Design Review Board - Regular Meeting

terrible out there. First time. First, second time. I think we can do it this way. All right, great. We got it. Uh, you may start the meeting at 6:04 p.m. Let's call the meeting of the design review board together for month of April. Roll call. All three active members are present, accounted for, so we're ready to go. First item on the agenda is approval of minutes of our last meeting in January. Does anybody have a chance to review them? Are there any questions? No. I move approval. Second. Okay. In favor. All those in favor say I. I. I. I. Chair votes I. So it's good good minutes. Happy with the benefit. New business. Center apartment phase 4 applicant Paul Butler. Mr. Butler in the room. Please. Okay. I didn't know if I was going to

show up as a witness protection program person. So, I got move a little bit. Our fearless leader. There you go. There he is. Paul, what are we doing today? I realize today that we're growing old together. Um, originally met David I think in 2012, which is what I I go through this timeline. It's very interesting. Um, so tonight's focus is going to be on the entryway into Bloomfield Center. We feel like phase four. Am I too loud or too low? How's it? Perfect. I feel like phase four is is the other side of Philly Park. And that that's the way we're looking at it, but you can tell me differently as this meeting goes by. I feel like it's in, you know, as you reach the the high point coming past Gab Road and then go back to the center. Arriving in the center is what we're attempting to do is is landscape more so than than we have in the past. As you know, heirloom was not uh something that I designed, but I had approved. So, we're trying to heavily landscape and uh and bring in public space as as we walk into the center. And Jason has tried to mimic some of the some of the things from Bloomfield Center and also from Philly Park. And I'm very interested in your comments at the end of this because we we can make changes. Uh we're expecting to make changes and uh looking forward to your feedback. So, I think it's it's funny. 13 years ago, I met with Tom Hooper and I was going to build a I think a six family apartment 700 Bloomfield have. And uh Tom's like, "Can't you do

something more? Our whole center plan is we want to have more apartments, more walkability. We want to invigorate Winterbury Mall." And uh here we are. I've I I fell in love with the town. I've moved to the town. Uh, I convinced friends, family, and investors to put in over $110 million in Bloomfield Center, and it's potentially going to approach over $250 million u if once we do phase 4 and potentially be involved in Winterberry Mall. So, I I love the town. We love working together with everyone in the town. We've we've had our highs and lows. We've hadations. We do have a lot of back and forth with people in town. We've done everything we can to try to work with those towns people and change things and and move things around. But here here we are on phase four, which potentially will be our last development in Bloomfield if we don't get involved in Wall. So I'm going to turn this over to Jason. Uh he spent an awful lot of time and energy, but again, he won't be insulted if you don't like some of the stuff. Okay. Absolutely not. So, I'm going to turn it over to Jason now and uh we we'll we'll see where it goes from here. So, thank you and that's my introduction tonight and nice to see everyone. Thanks, Paul. Uh my name is Jason Williams. I'm a senior principal landscape architect with SLR Consulting. And uh as Paul mentioned, will not be insulted by any comments. The intent of these drawings is to get some concepts and ideas out there so that we can get feedback on on what uh everyone on the design committee feels is is best for the the town of Bloomfield. I'm going to share my screen and just walk through the uh plans that we came up with. Can everyone see the drawings?

Yes. Yep. Terrific. So, um really acknowledging that uh the multifamily phase 4 building is coming in uh at the corner of Gab Road and Bloomfield. Um Paul came to us and said, you know, I want to examine ways to really create a gateway um heading north on on Bloomfield Avenue towards the town center. And this new building uh and potential streetscape improvements h have the opportunity to do just that. So what we typically do on the left hand side is we try and identify what that arrival sequence is for visitors to the town because this is really the first chance that we have when visitors are coming into the town um to give them an idea of what people in town and local government think about their town. And so this arrival sequence really starts at the top with A um where you were at the intersection of Gab Road and Bloomfield and then B as you move kind of into and through the intersection and then C when you get really in, you know, past the intersection. What you notice as a visitor is on the left hand side there's small residential areas. So currently, you really don't acknowledge that you're entering Bloomfield Center because of the individual residential lots. When we start design, we don't want to stray off and create something that looks like another town or city. We want to use design elements that exist already in the town. And so things like the existing Bloomfield town welcoming town signage, stone columns and brick pavers at Philly Park, bus shelters, low brick stone walls, street lights with banner arms on

them, granite post with decorative fencing, and then native landscaping is always important for us to use. And so what we developed is a concept. Um here on the bottom you can see Bloomfield Avenue, the center is towards the right and on the upper left here we have Gab Road. And so in talking with Paul um he was really instrumental in identifying that the corner of Gab Road and Bloomfield Avenue has the potential to make a statement in the forefront of this new building. the architecture is going to be beautiful. And so we looked at what are some uh public improvements that we could make that not only benefit residents of phase 4, but really for everyone in town and more importantly people within the neighborhood that want to walk to the town center from this area. So, if you were entering the intersection here, you would notice that we're proposing a uh really visual plaza, pedestrian plaza, potential gathering space with different elements in it that I will get to. new sidewalk improvements along Gab Road that get you to uh the ingress and egress point of the project with a new sidewalk that runs all the way back along the back of the sidewalk for a future connection um public connection to uh a trail along Bloomfield Avenue as you're making your way down towards Jerome Way. all new streetscape elements along uh Bloomfield Avenue. Uh that include everything from uh brick sidewalks, decorative street lights with the banners ar banner arms that we see at Philly Park, new landscaping, low stone walls, and a bus shelter. Um all really creating that

sense of place as you're moving from the Gab Road intersection to Jerome Way. But also what's important is as you're coming up the roadway here and you've identified this brand new beautiful streetscape going down, you get to Jerome Way. As part of the project, there will be signal improvements at the intersection of Bloomfield and Jerome Way. A new beautiful entrance into the project and a dog park right on the um on the northeast of the property. residents in town can access this dog park via a public parking area right here. So, we're looking to create something that's more than just geared towards the residents within phase 4, but really something that the entire community can use. If we look at this um really corner gateway feature plaza, there are some really great uh elements associated with it. Um and while being um having hardscape elements like two brick plaza spaces with benches for seating, we also have a focal sculptural element, a walkway that meanders through it for people who are coming down Gab and want to cut through, which they will, and our entry sign into um into Bloomfield. field. Large overstory shade trees, smaller flowering trees, and herbaceous plants and shrubs really create that lush feeling um at this gateway into town. So, this is a perspective view of uh this plaza space, and you can see really really prominently our sign for Bloomfield Center. In the background, we have our sculpture element and the um

conceptual plan of the building architecture, but you can see this really lush foreground of native landscaping um that'll be uh interest throughout all four seasons where we'll have evergreens and and things for the fall as well as the spring. Really creating that big splash for people coming into town. This is a perspective of it looking northeast where you can see the plaza spaces, our central focal feature with benches and ornamental grasses and our small shade trees. really an activated space that not only is a great place to to meet and and hang out, but assists with visitors in wayfinding the town by um almost psychologically imprinting this arrival sequence. And as I mentioned before, it helps define the values of of Bloomfield in an importance to people, to art and the environment or ecology. This is another view looking from Bloomfield Avenue to Gab Road. And you can see here's our uh cutth through walkway and our brick sidewalks and plaza features. As we get back onto the road on Bloomfield Avenue heading north towards the center, I had mentioned some of the streetscape elements which include brick sidewalks, lighting, trees, and a bus shelter as well as low stone walls. All of this to screen the parking area as part of uh phase 4. The streetscape says a lot of things to visitors. It says, "Wow, this is a walkable community. while Bloomfield really pays attention to uh details and

materials within their streetscape and this is a place of uh multimodal transportation um you know with the bus shelter. If we continue up Bloomfield and look back at uh uh the bus shelter and the streetscape here you could see all of the different elements that I mentioned. large shade trees to create that ceiling for people walking along the sidewalk as well as shade lighting for safety during the evening. Our low stone wall bringing in that New England ver vernacular and then the uh sidewalk which I had mentioned in brick. As we move up a little bit and enter the Bloomfield Avenue and Jerome Way intersection, we have new signal improvements and our new entrance into the project. Now, while this is an entrance into the project for residents of phase 4, it's also the entrance to access the public parking area for the dog park. We think that this dog park is the last phase in the gateway uh uh uh uh corridor sequence starting at the intersection of Gab Road with our beautiful corner entry plaza continuing through the linear streetscape elements and then getting to this gateway with our final finale of this really beautiful dog park surrounded by flowering trees and overstory shade trees. and a shade structure which would look like a New England barn. Decorative imprinted crosswalks convey pedestrians across this area. Stone walls create a nice anchor to our apron to move into the drive uh entrance to the

site. This is a view just of that. You can see large roodendrrons uh helped to screen the cars for vehic vehicles driving on Bloomfield. Our brick walkway and and uh decorative crosswalk with our apron anchored by our stone walls and the dog park fencing with the shade structure. Then if we move north a little bit and look back at the dog park, you can see some of those same elements carried all the way from Gabro Road all the way through to the dog park. This is a view from the interior of the dog park looking towards uh Bloomfield Avenue. Very rough conceptual, but the intent is to really create a one-of-a-kind dog park that has a lot of different features within it. Um so that this becomes really an an icon not only as the gate for the gateway but also for dog lovers um you know looking um to to meet other people. That concludes the presentation. Uh certainly open it up to any comments, questions. Hey, um first I I I feel like I I have to say I'm very pleased with what you're showing. Your attention to detail is very fulfilling. Really appreciate that. Any questions from our Do you all like to make Let's go first. Jason, can you hear us? Yes, I can. Okay. Um, couple comments. Sure. Um, yeah, I agree. Really pleased with this. Um, you know, based on the last time we saw it and comments we had made

and uh bringing that dog park up to Bloomfield Avenue was is wonderful. You know, I think that's something we get commented on and the public parking is, you know, to go with it is magnificent. Um, I uh a couple things. the the sign that you've got at the corner a gap and and Bloomfield. Can you bring that up? Um I personally I I think that starts to um look like it's a town facility to me, you know, in trying to mimic the other signs we have around town. Um, and and I think it's large enough that it's starting to hide all that beautiful stuff behind it. Um, I would be more in favor of something that uh matched your other stone walls, you know, to tie the site together that you have at the other entrance. Something lower and, you know, more in keeping with what you're trying to do rather than mimicking the the signs around town. Um, okay. The only other kind of practical comment I had was the the shade, the barn shade structure you have in the dog park. Um, you you do have that on the east side of the of the park where any shade. Um, but I I get the idea that I probably wanted to have a presence there on Bloomfield Avenue with something. Exactly. It's just something to think about because it's not really going to provide any shade. Um, it's just going to kind of be a hot house when the sun's setting to the west, right? Um, those are the only comments I have so far. Thank you, that was Mark, by the way.

Thank you, Neil. Yeah, this is uh Neil Clark speaking. Um got a bunch of things that are kind of on my mind here. The idea of a gateway I I like and uh I like the fact that that corner of the site being implemented for that. I like the concept of a lot of detail and accommodation for the public in that little spot. But I'd like to see more accommodation for the public. And I'm not sure what that is, but just a few benches and a sculpture in the middle isn't inviting to me. It's a place, but it's not it doesn't have the sense to me of a a place that I would want to be. Maybe I'd want to cut through, walk through there, but I mean, you can't have a restaurant sitting there. I'm not sure what I'm reacting to. It's a little cold to me. Um, I like the geometry of the elements, but the other the other problem I have is, and I just need somebody to tell me how you're going to do this. There's a lot of slope to both of those roads. the the the corner there is really a hole. There's a deep hole there in front of that next to that yellow house. And um with all the development there, I'm assuming that the building is going to take up a lot of that grade. Uh and that where you've got that public area number one is going to be filled. It's not going to be sitting

in a hole the way it is now. Um, but it's complic it's more complicated than it's depicted on the renderings, I think. Um, I know you can do a lot with grading and they, you know, correct a lot of the the slope, but it's not a flat spot as I see it now. And you can comment about that. I'd welcome that comment. also going to the north along Bloomfield Avenue, the roadway there slopes quite a bit and um again, we can't do anything about that, but the renderings kind of show it as a nice flat roadway. Um, I'll defer to David maybe to talk about street trees because there are issues with street trees that I think we've talked about before and want to be cautious about having them um, you know, the appropriate trees and doing the right thing and lasting for a long time, not pushing up roots through the sidewalk, all that stuff. you guys know that stuff. But, um, I just want to, you know, have that as a checkbox as you go along. I'm really happy to see the the, um, streetscape as far as and and that little entry piece with the zigzag in the wall and the entrance at number four there. I like that because it provides kind of a landing be before you drive. Yeah, right there. I like the fact that there's almost a car length there before you kind of get to that rumble strip and go in. That's a nice, you know, way to enter the site. I'm going to say that I'm not

crazy about a dog park there because it's an enclosed space that's sort of not inviting. If you're a dog owner, you know what's going on behind those that fence. And that little structure is kind of just a a gesture the way I see it on the rendering. If there's something there, I think it ought to have some more presence than just a little shed roof on a couple of columns. Um, so I'm more inclined to take to do something else with that corner that that makes it a little more inviting. I know we're, you know, banging on the drum of public involvement or something that's that's uh more inviting than a fenced in space that you can only get to from the other side. There are, you know, I don't, again, I don't have a solution for you. Um, but it's not warm and fuzzy to me. The other issue that I have with um again I I I think this is the right place to have a statement about you know entering town. The pro the problem I see is that we don't have any control or maybe we do of the other side of the street. Um as we you know come past that beautiful entrance you guys have developed on your side the other side of the street. I don't remember what's there but I don't think it's very nice and it would be nice to be able to uh you know tie it in. Well, it's it's that strip that the town owns because we deadended

that street there, right? So, it would be wonderful if both of sides of the street were pulled together in a in a design sense and maybe uh there's a way to get the town to cooperate on creating this gateway. Um, I love the idea of a gateway and I and I'm very happy that Paul has, you know, attended to this uh uh after our meetings and talking about this. The other thing I'm happy about, I think what I see, Paul, is that we got rid of those that strip of one-story buildings that was kind of shielding the parking lot. I'm I'm glad to see that gone. Um, my other remark about signage is that those green signs that the town has are not my favorite anyway, so I wouldn't mimic those. Uh, I don't have a big problem with I again, gateway might mean a little more than a sign. It might mean something on your corner and across the street on the town's site to kind of pull both together and make a, you know, um I'm not saying we put an archway across the road, but that's kind of cool in some places. Um but uh yeah, just some thoughts, random thoughts, seeing this for the first time today. And uh I agree with Dave 100%. We're really happy that you're in this mode of doing something there. It's it's very important. Um the the rendering of the building on that in your corner rendering is Yeah, that one. Um that's a little distorted. I like the

idea, you know, the scale that building, but um we're not we're not talking about the building yet. So, a lot of lot of scattered ideas, but that's kind of where I'm landing on this thing. Thank you, Neil. Okay. Thank you. My first reaction was similar to Neil's uh the entry to to the town. Two things came to mind. One was adoption of the public park across the street as Neil mentioned sort of was suggesting so that you can guarantee that there'll be equivalent appearance on the entry and the other idea was the possibility of getting rid of the traffic light on that in that intersection and putting a roundabout. Now I know the roundabouts are being discussed for further and center of town but there's more traffic problems to be dealt with to locate them there. This is more of a simple uh four-way intersection that could be handled and would certainly be a clear entrance to the downtown, a clear demonstrable entrance to the downtown if that were a possibility. I'm not saying you have to do it. I'm not saying that the state will want to do it, but they always are looking for ways of getting rid of some of these signalizations. So, that's a possibility to keep in mind. Um, again, also not saying you should take adopt the park across the street, but that's another idea to keep in mind because I'm sure that something can be worked out in that way. Uh, with regard to some of the other aspects, the dog park, first thing that occurred to me was the rendering looks like was the fences fence openings are wide enough for any dog to run through it and disappear, which is, you know, I mean, that I know it's a rendering. I'm not sure that's the fence you're going to use, but that would be the last thing a pet owner would want, having them run out into the middle of

the road or wherever they go. So, that's just a just a side comment. Um the um street trees, I couldn't help but wonder, and I looking at this, I don't know for sure whether or not the utility poles are on the east side or the west side. I think in some cases maybe both, but less on the on the west side, which is your side. And that's a plus for putting up street trees. I don't know the depth that you have behind your sidewalks to your wall. That also would be of some importance to the size of the tree that you could get. If you don't have the utility lines, you got free rain to put up a good size street tree, which would be fantastic. One of the things we're struggling with in this town is to find sufficient space and locations for street trees that aren't impacted by utility utilities. Uh it it's the most demonstrable and most appealing element to most people when they come into a community or into a place they don't know if it's if it's green and and and overarching. There's always a sense of belonging, a sense of calm to that. That would be great if you can do it. Um, anything short of putting underground utility, which you're not going to do or the project, you not going to replace what's there in terms of the the Eversource poles and so forth. But I think if you have the opening placed sufficiently, if you can do it without if there are no poles there, you have free rain. And I think I'd love to see what's on this on this rendering put in place. If you've got poles, then you have then you may have to go with a different kind of tree. I mean, I would take I would probably get 20 years before you before you begin to impact those the wires and

lines. But in between there, you have all kinds of headaches with having to prune them and fool around with them. It'll never look natural. So you got to have the right size tree that doesn't even approach that if that's the case. But I think that's a good I I just I'm just very pleased to see what you've what you've shown here. I think you've captured a lot of elements that we'd like to see even more of throughout the downtown center and probably is what's being talked about the downtown center plan that's been been worked on and uh that that's great. I don't know what your at some point might be helpful if you give us an idea of what your intended start time might be for for some of this. Yeah, I'm willing to answer all every and all the questions. I've made most notes. So, as soon as all your questions are all your comments. Okay, John, do you have any order? Don't worry. Leaving it to you folks. Okay. Go around the end. You said you might pass. Um, yeah. Question. Is there um It's Mark. Um, is there a bus stop there now? There is. Yeah. Okay. Um, and um, just to follow up on on Neil's comments about the the dog park, I think I think that'll be a home run with the people at Heirloom Flats. I mean, there are tremendous number of dog owners now in the center of town. uh and probably even more with with this facility. So, you know, I I do see it as a plus. Um I think no matter what kind of open area there, no matter how attractive it would be to the public and you're making it useful to the public,

um I don't see it as a destination by the public. I do see a dog park as a destination. I I see it being used a lot. Um kind of the same with the at the corner. It's um I think it's going to be really hard to make that a destination. Uh I think you just have to make it as pleasant and visibly pleasant being the gateway and and I think you've gone a long way to do that here. So yeah, I I don't I don't I don't have a good solution to, you know, to make it a destination, per se. Um, and I don't know if you saw it as something that the residents themselves would be using. I didn't see any connections to the building or I know it's early in the process or any doorways, you know, how people who live there come and go and how it relates to that. Um, but that's something else to think about, you know, as you do develop it. And that's all I have, Mr. Chair. And you looking um the pedestrian details along Bloomfield Avenue. Uh, I love what you're doing with the walls in the landscaping. I don't know if the walls portion of the wall could service as a sitting area or whether additional bench or two might be needed. But if we're trying to broadcast the notion that this is a multimodal town, a few benches might be helpful. I know you got the the the the bus stop that'll count for something, but you know, just even if it only gets used to 17 times a year, it makes a statement and it gives people an option. Uh I think there are more people out there walking and jogging and doing what they do. A

place to sit down. Uh a sense of accommodation is a very welcoming feature. Uh and it says something about the project also says something about the town. You know, appreciate giving some thoughts about Sure. Um uh Neil speaking again. Um it's good you've got that rendering up there. Couple of practical issues. Uh John, when you do a brick sidewalk, uh does that end up being uh town maintenance? Who takes who takes over that? Sidewalk maintenance is the property owner. The town um and I think the u the state DOT now has adopted um street complete streets as part of any project they do. um which has some unintended consequences cuz they sometimes want to put sidewalks where there is no need or purpose for sidewalks working out a place where municipalities can but this isn't this obviously is along a state right away. So they're going to have to you know have some conversations with our friends at conduct but no that would be the maintenance of the sidewalk would be the responsibility of the property owner and light fixtures. I know there was some discussion at one time when we were uh dealing with the town green and some other issues about creating some design standards that were consistent with, you know, the appearance of the town. I don't know if that got rolled into a detailed sense with the with the town plan with the town center plan, but um I kind of like what they're showing and and is there a chance for, you know, somebody that's

developing something this large to interface with the notions that we're doing as standard. Yeah, absolutely. And I think I think um you know we're putting in new additional lights at Philly Park and I think those have picked up the ornamental lights that already exist along Park Avenue that's been put in I would you know I think these clearly resemble that I think would would tie in. So I think that you know a standardized system has already started to be put in place. um whether they put these in or whether um Eversource puts them in depending on where they're located. I think that um that you know Eversource has a standard that they're using that's the ones that exist in Philly Park and exist Park Avenue. Yeah, it appears as though these might be a different model than Eversource would use which is is not problem. The concern uh is glare. Uh are they is the light focused downward or is it going to be a big glaring light or is it going to be a soft light lit light? Is a pedestrian walking light in conjunction with overhead street lights. That balance is very difficult and uh to play and uh but desired. These are appear to be pedestrian scale. Uh they shouldn't be high intensity. Uh so even if they were, you know, obviously it's going to be focused downward uh with a halfway decent cut off anyway hopefully. Um it shouldn't be all that glaring because it's you're not using as much power as you would on a street light. I've seen some you to attempt to respond to some of your comments yet or you want to hold on. No,

that's good. And the other thing is, uh, as far as the brick sidewalks, I'm not sure you're doing it on on on stone dust. They're probably on some sort of concrete or mastic, uh, which would probably last a lot longer. Question came up earlier about the trees being so close to the wall. I don't know how much room do you have, but brick sidewalks are probably just as easy to repair, not easier than a concrete sidewalk if if the roots started coming up. But, uh, that's that's neither here nor there as far as we're concerned at this point. That's a maintenance problem that you must be aware of if you're going to own the property. So, um, no, but again, no different than concrete because we've got plenty of slabs lifted around town, too. So, it just goes with the already used. This, of course, looks a lot more accommodating, attractive. Go ahead, Paul. What's your What's your response? Okay. Jason, I'll go first and then let you fill in after. Does that work? Sure. Okay. Uh I think the sidewalk probably is needs to be addressed right away. So Jason will talk about this afterwards. I'll be brief on it, but this would be a stamped colored concrete. Um but colored like like like brick. Uh I guess there's been massive tripping issues whether you use stone dust. If it's 12 inches of stone, 16 inches of stone dust, the heaving in the winter time, uh, real brick sidewalks like we all would love and behold just don't really work that well in New England. But I'm going to let Jason deal with that after I'm done here. First and foremost, we'll talk about the sign, the entryway sign. We we would like to That's why we're here tonight to talk about feedback, listen to what what you think. uh you know what belongs there. I actually love stone. So maybe it's a stone monument that looks nothing like a town sign, which I I I

actually agree with everything that was said about this town sign. So the question really is do we even say welcome to Bloomfield Center. I think that's the message. Do do we want to send that message there? And that's, you know, I we'll listen to your comments afterwards and present to you probably three or four times over the next three or four months. But, you know, give us a message of if you even want anything there or you want you want something there. And one of the best things, well, we've learned a lot tonight, but I love the fact of us getting involved on the other side of Gav Road. I mean, Bloomfield as we bring in. So we are working with Gman York. We're working with the town. We're working with town staff. It's tremendous idea for us to mimic the right side of the road as you're coming into the center as a left. Those two should mirror each other. I think it was Neil that mentioned it. I think other people agreed. That's something we had not considered looked at and I think it's I think it needs to be done. I don't think we have a choice. center that that just fills that gap because it's, you know, it used to be a a way to drive down your AV and now it's kind of like this piece of grass that's looks okay. Uh but if we mirrored the two sides of that intersection coming in, I think I think it would would be pretty incredible actually. So that that was a great thought. Uh the lights uh I think Mark mentioned also every everyone's mentioned the lights. The question is, we've tried to do this before and I think we need to make sure this time we do it right. Is heirloom tried to get directions on the light and then car park lights. We tried to get directions on the lights when it came to uh the building we just finished in Dome, but

we didn't really we didn't need the lights on that side of the street. So I I we specifically would like to make those lights important to the town and I think you know since you the town and I'm guessing your community agreed on the lights that are a Philly park um that would be our group that would install those lights, pay for those lights and Eversource would just bring the power to them I believe but I I could be wrong but we'll look into that more. We have a nice relationship with Eversource. Uh well, some of the few people that do have a nice relationship with Eversource these days, but um they're they're obviously giving us a right to build in their land again, which is which is very helpful for the town, which uh will help create the public space. Mark mentioned in in we we we what do we do on the corner here? Is it really a destination site? People from Gav Road will probably walk up. Uh people from heirloom flats and maybe maybe even Telus Green will walk up with their children, dogs, whatever up to that corner, but it's not like someone's going to stop stop and park in the public park parking and hang out at this park at the corner. Our goal is is to have some artwork in in this presentation. I I think it's become an important part of the town of Bloomfield. Uh we we're setting aside money to to put artwork uh in the area. The question is where does it belong? Uh we also have artwork available at 20 m which is a new tells Bloom. Uh so we're going to be presenting in front of the arts committee to try to tile that together. So does it belong here? Uh probably. But I think that's a combination of of your committee and uh the arts

committee and how does it all tie in? Certainly people from the building will come here. People from Gab Road will make their way along it. They don't cut through the back end to get to the, you know, the shortcut to get to the center. Um but we're very excited about this corner. What we're trying to do, we're trying to, you know, hide the density of the building as best we can. Um, but also make an inviting, walkable community like like Jason mentioned. Uh, so Neil, you you made some comments with the with with the elevations. So, we spent wow probably over a year going over the elevations of the building. So the the current thought which I think will be the final thought is to have uh underground parking in the swale and that underground parking will become the retaining wall itself to deal with the elevations. So it's it's it's the the wall of the underground parking will create the retaining wall which will allow us to infill to create this part. So now we have issues on both Gab Road and Bloomfield AB as the grade transitions down. So those will be detailed drawings that you'll see over the next probably two to four months of how we're going to transition that. So it's going to be you know we don't we don't here it's easy in the corner where the retaining wall will be normal grade and you won't visualize the slope because the corner is easy. So, but but down the gab road down the bloom lab, we're gonna have to gradually make that happen as we go down. It's gonna we were going to have to keep that going with more brick accent wall landscaping to make it all transition right. So, that's our plan. This is this is our our first run at it. And uh yeah, I mean it it

drops probably from the from the building standpoint, it probably drops almost 10 feet from the corner to where the building's going to end so on Gab Road. So we are focused on that. We understand it. Uh I've I've done it before and uh we want to make sure that it it looks right. So you're going to see some of those renderings as we move forward. Uh, we talked about so benches. We we agree this we will add J I should say Jason will do a great job adding some benches here. We'll also add benches along some of those retaining walls as we go down because it's you build those at the proper height which I'm guessing Jason will tell me is somewhere between 19 and 24 in. Um, we'll build some benches that people can sit on out of the stone and have access uh for people, you know, walking through there. So, let me see. Next, we are going to talk about the shade area and the dog park. That was our first run in it. Mark, the fact that you know where the sun comes from all the time is very impressive. You did you did your research. I think you know Jason will will address that at the ne before the next time we meet and we'll send those in front of you and and make make it most the best part and most sensible way to to put that in. Uh David, I understand when I look at this fence I clearly understand that like my little Shih Tzu that we used to have would probably be able to run through the fence. So, I think it was just a run at trying to make it look as best as we could without making it uh overly detailed. So, that we we'll definitely look at that. Most towns, I think Neil made these comments. Most towns when they build dog parks, they want a fenced area. They want to be

able to let dogs go loose. Uh liability wise, you know, it's it's a fun program, I'm sure. But that'll be the onus on the owner of the building. So the owner, we will have insurance to deal with that. I happen to be uh somewhat proud proud. I was actually South Windsor, Connecticut, and Rhode Island. So I understand what dogs do to each other in in good and bad ways, mostly good, and they like to play with each other, but the owners have to, you know, be involved in that. Yes, the fencing area certainly will not allow dogs to escape and we will work on uh more detailed drawings of those of those fences. Uh appropriate street trees. I think we can as we do the dimensions and work work on that over the next few months. Uh congratulations town of Bloomfield. I think David and your wife and other people are very involved in becoming a tree uh community in the United States. That was a tremendous award for Boomfield. So, we want to uh continue that on and put as many trees up as we can. Uh appropriate trees, shades, fencing, strip. I think I'm getting close. Um the roundabout I can't really discuss. David only in and you know something longterm but as you I'm not sure how involved you were with the roundabout when it came to uh you know Park Road and Bloomfield AB and how many years that takes but I think what we have to do is potentially think that could come in 4 to 12 years but it's certainly not something that you could ever get through DOT and the town in any short period of time and we are we are hoping as someone asked earlier

uh all things considered if possible uh to do something here late fall early winter if we can. I think those are the answers I can come up with some of the questions. Obviously, we'll open up to more questions in a few minutes, but Jason, I don't know. I'm sure I missed a bunch of stuff and you have things to respond to, but that's that's where I am. I I think you hit them all, Paul. I was I've gone through um all of my comments and I think you you hit on everything. Okay. So, maybe go back to from our our comments. Well, uh the comment about the roundabout, uh obviously neither you or nor we are capable of assuring it's going to go there. But if there's a move, a positive attitude about it, uh, it's going to go further. That's all I was trying to see what your reaction to that might be instead of that traffic light because it's certainly there's nothing more that could do more to to identify the entrance to the downtown than uh the traffic movement. But that's that there's a thought. The other thing I was thinking about is you've done so much in the center of town to create a center of town where you have people walking. I'm wondering what the loop would be from this building down to Park Avenue around to heirloom around heirloom and and Jerome. I mean, you could say it's a half mile loop or a mile loop. People will just would be happy to walk it to know how long they were walking. So, you know, thinking about uh markers, thinking about doing something around downtown that gives people a sense of their accomplishment if they're going to because you have so many young and active uh people there. Uh it just,

you know, I'm not looking anything big, just I don't know how to even present it. Uh but to create a downtown loop that people can the Butler trail map, the Butler trail The butler did it. Anyhow, that's another thought. Any other It's It's about a mile loop. It's 0.9 mile loop. There you go. So, you got a good mile walk if you do the loop. And that would justify the bench and would keep people moving. It It just looks like an act creates activity. I'll pipe up again. Neil Neil talking. Jason, can you talk to me a little bit about how that hole that's there on the corner now gets filled in and has, you know, uh is it is graded to be look like you're rendering? Yeah, sure. So, Paul Paul hit on that a little bit. Uh let me share this screen here. So, here we see the corner and the dip that we had me that we were talking about. So the building is essentially retaining the back fill for this slope. So let I do a quick little sketch here. Maybe it's better from Gab Road here. I apologize. Jason Neil, did you talk about the fence with the granite or were you talking about this area? That area right there. Okay. I'm sorry. I I missed that. Okay, that's okay. So if we can imagine the building here and all of this being backfilled here. All right. But it's Yeah. Okay. So I mean the the transition is Yeah. I I see what you're doing. Um I just want to right there in the middle. Yeah. Yeah. Along the gap roadside. There's a lot to think about. Yeah. To

make that work. Have conversations with the state about the controller. Yeah. put a roundabout in there to get rid of that controller. Right. Right. And the and the pole. And the pole. And the pole. But we're not getting rid of that other pole. Yeah. Okay. I just I drove by there today and I said, "My god, there's a big hole there. What are we How are we going to handle that?" And I know you're that's your business uh to figure out how to grade that, but it didn't That's right. didn't look like an easy one, especially with, as the guys say, all the hardware that's thrown in there and a couple of big poles. But I I just wanted to go on record that it's a concern of mine. I I think the I'm sorry to say this and I was in the same business. you know, the the rendering is a little is a little exaggerated um and shows the best side of the you know the the face of the the image, but um it's uh it's a tricky spot. I think you'd agree on Sure. This is Mark. Just a comment for the for the future. Uh better say it now than later. Uh Paul, you said there's going to be parking underneath the building most likely. Um and I'm sure you don't know the extent of that yet, but I I hope you don't consider putting any of that under the courtyard uh in the center of the building. And again, it's probably going to come down to numbers, how many spaces you're trying to get, but I've never seen that sustainable in the long run maintenance- wise for a facility. Uh it's going to need a lot of dollars in the future to maintain it. Uh and

so again, something to think about now as you as you detail that. We thought long and hard about it. Uh, so what's going to happen is, you know, we we've we we felt long and hard about the parking more so than the retaining wall along Gap Road, even though we've spent a lot of time on that. So, our plan is to have the amenity space in the courtyard at the same level as the underground parking. So, we're going to have open space, decorative fencing on the inside of the courtyard where the car is going to be parked and landscaping over it so we can breathe in the parking area. And our main entryway uh for the building is going to be on the northern part of the building, which which right now depicts the parking. So, we're going to right there. Right. So, we're we're we're still finalizing these plans, but our current plan is to have the main entryway in that building next 3 to 5 months. And the amenity amenity spaces will actually be at the same level as the pool and people will take the stairs of the elevator to get to the units on the first floor. So, the parking will be on the same level as the pool. Yes. I Yeah. Especially in New England, we could never build a building like you understand. So we we under that courtyard, right? Correct. The parking will only be under the building itself. Well, I think u any other questions or any other thoughts, any other you're you're still working to finalize this and and the housing uh portion of it for construction. still thinking about this year or will we will we see you again is the question or did you get what you need from us? I

expect whether good or bad for you guys, good for me, hopefully good for you. Uh to see you cut down. So yes, you gave a ton of feedback today. We needed that feedback. Uh I appreciate your time and we are we're going to go to work. That's what we're going to do in the next two to three weeks. Jason's going to be on the receiving end of all this work and I'm going to have to spend a little time with him, but he's going to do most of the work. We're going to try to adapt most if not all of your comments into the next presentation and we'll get on an agenda in the near future with you and uh maybe I I'll try to get the not maybe I'll try to get the architects to do some better renderings on the new entryway because that actually just came up boy in the last last few days. uh they're redoing the amenities space on that level um to accommodate the building appropriately because they're trying to make the building smaller. So what we tried to do is uh I mean I have to I have to come clean with you 50% of the building making it smaller is uh to make the town happy and 50% of the reason to make it smaller is cost of construction. We have to do everything we can to to make the building smaller because cost of square foot has definitely if Tyukin's project came to the bidding process probably uh next month it would probably be 15% higher than it was two years ago. So we uh we have work to do and we're working on it every day. So we'll get on your agenda. You'll see it soon enough and we're going to try to incorporate most if not all of what you commented on tonight. And uh Well, thank you Paul. I think it's we all agree it's a a great start. like where you're headed. So, we'll see you when we see you. Paul John Coleman, one suggestion you might if you have if you you have the time and interest is maybe do one um very simple

workup that assumes a assumes a roundabout at that intersection. Sure like that. We will do that. Maybe what we can do I'm Yeah. Maybe what we can do is design the project so it could handle the future roundabout removal of you know what we're doing, right? So maybe put light light light landscaping in those areas that would that would allow that to happen. So it would be an easy project to transform into a future roundabout. Good. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. All right. Thank you very much. Look forward to seeing you next time. We'll do. Bye. Bye. Well, the next applicant's not going to cut out on us while he's talking. He's your present. Technology. Well, I figured last time there's no excuse for like two minutes down the road. All right. Well, I positively I think it's probably going to try to come back almost every review. Right. Next item of business is proposed wall sign for D. Second most important thing to do in the right. How do you follow that up? I don't know. That was pretty impressive. Come to Matt. You want to come up here? Matt, just for the record, so it's in the thing, just identify yourself. Yep. Um, so my name is Matt Haskell um for artifacts um here representing Dutch Point Credit Union. Uh we're just knocking out the banks between Ward Federal two months ago and now we're back for Dutch Point. Um, so,

um, oh, you guys, you guys need Yeah, yeah, you put somebody online. It's doublesided, just so you know. Yep. Yeah, I remember. Go ahead. I can put it up too so that the public one out myself. All right. That was ambitious. Um, so they're going through a rebranding uh right now. Um so they have an existing sign right now um across the street um that's uh about 167 in wide and 31 12 in tall uh which is 36 square ft. Uh we're proposing one that is 154 in uh wide and 33 and 1/4 in uh tall. So actually we're reducing square footage by half a square foot. Um and this is just in line with what we're doing at all the other locations. um you know across the state. Um same way Mount Raceway um internally illuminated um as the sign is currently um across the street. Um I don't really have anything else to to comment on but you say they're internally illuminated. Yes. Okay. That's just something else there. And the first question I have to ask always is even though it's been reduced in square footage, it meets its own requirements. It does. It does for the for the face of the wall. My only question is I know you were thinking about putting one on the other side of the wall. Is this still a possibility?

It is, but just for the time being right now, they have opted not to move forward with it. You mean on the west side? On the um Is it the west? The back of the back of the green, right? Facing facing the green. Yeah. I wouldn't be thrilled about that. Guess that's not stopping at this time. And that's not a design review issue. I guess or is it? I mean, it's not. I thought it would be, but I guess it's not. But I mean, if that's the intent, I just wanted to just get it done um you know through through this commission and see how you felt about that. Personally, I think it would detract from the green and its importance. This is a commercial sign project. I mean, we had this question with the uh Wells Fargo, too. You can put a sign on every corner. Still people may not know where the building is, you know? I mean, so why why throw them up there? I would prefer they don't go on the west side because it just would be front my sense. I have a problem with the design. I I don't know whether or not [Music] uh you could probably ask 10 people get different 10 different opinions. I think the question the question I would have okay the question I would have also is are you obligated to the owner of the property to present something that meets their standard standard project itself this has already been run by the property owner approved we can't we can't submit unless we have to have their approval first um as an agent okay that's what I was driving it. I have a question. The the detail here shows this bar. Yep. Running through there. It looks like on the section and it's a

light box or a channel that's got electric uh conduit in it. Is that right? So that's a that's a raceway that's mounted there. Um and then so the side section detail you see. So the small box um is the raceway and attached to that is your side section of your channel there. So that's if you were to pull apart the sign that's what you would see looking inwards but each letter is mounted on that raceway. Correct. So on the the color picture I don't see that raceway. It matches the facade. They do a good job. Yeah. To match building. Yes. Yeah. Okay. So, you can see if you look at the existing, you can sort of see it um on top. It's designed to hide it so that you can't see it. So, it doesn't detract from the signage. I trust you guys have done this before, but seems like tricky business because that's gonna because of what it is, even though you paint it, it's going to cast a shadow on the brick on the bottom side of that raceway. That raceway is what? 2 in deep. Two two by four. Yeah. So, there'll be a shadow line in the daytime, but I don't know. I mean, you must it before, but it looks to me like it's going to be kind of a problem graphically. I mean, that's what is probably there right now. I mean, it's it's not Well, this is it's right here. This is what's there now. And you can Is that what you're talking about? Like a shadow? Yeah. But up up in the up in the letters

you can also see in the shadow cast by I mean the roof is also you know an overhang so it's also casting a shadow which I mean that's just the function I mean that's a yeah I know that's true the letters themselves cast a shadow too it's a less state of the art is what we're talking if you were to mount them directly to the building. Now, the other side of that too is the property owner when Barry may not allow you to go directly to building because when you mount to a raceway, it's less penetrations into the building. So, like when you have tenants that swap in and out, it's less damage to the facade over time. Um, so usually like these things stay in place. Um, so there's that. If you were to go strictly to the building, you're going to get um you're going to get greater shadows because of um you're individually mounting each of the letters. The spacing of it, the spacing with this, you allow it to come off farther off the wall. Um it's just aesthetically it's going to be a better look. So, I have to ask you with the choice of orange or blue, is that because there's a blue field colors or Um that's that's right. That's just uh I'm again I'm not sure that's just their branding colors. I mean they have other areas, right? Where are they? Dutch point. They're based out of Weathersfield. Yeah. So that's their main headquarters right now. Have they changed their signs too? So they've they're building Newington. They we've done one already in Newington just like this one with the colors. Yep. Okay. So it's not a boom field. I was just wondering would be interesting. They're building a new corporate like headquarters in Weathersfield. They already have a location Weathersfield which are turning you into their corporate office. They

have a location Niantic they and then they have like satellite like ATMs in Berley and Middletown. I think they have one with Hartford too. What's the reference to Dutch? Um not sure. Well, it's where the the Hartford was established. 1600s at Dutch Point historic. No Dutch point. Well, that may be Windmills there. Not sure. There used to be a credit union. Okay. that it's connected to something historic questions, comments. I'm good. Yeah, I'm okay. I'm good. Generally okay on any sign that somebody's willing to put up because I don't get as much concern unless it's too glaring, too crazy visually. You know, I can't question this. One thing I do want to reiterate back to is on the on the Windsor Federal, we said that these signs could be dimmed in the night. You want to make these difficult? I think we should town away. Why should somebody be glaring next? There's no reason to because the place is closed. Why he's consumed the electricity which last I heard was danger to product. Yeah. So, it's a just a thoughtful thing to do. Is that something to do? Yeah. Cheers. Yeah. We don't need a formal resolution. Well, we'll just make a recommendation. Just I'll put it in the system. You applied for building permits already, right? This will be an administrative approval just because it's not it's a replacement. Yep. You're doing all a lot of signage in town. Yeah, maybe we

should do the the new project phase four on that corner. Reach out to Paul Butler. Lauren's relationship is with him. I don't I don't I never know what it's always like it's always like hit or miss sometimes with him as you know that's a problem with talent projects because they move slow. So yeah and like Lauren I mean you know sometimes Lauren he does great signs one of the best. I mean and not because I know I work there and I know him and his team but they really do. Yeah. Well I mean we like to keep the we like to keep the stuff that's in our backyard. Absolutely. All right. Okay. Well thank you for coming in. No problem. We'll see you again hopefully. Uh hopefully soon. You're a designer. No, I handle uh I handle permits. TCbody to including you in the broader geographic. It's this issue of the expansion of curfew. You know, eventually it'll have to be, you know, you want to formalize, it's going to have to be done by ordinance. I thought the ordinance is written gives you latitude. I thought there was I'll recheck check it again, but use that as a way of if we're going to do more work, it's time to fill the rest of the seats. Do this. We will do that. We appreciate the three of you very much. No one's name appeared. Never surface of

Michelle. Michelle hasn't surfaced on any of the other committees. No. Oh my gosh. Well, she called the office. um did not say that she you know her intent is to hopefully come back but is just not feeling well at the time Kevin moved out of town Kevin moved out of town was the last [Music] he including the TPC TPZ wetlands Okay. Elderly project 720 is close meeting. lesson in