MEETING MINUTES
ZONING BOARD OF APPEALS – REGULAR MEETING
TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 18, 2018
MEZZANINE CONFERENCE ROOM
MEMORIAL TOWN HALL, 52 LYME STREET
OLD LYME, CT - 7:00 P.M.
I Meeting called to order at 7:00 p.m.
Present: Nancy Hutchinson (Chair), Kip Kotzan (Vice Chair), Marisa Hartmann (Secretary), Dan Montano, and Alternates Stephanie Mickle, and Stephen Dix.
Absent: Tom Schellens, Alternate
Also present: Sylvia Rutkowska, ZBA Attorney
Voting: N. Hutchinson, K. Kotzan, M. Hartmann, D. Montano, S. Mickle
- Petition to Amend text of the Old Lyme Zoning Regulations – Section 5.10.3 entitled “Special Permit Uses, Per Section 13B” be amended by the addition of the following use under that Section: Section 5.10 is entitled “Commercial C-30 District (C-30) and C-30S District (C-30S)” Self-Storage Unit Facility.
A Motion was made by K. Kotzan, seconded by S. Mickle to reorder the agenda: to place New Business after Old Business (and to place Correspondence before other old business, if applicant present). Voting~In favor: N. Hutchinson, K. Kotzan, M. Hartmann, D. Montano, S. Mickle; In Opposition: ~none; Abstaining: none.~ The Motion passed unanimously 5-0-0.
Review of materials related to proposed ZBA process improvements.
The Board reviewed the ZBA Attorney’s comments on four draft documents that were submitted for her review prior to the meeting. Each of these documents were prepared with input and ideas provided by the Board and Land Use Staff, and all but one had been discussed, reviewed, and modified at the prior ZBA meeting, in preparation for ZBA Attorney review. These three draft documents include a revision to the Variance Application with instructions, a revision to the ZEO Appeal Application with Instructions, and an administrative ZBA meeting template to improve the effectiveness of ZBA meetings.
The final document, a Guide for Residential Variance Applications, was prepared by the chair in response to the Board’s desire to provide additional information to applicants to explain the residential variance process and thereby avoid unnecessary delays and frustration. In generating the proposed Guide, the chair reviewed information available on many other CT town websites, and consolidated best practices into a single Old Lyme Guide that was specifically tailored to align with our Old Lyme ZBA processes. The ZBA Attorney provided comments on this document as well.
For each of these draft documents, the Board discussed the ZBA Attorney’s comments and proposed revisions to the documents, with the goal of generating a final version for Board approval and future implementation. The Chair will make the approved revisions as soon as possible, so that the final versions can be made available on the Town Website and in the Land Use Department shortly. As noted by the ZBA Attorney, once implemented, it will always be possible to make additional revisions in the future, if needed.
- Guide for Residential Variance Applications review
A Motion was made by K. Kotzan, and seconded by D. Montano, to Approve the proposed Guide for Residential Variance Applications reviewed by the ZBA Attorney as amended: incorporating/addressing Attorney comments, and clarifying after the meeting whether Page 4 paragraph 1 needs revision.
Voting In favor: N. Hutchinson, K. Kotzan, M. Hartmann, D. Montano, S. Mickle; In Opposition: none; Abstaining: none. The Motion passed unanimously, 5-0-0.
- Variance Application with Instructions review
A Motion was made by M. Hartmann, seconded by K. Kotzan, to Approve the Sept 14th version of the revised Variance Application Form with instructions that incorporated comments from the ZBA Attorney as discussed and amended: add “to whom correspondence should be sent” with checkboxes for choice.
Voting~In favor: N. Hutchinson, K. Kotzan, M. Hartmann, D. Montano, S. Mickle; In Opposition: none; Abstaining: none. The Motion passed unanimously 5-0-0.
- ZEO Appeal of Decision Application with instructions for review
A Motion was made by D. Montano, seconded by K. Kotzan to Approve the revised ZEO Appeal of Decision Form with instructions dated Sept 17, 2018 as discussed and modified with the ZBA Attorney at this meeting: Add check boxes for correspondence preference; change “ZEO ruling” to “ZEO Decision” throughout; change Fees “must” accompany to Fees “to” accompany; note that consent to site visit is if Applicant is owner.
Voting In favor: N. Hutchinson, K. Kotzan, M. Hartmann, D. Montano, S. Mickle; In Opposition: none; Abstaining: none. The Motion passed unanimously 5-0-0.
- Draft administrative template for effective ZBA meeting meetings
Suggests by ZBA Attorney included: Chair to set ground rules for the meeting to help set expectations for the public; Chair to read the list of requested variances when reading the Public Notice at the start of each case; Chair to ask members about possible need to be recused. The ZBA Attorney also confirmed that no new information should be introduced during the voting session. For the currently proposed outline of reminders for an effective “Open Voting Session”, the ZBA Attorney suggested adding the introductory phrase “When a variance is being considered”, to make clear they are specific to Variance Applications, and including another potential reason for a decision. The Chair and ZBA Attorney agreed to follow-up after the meeting to confirm whether only seated members may participate in
deliberations during the voting session. The Chair was requested to make these and other revisions discussed, and provide updated version at next ZBA meeting for review.
- Question and Answer session with Attorney for the ZBA
Discussions revolved primarily around the ZBA Attorney responses provided in writing in advance of the meeting to questions submitted by the Board. Follow-up questions on a broad range of topics were also discussed; for example, guidance on what should be included in the published public notice for the ZBA Variance cases, the purview of the ZBA being focused on topics related to zoning, questions about special permits, interpretation of the Voluntary Demolition regulation in the context of other applicable regulations, the benefit of the chair performing an informal preliminary review of variance applications “for completeness” when initially submitted, etc.
- Correspondence and Announcements
Letter dated September 12, 2018 from 280 Shore Road LLC requesting a one-year extension
for Case 17- 03.
The board reviewed the file for this case, as well as the letter from the applicant.
A Motion was made by K. Kotzan, seconded by S. Mickle, to~Approve the one-year extension requested by the applicant for Case 17-03.
Voting In favor: N. Hutchinson, K. Kotzan, M. Hartmann, D. Montano, S. Mickle; In Opposition: none; Abstaining: none. The Motion passed unanimously, 5-0-0.
- New Business (moved in the agenda)
- Petition to Amend text of the Old Lyme Zoning Regulations – Section 5.10.3 entitled “Special Permit Uses, Per Section 13B” be amended by the addition of the following use under that Section: ~Section 5.10 is entitled “Commercial C-30 District (C-30) and C-30S District (C-30S)” Self-Storage Unit Facility.
The Board received the referral from the Zoning Commission, along with the minutes of the Planning Commission motion on the topic. Without much other information on which to make an assessment, the Board decided to convey some potential concerns to the Zoning Commission for their consideration, rather than make a specific motion in support or against the proposed amendment.
Specifically, five of the ZBA members present expressed concern for making a zoning amendment that would open up all C-30 districts in Town to self-storage facilities, which is currently an industrial use (warehouse); one member abstained from expressing an opinion. The concern was that self-storage structures are often large and unattractive structures, and may not be appropriate for all C-30 districts; for example, the C-30S Hall’s Road area, which is the Town Center, and the C-30 Roger’s Lake area, which like many other C-30 districts in town, runs along a well-traveled roadway and is surrounded by residential neighborhoods. We respectfully request that the Zoning Commission consider how best to address this concern in their deliberations.
d) Minutes – ZBA Regular Meeting July 17, 2018
A Motion was made by M. Hartmann, seconded by K. Kotzan, to Approve the Minutes of the ZBA Regular Meeting of July, 17, 2018.
Voting In favor: N. Hutchinson, K. Kotzan, M. Hartmann, D. Montano, S. Mickle; In Opposition: none; Abstaining: none. The Motion passed unanimously, 5-0-0.
A Motion was made by K. Kotzan, seconded by S. Mickle, to adjourn the September 18, 2018 Regular Meeting.
Voting in favor: N. Hutchinson, K. Kotzan, M. Hartmann, D. Montano, S. Mickle. Opposed: none; Abstaining: none. The motion passed unanimously, 5-0-0.
The meeting was adjourned at 10:42 PM.
Respectfully submitted,
Nancy Hutchinson
Nancy Hutchinson
The next regularly scheduled ZBA Meeting will be held on
Tuesday, October 16, 2018 at 7:00 PM
in the Mezzanine Conference Room,
Memorial Town Hall at 52 Lyme Street, Old Lyme, CT.
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