MINUTES
OLD LYME ZONING COMMISSION
REGULAR MEETING
Monday – January 11, 2016, 7:30 P.M.
Meeting Hall at Memorial Town Hall
52 Lyme Street, Old Lyme, CT
1. Convene Meeting; announcement of voting members.
Present: Jane Cable, Chair, John Johnson, Vice Chair, J. Marsh, Secretary, Gil Soucie and Stacey Winchell, alternate. Also present: Keith Rosenfeld, Land Use Coordinator
REGULAR MEETING:
1. Special Permit Application seeking the expansion of a parking lot under Sections 13.A and 13.B of the Zoning Regulations on property located at 83 Hartford Avenue, The Sugar Shack, Keith Grills, owner/applicant
A Motion was made by J. Johnson, seconded by J. Marsh to receive the Special Permit Application seeking the expansion of a parking lot under Sections 13.A and 13.B of the Zoning Regulations on property located at 83 Hartford Avenue and set a Public Hearing for Monday, February 8, 2016 at 7:30 p.m. in the Meeting Hall. No discussion and a vote was taken. In favor: J. Cable, J. Marsh, J. Johnson, G. Soucie, S. Winchell Opposed: None Abstaining: None The motion passed unanimously. 5-0-0
2. Special Permit Application to allow a change of use from a plumbing business to a restaurant/deli on the first floor, the second floor will remain as a three bedroom private residence under Section 13.B and Section 5.11.3 of the Zoning Regulations on property located at 286 Shore Road, Dimitri Tolchinski, owner/applicant
A Motion was made by J. Johnson, seconded by G. Soucie to receive the Special Permit Application to allow a change of use from a plumbing business to a restaurant/deli on the first floor, the second floor will remain as a three bedroom private residence under Section 13.B and Section 5.11.3 of the Zoning Regulations on property located at 286 Shore Road and set a Public Hearing for Monday, February 8, 2016 at 7:30 p.m. in the Meeting Hall. No discussion and a vote was taken. In favor: J. Cable, J. Marsh, J. Johnson, G. Soucie, S. Winchell Opposed: None Abstaining: None The motion passed unanimously. 5-0-0
3. New Business – Election of Officers
A Motion was made by J. Johnson, seconded by S. Winchell to nominate and elect the existing officers: Jane Cable, Chair, John Johnson, Vice Chair and Jane Marsh, Secretary. No discussion and a vote was taken. In favor: J. Cable, J. Marsh, J. Johnson, G. Soucie, S. Winchell Opposed: None Abstaining: None The motion passed unanimously. 5-0-0
4. Old Business – None
Zoning Commission Minutes January 11, 2016 2
5. Approval of Minutes – Minutes of the November 9, 2015 Public Hearing and Regular Meeting
A Motion was made by G. Soucie, seconded by J. Johnson to approve the minutes of the November 9, 2015 Regular Meeting as presented. No discussion and a vote was taken. In favor: J. Cable, J. Marsh, J. Johnson, G. Soucie, S. Winchell Opposed: None Abstaining: None The motion passed unanimously. 5-0-0
6. Correspondence – Letter from Charles Delinks re discussion of intent, interpretation and enforcement of the Zoning Regulations, more specifically Section 19.5 and 19.8 [signs on residential property], Section 20.2 [enforcement and penalties] and Section 20.3.4.1 [plot plan].
Mr. Delinks presented to the Commission a number of photos, permits, emails and zoning regulation sections relating to a “sign” on his neighbor’s property, a fence on the private Right of Way (ROW) and the lack of proper enforcement committed by the Zoning Enforcement Officer (ZEO) relating to those items.
A discussion ensued, relating to the painted message. Here, the members agreed that the message was not for the public; with only the Delinks seeing it there. Per the Town’s zoning definition, this was not a sign and could not be regulated, no matter how offensive it has seemed. They were empathetic to his problem but saw no solution that involved the Commission. Later in the evening, Mr. Delinks acknowledged that the message was now hidden by the fence.
As per the ROW issue, the Commission believed that this would be a “civil” issue between those allowed to use it for access and his neighbors on whose property the ROW was located. This was not concern for the Zoning Commission. Private easements and ROW’s were just that, private and were not subject to any zoning commission jurisdiction. Mr. Delinks said that he had no rights to the ROW (an easement to the water’s edge) because his property had direct access to the river.
A discussion was then had concerning the actions of the ZEO and his attempts to dissuade a neighbor from being a nuisance to Mr. Delinks. It was agreed that the ZEO had followed all necessary requirements and Mr. Delinks acknowledged that several plastic “hoop” greenhouses had been removed due to the action of the ZEO. He was grateful for those results. There was no other discussion.
7. Zoning Enforcement Report –
Keith Rosenfeld, Zoning Enforcement Officer briefly went over the ZEO report. The ZEO report was e-mailed previously and paper copies were handed out. Mr. Johnson briefly discussed the possibility of combining the Planning and the Zoning Commissions.
8. Miscellaneous/Adjournment
A Motion to adjourn was made by J. Marsh, seconded by J. Johnson. No discussion and a vote was taken. In favor: J. Cable, J. Marsh, J. Johnson, G. Soucie, S. Winchell In opposition: None Abstaining: None The Motion carried 5-0-0 The meeting adjourned at 8:55 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Keith Rosenfeld, Land Use Coordinator
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