MEMBERS PRESENT: Patrick Kennedy, Chair, Bart Pacekonis, Mario Marrero,
Viney Wilson, Elizabeth Kuehnel, David H. Sorenson, Bill Carroll
ALTERNATES PRESENT: Kevin Foley, Gary Pitcock
STAFF PRESENT: Michele Lipe, Town Planner
APPLICATIONS TO BE OFFICIALLY RECEIVED:
Appl 11-20P, Capitol Region Education Council (CREC) Zone Change—request for zone change from I-291 Corridor Development Zone to Rural Residential Overlay Zone for 1.66+/- acres on property located at R007 Long Hill Road (westerly side of Long Hill Road, northerly of I-291)
PUBLIC HEARING – MADDEN ROOM
Chair, Kennedy called the meeting to order at 7:30 p.m. Commissioner D. Sorenson read legal notice.
- Appl. 11-19P, William Mangino—request for a renewal of the two-year temporary and conditional permit to allow two apartments on property located at 272 Pierce Road, RR zone.
Merle Mangino was present for the application. He indicated the two apartments continue to be occupied by family members and nothing has changed.
Michele Lipe, Town Planner provided the following Planning report:
- Request for a renewal of a two-year temporary and conditional permit for two in-law apartments at 272 Pierce Road, RR zone. These apartments were originally created through a temporary and conditional permit granted by the ZBA in 1989. The most recent approval expired in 2009. The applicant is now renewing that approval.
- The wording of the Temporary and Conditional permit regulations is that “Temporary and conditional permits may be granted by the Commission for a period not to exceed two years. Such approval may be given after a Public Hearing if, in the judgment of the Commission, the public convenience and welfare with substantially served, and the appropriate use of neighboring property will not be substantially or permanently injured, and traffic and other hazards will not result from such use”.
- The RR zone allows for both accessory apartments and in-law apartments. However, the regulations do not allow for the creation of more than one accessory/in-law apartment. In addition, there are no provisions in our regulations for multiple apartments in single-family zones.
If this application is approved, the Planning Department has no modifications to request. We would recommend that the standard approval conditions apply:
This approval is for two in-law apartments for a family member/relative only. When the in-law apartments are no longer occupied by a relative of the family, the apartments cannot be treated as a second dwelling unit. Instead, the kitchens must be removed and the living areas must be converted into other living space for the main dwelling.
This permit will expire in two years, on July 12, 2013, and will have to be renewed at that time if the use is to be continued.
The Chair asked for questions.
Commissioner Pacekonis asked about the 2009 permit which had expired and why it had not been renewed.
Lipe responded that the staff had tried various times to contact the applicant.
Merle Mangino responded his brother has been out of the country working in Moscow a great deal of the time and did not respond to the notifications. He indicated that they will make sure to be more responsive in the future.
Have there been any complaints? Lipe responded that there had not.
The public hearing closed at 7:40 PM.
REGULAR MEETING: MADDEN ROOM
CALL TO ORDER:
PUBLIC PARTICIPATION:
Corey Lochs, reporter for the Journal Inquirer, stated she would no longer be covering South Windsor news. She will be covering theater and doing movie reviews. She indicated that she had enjoyed her years covering the town and that Corey Garthman will now be covering the South Windsor news.
NEW BUSINESS:
Discussion/Decision/Action regarding the following:
- Appl. 11-19P, William Mangino—request for a renewal of the two-year temporary and conditional permit to allow two apartments on property located at 272 Pierce Road, RR zone.
Commissioner Sorenson made a motion to approve the application with the following conditions:
This approval is for two in-law apartments for a family member/relative only. When the in-law apartments are no longer occupied by a relative of the family, the apartments cannot be treated as a second dwelling unit. Instead, the kitchens must be removed and the living areas must be converted into other living space for the main dwelling.
This permit will expire in two years, on July 12, 2013, and will have to be renewed at that time if the use is to be continued. Owner(s) of the property must reside in an apartment or the main dwelling unit.
Commissioner Pacekonis seconded the motion. The motion passed unanimously.
2. PZC sponsored public hearing to review Section 6.5 Signs—to gather community
input as to effectiveness of existing regulations.
Lipe reviewed the proposed changes to the sign regulations that the Planning Department drafted as a result of input from the public hearing.
Commissioner Pitcock asked if symbols are considered signs. Michele Lipe said yes, example given: McDonald arches, scissors at a hair salon.
The Commission discussed the draft. The proposed changes primarily address the size of building signage in industrial and commercial zones, the number and location of signs allowed on a property and the changes to the temporary sign provision. Lipe also distributed a document that compiled the temporary sign regulation from some surrounding times for the Commission’s use.
It was the consensus of the PZC to send this draft to public hearing to gather input from the community.
- Town Plan of Conservation and Development Update interview with consulting firms, the schedule will be as follows (see attached):
8:00 p.m. Milone & MacBroom
Mike Zuba, Associate and Project Manager and Rebecca Auger, Senior Planner were present to discuss their proposal. They reviewed their Planning background, their planning philosophy and briefly discussed the history of the firm and the expertise within the firm available to help in the preparation of the plan update.
Zuba and Auger presented a powerpoint which outlined the process that they would suggest for the update. They recommend the Commission create a steering committee of representatives of other agencies/commission to help identify issues and concerns in the community. This committee would help in establishing priorities and action steps necessary to achieve defined goals.
They reviewed the steps to preparing the plan which include: Assembling Planning Team, Plan Background, Existing Conditions, Identify Key Issues, Special Studies, Memoranda Review, Public Engagement, Public Communication, Public Consultation, Public Participation, Goals, Policies and Actions, Draft Plan & Final Plan.
The meeting was opened up to Commissioner’s questions:
Commissioner Pacekonis asked how many difference ways towns should have to get input from the public. Mr. Zuba said it all depends on the town. There is no standard. Hartford set a goal to have 1,000 people take part in the update process.
Commissioner Pacekonis questioned what special studies would they recommend doing. Zuba stated they may look to do a special focus area plan of an area of town (e.g. Route 5 corridor), but ultimately the issues raised by the Commission would help decide what studies need to be conducted.
Commissioner Marrero asked about the steering committee and how it would be operate. Zuba stated they would facilitate the discussion around key issues and work through any conflicts to establish common goals and strategic steps to meet those goals.
Commissioner Pitcock asked if they are familiar with the town’s GIS. Zuba stated he was and that the data the town already had available would be very useful in the update process.
Commissioner Pacekonis asked if they have reviewed the town’s current plan.
Auger indicted they had reviewed the existing plan and felt that it is lacking a clear vision.
When asked what other plan they have prepared in a similar community to South Windsor, Zuba responded that North Haven is very similar to South Windsor in size and that they are both suburban communities outside of a larger city. Many of the same issues arise.
Commissioner Wilson spoke about Open Space Task Force, its make up and how well the group has worked over the years with very little conflict.
Commissioner Foley asked who would be in the committee. Zuba responded it could be made up whoever the PZC wanted to include.
Zuba asked when the commission would be making a decision. Chairman Kennedy said they would be discussing the proposals in 2 weeks.
9:00 CME Associates, Inc.
John Guszkowski, Director of Planning Services and Paula Stahl, Subconsultant, of Stahl & Associates, LLC were present to discuss their proposal.
Guszkowski indicated that CME is local firm serving Connecticut communities since 1973. They currently have a staff of over 40 and are diversely-talented professionals. He has teamed up with Paula Stahl on this proposal.
Ms. Stahl reviewed her background which has included municipal finance director for several years and she later received a landscape architect degree. She has been working with communities on topics such as land use education and community outreach. They have also partnered with Attorney Richard Roberts and Attorney Kenneth Slater from the law firm of Halloran and Sage for any legal advice that may be required.
Guszkowsi discussed their approach. With guidance from the Planning and Zoning Commission they would review the status of the many current plans of the different agencies identifying overlapping areas; establish guiding principles, identify key issues/concerns and prioritize significant issues; determine goals. They would also be looking at the current town plan to determine what has been achieved, what work is left and whether any unfinished goals are still relevant to today’s objectives.
The study would also include community outreach which can take many different forms depending on what the Commission determines to be most appropriate. The Planning & Zoning Commission would provide the leadership; the consultant’s job is to help guide the Commission through the data collection and community outreach to help frame the issues, establish guiding principles and develop strategic responses.
Some examples of specific issues to South Windsor that could be examined include the 2010 Census Data and changes from previous years and what that might mean for future needs in the community; fiscal impacts of certain types of developments and how they affect the mill rate; redevelopment ideas for the town center or the route 5 area; preservation of farmland, etc.
Stahl discussed the public involvement part of the project. She suggested holding public forums with focused stakeholder groups or conducting a charrette involving the community to engage the citizens. She also suggested the use of a visual survey to help folks to visualize what it is they would like to see developed or preserved in the future.
Through all the information that is gathered it will then be brought back to the PZC to filter and assimilate into their planning document as they develop goals for the future.
The actual plan document that is created could be structured in several ways and it would be up to the PZC as to what format they would like to use. There are several key components that are necessary to be a part of the plan and a good plan should include achievable and implementable goals.
Commissioner Pacekonis asked how they would solicit public input.
Guszkowski recommended the use of social media such as a Facebook page and/or SurveyMonkey to conduct surveys.
Commissioner Pacekonis asked which studies they would recommend.
At this point they would need to do some more analysis of the existing studies that have been done in town in the past and determine where the gaps are before making specific recommendations.
Commissioner Pacekonis moved to extend the meeting passed 10 PM. Commissioner Kuehnel seconded the motion. The motion passed unanimously.
Commissioner Pacekonis asked the consultant to compare our town to other towns they have worked with. Guszkowski said the Town of Windham was similar in size although the demographics and development pressures were different.
Commissioner Pacekonis stated that the quality of the examples of the projects was visually interesting; however he did not feel the presentation accurately reflected the end product.
BONDS: None
MINUTES: None
OLD BUSINESS: None
OTHER BUSINESS: None
CORRESPONDENCE/REPORTS: None
Pacekonis made a motion to adjourn the meeting at 10:05 PM; Sorenson seconded the motion. The motion passed unanimously.
Respectfully Submitted:
Michele R. Lipe, AICP
Town Planner
Approved PZC 7/26/11
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