[0:01] Mr. Hammer is out. We will not be sitting as chair. I am going to be sitting as chair.

[0:09] I'm going to be sitting as chair.

[0:10] The roll. Mr. Hammer is not here. Peter Lambroney.

[0:15] I am here. I am here. Mr. Brecklin. Mr. Dean.

[0:20] Here. The Drake. Here. Mr. Edwards.

[0:22] in the courts in a Lori,

[0:27] Travis, you're Miss Cucola?

[0:29] Yeah.

[0:30] Sir, Kleene,

[0:32] there's two times here.

[0:34] Okay, so I think everyone is seated then because we have,

[0:38] you have a few people missing, right?

[0:42] One, two, three, four, five, six, seven.

[0:46] Yeah, everybody's seated.

[0:48] All right, first order of business.

[0:50] What is here?

[0:54] This is Maytash 24 referral. This is the one that we had seen in our last meeting, but we tabled it. There are a few questions about why it is that the town, why it appears that the town is giving an easement to itself.

[1:10] for a portion of the trail that's going on physical services, which is not the case, but

[1:14] I did invite Derrick Ragger, the town engineer to be here to explain it.

[1:18] So he is here and Derrick, the floor is yours in case there's any questions, but I think

[1:25] you'll be able to run through it.

[1:29] He answered the question in two minutes when I asked him, so I apologize for not being able

[1:32] to answer it when it first came up.

[1:35] Good evening, my name is Derek Gregor, I'm town engineer.

[1:39] I'm here tonight for an easement that we need a referral on from the commission.

[1:44] As you may be aware, the town has got a significant amount of state funding through the Lots of Program to construct a trail from the Putnam Bridge to Main Street.

[1:55] The entirety of the trail is located either in town or state right away, except for this one, about 175 foot segment of the trail.

[2:03] that is technically on the physical services property along the frontage of it.

[2:09] So because it's state funds are constructing the trail, the state's requiring us to have a trail easement across the frontage of the property in order to move ahead with awarding the contracts and starting construction.

[2:21] So it doesn't, it doesn't, it's not intuitive as to why that's required, it's just a state requirement.

[2:28] So, we're just trying to meet that.

[2:30] It's been reviewed by the town attorney.

[2:32] We're looking for a positive referral from the commission,

[2:34] then we'll take it to town council to accept it.

[2:38] Very good.

[2:39] Go.

[2:40] Sorry.

[2:44] That's pretty straightforward.

[2:45] I think one question I have is,

[2:49] what's the timetable for this work?

[2:53] I mean, it starts from putting them right,

[2:56] and goes all the way over to Main Street, I guess,

[2:58] is the first phase.

[3:00] When do you think that will start?

[3:02] Projects are a bit bid.

[3:04] We have selected a contractor.

[3:06] We haven't awarded yet because we're waiting for final DOT

[3:08] authorization that we're hoping we'll come this week.

[3:11] But as far as construction starting,

[3:13] we expected to start next month.

[3:15] And given it's so late in the season,

[3:17] there were a number of delays related

[3:18] to some of the paperwork DOT required.

[3:21] And we expect to extend it to next spring

[3:23] and be complete by summer.

[3:24] So that's the schedule for right now.

[3:28] And is this going to be all paved? I forget what you guys had in mind.

[3:33] Yeah, the whole of the trail will be a 10 foot wide paved multi-use trail all the way from

[3:38] the bridge to Broad Street. The segment between Broad Street and Main Street were considering

[3:44] kind of entering or being in like the downtown area of Old Westfield. So in talking with

[3:49] the HDC, we decided to narrow the trail a couple feet. So instead of 10 feet wide, it'll

[3:54] eight feet wide in that segment, it's going to be located on the north side of

[3:58] Marstree along the cemetery property, and that segment of trail is going to have

[4:03] a color to it, so rather than just typical black asphalt, it's going to be a more

[4:07] of a colored asphalt is what we're going to use. We expect as we continue, we do have

[4:13] similar state funding for reconstructing a good portion of Main Street and building a

[4:18] trail. That will be coming but we haven't even started the design on that yet, but

[4:22] But this week's spec, what gets done along Main Street, sorry, along Mars Street,

[4:26] between Main and Broad Street, as part of this project, is what would be continued

[4:30] when we extend the trail in the future.

[4:32] So just one last question.

[4:33] So the Broad Street to Mars Street intersection there that has that kind of weird

[4:41] entrance to the left, is that going to be reconstructed as part of this program?

[4:46] Yes.

[4:47] Okay, great.

[4:50] and we'll eliminate that slip ramp that you're referring to, or slip road.

[4:54] Yeah, right there.

[4:55] Perfect.

[4:56] Any other questions, Dave?

[4:58] Most of us.

[5:03] The only segment that has sidewalks is between, really, between Main Street and Broad Street, which is one of the reasons why the sidewalk on the north side of the road will be removed, but there will be sidewalk on the south side. So that's one of the reasons why we're not going to maintain the 10 foot width. We're going to narrow it up to eight because there is a sidewalk available within the same stretch of road. They go down Mar street going to 91. There's no sidewalk in there anywhere. No,

[5:36] it's the

[5:36] The two questions I have one is on the area that you're putting it into the physical services property.

[5:45] Is that going to take out any trees or bushes or anything because the survey is just blank?

[5:53] Yeah, the survey, the easement plan doesn't show it.

[5:55] I did include in the packet the schematic view of the entire trail, so I'm not sheet 30 of 80.

[6:02] And that's that it does it does show existing features there there are some existing trees that will remain

[6:08] Some existing landscaping rocks and such that will remain as part of the project

[6:13] They they designed the trail to leave those features in place. Okay.

[6:19] Yeah, I mean, I see where it is

[6:22] It just doesn't show anything so features robbery, right? I guess the kind of the obvious question is why

[6:29] Why do we do this is it assuming people are coming around?

[6:34] That corner is so fast on their bikes that they're not going to be able to stay in the road

[6:39] I think in this area we really as you head east from broad street

[6:44] We're kind of just off the side of the road with a small shelf

[6:47] I think it's just to give it a little bit more character pull it away from the road as you continue around the corner as you head towards

[6:53] I-91 on ramps

[6:55] It's going to be in that large it's going to cross the channel

[6:57] It's going to be in that large open area between Marstree and the on ramp for I-91 Southbound

[7:02] right. So at this point here is where it kind of starts to pull further away from the road

[7:06] and give a little more buffer area for users. Okay. Thanks. Any other questions? Dave?

[7:16] I kind of have a rough question. Again, that's obviously it's not up to me, but why are we doing this

[7:22] now? How many people really want to go from our street to 91? Is there a lot of people who've been

[7:27] asking for that. Well, this is mining everything. I'm just not sure if the people are going

[7:32] to drive down to all weather fields and take a walk to 91 to have someone pick them up,

[7:37] is that the idea here? This is part of the state's regional transportation plan. So when

[7:42] they built the trail that goes over the Putnam Bridge and made the connection to Norbuk

[7:46] Ave in Glastonbury, the intent always was to continue that to downtown or Main Street

[7:52] and old weather's field so people could travel by bike walking or if they choose from

[7:57] Main Street and all those fields in Norfolk Avenue in Glassenbury. So this is an extension

[8:01] of that where the state left it off kind of left us with nothing which is why we've had

[8:05] this temporary trail. Did you have parked a lot near the 91 bridge they put that in? I know

[8:11] it they talked about not sure if they did it. Yes that was put in by the state so there is a parking lot

[8:15] at that location. Is anybody parked there? I've seen vehicles work there yeah. There's another one at

[8:22] the far southern end at the

[8:24] unclean class of the eastern end.

[8:26] So Dave, I crossed that bridge

[8:28] quite a bit with my bike.

[8:30] Okay, but you lived there.

[8:31] I don't understand.

[8:33] And I do see cyclists that park

[8:36] there to answer your question.

[8:38] Not that many, but they do.

[8:39] Yeah, I mean, I walked over at

[8:42] one time just to see what it was

[8:43] like and it was scary.

[8:47] Scary?

[8:48] Yeah, because you're not really

[8:50] separated from the traffic.

[8:52] I can.

[8:53] And also, you have to get off your bike if you had one

[8:58] to go over the bridge.

[9:01] OK.

[9:02] What are you thinking, Paul?

[9:04] Not that I didn't realize that there

[9:06] were any drills and chills that I've been missing in riding

[9:09] my bike.

[9:09] I haven't been down there, so I'm going to try that.

[9:11] It's fun.

[9:12] It's fun, you should try.

[9:14] It is concrete between you and the first car.

[9:16] It's about two feet of concrete between the bike and the car.

[9:19] But it is close.

[9:22] Yeah.

[9:22] We had asked DOT to put some kind of a physical barrier on top of that concrete wall.

[9:27] Whether it be offense, a plexiglass.

[9:30] We've had multiple conversations with them.

[9:32] I mean, today they are claiming that they can't do it.

[9:34] We asked them to do as part of this upcoming bridge rehab project, too.

[9:38] We're still pushing that issue, but they're claiming that the wind loads associated with putting anything like that up there is an issue for the bridge.

[9:45] So well, I'll be doing it again in five years anyway. I think this is about the sixth time through. Yeah, they keep

[9:52] the glass on very side then

[9:55] Of the of the of the trail segment. Yeah, yes, it's completed safe for that

[10:00] They pay for that. State, stay paid for all the way onto normal. If this is right, though, I mean, just make sure you could ride. You can park on the glass from very side, ride all the way across the Putt and Bridge. You'd come down. You'd be able to come past great, great metal road. Now it's going to only be two places that you have to cross the highway ramps. And then you're on a paved path for the rest of the way to Main Street. Yeah, there'll be a crossing. We're going to be on the south side of Mar Street until we get to broadside.

[10:29] then you cross at that new T intersection, so it's going to become a three-way stop as well.

[10:36] So the broad and marsh tree intersection be a three-way stop T intersection across to the north side by the cemetery and then continue to main street.

[10:43] Okay, and that'll go away with all the temporary sticks and lines.

[10:45] Yeah, so get rid of all that and take the trail off of Hart Street where it's temporarily been for a couple years now once this trail is built.

[10:53] So the next phases of the project, as far as the trail is concerned, is to take it up north from Main Street or really from the Keeney Center up to Cove Park.

[11:02] Okay.

[11:04] That hasn't been designed yet. We just got to consult the non-border in the last few weeks so that that'll be starting up in the coming months.

[11:14] All right. Any other questions?

[11:16] would someone like to make a motion for a positive referral to this?

[11:22] I'll move a positive referral on 824, the 100-Marsh Street proposed trail easement.

[11:30] I'll second. All in favor?

[11:33] Aye.

[11:34] Opposed?

[11:36] It carries unanimously.

[11:39] Good luck, Derek.

[11:41] Thank you.

[11:42] Well, Ashley, Derek is here also for our next and only other agenda item under

[11:46] new business and this one I'll turn over there again but it's silly for me to introduce

[11:55] it. I didn't realize this was not a town road so it's a similar, similar area. Go ahead

[12:02] Derek, I'll turn over you and while you're starting, if you look at your packet, did this

[12:07] This is this one you make this one just make it into the packet yet.

[12:11] Yeah, this is not the one last week.

[12:14] No, this is a new one and actually we weren't sure if we were going to make an impact

[12:18] for tonight.

[12:19] But in order to keep the next meeting agenda sort of light, we added it.

[12:24] Yeah, that is.

[12:24] This is it, right?

[12:26] Okay.

[12:27] So, this is indirectly related to the trail project.

[12:32] What happened when DOT was reviewing final plans for approval.

[12:36] They realize that a segment of Great Metal Road was intended to be officially released to the town back in the 1980s.

[12:45] Apparently that never happened.

[12:47] So what they're doing is, and if you have the colored plan in your sheet that I had submitted in your packets,

[12:54] the area that's highlighted yellow is existing state right away technically that will become town right away.

[13:01] And the area in green is an existing state parcel that includes part of great metal road.

[13:06] And there'll be a swath through that right away that'll also be released to the town.

[13:11] Since the 1980s, the town had agreed to maintain the road, so we have been maintaining it.

[13:16] We plow it, we were responsible for road repairs, guide rail and things like that.

[13:20] So it's really no change in how we've been operating other than DOT's looking to make it official and release these highlighted areas to the town to become standard local right away.

[13:31] the area that you see at the bottom of the sheet, to the east.

[13:34] That's where at Great Middle Road enters the route three right away for the state.

[13:40] So through there, it's technically an easement to the town, to cross through the state right away.

[13:45] That'll remain in that, we maintain Great Middle Road all the way from Burbank Road,

[13:51] from the I-91 off ramps all the way to the metals anyway at this point.

[13:55] So we are, I've been having discussions with DOT for many years about the fact that they've used this area many times for material storage for a lot of their state projects and highway projects and

[14:08] be honest with you, the road has taken a beating over the years and the ratings have gone down pretty significantly more than you would expect.

[14:16] So I had to put it in my memo, I mean, we are having conversations with them about seeing if we can get some kind of a commitment to them to,

[14:23] if not, repay the road at least work with us to fix it

[14:26] if the town is being asked to accept it at this point.

[14:29] So I didn't want to hold up the process

[14:32] or seeking your referral.

[14:34] So I'm looking for that, assuming the road even stays

[14:36] as it is, which is likely the case,

[14:39] but we will pursue that before we go to the town council

[14:41] for acceptance.

[14:42] Okay, so what I understand is it puts no burden

[14:45] really on the town, right?

[14:47] It's really just status quo,

[14:48] and this is almost an administrative action.

[14:51] That's what you pretty much said, right?

[14:52] Yeah, that's correct. All right, are you good? Any other questions?

[14:57] I'll have controls figuring out where this is

[15:02] So, the top right corner of the plan, that is Burbank Road and the I-91 on an off ramps come down to that intersection, too. It's a three-way intersection. So, you can barely see it, but there kind of looks like in the vicinity of where I have that state right away to be released to the town. No, there is a driveway entrance for 100 great metal road down there, which is the Putnam Park.

[15:28] Okay, so this is the road on that side on the front of Platinum Park. Yes, and 91 is beyond it. 91 is

[15:36] to the top of the page to the west. Yes. Yeah, all right. Thank you.

[15:44] 100-year

[15:46] bloodline is runs alongside 91 if that else.

[15:51] And this doesn't impact any of the businesses down on Burbank Road or anything like that.

[15:59] No, only that they would be coming to us for encroachment permits.

[16:04] But

[16:06] yeah, I mean, frankly, we thought we had already, we thought we already owned

[16:11] this right away.

[16:12] We knew that one little strip where the, where the parcel is shown highlighted here was

[16:16] an issue, but it turns out it never really got officially transferred.

[16:20] So we've been issuing permits for work and whenever there's work in this area, there's

[16:24] not a lot down here.

[16:25] There's some utilities.

[16:26] Like I mentioned, as Dave said, it's floodplain, and like I mentioned, the 100 great metal road.

[16:31] A Putnam Park is really the only business or property that we have off of this that is used by the public.

[16:42] Another question, sorry, and I should have asked this.

[16:44] The other extension that goes up to the Puckai, is that town owned or is that stayed on, you know?

[16:50] You're talking about Burbank Road that goes up to the Puckai?

[16:54] Right, this were to continue to the north.

[16:56] Yeah, north.

[16:57] Yes, DOT has indicated that Burbank Road had gotten transferred over to the town, but the segment of Great Mudder Road had not.

[17:04] Okay.

[17:05] I mean, we checked our land records and we weren't able to locate anything and they indicated we did accept it back then.

[17:11] So it's more of a formality now just to finalize that process.

[17:19] Any other questions?

[17:23] We'll make a motion for a positive referral for a proposed

[17:28] acceptment of parcel 285.002, located on Great Metal Road.

[17:35] I'll second the motion.

[17:38] Okay, there's the motion, the second, all in favor?

[17:41] Aye.

[17:42] Opposed?

[17:43] Okay, great.

[17:45] Thank you, Derek.

[17:46] All right.

[17:46] Thank you.

[17:48] All right.

[17:49] Other business?

[17:51] The minutes?

[17:52] any questions, comments, changes to the minutes?

[17:56] I think they spelled Chris Brecklin's name on the text a bit.

[18:07] Any opinions?

[18:09] No, in the verbiage.

[18:13] It's like BRECK instead of ECH.

[18:18] Bulley noted.

[18:19] Okay. Make a motion to approve the August 18th minutes otherwise.

[18:26] Second. Second.

[18:31] Okay. All in favor.

[18:33] Thank you. All right. Staff reports.

[18:40] The only thing I would suggest and ask is that we on October,

[18:45] for our next meeting October 6th, we do have two agenda items.

[18:48] one of them is a site plan modification and then the other one is the new school on Highland Street.

[18:55] There's a public hearing for that. We're going to try to manage the agenda as of right now.

[18:59] Those are the only two items. And then I just wanted to sort of plug on October 20th. We do have a

[19:05] confirmation for a 10-slater from Halloran and Sage to come and do some. We're calling it training,

[19:11] but it's really a question and answer period. So if there are topics that anyone has questions about,

[19:16] I know that we Joe Hammer wants to talk about a special permit, but if anyone has other specific

[19:23] questions about how we operate in terms of review, please send me an email at any point between

[19:28] now and then and we're going to try to put together a list of topics. We've also invited

[19:32] the zoning board of appeals because now that they're reviewing special exceptions, they also

[19:36] had some questions. By all means, if you have questions or ideas on how we should or do do things,

[19:43] Please send me send me some ideas right are we are gonna get credit for this? I

[19:50] Don't I don't know, but we should be absolutely sure we should get that out. Yeah, I will make our report. Yeah, I have I don't know how to request that but I will absolutely do that perfect

[20:01] That's all, yeah. You sent out a memo to, I guess, a couple of us about outdoor dining across

[20:12] the street there. What, can you just talk a little bit about that? Yeah, so there have been two,

[20:18] two. Well, so the, and I should know, I didn't, because they didn't actually apply, I don't actually

[20:24] you know, the relationship. But the prior owner or the prior applicant for the old Old Town

[20:30] Cafe had had special permits for outdoor dining. Actually, most of the business, well,

[20:35] the Charles did. And so did Old Town Cafe and the special permit required them to come

[20:43] back every two years and get the permits renewed. But both the Charles and the Old Town Cafe.

[20:53] And if I get this wrong, anyone can correct me.

[20:56] But during COVID, if you recall that there was an executive order by the governor that

[21:01] allowed restaurants to have outdoor dining with some conditions that they had to be approved

[21:06] by the municipality or the state DOT, and they had to provide for ADA accommodations.

[21:12] So the sidewalk, if you had outdoor dining, you still had to make room for ADA access.

[21:15] But provided you were able to meet those conditions, you were allowed to have outdoor dining.

[21:20] And then after COVID, if you remember, some of the executive orders were made law.

[21:28] And one of those was outdoor dining is permitted by right, but as part of the site plan.

[21:35] So if I get this wrong, please correct me.

[21:38] But the idea was because most, well, all special permits generally require a site plan.

[21:44] And if the outdoor dining was shown on a site plan

[21:47] that was approved, then the outdoor dining given.

[21:53] It became a matter of right.

[21:54] It became a matter of right,

[21:55] but if it was approved on a site plan.

[21:57] So if you never had outdoor dining before COVID,

[22:00] and you just had it during COVID,

[22:02] you would still need to get the site plan approval,

[22:04] the way I understand it.

[22:05] But if you did have a site plan approval

[22:07] for outdoor dining,

[22:09] it is now approved as part of your site plan.

[22:13] So what's the issue?

[22:15] So, there is no issue, it's just that they note the, provide, well, there is a bit of a nuance.

[22:21] So, the way I understand it is, any conditions that were part of the site plan approval

[22:26] or the special permit do remain in effect,

[22:31] unless they exceed.

[22:32] I think there was some state law that says you can't have it past 9 p.m.

[22:36] But, hours of operation, number of seats, as I understand it, because those characteristics

[22:41] or elements were part of the site plan, that because the site plan remains the authoritative

[22:45] document that controls the site that those also remain in effect.

[22:48] So does old town have a site plan?

[22:51] They do.

[22:51] Okay.

[22:52] Yeah.

[22:53] And so I did tell the applicant that if they wanted to change the hours of operation the

[22:57] number of seats, any of the conditions that were part of their approval, they wouldn't

[23:01] need to come back for a site plan modification, and I believe that is the case, but they do

[23:06] not need to come back for a special permit every two years.

[23:09] Okay.

[23:09] Yeah.

[23:11] Tough.

[23:12] Dave?

[23:14] The, uh, Congressional Church.

[23:17] Can you give us a little summary about the deal, because it affects us a little bit,

[23:22] the deal of town's making with them in terms of paying them, is that we never, nobody's

[23:26] ever said to me that we're paying, going to pay the church a fair amount of money for

[23:31] parking.

[23:33] When you have an update on that, or, well, I've only heard things about that.

[23:37] No, I can say I've only heard, I generally don't pay too much.

[23:39] attention until I see something or I'm asked to get involved or I see something in paper or

[23:43] document, but I have not seen any lease agreements. I've only heard that we intend to enter into

[23:48] a lease agreement for the congregational church for a number of spaces and in exchange for that a

[23:53] cost share of the maintenance required. But I have not seen a lease agreement and I apologize

[23:58] if I'm behind on that. Has there been one introduced? Was there one in front of the town council? I've only

[24:34] land we would be the. Yeah I think the way it's written it's like if we're leasing

[24:39] out town land we have to do an 824 but if we're leasing someone else's we may not but I think we

[24:49] have in the past like for the transition academy and things like that. I would wonder if it's at least

[24:57] Maybe it's a license.

[25:00] Well, a license to, for the town to occupy certain number of spaces on, no, it's, it's a lease. They're going to randomly check every month. Yeah. It's an actual income, right? Yeah. Again, we'll see what we do down there. That's why it's, if that's something that gets firmed up, I think there would be a big deal. I mean, I'm thinking about parking decisions. Well, the town leases a whole bunch of parking spaces. It makes the big difference in what we do the future just changes.

[25:29] a lot of stuff, right?

[25:31] Well, that's what I'm getting at.

[25:32] We need to know that, right?

[25:33] We may recall the last one that we approved, the restaurant, I mean, the discussion was

[25:40] that the town was going to go into an agreement and provide a bunch of parking, you know, that

[25:45] was one of the reasons why I kind of backed off on the parking requirement because if we

[25:49] get something from the church, that makes a big difference.

[25:52] It would be important to understand or have notice of, you know, what are the particular

[25:58] or at least visions in terms of what rights each party has

[26:02] with regards to the property.

[26:05] Dave, did you get your info from EDIC?

[26:08] Or what about, okay.

[26:09] Does he represent the Saudi-DIC?

[26:10] Yeah, I can't read EDIC, he cannot.

[26:12] Again, I'm sure it's early in the game,

[26:15] but it works, we're gonna write them a check every month.

[26:18] Which...

[26:18] It'll be interesting to see the details there.

[26:20] The details there, you know.

[26:22] And the other thing,

[26:23] 184 Maine, that the town's getting sued on that,

[26:28] you have an update on that.

[26:32] Only that they appeal the decision. So I don't I wouldn't say I

[26:36] got corrected on something. There's not the right word yet. Right. Yeah. They're not swell.

[26:43] No. But yes, they're taking us to court. Well, but they're they're appealing to the decision.

[26:49] They're appealing. So again, keep up to speak with that. Let us know.

[26:52] Yes.

[26:53] What was it going in

[26:56] there?

[26:56] A grieved party, a neighbor is appealing a decision,

[27:03] we're currently compiling the documentation

[27:07] for the record and I did ask our council, and I'm not sure if the, if there's any reason

[27:16] that I should also be including or identifying the fact that not less than six months ago

[27:21] the same app, the similar application was denied unanimously, but I'm not going to include

[27:26] that unless they tell me to, I assume that's completely irrelevant, but I'm creating the

[27:31] record and we're going to put it together.

[27:33] Yeah, I think the only reason you would do that is if during the course of the second

[27:37] hearing, the applicant said that they wanted to have that be part of the record for the

[27:42] second hearing.

[27:44] Otherwise, you don't generally.

[27:46] They repeatedly mentioned the prior application and that they modified it.

[27:50] So they, it was introduced, I mean, and I could have, I'll have, I'd be interested to know

[27:54] know how to do this, but they did, the commission intentionally did not introduce real facts

[28:00] from the prior application, but the applicant did willingly and so did the applicant's

[28:03] attorney.

[28:03] So, Rob, just, I'm going to assemble the record for what it is, and now I'll find out what

[28:08] happens from there.

[28:10] Right.

[28:10] Thank you.

[28:13] Anything else?

[28:17] Just that we are making great progress.

[28:19] We did the zoning, the talent council adopted a amendment to the municipal code that now

[28:30] allows municipal official who's designated to do so to issue municipal citations for zoning

[28:37] violations, wetland violations, and any other code violations in the municipal code, not

[28:44] just property maintenance, which is going to be a very good instrument for us to be faster

[28:50] and more responsive for complaints beyond just what is commonly known as blight.

[28:54] So it's a strange thing to get excited for in terms of enforcement, but what I told my staff and everyone is that

[29:01] You know, we're not so much excited that we're gonna be enforcing, you know, we're coming down on people, but it is expected

[29:06] We're really enforcing the regulations that the vast majority of the community advised by so

[29:10] And we have our first hearing on Friday again. It's strange to be excited about that, but we're making

[29:16] Who's gonna do it though? It's the problem is nobody's around actually do this. What?

[29:20] But forcing it.

[29:22] We have a new part-time zoning official, Cassandra at the end.

[29:26] I know we all, we know her as a reporting secretary, but she actually does quite a bit

[29:30] more.

[29:30] So she, myself, Charles, and the new part-time zoning, he's done 471 inspections already since

[29:38] May 29th.

[29:39] I think that we've sent out.

[29:40] We have, I just heard today, we have five, the naming conventions terrible in terms of

[29:46] citation.

[29:46] but we have gone, we have five properties that have gone through the process, they do not request a hearing, we're going to be seeking a request for a judgment in our favor, and we have two hearings.

[30:00] 3, actually, maybe now that I think we got another one today. Questionable, but we have, we have two, and you know, we're, the benefit is that, and this, I was surprised I, because I came in the weather field and I couldn't figure it out, is that a lot of the reason that some of the properties that have repeatedly been blighted is because we are not able to, we have not, for a number of reasons, followed the process.

[30:29] us either correctly or we have not documented it correctly because what we, what we have not

[30:34] done that we're doing now is a very, and I don't want to blame, there is no one to blame.

[30:38] The enforcement process is very administratively burdensome and it's all on the municipality.

[30:45] So the dates have to be right, the pictures have to be right, we have to send.

[30:48] We send 12 letters for every property, minimum, and we need to, the benefit to the code, I'll

[30:57] say is that historically, whether it's field, every time there's been an issue with property

[31:00] maintenance, zoning, code enforcement, anything, we get to a point, we send a letter of

[31:04] violation, if they don't comply, we send it to the town attorney.

[31:07] The town attorney has a long list of things to do, and sometimes it could cost more to have

[31:11] the town attorney seek a certain remedy or judgment than it is for the judgment that we

[31:17] would get.

[31:17] And so, with the new staff, we had a meeting with the town attorney who does this for a lot

[31:24] of other municipalities. In 2024, and this is the other thing that happened that not a lot of

[31:28] people knew about, is that in 2024, there was a new municipal citation process that we are

[31:34] following now that includes this citation. It's called a notice, I don't know if there's a fast way

[31:40] to say this, but there's a new property maintenance citation and hearing process

[31:46] that we can follow. The nice thing is that the town can do all of this up until the part where we go

[31:51] one requested judgment.

[31:53] That work has previously been sent to the town attorney

[31:56] and this is good because it puts a lot of the control on us.

[32:00] It also puts the obligation on us to do it right,

[32:04] but it's a rather simple process once you do it.

[32:06] So it's a-

[32:07] I think it's more members to the team

[32:09] for the enforcement process.

[32:11] Yes.

[32:11] And the administrative staff,

[32:12] I always say, you know, for one hour in the field,

[32:15] it's two hours in the office every matter.

[32:18] And so we have that.

[32:19] And the benefit and maybe you've seen this is that we have never had the leverage and that sounds maybe like a bad word, but for the properties that have not in 55% I will say it's a good number.

[32:32] 55% of the properties that we have issued warning notices or notices of violations have voluntarily complied.

[32:38] That's generally what we want.

[32:39] And now for the people that don't, we are going to, hopefully, we're going to see

[32:45] conjudgment in the municipality's favor.

[32:47] If the judgment is granted, or if the judgment is granted, then that judgment in the

[32:54] town's favor, including the assessed site fines, will have the same interest as a tax

[33:02] lien, and over time, whatever that is, the town can then initiate foreclosure, and that's

[33:07] ultimately how we get compliant.

[33:08] So, we are going to have the leverage, if you will, to initiate foreclosure, and ideally,

[33:13] if the property is held by, if it's held, got a mortgage, usually, the bank will try to

[33:18] comply, and if they don't, then we can foreclose on the property, or at least have the leverage

[33:23] to possibly foreclose on the property. We're just responding to people, or we actually

[33:30] going out and looking at ourselves. We're doing both, but there is no shortage of information

[33:34] coming at us. We are definitely going out to the most egregious ones, but there are some legacy

[33:39] issues that have, you know, and they do, and I will say that what happens a lot, and this is

[33:43] why, you know, again, I blame no one, but, you know, properties would get to a certain condition,

[33:49] we would send it to the town attorney, the town attorney would get involved, then people would

[33:52] start to change, and they would comply. So then we'd have compliance for a little while,

[33:55] and then it would start again, and we don't have to get into that process anymore.

[34:07] He's actually been working more because there's so much work and I've got the approval for him to work more.

[34:12] We are, I am going to make requests to make, make him full time.

[34:15] And I will say the other, you have a qualified staff.

[34:19] So like Cassandra has a master's degree in public administration, Joshua Petro.

[34:23] He also has a master's degree in planning or public administration.

[34:26] And you kind of need that.

[34:28] This is a, you got to, you have to know how to read the

[34:31] regulations and, you know, they're good.

[34:35] And I always say, this is why it's interesting.

[34:37] So I always think like, you know, planning, in my opinion,

[34:40] I was not planning someone of the easy part, right?

[34:42] But you implement and you affect your way planning through

[34:44] zoning and through code enforcement.

[34:46] And so, whether it was great zoning regulations, we have a

[34:49] lot of things going right, but we need to sort of tie this

[34:52] all the way down the line so that we have, because, you

[34:56] But there is sort of, when I started, there was a reputation that we didn't have a great

[34:59] enforcement.

[35:00] So I would like to change that. We get a few of them right, and then hopefully that changes. And I will say this because no one wants to come down on someone that doesn't have the means, the capacity, the mental faculties to change. So when we do find ourselves in a situation where someone wants to comply, it doesn't have the ability to do so. We have started a relationship with our Department of Social Services and Human Services. And so we have providing them with opportunities to get support in Cassandra. If I missed anything. Cassandra and Josh, I've really been

[35:29] and spearheading it, and then Charles Morrison,

[35:33] who you all know has been here.

[35:35] You'll say this, I've been advocating for more staff

[35:37] because Charles, the way Weatherfield works,

[35:39] the zoning official signs off

[35:41] on every single building permit that comes in.

[35:43] Every single one of them, you know,

[35:45] an HVAC, a new generator, a new condenser,

[35:47] the zoning official sign.

[35:48] So in a given month, the zoning official

[35:50] was also looking at 60 to 100 building permits.

[35:53] And the same person was doing building permit reviews,

[35:57] reviews, zoning reviews, enforcement and property maintenance.

[36:03] So this is good.

[36:04] I would say we need to resource load this.

[36:07] If we want this to go well, and luckily the town manager and the town council have been

[36:09] giving me resources.

[36:10] So it's working.

[36:12] And this is one of my goals.

[36:15] Oh, good luck.

[36:16] I'm good.

[36:17] It's important.

[36:19] Okay.

[36:20] Anything else?

[36:22] Just a quick question.

[36:23] I don't know if it's the right form or not.

[36:24] What's going on with now known as Ken's Foods, formerly Weight Watchers, is that progress

[36:31] in thought?

[36:31] I mean, we've had a lot of visits on that.

[36:33] Yeah, I can distribute.

[36:34] We do have a stipulated agreement, or I think it's a stipulated agreement.

[36:42] I'm going to ask Commissioner Roberts because he might know.

[36:44] I want to stipulated judgment.

[36:46] stipulated judgment that was reached in agreement.

[36:50] And the owner has 18 months to comply with all of the conditions that were in the approval for planning and zoning, beginning with within four months, which they did submit to the health district, the first thing that had to be submitted, and this was important in terms of sequence that they submit a plan, a phasing plan for how they're going to construct the proposed and continue to have inventory in the store.

[37:18] And so you might remember that that was concern of ours, right?

[37:22] They wanted to stay open even if they weren't letting people inside and I'm going to whether

[37:26] they are there or not, if they're going to continue to have any sort of food inside,

[37:30] we wanted to see how they're going to manage that inventory in a responsible way.

[37:34] And so the first thing they have to do, which they have done early started the dialogue, is

[37:37] submit a plan to the health district for how they're going to do that.

[37:41] And then they're going to submit building plans to the building department.

[37:45] And they did send, we did get $20,000, the total assessed fines, I think are 125,000 plus legal

[37:54] costs.

[37:55] And the agreement was that we are going to collect $20,000 at the time of the stipulated judgment.

[38:03] I got that right.

[38:03] It's stipulated judgment.

[38:04] And then if they fail to, this is the big, the couple things are important enough.

[38:10] So if they do not achieve the 18, if they do not submit a, and we also know that there's

[38:14] If I have to turn around, but if they do not submit the building plans with all the required structural engineering report within 18 months, then we get all of the $125,000 or the remainder.

[38:26] But the more important part is that we then can seek, or we do not have to go back to court to have an injunction to shut them down.

[38:36] and the reason that's important is because the original claim against them was only for

[38:43] the zoning use and that was that was that was one that was a problem because we did not

[38:51] have the health code health violation the health code violations in the suit if I'm wrong

[38:57] I make use of that I want to use the right words but when we you know I'm looking at you

[39:01] it. Yeah, I mean, it was basically seeking enforcement only of the zoning violations information

[39:09] on the health building and fire codes had not been forwarded into the proceeding.

[39:17] And they are now. Thank you for that. And that's important because at the time the court

[39:21] was not willing to give us and I think emergency and junkie relief to shut them down because

[39:26] it was only based on the zoning code. But now that the fire code violations and the health

[39:30] code violations and the building code violations have all been integrated into it.

[39:34] It now would warrant shutting down if they don't comply.

[39:37] So that's where we are.

[39:38] It's actually the, I know there's some, you know, some people shake their head that we're

[39:43] still dealing with this, but it is, I think it's the, we're in the best possible position

[39:47] that we have been since the start.

[39:49] So let's jog my memory.

[39:52] Some of the business owners across the street from where they are, I was in there a couple

[39:59] times in

[40:00] They know that I'm in planning is only so they complain that they put up some sort of a corrugated structure in front of their building and they're wondering are they are they doing something behind it? They don't want anybody to see. Is anybody in the town. Can we stop that? So that's that actually started.

[40:20] They started putting up sheeting because they are going to change the facade of that and they didn't have their permit yet. So the building official holding the stop. They do have a

[40:29] approval to do fire some internal work for just code compliance.

[40:33] That's all that they're allowed to do right now.

[40:35] They have approved building permits to bring the inside of the building for

[40:40] those spaces that are mark and tile up to code compliance for fire and building code.

[40:46] This stuff on the outside is subject to the approval that hasn't been granted yet

[40:50] because first they have to go to the health district and that'll be part of their

[40:53] building plan permit, which they don't have.

[40:55] So that works stop and so that they did start doing some landscaping and that stop too.

[40:59] it. What was the corrugated metal for?

[41:02] The question is what people were asking me.

[41:04] They have a dead work.

[41:06] They have a dead work.

[41:07] They have a dead work.

[41:07] That front part of the building is being redesigned.

[41:10] Why are highly thoughts?

[41:11] They're going to be doing it.

[41:12] Because I think that's the facade.

[41:14] I think that corrugated sheeting is the base

[41:16] of whatever's going on to it.

[41:19] No, no, it's outside of the facade.

[41:21] It's like a wall hiding what was behind there.

[41:24] That's what they were complaining about.

[41:25] Does have a bunker like Laurence?

[41:27] I don't know anything.

[41:28] a great war.

[41:31] All right.

[41:33] That's it.

[41:35] Do you have a comment?

[41:37] I'll be coming.

[41:39] Just listening in, huh?

[41:40] All right. Great.

[41:42] All right.

[41:43] Any correspondence?

[41:45] No.

[41:46] No.

[41:47] And I guess we have two items you talked about next time, right?

[41:51] Yeah. One is the site plan application for the

[41:54] the Dush Point Credit Union of 195,

[41:56] so I've seen highway, they actually did questionable

[42:00] if they even need a site plan modification

[42:03] because they already were approved

[42:04] for both retail and professional office use,

[42:06] but now they're gonna be predominantly professional office use,

[42:10] which does change their parking requirements.

[42:11] And they are doing some reconfiguration

[42:13] of the parking lot and the landscaping,

[42:15] but because they are getting loan funds from the town,

[42:18] I think they wanted to make sure

[42:19] that they come before the commission,

[42:21] they're going for the design review committee

[42:23] on Thursday of this week. Okay. That should improve the parking, right? We do tomorrow.

[42:29] Tomorrow on the bike pads Thursday. Lots of meetings this week. And then the other one is the

[42:35] new school.

[42:40] Last Thursday, both Chris and I were on the Zoom meeting for the Crog Regional Planning

[42:46] Commission and the bulk of that was a presentation on the housing growth plans that they're

[42:54] are putting together in response to the public act, 251.

[42:59] You know, they're gonna roll out like next year

[43:02] and the year after and it was extremely detailed

[43:09] and supposedly that stuff is gonna be available

[43:13] either the video or PowerPoints.

[43:17] I think if we have a meeting probably next winter

[43:21] with nothing on the agenda,

[43:24] might be good to have somebody come and give us a quick update on that just so that,

[43:30] you know, we're at least familiar with what's going to be happening and what

[43:34] we will be expected to do. And I know there are also the changes that

[43:42] took effect in July that I don't think really affect us dramatically.

[43:48] Yeah, we actually should and I will admittedly there were so many changes and proposed changes over the last two legislative sessions on housing that I did.

[43:58] I did intentionally choose to wait for the dust to settle and focus on whether it's feel getting 10% which has kind of been the focus, but I do need to engage.

[44:07] I mean, because I'm not exactly sure if the housing growth plans are going to change or I don't really know what the implications are for the housing growth plans and I also know that we need to opt in.

[44:14] So yeah, I mean, and or contrary to what people think those really are not necessarily tied to the affordable housing

[44:23] They're just creating more housing

[44:31] Yeah, would we want to invite Krog to come and present maybe or is there someone else or just

[44:37] What are you what are you thinking for? You can sound that out

[44:39] But they sort of implied that with 38 member towns, it might be more than they could handle,

[44:47] but at least find out what they have that they'd be willing to share because some of

[44:57] stuff is actually going to be...

[45:00] Taking effect next year. Five one, or August, or October 1st. I think through July, yeah. All right. It's good. I will reach out to Prague.

[45:14] All right. Anything else?

[45:17] motion to adjourn so move second all right great have a good evening

Planning & Zoning Commission

Transcript