Conservation, Energy, & Environment Committee - Regular Meeting

I'm going to call the meeting to order at 437. So in terms of roll call, we currently have Paula Jones, Bob Dickinson, David Hager, and Zelene Sandler attending remotely. At this point, we do not have a quorum, so we'll see if we have a couple other members show up. But at this point, I would like to really, I think, just a quick check on the agenda. Any issues with the agenda? It really is to add something to the agenda. We need to, we should vote on it, but go ahead. Yep.

Not an issue per se, but I think there were potentially some things that were going to be voted on today or not guaranteed. But I guess what I'm saying is if that is the case, those should be potentially shifted in case the quorum is reached in the next five minutes. I don't know if that's appropriate or not.

No, I think that is appropriate, and I think we're flexible enough to at least kind of move around within new business and old business in particular. So let's at this point go ahead, and I would like to at least give Susan Linker, our guest today, an opportunity to talk to the group. This is being recorded so people can see it in perpetuity. Susan reached out to me. She is on the board of Connecticut Votes for Animals, and she raised the concern about rodenticides. There's been a lot of activity at the state trying to get the state to do something about banning the use of second-generation rodenticides because of the secondary poisoning issues they have. And so I invited her to, and we have, I think, individually in the past commented on bills that have been proposed. So I know that this committee is interested in the topic. So without further ado, I would like to give Susan the floor and let her talk to us about it. Thank you.

Thank you. I appreciate the opportunity to be here. Thank you for welcoming me to the meeting. Paula was kind enough to spend some time with myself and Joshua Levin, who is our advocacy and lobbyist for Connecticut Boats for Animals to kind of talk about, you know, our strategy statewide, but also how we're pivoting and shifting post-session or between session more locally. We've been successful in helping other communities pass local ordinances to ban the use of rodenticides in their communities on town or city property, which has been really effective. And I'm assuming that everyone is familiar with the issue. And I did send Paula some information about rodenticides that I would imagine she circulated before the meeting. So I don't really want to take time to tell you what you already know about this issue. If anyone is probably educated, it's this group of people about the impact it has, you know, downstream on other animals and the environment. But politically speaking, For the past, I would say six years, we've been actively working on this issue as a legislative priority for this, for Connecticut Boats Free Animals. And a couple of years ago, we were really close. All things pointed to the fact that this should have been a ban in our state. We had about 55 sponsors on the bill. It was widely supported and then has, I'm sure you're familiar with the, you know, how political things work at the last minute. things kind of went sideways. So we are continuing to work on a state level, but also hoping to demonstrate our community's local interests in having a safer place for not only wild animals, but pets and also children, because they are also victims of these poisons. You know, these rodenticides, especially the second generation rodenticides, are so extremely toxic. They are really meant for major infestations. And what it's evolved to in our communities is that they're applied as a preventative measure, where you see a mouse outside and you put a bait box out. Walking through Bloomfield, I see them everywhere, and West Harford, everywhere, but they're pretty much ubiquitous now. And people really don't know what they are. they really have absolutely no idea or understanding about how dangerous they are in our communities and how not only unnecessary, but how they work against natural rodent control by killing the very predators that eat and prey on these mice and small animals that are poisoned by them. So part of our interest beyond the political aspect of things, getting a legislative ban statewide and also locally among the communities in our state is to educate people. Because when most responsible and thoughtful people realize what's in those black boxes, they're really horrified by it and they don't want to see these in their schools. I understand that a couple of schools in Bloomfield have these bait boxes out with these SJRs. So I really just wanted to have an opportunity to come in front of this group knowing the good work that you do to keep our environment and our community of Bloomfield safe and to try to advance the right type of measures and just ask for any support and help. I am looking forward to getting to know many of you and working more with you. And I don't know exactly what the path is politically to get something like this considered. in town um hoping that if hopefully this committee or is is uh you know enthusiastic about it and supportive um we can perhaps work together with Connecticut votes for animals to see if we can make some progress in in Bluefield among other towns that we're working with uh questions or comments for Susan

Okay, so actually, let's go with Dave first.

So could you describe some of the large animal impact on large animals?

When you say large animals, can you tell me a little more specifically what you mean?

Coyotes, cats, foxes.

Yeah, I mean, basically, yeah. Yeah, thank you. I appreciate it. Yeah, I appreciate your clarity on that. Yeah, basically the victims of these rodenticides are animals that eat rodents. So think about all of those animals that very helpfully naturally manage our rodent population. Those are the ones that are getting poisoned. However, there have been cases of egrets finding these in there and snapping turtles and other aquatic life. So that does really is... I find, and I'm sure you'll agree, very disturbing about the impact this has on other species as well, not just the downstream natural predators, but pets, cats, dogs. There was a Rottweiler just a couple of months ago that died from rodenticides. Certainly cats eat mice. So this is not something that's just with wild animals. This is infecting companion animals and sadly children. There have been a lot of children annually, way too many that have gotten in some of these poisons. So it's just something this toxic is really not meant to be just sitting out in front of every storefront. And, you know, these boxes are not properly labeled. They are meant to be indiscreet. Some are, you know, look like rocks and, you know, and people really just mostly don't understand what they are. And that's one of our main interests because it feeds directly into the political aspect. You know, getting anything passed requires grassroots support and community interest. And so that's very much a part of what we're interested in doing as well.

Okay, so let's let Brad, and then we'll go to Nick, and then I have a comment.

Hi, Susan. My name is Brad. So you mentioned earlier the pushback politically. What was the reason, and which organizations oppose this?

Yeah. Basically, these pesticide companies... are you know very they have a very strong lobby um you know especially in the cities when there is you know multi-unit housing um and there are rodent issues um so these companies make a lot of money putting these bait boxes down not because it's a monthly contract And because they kill the mice, new mice, of course, like any, you understand population control, when you have a species that you kill off, if there still is a food source there, which there is, because in many of these cases, other practices like exclusion or cleaning up the area or leaving the dumpster there is still there. So the food source remains. So more mice can come. So it really has this continuous cycle where these companies can continue poisoning and poisoning and poisoning. They never get in front of the issue. It's not effective, but they are making a lot of money. So politically speaking, there was a lot of pushback from these companies that it's a large income stream. And a lot of people who own residential areas and multifamily residential areas were getting a lot of pressure. And there's a lot of landlords in our Connecticut legislature.

And one last question. Is there nothing safer that these folks could use that could be suggested?

Oh, I love that question. Thank you. That was perfect. Nothing like a good segue, right? Yes, there is. Well, first of all, when you think of rodent control, and I'm sure you're probably familiar with this, it's not a one thing that solves all. We've been living with rodents, you know, forever. And these poisons are relatively new. These SJRs particularly are particularly toxic. So there's a lot, there's an integrative kind of pest management system that most people will employ if they really are serious about getting in front of it. One of it is exclusion. Not letting the, if it's in your house, not letting the mice and rats inside by closing up in sealing areas. The second is why are they there? They're there because they're eating something. So cleanliness, sanitation, as long as you have that open dumpster, you're going to have not only rats and mice, but also bears. We are putting food sources out there, and then our solution is to poison the animals that we are attracting to us. So you really have to take a more holistic approach about addressing these things. I work at an animal sanctuary during the day, and we have You know, animals that are in these cottages, there's food bowls down. I'm right now at our Manchester facility. We have a dog training center. There's our feral cat food bank here. We have dog treats on the floor. A lot of it has to do with cleaning. We vacuum that room every single day when class is over. We, you know, all of our food are in sealed bins. You have to learn how to be responsible. That's a lot more work than just putting poisons out and thinking that that's going to solve the problem. And unfortunately it doesn't solve the problem. It continues the cycle of more mice and rats getting born and killed and the problem never goes away. So if you're serious about addressing this issue permanently and effectively, you need to integrate a lot of things one last thing i'll add to that is because a lot of communities in fact california has banned first generation regenticides and second as well and and they're unbelievably a much larger agricultural state than us um and so this is happening because of the impact people are seeing it but there are new products now that are um wait for it offering Birth control. Basically what it does, it's fertility control for rats and mice. And there are, I think Bushnell Park has been doing a pilot program. The town of Fairfield is doing it in certain areas. At our sanctuary and at our program center, we have the fertility control program. and basically reduces the population of mice and rats significantly. But remember, these are natural animals that are in our food chain that need to be there for other species. So, you know, having no mice and no chipmunks and no small animals is not good for the environment either. So you have to find a balance about how you keep these animals in our life cycle, but you also secure your place. You don't have, you know, basically infestations. And then you do it without damaging other animals as well. So the biggest company now is named Evolve. And one of our goals is to see if we could work with some of these pesticide companies to offer that as an alternative, because if you can put Evolve in these bait boxes and not SGARs, you still have that contract. where now you have a source of income for these pesticide companies to continue making money. And so that's one of the levers we're trying to pull to educate people about that as well. For organizations that can't do complete exclusion or businesses, this is a really good thing to add to your other practices of sanitation and things like that.

Nick, did you have a question or comment, please?

I'm Nick, the environmental planner for Bloomfield.

Yes. Good to meet you, Nick.

Nice to meet you as well. I was wondering, are there any communities specifically in Connecticut, but potentially elsewhere that you feel like have really hit the nail on the head in terms of a gold standard for the kind of policy you're talking about that you think reflects these ideas?

Yeah. The town of Newtown recently passed an ordinance and I have the full, all of the information and the ordinance that I had emailed to Paula. Um, And that was, we were really proud of that. We have now Glastonbury. We're working with that town. Pollinator Pathways is also getting involved in helping us with some education. So that area, Fairfield is an area, like I said, that's doing the pilot program. And we're trying to work with some other, politically speaking, towns that have state representatives that have been challenging to try to see if we can get some local ordinances involved to get that conversation going within the town, specifically in New Britain.

Thank you.

I'll just comment. One individual in town who I had a conversation with recently, who's very much an environmentalist, had been using these bait boxes without realizing what the ramifications were. And once she figured it out, she was horrified. She was truly horrified. I do have quite a few materials that Susan provided, and I will package them all together and make sure that everybody gets a copy. A couple of the sample ordinances that Susan provided, I did email to Nick just so he could take a look. And, you know, I guess at this point I will – mentioned that one thing we are doing kind of in the immediate future, which isn't much, but it's an introduction anyway. Brad, who asked a question earlier, is working on plastics. In particular, single-use plastics are bad. And we are doing a screening, the story of plastics. I think I might

have mentioned it to you yes i'm coming with um with sue petkey and one of our volunteers gene yeah so we'll be there we're looking forward to it yeah oh good sue is a friend so that's good um but and by the way zelene is a friend too hi zelene Okay. Sorry. I just see her name. I have to say hi.

So anyway, we'll be having a table, so we will put some of that material out with the QR codes just so people can, you know, take a picture, pull up the QR code. I'm not producing tons of paper and tons of flyers because it's going to be kind of a limited opportunity. But I think I have maybe three of the flyers you provided that I will put out. I will mention Horizon Wings, which is basically a raptor rehabilitation center. They had some really horrifying statistic about 80% of the birds that they've brought in. have rodenticides in their blood. We had a bald eagle a few years ago now that ran into the North Station of Eversource. It didn't make it. And part of it certainly was it was weakened because it had the rodenticides in its blood. So a lot of these birds, when they're, you know, when they have an injury, they're compromised anyway. And that besides the other animals, it has a horrific impact on our bird population. So, okay. So at this point, I think we will move on, but we will certainly stay in touch. It's good you're coming to the film screening. Yes. We can certainly chat some more and we'll think about what, you know, what we might do, at least in the education front, trying to get things going in town, just in terms of, I think, having people realize that there are other practices and, you know, to the degree you have a lot of multifamily housing and things like that, you know, education is probably the place to start anyway to get people to realize what the impacts are.

Absolutely. It's the foundational part of getting anything done. And I thank you all very much for embracing this issue and this opportunity. I look forward to hopefully meeting many of you at the screening. That'll be fun. And I wish I could be there in person, but I'm working right now. But I hope to have a chance to get to know all of you and continue this conversation, this work together for the animals and the environment. So thank you for the opportunity.

Great. Thank you, Susan. Appreciate you taking the time.

My pleasure. All right.

Okay, has Nancy joined? Okay, she claims she was going to. Okay, Nancy, are you joining? I don't know what's... Because she texted me at 4.30 saying she was. So at this point... We need her and or Jessica for an update on extreme heat. Cause I'm gonna jump to be under old business. I'm just gonna look at what is here that we're gonna kind of bypass for the moment. Then we'll go back to the town planner and environmental planner reports. So we'll wait to hear more on that. There is an attempt, I know, to kind of do something with Prosser in terms of some programming in the winter on extreme heat. So I just want to bring that up, a book and a film and that kind of thing. So at this point, let's move on to the reports. Thank you.

Thank you, Madam Chairman. We did distribute the monthly report, so I'm not going to go through it in detail. I think the highlights are, one, if you've driven on Tungstress Avenue recently, you've seen that there's finding activity at Popeyes. They still have one hurdle to deal with, and that's gas or propane, Connecticut natural gas through a real curve atom. I wanted them to put in 380 feet of 8-inch gas line at this point. That's usually something that's discussed at the beginning of the project. So Popeyes is looking at an alternative at this point. But otherwise, they've really resumed some serious work there, which is good to see. I don't have an estimate of when they're going to open, but if they can resolve the gas problem, I would think within four to six weeks. On the others, the big development, the cathedral, first cathedral has started their land use review process. They've gotten their wetlands permit. They've gotten their site plan permit from TPZ. And they're now going to begin processing their building permits to begin construction on phase one, which is two of the... three apartment buildings, all for affordable housing. And so that's underway. That project, along with 800 Cottage Grove Road, along with a complete restoration of the apartments in Dorothy Drive, are all going through review for tax agreements or assessment agreements, depending on the project. They're in conversations right now with staff and then we'll have to proceed on to council for that approval. I would see them going to council within the next couple of meetings to see where they go. But we've, in many respects, it's important that they get that decision on their financing side before they begin the land use side. The town center RFP for a partner developer returns are, due on September 15th. So next week we'll have a good indication of how many returns they are and we can begin to review them both by staff and by the Town Center Economic Development Commission slash authority. The POCD, the Great Big Albatross, the TPZ has approved the future land use map which is one part, and they're now, they have received what we believe is to be the last and complete draft of the narrative and have scheduled a special meeting a week from tonight to hopefully approve it, go through it chapter by chapter and sign off on it. at which point they will have set, they have to do referrals to both the council and the capital region council governments, which is a mandated 65 day referral, which is blows my mind. But that aside, it'll also be then be posted on the web and be available to the public from that point. I think those are the, the major topics, I'd be happy to answer questions, but I think that those are the major things other than Nick will tell you all the good things that he's been working on, which span a variety of things. He also played a significant part in completing the POCD and that has now freed him up to focus on what he came here to focus on.

So does it make sense to maybe let Nick do his report and then we'll hold questions for both of you? That work?

Absolutely.

Okay. Go ahead, Nick.

Thanks, John. Yeah, the first item on my update was what John was talking about with the POCD. I won't repeat too much of it, but essentially, yes, that was an effort I was significantly involved in. And now that the gears are turning in a quicker pace, I do have more time to do more things. So looking forward to filling up my schedule with more and exciting stuff. In terms of stuff, other stuff that I have done, we have done, a couple grants have been submitted that I would like to talk to you about. I think I have the date wrong here. I think it's actually August 28th, not 29th. On August 28th, we submitted the CT Deep Resilient Forestry Grant. for work at Wilcox Park. We're hoping to hear back around mid-October. That's what CTD says. The work that would occur at Wilcox Park would be selective and intentional tree removal to increase diversity of size distribution as well as species composition. It would also release space so that certain crop-bearing trees like oaks and hickories can grow and get bigger and provide more food for the wildlife in the area. And then again, contributing to diversity in the forest. Excuse me. The other part of the grant involves invasive plant management. So it's kind of a twofer in terms of management at Wilcox Park, giving that park some much-deserved attention. The other, this is not technically a grant, but it is through the Arbor Day Foundation. On September 4th, I submitted the Arbor Day Foundation community tree proposal for tree planting and invasive plant removal at La Salette Park. We may hear back as early as next week if we were awarded money to do that work. This work, for those who have been involved in town happenings for a while will know, I think this would be year three uh, of efforts at La Salette related to ecological management. It's in the past, correct me if I'm wrong, mostly been invasive plant management, but the idea this time around is they would do invasive plant management paired with tree planting. So kind of a twofer, you need to take out invasive plants and put in already native ones. Um, And that was done in partnership with Trees for Bloomfield and Parks and Rec. And I will say for the last grant I talked about, that was a joint effort between Building and Land Use, Parks and Rec, and DPW, just so we all get our names on the bill there. Those are my two big updates. Happy to answer questions about them. Sure. Yeah, one more update before questions, I suppose. As you all may know, there is work on the horizon related to improvements at La Salette Park. We were awaiting a letter for approval from CT Deep on our proposed plan for said improvements. And I can get more into why we had to get a letter from them later. But long story short, we needed a letter from them To say it's okay to do the improvements of adding, I think it's nine additional parking spaces, nine or ten, somewhere like that. Because currently I think there's like one or two informal, you could even say, parking spaces there. So it would greatly increase the ability for the public to experience and enjoy this park. And also for an informational kiosk because it's a very historical property and there's a lot people might not realize at first. So those are the two improvements that we've been approved by CT deep to conduct at the park. Now we're just awaiting on other legal documents to fall into place to summarize things, but that's also on the horizon and hopefully falling into place very soon. So lots of stuff happening at lots of parks. And I didn't even mention things happening at other parks, but there's a lot going on.

Questions. Yep. Mr. Hager. So a few questions. In looking through your report, where do we stand with the eminent domain purchase or takeover of the Wittenberry Mall? I was told the other day that it was moving fairly quickly. There were no specifics.

Because they shouldn't be giving you specifics because there aren't any specifics at the moment. I forgot to mention we hope to hear next week whether or not we were successful in getting the CIF grant, community investment grant, for the town center. If that grant comes through Together with the money that the council set aside them. We would have sufficient funds to acquire property Either in negotiation or if necessary through eminent domain And move the project along but the key thing to acquiring the property is to having sufficient funds to do it So So I At the next meeting, I can give you a better idea of really where we are.

A second question then relates to the POCD. The versions of it that I've seen had population projections for Bloomfield. Those projections were not very great over the next 10 years, I'll say. the number given was in the range of 100. I don't know if that's changed in what the POCD has now, but if I look at the building permits that you all have established now and coming, there are at least 265 units that have been approved plus another 230 nearing approval. So there's a disconnect there. I think there is, and I just wonder if any of that can be resolved.

It absolutely can be resolved. It may have been, and if we haven't, we'll resolve it. Not sure if we modified that number when we were doing the revisions, but if we haven't, we will. That's a very astute observation. So you're correct.

I can maybe read a little more info on that too. I know what you're talking about. I think the version I received that was made in 2025, it had the projections for being lower than what the current population of town was. So town already exceeded the projections that were made in 2023. All that to say is it was updated to more accurately reflect what town looks like now. I don't know if it updated

projections or if we got new data but we do say that town is now larger than it was you know we updated the data that was from 2023 population has been pretty consistent hasn't hasn't changed that much that's correct i think the other thing on on dave on data is it's outdated the moment it's published yeah and that's that's an issue you're going to find throughout the plant We did not, because we had limited funds, we did not spend a significant amount of time in the rewrite on the data side. We did it more on the plan side, the strategic side, and where we were going. So the data really is 24 data, except where it's obviously obvious.

To the extent that the projection is anywhere near accurate, there is then a suggestion that proposed projects would fail.

Not necessarily.

Okay. Well, I'm just, the numbers don't gel and the POCD should be consistent with the planning that's happening, I would hope. I guess that's my concern.

Fair enough. We hear you. Okay.

Yeah. The third question was, the POCD will be available for public comment when?

The earliest it would be available for public comment would be a week from tomorrow. If the commission completes it, review a week from today.

And that's at a regular?

No, it's at a special TPZ meeting that's been scheduled for next Thursday.

That's when the public comment would be?

No, that's when the commission will complete its review of the POCD and hopefully will vote on it to release it for public comment. Okay.

But then there would be a meeting at some point where there was public comment?

There will be a public hearing.

And the final thing, I should know the answer to this, but I don't. What is the pilot ordinance?

Pilot ordinance is a payment in lieu of taxes. It's a financing mechanism, not to be confused with the state payment in lieu of taxes for state-owned property. It's as opposed to a tax agreement, which is set for, you know, five to seven to 10 years, where the assessment moves up and the taxes move up. A payment in lieu of taxes is often a fixed amount, $100,000, $200,000, that goes for the life of the mortgage. And so it's often required when there is federal and state financing so that they have a guaranteed cost related to taxes as part of their financing model.

Any other questions? Yeah, go ahead, Bob. Can you speak into the mic? Yeah, thank you.

Are we live?

Yes.

Considering Town Center, I just went up to the restaurant over at the Town Center and got talking to the people there. And it was their belief that one of the tenants there that because the landlord wouldn't repair the roof in a timely manner, that that was a factor in why they left. And I'm just wondering how many tenants. Has that led to the decay of that project because it hasn't been managed properly?

Bob, I'm not permitted to comment on anything related to the Wittenbury Mall because of the pending litigation between the mall owner and the town. We've been directed by the town attorney not to comment one way or other. So I cannot respond to that question.

Right. Ditto that. Yeah. So I think any other questions at this point regarding either John or Nick's reports? Okay. Go ahead, Brad. I want to go to Zalene and Corey. Go ahead.

Hello. Yes. Quick, please. Okay. So skip the stuff, Bill. Will you be giving us an update on that?

Skip it. That is on the, that's a specific agenda item. I'm pretty sure.

Okay. Very good. So you're going to, in the near future, like this meeting. Very good. And also the cafeteria conversion.

Also on the agenda right now. Thank you.

So I also want to give people online an opportunity if they have a quick question, because we are running a little late for a variety of reasons, some of which are beyond our control, I think. Okay, I don't see any hands. So at this point, we'll move on to old business. I do want to just comment on, A, briefly more to talk about next steps since we do not have a quorum. I just got a text from Claudia, who's really under the weather, so... So I had hoped if we had a quorum tonight that we would be able to approve the language, you know, the clean version of both the ordinance and the regulation that Nick has been spending a fair amount of time on. And we've had a lot of good back and forth discussion on it. But we can't do that. I guess what I'm looking to our building and land use director and to our environmental planner for is what can we potentially do and what's the timeline for moving this along? Because I would love to get this in front of the council and TPZ before the end of the year if we can. Is that feasible?

It's certainly feasible, Madam Chair. I think it's really how you, if you feel that there's a consensus without a vote, we can then move it along with that consensus. Okay. It's really what the committee is comfortable with in terms of how they want to indicate their support and how we would present it to the council.

Right, okay, yep, David? So Nick has really worked hard on these things, and they're well done. I move that we approve them.

Okay, well, we can't vote, so.

Whatever system that was.

Right, okay, so. Move them along. Yeah, did you want to say something? Go ahead.

We could just get individual opinions on it, and they can take it from there.

Right. But I think at this point, the question is, are we looking for major changes or are we comfortable with proceeding? So what's your thought? Thumbs up? Myself. Yep. Okay. Zalene, you're online?

Yes. I sent out an email earlier with my comments. Yep. I think you got, I hope you got it.

Yep. And we had some really good discussion about natives, non-natives. That was kind of the one thing that really generated a lot of discussion. One thing that I had a sidebar conversation with Nick was, I think the language is good in terms of stressing that you should try to plant natives. I mean, it's very maximum degree possible. I'll say my opinion is declaring that you absolutely cannot plant a non-native is a good example of never say never because I think that's too restrictive and there may be good situations. Connecticut Urban Forest Council has a list of trees that they recommend that have non-natives on it. that are, you know, established to be good. So the thing I suggested to Nick that I want to bring up that we kind of talked about was being able to point developers, and this is for John's benefit as well, to maybe list, like, promulgated by the state in terms of preferred species And what made me even think about that was a question from the applicant for the Granby road gas station redo. When, when it was a beautiful moment, the commissioners were saying, don't cut down the mature trees. It really was a beautiful moment. But they were looking for guidance in case some trees like didn't make it through the redo process. And what would you replace? They were saying, what should we plan? So I think to the extent, the town is able to provide some guidance, be it state list, whatever, that might be helpful. And that would be a good way to kind of point developers to natives. Comments on that?

I think we can absolutely do it. And I, you know, as I think about it here, it may be that, you know, we can fiddle with the language in the ordinance. where we insert a clause that says, if you're not able to do, we refer you to whatever that formal name of that list is for suitable alternative trees.

Yeah. We just want to make sure we're staying away from anything that's deemed invasive.

Right.

Yeah.

If you say there's a list there the state has, then I would, you know. Yeah. And, you know, if that list changes, then it, The change is automatically incorporated.

Right. It's on a website.

Right.

Yep.

David, you look like you are... What's happening here?

I think we do have a consensus. So I think we will move it along. But that's why I was asking the question, like, are we in a position to move it along? We have sort of taken our time to make sure people had an opportunity to read, comment, and I think people have done that.

I think the important thing is when it... that a representative or representatives of CEEC appear at the public hearing. Right. For the ordinance.

Right, so, go ahead.

Sorry, the tree regulations about unauthorized removing of trees, If somebody just decided to cut down the trees, would there be a financial penalty? And then how would we arrive at that?

I can answer that. I'm pretty well versed in existing and proposed stuff in Bloomfield and around Connecticut. So when you say tree regulation, the regulation before you is the 6.1.C existing vegetation zoning regulation. That specifically applies to developments which require a site plan approval or special permit approval. For the ordinance, the ordinance is for any town trees. And that is defined as trees which are owned by the town, which are further defined as those which are fully or partially on town-owned property or any part of the tree which is on town-owned property is the jurisdiction of the town. So let's say somebody's got a maple tree and it's on their private property. It's a one acre and that tree, its umbrella is fully on their property. they do have the right to remove their own tree so long as they're in compliance with other regulations as well, whatever they may be. If somebody unlawfully removes a town tree, the proposed ordinance has financial penalties now. Currently, as far as I'm aware, I don't believe there are any, unless I'm mistaken, unless they're levied through another ordinance that I'm unaware of at this time. Similarly, uh, or this ordinance proposes in lieu of, uh, paying for a tree replacement. If there's no place to put that tree, cause I don't know, they put a bunch of rocks for the trees to be, let's just say you can put money into the Bloomfield tree account. And this ordinance would create a Bloomfield tree account, a practice done in several other towns around Connecticut reviewed by our finance department, given their, You know, they're okay, they're not. That'd be the other option. For the regulation, again, this would apply to significant trees, heritage trees, or town trees, but only be related to the parameters that are approved in a site plan or special permit. So let's say... There's a project and they have trees on it. They're proposing to remove tree A, B, C, but they're not proposing to remove tree D. And they get approval from the commission to remove trees A, B, and C. If they remove tree D, which they weren't approved to, that's a violation of this and now points to the tree account for a penalty. That is a summation. So, Can you cut down trees on your own property that are wholly on your own property as long as you're not violating other laws? Yes. It's not saying you can't chop down any trees or remove any trees, I should say. But now there's more clear penalties and clarity as to what trees can and cannot be removed and who has the jurisdiction to approve removal. That's my little head talk version of all that.

It's a mixed bag.

It's a mixed bag. Yeah. I would say the penalties were less clear and maybe less large in the past. The proposed now is a clear financial penalty.

I think this is a big improvement. I always say, don't let the perfect be the enemy of the good. I think this is really a large improvement, and the establishment of a tree account, I think, is a real plus. And just remember that this started out with David Mann through Trees for Bloomfield working with Director Coleman to try to get something on the books. Director Coleman felt it was not, didn't have enough kind of in the way, it wasn't strong enough. So I think, you know, this is a good thing to move forward with. And if down the road we need to tweak it, you know, then we tweak it. Yeah, so... So at this point, I am going to declare us in consensus. That's good. And thank you very much. Good job.

My pleasure.

You spent a lot of time on it, I know.

Yeah, to clarify, I am giving the nod to, under my director and all that, to move these along at the convenience of the next agenda for town council or the TPZ, whenever they have room on the agenda. Yes, please.

Thank you very much. Yes, please. Okay. Extreme heat, we'll pull that off until October. I think at this point, things are going to be happening more in the early winter, hopefully in tandem with Prosser. Artificial turf, do you want to just comment? I was thinking about the Rockwell, kind of where that landed. Just an update.

Appreciating the sensitivity to the issue. The commission... specifically approved the site plan and uses for the improvements to Rockwell Park, but did not, in essence, postpone a decision on which turf they preferred. With the understanding and waiting is that sometime in the near future, we will get a townwide policy. that the council will hopefully take a position on which turf they want to apply to town facilities. And we've been directed by the manager to prepare a brief and succinct but full report for him by the end of this month on the pros and cons of natural turf and artificial turf so that he can present something to the council. So I would say that, you know, there's the potential for the town to have a town-wide policy sometime at the end of October, mid-November, depending on what the meeting schedules are. If the council so chooses, obviously, that's a decision for them to make.

May I build on that? Cool. Yeah. So that's, I have a very similar update or whatever, John, almost exactly what John said. In terms of just knowing that we've been working on this since we last spoke about it, myself and members of a few other departments, Parks and Rec, Finance, those who are adjacent to this question, we met together to talk about where the direction of the town's current policy is. Ultimately, we ended up referencing the meeting on July 7th, 2025, the town council meeting. I have the, from the meeting, I think this is a direct quote, I believe, from the meeting minutes, but in any case, more or less, it was moved by Mayor Wong, seconded by Councillor Merritt and Deputy Mayor Harrington at the time, and voted unanimously to instruct the town manager to provide a financial aid analysis of natural turf versus artificial turf options, including maintenance costs before making a financial decision on town policy regarding this issue. So although there have been talks about this at previous town council, members of the public, town staff have talked about it. What came out of that is now a formal analysis by town staff to then be given to the manager, and then he or his, there's a word for it, I can't think of, the person he works with can then present it to town council so they can make a more, can decide how and if they would like to do a town policy in this direction. So we are fulfilling the request from July 7th, 2025 with this action here, showing that we're moving forward on this.

So given the multiple arguments and pros and cons of this, it's interesting that your notes from the meeting want a financial assessment of both and nothing has been done since then. Is that correct?

Again, I can't recall if I paraphrased the meeting minutes or these are the exact quotes, but I believe what I did right here is provide a financial analysis. I do remember from the meeting minutes, they did mention things about safety, about variability and environmental impacts. Those were all mentioned at that meeting. But what I'll just finish saying is I will provide a full logistical analysis, including, of course, environmental matters and safety matters as well.

I'm just saying that central to all this is going to be the cost, despite the safety, the health issues, the environmental issues, all of which are important. But the cost detailed assessment of both approaches, including the maintenance, as you say, will be crucial to that decision.

Yeah, and I will just make an editorial comment that given when the initial kind of Rockwell Park plan was looked at, how many years ago? Three, four? Three, four. The installation cost differential for synthetic turf for plastic versus natural turf, it was a $2.1 million delta. And the artificial turf was 2.1 million more. So, yeah. Okay, so.

I think I just, to respond, I think when that resolution was passed, Dave, we didn't have an environmental planner.

Correct.

And I think, you know.

You had a different town manager too, probably.

Correct. So that we will certainly include those. issues in our report right um how they're weighed by the council um we can't predict but they'll certainly have that information before them in terms of health safety to the extent that we can um you know it's just interesting that the financial aspect is what they picked on Not unusual for the council when they're doing budgets.

Councilor Merritt made that point that that was something we would need to really hammer home. And I'll just comment the original analysis in terms of adequacy of The infrastructure we currently have playing fields in terms of capacity to provide the recreational time was sufficient with what we had without adding more artificial turf. So we'll just leave it at that. I guess maybe you don't know the answer to this. Will there be an opportunity for the public to comment on all this? Will the public have an opportunity to see the analysis?

Well, the analysis will be public information because we're preparing it. So definitely the public, you know, if from no other way you can FOI it.

Well, that will take years. Just saying.

No, I just came out of a meeting. We are on a short response training track now. But that aside, I mean, you know, it's a document of the town, so it should be official. And... I don't know if it will require an ordinance or not, but I would think that an issue of this magnitude would be the subject of a public hearing, whether it's an informal one or a formal one. I also believe that this committee has a very effective way of getting its views out there. And there is always the public comment portion of council meetings is the last one. So I think one way or another, you'll have the opportunity to comment and you'll certainly have the opportunity to review the report that we prepare for the manager.

Okay. Thank you. Pesticide use in town. Just a comment in terms of thinking for future agendas. We've had a number of topics kind of raised to us by the general public, plastic, rodenticides, bears. So I think on a go forward basis, um i will probably incorporate into the agenda uh under both old and new business community and uh community interest um rather than calling it resident concerns more community interest and that way to the degree new topics come up there'll be a new business item and to the degree we have a collection of things that we're working on It'll be one agenda item, but we'll kind of hit everything. So pesticide use was raised by a contingent from Seabury. I don't want to lose it because I think that's something we need to be thinking about. But it's just there for kind of a placeholder right now so we don't lose track of it. Is that okay? Okay. Waste reduction initiatives. Plastics. Dick, do you have something to say? Yep.

Sure. I guess I can – I'll tell you what has happened so far, which is – I guess I'm trying to rag my brain now because we haven't met for two months. I received inquiries about – I'll start with legislation about, I guess, for lack of a better word, skip the stuff laws, laws in which – Say for takeout food, there can be no plastic utensils or little soy sauce packets given out unless the customer specifically asks for it. I'm kind of paraphrasing and summarizing broadly here. Long story short, ordinances, it would likely be an ordinance in which it is a policy of the town to reduce unnecessary plastic use, wasteful plastic use in the town. And then I had the opportunity to review a few towns in Connecticut that had implemented such policies. And I took that in. I researched the process for them creating them. I researched their penalties and their enforcement. I will say, I think off the top of my head, this seems like a good initiative. And I'm happy to explore it more. I will say the main issue, for lack of a better word, identified so far, I would be curious to see how enforcement would work for these types of policies. In the towns in which they currently are implemented, their enforcement is limited. So, you know, of such a way that I would like Bloomfield to be able to enforce such an ordinance. And I think with the current way that our town has enforcement personnel, I'm wondering what the best way to do that would be. And I'm looking for a clearer path on that. So I'm very open to hearing how we think that could work, if that makes sense. But that's what I've read the ordinances, looked into it. I see enforcement as being the thing to figure out, long story short. I can then talk about reducing plastics at other initiatives, but I can also pause for comment now. What do you think is best?

Let's pause for comment. Yeah.

So thank you. So I talked before I gave those ordinances to both of you, I talked to a man in Norwalk city government and they talked about, this has been on their books, I think since 2019, 2020. And he said that it was passed by town council there knowing that there would be no enforcement because that would mean extra staffing. He shared with me on a phone call that they would probably have to have at least one to two extra bodies to do this. So in Norwalk, it's on the books. It is. But they don't have the staffing to do it. And they don't track it.

Has it been effective in Norwalk?

That's just it. If I recall his conversation, the only reason they know it's effective, it's one man. They used to get a complaint from one citizen over and over again, and she no longer calls, so that's success. That's it, right? And that's Norwalk. I didn't talk to other towns like Hamden or Groton, but this man said to properly enforce this, you need staffing.

I think, may I respond to that? I think in addition to staffing, you would need also a point person. Like, you know, I don't think this would be, you know, when I'm thinking of people who enforce things in Bloomfield, I think of our zoning enforcement officer. This wouldn't really be, this would not be a zoning thing. I think of police. Would the police enforce a, you know, skip a stuff law? I don't know. You know, so I think it'd be also who would be doing the actual enforcing for trees, we have the tree warden, you know, but who is enforcing this. And that is the thing I'm trying to figure out. And I think I think if we can, it'll make it progress even more and stuff. But I think having an answer to that is key, in my opinion.

Further, he said that what they do in Norwalk is his office, I think he's the town lawyer, he sends a letter. This woman, who they don't hear from anymore, but when she complained, they would send a form letter and a phone call. And that was it.

And I keep talking back and forth. I did look into that. And I forget. Yes, I looked into this person. He is a legal professional. I forget what his role is or the department in Norwalk. Bloomfield doesn't have an equivalent role or department. So again, like even using Norwalk as an example, it's not quite a match for Bloomfield. That's again, that's, I don't mean to keep being a sticky wicket here, but that's where I, that's where the hang up is.

Right. So I'll just add one comment. I mean, I think doing something like this, I like the idea. And when you talk to the public health safety and environment committee, subcommittee, they were receptive once they really understood what you were talking about. The whole thing about, oh yeah, the stuff you get and you shove it in a drawer or you throw it, you toss it. I don't know if it's a combination of trying to do something that is enforceable along with really some kind of educational push to let businesses and people know that changing the behavior and getting people from realizing they don't have to throw the stuff in the bag at the restaurants.

That is a great idea. And we talked in July, uh, Nancy was, we talked about it after the meeting, uh, to educate the public. Once it's on the books, to go to businesses and have some kind of rewards program, not a rewards program, but a sticker or something that says, hey, I participate in Skip the Stuff Law as like a carrot instead of a stick so that people say, oh, I can save money. I don't have to provide all this stuff that people just throw away.

Yeah. You look, Mr. Environmental Planner, you look dubious.

I don't know. Well, I guess that method makes a lot of sense to me. And frankly, I get that. I'm still wondering, though, just how far it would get. I guess this is just me thinking off the dome. How far would it get in the voting process among elected representatives if we didn't have a clear enforcement? That being said, would it make more sense? I know this has less oomph to it, but a... I forget what the word is, like a declaration, like a resolution. Is that the right word, a resolution? Yeah. To say town council of Bloomfield or the town of Bloomfield, you know, this is our thoughts on this plastic waste. And then that sticker, that carrot could be, we are with the town, you know, you know what I mean?

Yep.

I think that'd be a way to get to that carrot method without writing a law that we can't enforce.

Correct. I don't know how, if I saw someone go through a drive-thru and they got a plastic straw, how do I know they didn't ask for that?

Right. But we can, I think there's still, I think this could work through a resolution. And then to kind of segue onto the next thing here, it could work through other resolutions. initiatives in town, such as reducing plastic at the source at places that the town has jurisdiction over, schools and facilities. And I can segue to that now if you'd like, unless you'd like a final action, so to speak, determination on your policy question earlier.

Well, we'll hear more in the future. Is that right? As you gather information and make a decision about what needs to be done?

For like making an ordinance type thing? I don't know what else there'd be to gather. What do you think? What I just said, I think, is kind of the opinion that I've had over the past two months.

So I'm an novice at this, so tell me how it works. How does it get to be so that that's enforceable?

To make it enforceable? I don't know. I did research to see who could enforce it, and I haven't found... something that would be in the realm of what Bloomfield currently has capacity to do?

So I think one approach would be to go to public health safety and environment the next time they meet. and talk about kind of this discussion, I think it's worth floating the resolution idea because that's a way to get something going and to do this carrot approach. And CEC has a small budget. But literally, we can invest in stickers. And if we're talking about doing something where a business, a takeout business is going, hey, I'm on board with Skip the Stuff. if you need you know and even give them something if you need these things for your takeout order ask like having it right there at the register kind of thing you know um and part of that is sort of getting people into the habit of thinking that way um because i understand what nick is talking about in terms of staffing and enforcement and you know getting people i mean people complain about the grass not getting mowed and stuff like that. And people, we have town staff running around dealing with that kind of thing.

Yeah, I also, after Bob goes.

Yeah, go ahead, Bob.

You mentioned about takeout and plastic silverware. Charging for it, to me, is the best solution. Just like grocery bags work very well now. People actually have to pay an extra down They bring their reusable bags. And so if you adjust your takeout prices and then plus 25, 50 cents for the plastic silverware, it's available, but most people won't buy it.

Yep.

May I just say one last thing? I suppose to give you a little more clarity as to like where I think I'm at, where I think staff might be as well. What Paula said kind of captured it, which is I think a really good path for this kind of thing would be to start with the resolution, get that to become like part of the DNA of the town, so to speak. I would recommend tabling an ordinance at this time until there's a clear path to enforcement. but then couple that with doing things exploring things that the town can do to to change plastic use in town such as initiatives at schools and town properties that's my current suppose pitch if you will yeah i guess otherwise like we can talk yeah i'd probably go a little further um at least consider whether or not because i think the best place to to deal with it is at the source

that sort of like require the sources to have a sign there rather than you paying to put it in. That's enforceable. We give them time, so that's fairly easy that they have to have a sign. make it to town policy, you know, and work through the business community to see if we can get them to put an extra charge in of 50 cents for a little mustard thing or the ketchup thing or the utensils. Obviously we can't control their businesses, but I think that, you know, oftentimes peer pressure works to some degree, but my sense is that that's where I would focus on.

I'm just trying to think about how to do that.

I'm not sure I have the answer of how to do it, but I think my sense is that's a clearer avenue than trying to just put it out there and then we're going to sort of... figure out how to enforce it.

I do think if the town says that requirement that they take out restaurant charge for plastic silverware, et cetera, they might welcome that because it's an expense to them and they can blame it on the town.

So is a place to start the chamber? I don't know, I mean, I'm asking with...

I think that's one place we could talk. I think we need to first get our act together.

Okay, no, I'm just thinking, yeah, next steps.

You know, let's spend some time figuring out what we really do think, because we're talking from off the hip a little bit today. Right. What really makes sense, where we think we can have an impact, where we think certain action's going to have an impact. And once we get that sort of... course of action in place and I think we we start you know what other groups do we want to involve and how do we want to get the message out and you know is that a policy of the town or is it an ordinance of the town for certain things and a policy for the other you know why are we doing it what do we you know what are the you know what are the benefits we're trying to achieve is it related to any you know potential reduction in costs for the town in terms of um you know waste collection you know and things of that type and then that that's legitimatizes it for the council uh and the town to do it if there's a you know we can come up with a direct um tie-in David did you want to say something

I agree, again, you gotta go to the finances of it. Is it cheaper to not have the plastic available? Is it cheaper to have a non-plastic substitute? I mean, that applies to businesses, restaurants, grocery stores, everything. I have no idea what the cost is, but that information should be available. And if it's cheaper to have a disposable container, like you all have, it seems, Barry, to take home what you're not eating, rather than a plastic thing, do it. Then that's helpful information.

To some degree, it's akin to the restrictions on styrofoam. And we're already in place in terms of using styrofoam containers and moving people. And a lot of the restaurants are doing that now. You know, all of them are recyclable retainers, which is great. Yeah, they're using paper instead of styrofoam.

Okay, so we're going to move on in a minute. But, Brad, if you want last looks.

Well, that's the beauty of it is that there is no replacement cost. It's just saying you're not going to get it. Not that I'm going to give you something else. It's just I'm not going to give you this. That's the beauty of it. So there's already a savings because businesses do not give stuff that's not asked for. And that's it.

Okay, so what we're going to do is have this on the agenda next month, allocate maybe some more time. The value of that is we'll have had the screening, hopefully some interaction with the public, and we'll continue with the conversation and give it a little more thought. Good? Okay.

Good.

Good. Everyone good. All right. Okay, let's see. New business. There were denicides we've talked about. I had a conversation with another resident about bird feeders, and I actually shared kind of that with Nick, but I want to share it with the rest of the group and kind of get your thoughts about it. So this particular resident has, you know, a nice neighborhood with a walking group, And they have the habit of going on a morning walk together. Unfortunately, there is one neighbor who likes feeding birds. And I think, you know, I think maybe likes feeding bears because I think they like to watch bears. You know, basically as soon as they don't take their feeders down, you know, once you get to warmer weather, once you're past winter and In fact, they fill the feeders as quickly as they're emptied. And the woman I talked to, who is very reasonable, feeds birds herself, but has, you know, over time, like, you got to take it down. You got to take the feeders down once the bears come out. She's seen a female bear with two cubs hanging out over there. She's seen a very large bear, probably a male, hanging out over there. She's seen a bear with an injured paw hanging out over there. And there are it's not infrequent where they're out for their morning walk and they have to stop and retreat because they don't want to risk an interaction with the bear. You know, the bears haven't been aggressive, but it really is kind of a public safety issue. issue for this particular name uh... she brought up sims berries ordinance uh... which has been on the books i think since twenty twenty uh... i did send i found the final i sent it to nick uh... this is an issue it's kinda like the woman in whatever norwalk who was called the copy uh... again it's kind of an example of one My neighborhood, it's more of an issue with garbage, you know, in Doncaster Road, trash cans, unsecured trash cans. But I will say, I think Simsbury's is very thought out, well thought out. They talk about enforcement being by the animal control officer or by the police department. There can be fines associated with it. And, you know, the idea is you need to call you know, you as a resident would call if somebody is really violating this. In this particular neighborhood, another neighbor has asked the neighbor to stop doing the feeding and to no avail. So it's like, do you try to get something passed for the more extreme situation? Probably not a real frequent occurrence, but you really do need to like call because arguably you have a public safety and it's not good for the people, it's not good for the bears because if you start having bad interactions. So what are people's thoughts, I guess? And that was the purpose of me bringing it to the group. Okay, let's start with Bob.

Well, of course, I'm just thinking of kind of a sign

Yep.

Bird feeders kill bears because if you feed the bears with bird feeders, eventually they're going to be a problem and they may have to be euthanized.

Right. Okay. And actually, I want to go to Zalene. Yep. Go ahead, Zalene. I forget to look on the screen. Steve has a saying, a fed bear is a dead bear.

And that's for good reason because if a bear becomes habituated to a yard with feeders and there is a problem later, first time they will try to relocate the bear it gets one chance and then it's euthanized if it has a problem if there's a problem with interaction with people the other thing I would suggest to this person is as far as birds go provide landscaping that has good sources of food for birds and I would ask her to read Doug Tallamy's book Bringing Nature Home, which discusses in detail what you can plant, native plants, and provide sources of food for the birds. That includes hummingbirds and all of our native birds. There are ways to encourage people not to put up bird feeders. I mean, I find it hard not to feed the birds in the summer. I was the president of the Harvard Audubon Society And believe me, I love birds, but I also love bears. And I also love people. And I don't want to see bear and people interactions. I don't want to see dead bears that have to be euthanized by deep. So that's my comment on this.

Go ahead, Brad.

What was what does the Simsbury law say that you liked?

Well, what I like about it is, first of all, the first, you know, the opening clause or whatever, very specifically talks about enforcement and who will enforce. And it's the animal control officer and police department. That's who enforces. It's really an intentional feeding of wildlife. So it makes, it goes to length. It actually sort of... Addresses compost, you know composting because we compost and in the spring when the bears are first up They always check out the compost they never find anything But then once they check it out and realize there's nothing there They never get into the compost again We have water garden The bears come to our yard because they like to soak in the water garden when it's hot literally or get a drink and So, you know, the whole point is you're not trying to target individuals who have bears coming through if you're not intentionally attracting them. Hummingbird feeders are another example. We have hummingbird feeders and the bears leave the hummingbird feeders alone and, you know, Right now, for migration, it's kind of good to have them out and available as the birds are passing through. To Zelene's point, she's right. It's good to plant things that serve as their natural food sources. That's a better way to go. But what I like about the ordinance on being long-winded is it seems to have thought about these various what-if scenarios and incorporated them. Now, I drive down Main Street, 10202 in Simsbury, and I see some of the businesses with bird feeders hanging in front of them, you know, which I find interesting. But, yeah. So, you know, I think if – I guess I personally think – We should try to do more education. I think we all try to do our bit with bears. Green News has articles about living with bears, what to do, what not to do. I like the idea of, you know, there maybe are things we can do. I just don't know if people aren't kind of looking to get the message. They're going to receive the message. I don't know if, I guess I'm suggesting if we were to, Think about an ordinance. I like the Simsbury ordinance as a model. I will raise my hand and take it upon myself sometime in the not too distant future to ask around Simsbury and find out if it's been effective. Like has having this helped in terms of people not feeding bears? They seem to have a lot more bad bear interactions there than we do in Bloomfield from everything I read Yeah, yeah. Does that sound like

Yeah, I think having an ordinance even without penalties, because when those people tell them you shouldn't have a food feeder, they can say, also, it's a town regulation that you don't have it.

That's the whole point, I think.

That might be enough.

If we had a regulation and somebody from the town showed up and said, no, don't do this, do some other things instead, like plant some things, but you're going to harm the bears ultimately. Go ahead. Yep.

You, that sounds great to me. Uh, so then in my understanding correctly at this phase of, uh, this agenda item, so to speak, uh, the, the phase it's in is still kind of an information gathering from CEC members, from the public. And then once there's more data gathered, then maybe come back to the next meeting and we have alternative action potentially. Was it my understanding correctly?

Yeah, I don't know which path or paths we want to take at this point. I think it's hard to know how pervasive a problem it is. Like I said, I think there's more issues with trash. So what do you do about that? Bear walks are available for your trash. So, you know, is there an educational component? I guess there's two parts. Is there an educational component and does it make sense to have something just to use as a, we have this regulation, stop doing this, you know?

I think also that we may be able to get some statistics from deep in terms of bear issues here, bear issues in surrounding towns. And then, whether they fine-tune that enough to what is creating the bearish. Is it garbage? Is it a bird feeder? Is it some other, you know, is it food in the house? They normally, you know, they certainly know the house of invasions, and maybe hopefully they catalog the others so we can know where to, you know, really what to focus on.

Yeah, Corey has left, unfortunately. I'm just wondering if our master wildlife conservationist population that works with DEEP would be able to help us get that information as opposed to having staff do it. I'm just asking in terms of approaching DEEP what the best way is.

He's got a pretty good connection.

Okay. Okay.

You know, if we have... issues and we ask for help.

Yep. What? Yeah. There's a hand. There's a hand.

Zalene.

I just want to say in terms of providing food for bears, it's a little anecdote. I wasn't feeding the birds, but I had an old bag of bird seed in my garage, in the back of the garage. And the bear took down the garage door and got that bag of bird seed and dragged it off into the woods. they have an incredible sense of smell. So it's not just the bird feeders, but you have to be really careful about providing any sources of food for the bears. That was coming home and finding the garage door on the ground was not a pleasant thing.

Yeah.

Okay. Nick. Yep. Yeah, I guess I'll say. I think that's a great point, Celine. What I like about what Paula brought up with the Simsbury example is it seems to penalize those who are intentionally doing feeding and not penalize somebody who like left a bag of seed out, you know, or for a loaf of bread for the grocery bag. And, you know, it's not, you know, that kind of thing. I think that a makes sense and B would go better over with the public, especially those who maybe like aren't as barren tune type thing. Yeah.

Okay.

But all good things to consider.

Okay, so we will ride again on this topic. At this point, I will just sort of move on, hopefully relatively quickly. The story of plastic screening is coming up on Tuesday, the 15th. And it should be wonderful. I was over at the library briefly with Brad today, kind of looking at where we're going to set some tables up. He's got his table in terms of plastics. The other panelist, Kat Owens, will have some of her smaller artwork made with plastic displayed. And CC will have a table, and we'll have just a variety of different flyers displayed. I'm going to use the Tree City USA flag banner to kind of drape over our table so we can sort of promote Trees for Bloomfield and Tree City as part of the table covering in addition to the other things we've been working on. So if you haven't signed up, please do. I think it's going to be a really interesting evening. And Brad can help you sign up if you haven't already.

If you were to get there at 7, it would still be...

So, Bob, that's a great question. I'm sorry. Please, yep. So it's a 90-minute film. It starts at six. So the discussion is after that. So if that's the most important thing to you, is the discussion, yes, show up, right? But you should register. Right now we have 48 registered folks. She's going to set up 60 chairs. So, yeah, come. Just come and talk.

Yeah, but you should register, right?

You should, yes. Yeah, the library requires registration. If you need help, Bob, I'll help you, right? I can send you the link. It's simple. It's really simple.

Okay, good. Anything else? Yep. And let's see. Then I've got some, I don't think we have anything else. I usually have a placeholder for other under new business, which is probably not,

I know we're running late. We were talking about the cafeteria conversion. Is that old or new? Is it appropriate to talk of or do we want to table it? What does the chair say?

Uh, the chair says we can talk about it briefly.

Sure.

Yeah.

Yeah. What is your exact question?

So are you going to get updates from the school about how they're progressing or is it just, they've got it, they own it and that's the process.

I'll answer the first part. I have a meeting scheduled with Nick C from the Board of Ed, who is, I forget his exact role, but he does the food stuff at the Board of Ed, for lack of a better title. I'm sure it's much more official. But I'm meeting with him in about a week to really talk about priorities, what he does, what I do. And from there, I will report back, if not have you more for you. But what I'm trying to say is I am taking action. We are taking action.

Thank you.

My pleasure. My job.

Excellent. Okay, good. That was good.

He's called the food and beverage man.

Yeah. Okay. Yeah, the rest of this is just very quick. Good news, Bloomfield has been added by the US Fish and Wildlife Service to the Highlands Conservation Act region. If you don't remember, this committee kind of voted about a year, a little over a year ago, to recommend to council that the council pass a resolution asking to be added. The opportunity was brought to CEC, to Trap Rock Ridge Land Conservancy, because East Granby got added first. um so this is good news um it takes a while for this to work through thank uh thank you to um mr coleman for kind of um taking taking the products from the town and kind of pushing them to deep and you know then deep did its thing um it's just another positive that hopefully uh bloomfield will um sort of highlight in terms of kind of environmental, uh, work. And I don't know what types of funding opportunities are available, but that's the, you know, a benefit is potentially there's other federal funding available. Yeah. So that is helpful. Um, story of plastic. We talked about, uh, photo contest trees for Bloomfield. We need to try to push that a little bit. Um, I know Lynn Wiesel is doing a lot of work with it. And we've had activity in terms of people entering the contest, but we're a little bit behind where we've been in past years. We haven't been promoting it as much. So between now and late October, we need to push that a little bit. So we will have those flyers available at the screening on our table. That's it. Anything else? Public comment? And I guess we can't have a motion to adjourn because we don't have a... You can have a consensus to adjourn. Can we have a consensus to adjourn?