Sound View Commission
Meeting Minutes — Unapproved
25th July, 2011
Shoreline Community Center, 7.30 pm
Present: Frank Pappalardo (Chair), Joann Reis Lishing, Michaelle Pearson (Secretary), Russ Carlo (Alternate), Harry Plaut, Frank Maratta (Alternate)
Absent: David Kelsey, Joseph Camean (Alternate),
Also present: Selectman Reemsnyder (ex officio); members of the public
7.36p Meeting called to order by Chairman Frank Pappalardo.
7.37 Mr. Pappalardo moved to appoint Russ Carlo for David Kelsey. Mr. Carlo moved to approve minutes of 8/22/11. Seconded by Joann Lishing. Approved.
7.40 Public Comment:
Dennis Melluzzo: The town needs to replace the snapped line on the flagpole at end of Hartford. Harry Plaut recommended “The Flag Man” from Avon.
Mr. Melluzzo urged that this be done by springtime.
David Woolley: My opinion and that of many of my neighbors in Old Lyme Shores is that the noise level is worse this summer than it has been. The outdoor speakers should not be, and the town should be enforcing this so that speakers must be inside and under the control of the liquor commission. I strongly urge this Commission and other entities in town to resolve this problem by Spring. There was extra-loud music on one Saturday night that went until 1 am, and that’s not fair to the over 1000 people who live here and who are trying to sleep, or who have children who are trying to sleep. It’s time that the town took the lead to solve this.
Frank Pappalardo said he agreed, and would address this later in the meeting. Harry Plaut added that we had a lengthy discussion regarding direction of speakers, and to answer Dave’s inquiry, we have brought this up, and the police have been there several times. We’re working on this issue.
Bonnie Reemsnyder: I want to remind the Commission to be sure to work on your budget. A letter from the town should be out soon requesting your budget.
Frank Pappalardo: Any further comments? We run these meetings rather casually so as we go along, if you have a comment, please raise your hand and wait to be recognized. We will accept public comment during the course of the meeting, because it’s so important that the conversation takes place and it’s an all-inclusive conversation. I wanted to bring that up especially as we have some new people here tonight.
Business: Engineering Study:
Frank Pappalardo: I spoke to Joe Camean who’s an alternate on this Commission, and also an engineer. He referred me to the BSC group which is presently doing some work in town. I met with the manager of that office (Kurt? lastname?) and discussed the restrooms and the reconfiguration of parking. I sent a copy of the proposal to the Selectmen, and got a positive response. Last week the Selectmen gave me the approval to sign the agreement for the study. It should take between 4-6 weeks to complete.
Mr. Pappalardo described the scope of work for the Engineering study:
Work will be done for the budgeted amount of $2500. They will present us with three draft options. We will then select one of these options to refine and move forward from there. The goal is to have at least a net neutral financial impact on the town, based on the number of parking spaces. The number of paid parking spaces will remain the same, or possibly even be increased by a few spaces. There will be a net reduction in parking, but all parking will be paid parking. The free spaces will be eliminated.
Frank Maratta: So we’re taking parking out of the big town lot?
Frank Pappalardo : yes. We want to make sure it’s a net-neutral program for the town: that the number of paid parking spaces stays the same. If it increases a little bit, that’s fine too.
Frank Maratta: you’ve already taken 30 spots out of there. So you’re going to take more out?
Frank Pappalardo: In order to put in restrooms and a park area and we will be taking out some spots. It just can’t support anything else.
Frank Maratta: Well, it has for years.
Frank Pappalardo: But there are no restrooms.
Frank Maratta: Whatever happened to the idea of buying Kiddieland (for restrooms)?
Frank Pappalardo: He (Claude Brouillard) is back to developing that. It’s not an option for us. Anyone else have any thoughts?
(Several questions regarding details of the proposals from the audience) Frank Pappalardo answered with descriptions of the proposed accesses from Hartford Avenue. BSC group has a lot of experience with kiosk parking meters.
Joann Lishing: Are they (BSC)aware that the parking lot goes under water?
Frank Pappalardo: yes. They have all of that info.
Harry Plout: This concept for the new parking, is this going to be year-round or just seasonal?
Frank Pappalardo: Because it’s kiosk parking, the parking lot and park area can be year-round. The dates we would want to charge for parking might be Memorial Day to Labor Day, etc. Kiosk systems are wireless, so if, for example, on a cloudy day you want to reduce cost of parking, that’s an option.
Michaelle Pearson: So it will be easier to track the actual parking fees than it is now? It would all be electronic records?
Frank Pappalardo: yes.
Russ Carlo: A picnic area and park-like situation would be nice for visitors and families.
Frank Pappalardo: Joe Camean and I felt very comfortable talking to them (BSC), and they are providing us with a lot of work for $2500.
Frank Maratta: I just don’t think the business community is going to want a reduction in parking.
Michaelle Pearson: The business community has emphasized that their number one priority is restroom facilities, and they also want an end to the free street parking. That’s what we’re doing with this proposal. It’s giving the businesses what they have asked for and will also benefit visitors and residents.
Frank Maratta: I fully support charging for parking on the street. But what I don’t support is reducing the parking lot. You’re reducing parking.
Michaelle Pearson: Only the free spots. The number of paid parking spaces is going to stay the same. The businesses on Hartford Avenue have been complaining about those free spots for years.
Frank Maratta: Am I being told that you are going to reduce the parking spaces in the main lot? That’s an issue.
Frank Pappalardo: yes. But there will be an increase in the number of paid spots on the street, so the number of paid parking spaces will be the same or greater.
Frank Maratta: I don’t think its business friendly. I don’t think the business community is going to support you.
Frank Pappalardo: I disagree with you. I have spoken with (Hartford Ave. business owners) Dino and Heidi (DiNino), I’ve spoken with Jerry and Dee (Vowles), Guy Vecchitto, nobody has a problem with it. They want to see a park down there that will attract the local residents and visiting families. All of them have said to me that their business excels when local residents and local people come to this beach. And the only way we are going to get local people down here is to make it friendly for local people. And right now it is not friendly for local people.
Frank Maratta: So, you’re going to keep that parking lot open at night as well?
Frank Pappalardo: We could certainly discuss that. It’s a kiosk parking system. It’s not manned, so it could be open during the evening hours.
Frank Maratta: How many spaces are you planning on losing?
Frank Pappalardo: We don’t know yet. When we see the proposals we’ll be able to talk about actual numbers. We hired an engineer to do this because at our last meeting we talked about hiring a landscape architect, and Dave Kelsey made the valid point that a landscape architect wouldn’t provide the same level of critical data as an engineering company that specializes in parking to come up with a plan, and look at the site. That parking lot has just evolved over the years without any direction. Nobody ever designed it, there was no thought process. Now we are looking at it and getting some hard data and trying to decide the best and highest use for that piece of property for the community at large.
Russ Carlo: I would personally like to eliminate all of the parking in that lot.
Michaelle Pearson: Well, that’s not going to happen. We need a place for people to park.
Frank Pappalardo: This (study) takes the emotional aspect out of the package and lets us approach it from a good solid engineering perspective. Saying what is the best use and how can we make it happen so we can keep the most people happy and…
Harry Plaut: So…on Hartford avenue you want to have parking on the right-hand side. Angular parking?
Frank Pappalardo: yes. We may actually gain some spaces on Hartford Avenue.
The whole idea is to get this moving so we can prepare our capital expenditures for the Budget Committee meeting in December. That’s the deadline. So we have to look at preliminaries ASAP so we can tell BSC group which direction we want to move in so they can prepare a semi-final plan for us in time for our November meeting, so we will have a plan ready to got to the Board of Finance by December. Dave Kelsey has offered to help put together the capital expenditure plan for this. We will probably be the only Commission to request a capital expenditure and actually be able to pay it back.
Bonnie Reemsnyder: I think one of the other goals is that it will make the area look nicer. When you have a study like this, it’s an opportunity. Anything that will make the area look nicer is going to attract more people to come down here, and that’s good for businesses. I applaud you on getting this done in such short order, and the only way we’re going to know is to take a look at it. Seeing how nice we can make it down here so we can attract people year-round, because the goal of the Sound View Design District (SVDD) was also to encourage year-round business. You’re not going to get that the way it looks now.
Frank Pappalardo: Not at all. And talking with the business people on Hartford Avenue, they would like to do anything possible to encourage local residents to come down here. A nice park, where we could have park activities, such as a concert in the evenings, or a jazz fest, a chowder fest. Right now we don’t have a location to do that. We have a run-down gravelly old parking lot, and we don’t have any restrooms. Anything else? Let’s talk this over, because the next step we have is reviewing concepts. If you have any thoughts in the next couple of days, please send me an email.
Harry Plaut: I can see spearheading a conceptual plan but there are other commissions that we are going to need to talk to, for example the Planning Commission.
Frank Pappalardo: Well, certainly when we have something a little more solid, we will make a presentation to whatever town agencies the Selectmen guide us to because we work under the direction of the Selectmen.
Harry Plaut: you need to get the blessing of the town fathers.
Frank Pappalardo: We’ll make a presentation to the Selectmen. They will let us know what further review we need, if any. That’s why we have such a tight timeline. We need to be set to go before the Board of Finance in December.
Harry Plaut: you still need the blessing of the town fathers. We’re in a tough budget year. It may have nothing to do with what you’re planning but there are other steps that have to be followed before this can really get off the ground.
Frank Pappalardo: Understood, Harry, but you need to understand that we are not presenting any autonomous approach to this. We are appointed by the Selectmen, before we do anything beyond what we’ve already accomplished so far, it goes to the Selectmen. Just so you understand, the selectmen all received a copy of this proposal and have had an opportunity to review it and bring back their comments regarding it.
Bonnie Reemsnyder: The point is you need to get it into a budget request. Know what vou are going to be requesting. If I uncerstand this correctly it is to know what you’d like to do and to have an idea as to cost, in order toput it in a budget request, andf then the whole budget process really doesn’t start until February. Then we have the whole process through april. So in that time we will be discussing the expected cost and what we put into the budget, and if that is rolled into the entire town budget then it goes to one meeting for approval in May. If it is a separate item, if we were to try to do this outside the budget, then Harry is right that we would go before the town, but as far as the process of getting it actually done, you may have planning, zoning, etc., but that’s the process once you have the approval.
Harry Plaut: But isn’t that a part of the approval process?
Bonnie Reemsnyder: Not to approve the funds. And we will know better based on the study. The study will tell us whether we even want to go forward with this.
Harry Plaut: I don’t see this as just being about the money. This is a conceptual process that is going to have a pro and a con.
Frank Pappalardo: We need to have a grounding point to start from, and in this case our grounding point is the engineering study. We have to get our budgetary numbers in there. We can work through the other details once the budget is done.
Harry Plaut: I’m a little more conservative as far as this goes. This is a brand new Commission and we don’t have our operating procedures manual even started. Now we want to plan a project? I just think we’re jumping ahead here.
Joann Lishing: We can do both simultaneously.
Frank Pappalardo: Well, your point is understood. We voted on this at the last meeting and I was given the authorization to move forward on this, we had the funding available for the study, if we didn’t use that funding this year, we would lose it. So therefore we chose to go forward in a manner that would give us a good basis to move forward on. All three selectmen have given us their support moving forward so far. We also have strong support from local beach residents and families in town.
Michaelle Pearson: The number one complaint we hear from townspeople outside the beach area is about the lack of restrooms at Sound View. People don’t understand why we don’t have adequate restroom facilities here. There are restrooms at White Sands, why not here? So it’s worth looking at, at least.
Harry Plaut: I don’t dispute that at all. Just I see some of the obstacles in town government and I think the commission is moving too fast.
Frank Pappalardo: I think if it’s a good solid proposal, and establishes a proactive approach for this area, and one that’s not going to cost the town any money, I think we have a verv solid idea moving forward, which has already been approved this far by the selectmen.
Joann Lishing: The Selectmen have been working on this for quite a while with the Committee and now this Commission.
Frank Pappalardo: This is not a new idea, by the way. The park was proposed at least ten years ago.
Harry Plaut: It’s not just about the park. It’s about parking, the restrooms, etc.
Frank Maratta: In this economic environment, why not give the town some more money and keep the same number of parking spaces. Put your bathrooms in, and also charge for parking on Hartford Avenue.
Frank Pappalardo: But that does nothing to improve the character of the area.
Frank Maratta: Is that your opinion or is that the consultant’s opinion?
Frank Pappalardo: It’s the consultant’s opinion. One of the first things he said to me was that this is a perfect spot for a park. A perfect spot for family atmosphere.
We’re looking at creating a greenscape area that can be used by the townspeople. In October, if the townspeople want to have a farmer’s market down here, this would be the ideal spot. If we want to host festivals, this is the place to do it. We’re creating a resource, not just trying to cram in as many cars as possible. At this point, I really think we need to wait and see what the engineer comes up with. What the total number of spaces are, what the projected costs are, and then look at it and decide what approach we’d like to take. We’ll have some ideas next meeting and we will be able to address more of people’s questions and concerns then.
8.36pm Beach Coolers
Frank Pappalardo: Frank Maratta brought up the subject of coolers a couple of months ago. There is an Association on the State of CT Rec/Parks Association. OL doesn’t currently belong. I sent an email out to its members asking advice re: cooler bans or limiting cooler number/size. I received three responses already from three small public beach areas. All 3 allow coolers but they all have full time lifeguards who immediately call police if they see something untoward. Nothing is going to work unless we have constant patrols.
Harry Plaut: If this Commission decided that in their budget they needed someone to constantly patrol, then go to the Town to approve funds for that.
Frank Pappalardo: We’re going to talk with public safety and work with them on this.
Dennis Melluzzo: There’s no reason why the town’s biggest beach doesn’t have a lifeguard. Besides the beach patrol, we should have a lifeguard for the beach.
8.59 Discussion of Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) manual
Frank Pappalardo: We are in the process of compiling the SOP manual. This manual will lay out the procedures, times and responsibilities for various recurring items regarding the beach area, such as garbage collection, swim lines, parking lot, etc. I will email the format to everyone. If you have anything to add, please reply to all.
9.07 Budget
Frank Pappalardo said he had received a request from Nicole Stadjuhar to detail the Commission’s budget for mailings, etc.
Requisition for trash cans, redo of bocce courts, both public works.
Bocce courts. Harry Plaut will put together a budget. Guidelines available from the US Bocce Assn.
Events budget.
Lifeguard/ beach manager/ beach patrol.
Mr. Plaut asked who paid for the paper/copying expenses. Mr. Pappalardo said that he was happy to provide copies of the agendas, etc., but that there would be a budget item for mailings and official notices. Mr. Plaut stated that Commission meetings should be taped. Ms. Pearson held up her digital recorder and replied that said she has always recorded Commission meetings, which is why our minutes are sometimes so detailed. Mr. Plaut suggested that the Commission should buy a recorder for official use. Ms. Pearson said she didn’t mind using her personal one, but that it might be a good idea to have another in case she couldn’t be present.
9.18 C-10 Zoning
Michaelle Pearson provided a brief summary of the need to address the “gateway to the beach area” at Shore Road. There are issues of blight and outdated zoning that prevent owners from developing their commercial properties in a way that is in keeping with residential aspect of the area. Existing zoning encourages industrial and high-impact uses and discourages the kind of small retail, mixed residential use that would be more attractive for the area. For example, under current zoning it’s easier to develop a muffler shop than a mixed residential/retail space. Ms. Pearson proposed establishing a “gateway district “ zoning that would encourage mixed-use residential/retail such as in Essex, and discourage freestanding industrial-type uses as on Coleman Street in New London. Mr. Pappalardo agreed that the
Commission could look into what could be done about the Gateway area with the Planning and Zoning Commissions.
9.25 Hurricane Critique
Mr. Pappalardo stated that The Sound View Beach Association and Office of Emergency Management are looking at using the Community Center as an emergency staging area for a disaster. There will be a meeting at the Center to ask for the community’s input regarding the Town’s response to Hurricane Irene.
9.28 Mr Pappalardo said that the issue of noise has come up at every Commission meeting. There appears to be a conflict between regulations and Ordinances which needs to be addressed.
9:33 pm: Motion to adjourn made by Mr. Carlo, seconded by Ms. Lishing. Meeting adjourned.
Next regular meeting: Tuesday, 25th Oct, 2011 at 7.30 pm, Shoreline Community Center. *This is a revised date.
Respectfully submitted,
M. Pearson, Secretary
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