Planning and Zoning Commission
40 Old Farms Road Willington, CT 06279
October 4, 2016 7:30 PM
Meeting Minutes
Roll Call
Members Present
Andrew Marco – Chairman
Doug Roberts – Vice-Chairman
Walter Parsell
Ed Standish
Brittney Skorupski
Members Absent:
John Sullivan – Secretary
Also Present:
Susan Yorgensen
Chairman Marco called the meeting to order at 7:33.
Regular Meeting
Update of Plan of Conservation and Development Mr. Glenn Chalder representing Planimetrics.
Chairman Marco gave an overview of the Plan of Conservation and Development which is updated every 10 years. He said it takes a year or so to complete and has to be completed in 2018.
Glenn Chalder introduced himself and gave his background. He said Planimetrics helps communities plan the PoCD and re-write the zoning regulations. He said the statutes have changed since the last PoCD and you cannot be 1 day over the 10 year mark of completion; the target date is February 18, 2018.
Mr. Chalder handed out binders to the commission and walked through the process. He said he will provide updated documents as they go along and asked the commission to please review them prior to the meetings. He added that he hopes to have 1 meeting a month.
Mr. Chalder reviewed the information in the binder and said there are 3 parts; the 1st part is conservation, to protect and preserve, the 2nd is development strategies and the 3rd is infrastructure. A brief discussion was held on maintaining the rural character of the town.
Mr. Chalder said he will set up a community workshop meeting in a month or so to get the Willington residents involved and find out what is on their mind. A discussion was held on getting the word out which will include, but not limited to, the town website and Facebook. Mr. Chalder said they will also place 18x24 signs around town that read “Plan like your kids will live here”. He said 10 days before the meeting, another sign will go up that reads “The most fun you will ever have at a public meeting”.
A discussion was held on a contact person and it was suggested that they contact S. Yorgensen and she will direct them to the right person. A. Marco said he will contact all other commissions to promote involvement. A discussion was held on a location for the meetings; Mr. Chalder said he would look at the space upstairs. He said the meeting will not be set up as a regular meeting; the tables will be set up with different exercises so that it is more like a community event. He said the second part of the process is to review the plan and come up with strategies and the 3rd part will be to prepare, define and adopt the new PoCD. Mr. Chalder went over the timeline that is included in the binder.
Mr. Chalder went over the next steps which include interviewing people in town and asked for suggested people from the commission. He said he would like the community meeting on November 1st and will work with S. Yorgensen on a location.
A discussion was held on the layout and format of the current plan and the amendment. S. Yorgensen said some things are duplicated in different sections throughout the plan. Mr. Chalder went through the list of towns where the commission can review his work; 2 of which are Bolton and New Hartford.
Mr. Chalder said he would like to talk to 100 or so people and get their input. He said they can also do a telephone survey if that is something the commission is interested in. Mr. Chalder went over the Vision Statement samples provided and asked the commission to review them and let him know if something jumps out at them.
A discussion was held on the current businesses in town and the businesses that have left. A discussion was held on the crumbling foundations. A discussion was held on bringing new business into town and increasing the tax base.
Mr. Chalder went over the topics that could be included as part of the plan; this was also included in the binder. He asked for suggestions from the commission going forward. A. Marco said they should consider things like the current draught in Connecticut, crumbling foundations and other events that are currently occurring when making changes to the planning and zoning regulations. A. Marco asked, regarding the timeline, where does the public involvement end. Mr. Chalder said there will be 3 main events that the public will be involved in and went over the timeline. He said they could add another public event if the commission feels it is necessary.
S. Yorgensen said the 1st Tuesday of the month will be the workshops and the 3rd Tuesday of the month will be normal business. A discussion was held on the meeting times and changing the meeting time to 7:00. Mr. Chalder said, in his experience, the meeting shouldn’t take more than 2 hours. S. Yorgensen said the 1st meeting of the month could be from 7:00 to 9:00. A discussion was held on adding special meetings.
Mr. Chalder said he will work with S. Yorgensen on all the operational details of the meetings.
Meeting adjourned at 9:02.
Respectfully Submitted,
Michele Manas
Michele Manas
Recording Clerk
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