot: Going back to March 2016. Discussions re: leasing land in the parking lot to Miami Beach, Old Lyme Shores and Old Colony Beach Associations to host a sewerage pump station. Conditions for approval include that it be aesthetically pleasing, with no odor, and no noise issues for neighboring residents. Must be flood-proof, as the parking lot floods regularly. Must include public restrooms for Sound View Beach. Must be an appropriate, beach-style design. First Selectwoman Reemsnyder has been working on this with the town attorney and private beach associations. The lease has become quite complicated, but is nearing a final version. First Selectwoman Reemsnyder said there are several areas that must be better defined such as cost sharing, use fees and tie-in costs for Sound
View and Hawks Nest. Asked about designing the public restroom at the same time of pump station. Can it be built at the same time? First Selectwoman Reemsnyder said yes. Would likely save money in the end. Suggested that DEEP clean water funds might help pay for this. DEEP said would be a strong case to get the loan at 2%, which ties in with the term of the lease.
The WPCA is still wrestling with the complicated nature of the EDUs. Within Sound View’s three streets there are several different zones. R-10, R-10 grandfathered, C-10, SVVD. Various uses currently include commercial, commercial being used as residential, multi-family, multi-use, residential, etc.
WPCA chair Paul Pendergast’s draft approach considers average square footage, property size, number of bedrooms.
Frank Pappalardop brought up the issue of Commercial EDUs…dishwashers, toilets, etc. Residential users shouldn't be penalized for the restaurants in Sound View, which have much higher water use.
How will user fees be determine. Not sure yet if it will be a flat rate or metered.
Everyone is urged to attend the WPCA meetings on the second Tuesday of every month.
The WPCA talked about square footage of 500-1500 square feet as 1 EDU. Small cottages might be considered as .75 edu. The SVC believes this approach to be inequitable. For example, a 2000-square foot, 3 bedroom home would be 2 EDUs; while a 1500-square foot home with 5 bedrooms would only count as 1 EDU; and two small homes on the same lot with less that total 500 ft would be 1.5 EDUs.
Doug Whelen, President of the Old Colony Beach Association: There is a DEEP document to guide WPCAs on how they can charge for infrastructure, called “WPCA Infrastructure Cost Recovery”. Compares several towns in Connecticut. Various criteria are available, and towns can use a combination of different ones to come up with a metric for determining EDUs. Before the WPCA can come up with a document, they need to have a public hearing. Can’t have it until they have solid numbers. The WPCA must also provide an appeals and hearing process for EDU assessments. The DEEP “WPCA Infrastructure Cost Recovery” document is attached to these minutes.
Other Business: Rollin Red’s Correspondence. Rollin’ Red’s wrote a letter stating that they had a good season at Sound View, despite the rainy weather at the start of the summer. However, their business was mostly made up of out of town people visiting the beach. They would like to have two 30-minute spots in front of their business, so that it would be more convenient for locals to park and pickup their orders. Everyone agreed. The Commission voted in favor to send a recommendation to the Board of Selectmen for two more business spots to be added in the vicinity of Rollin’Reds.
PUBLIC COMMENT:
Lori May, Hartford Avenue, asked when does the town top charging for parking? Frank Pappalardo said it’s generally mid-September. Public Works covers the meters when they are no longer active. The portolets are still there, Rangers were here this weekend and extra police.
Trash still being picked up. So resources are still being used. If the weather is unseasonably warm, the meters will remain, to help defray expenses.
Doug Whalen asked the SVC if it would make a formal statement asking to move the Town Lot sewerage pump station lease agreement forward. The SVC felt that this was premature, given that the lease agreement has not been finalized, and it has not been made available to the SVC. When the lease agreement is available for review, the SVC will take appropriate action.
Mr. Whelen also urged support for the Blight Ordinance, and asked that the Lyme Academy College be included in the search for the Hartford Avenue banner designs. .
Gail Fuller, president of the Sound View Beach Association, asked why some of the benches on Hartford Avenue had been turned around.
Selectwoman Nosal said that the project still has to go thorough an audit so everything must remain the way it was in the plan. The benches were not moved by the town, and will be put back the way they should be in the plan. If anyone sees things being moved, let the BOS know, as tampering with town property is a crime.
Tani Faenza, Portland Avenue, stated that Hartford Avenue improvements look great, but the barricades and traffic cones take away from the design. Frank Pappalardo explained that the barricades and cones were only temporary until the final striping is complete, which is imminent.
Mrs. Faenza also asked about the numerous sandwich boards put out by businesses that block the sidewalks. The SVC agreed to review town sign regulations and make recommendations as appropriate.
9.03 pm: Adjournment:
Joann Lishing motioned to adjourn. Sandy seconded. All in favor. Motion carried.
Meeting adjourned at 9.03pm.
| 
