Economic Development Commission - Regular Meeting

to do the continued discussion on the tip District Justin it's all yours all right so a little bit of background on this there has been some discussion about the economic development commission sort of taking a more active role a planning role in um in a different part of town U and um so it was a discussion of okay well we got we've got two other Tiff districts we have the Town Center Tiff District which is being obviously worked on by the Town Center Economic Development commission but then we have the Blue Hills and the toby and grandby Road um Tiff districts so in discussions with the town and discussions with um the chair and the vice chair it's been talked about that the toby and grandby area is probably a good first step to be able to you know start expanding some ideas some U you know some economic development in that area so I think everybody here is probably familiar with that area but basically what it is is it's the um and I can try to share my screen here give me one second while I pull this up um you know it's the two roads down where grandby comes off and then you have Toby as an intersection um along that street you have a couple of bigger properties including uh 31 Toby road which is owned by Steve Kaplan uh who I think is going to be watching yeah Steve and Andrew are going to be on on they should be on the call already perfect and then um across street from that is Hooker Brewing um you have a couple of different properties along the way there is the new fine fedal um uh micr cultivator that's on that street as well um you have the there was a proposed property at the southwest corner of Toby and gramby that was going to be another micr cultivator may still be we don't know yet at this point what's going on there and then on Granby you have a number of different properties including the

funeral home which is over there which gets a lot of um a lot of attendees per se um and then you also have a variety of car oriented businesses along the east side of grand B and you have um the um Bonnie I'm blanking on the name what's the uh the new Self Storage uh is a huge facility and then there's Home Depo is the big um the big Home Improvement center and then there's actually an entrance into copaco off of grany Street that's right and I was thinking of the um the the butcher as well the chicken place Saba thank you thank you couldn't I couldn't think of the name this morning well that makes me feel better because you're younger than I am and I don't remember it's still early still waking up okay but um so give me one second while I pull up this okay and I'm gonna just give you guys some background Too part of the reason that that I started looking at this um was because John had been approached by the owners of 31 Toby um and wanted to talk about what potentially could go on there and I've had two very good meetings with them Bob took had one meeting with the um the resident uh uh manager manager manager just showed us around but it's there's interest there in doing something and there's also interest on the part of the brewery of upgrading the area because he's very very concerned about the vacant although owned buildings that are on his side of the street that go uh that uh start on the corner of grany and Toby And then go in towards um right next to his building so this is very hard I think this is very hard to to understand and I know the area so maybe Justin you can point out where the streets are that would help tremendously okay let me uh and I'd love to have you guys put the street names on there like I keep on

asking we're going to don't worry uh so up here can everybody see my mouse where it's moving yep okay so up here's Cottage Grove you have capaco center right here um and then this is grandby road going south all the way down into the Hartford area and this road right here is Toby road so it's just it's just these two streets right in this area that are part of and Justin the property to the South the 31 Toby Road my understanding is it's not it may or may not be in the tip Zone but I've been told by everyone I've talked to that that is just a matter of writing some some kind of a change and and adding it to that no it isn't the Tiff Zone okay yeah the only reason why it might appear like it's not is because this original Tiff concept plan had some um possible illustrations and drawings of what could happen in the different districts so I had it for the to Center I had it for this area I had it for Blue Hills um it's just that property wasn't contemplated in those very early preliminary Concepts but the the property itself is within the Tiff District so great that's good news yep okay um so yeah it's it's an interesting area because it's right along the borderline of Hartford so just south of this in Hartford you have the pretty substantial new residential developments that are occurring um which if you've driven by recently they're actually fairly nice you know if you they they're oh they're beautiful compared to what they had Justin you know yeah they did job and and they really um they seem to be bringing in a lot of people so then there's the question of okay well how can we get those people into Bloomfield to be able to you know spend their spend their money and spend their time um so that's where this group sort of comes in so I think today uh looking for a few things and I I I'll yield to Bonnie with a lot of this but what we're looking for is um I think buying from the whole group to make sure that this is an area

that we're looking to you know substantially work on and then there are a few steps that we would want to take to sort of get the process going and one of those steps would be having the Commissioners go out out when they have free time over the next two weeks before the next meeting Drive the streets you know they're not long it'll take you 5 minutes um but drive along them see what's going on see what it looks like and see what areas particularly could use Improvement um you know and there are there are a lot of opportunities in this area um like Bonnie mentioned there is some new development there's the new Self Storage going in um you know brand be here um you do have you do have some investment that's starting to take place but how do we get the rest of the investment to really kick off and start going so I think that's sort of the the background on this but Bonnie I'll let you uh you know give your thoughts and what not because I know this is a lot of your thoughts and I know Rob's Bob's for thoughts as well yes well B Bob and I are very much in sync here it's been an interesting Synergy with Bob uh chairing the Arts commission and being co-chair of edca because your your company going in New York designated this as quote the district and my understanding is it was seen as an arts and Entertainment District which um was very interesting to the owners of 31 Toby Road as it was to Bob and myself because um if the commission decides this is a project they would like to work on I'm going to make sure you get a complete tour of that building it's a fascinating building it's a got a real industrial vibe to it 18 foot high ceilings exposed um utilities uh it's it could be a perfect place uh uh to have um artist Studios once we decide that we can have housing there to have um performance areas it's and and coincidentally Andrew Kaplan uh the son who is now involved

with his father Steve in this development comes from Austin if anyone's familiar with Austin Andrew knows firsthand what this could look like as Austin has done a fantastic job of taking some of their Factory areas and just trans forming them and the same thing happens with real art ways in Hartford it's going on in Manchester it it's something that I think will bring um a young demographic into the area and um what I Envision is that that begins on Toby road because you've got a property that really has got potential and you've got owners who are interested in doing something with it and then I think some of the properties on grany Street become uh incubators uh business incubators uh it um my experience having run kopaka being involved in almost 30 years of running it for the last 10 there was nothing like an owner who lives in town they they understand the community they they support the Little League that their kids go to the school they uh they they have a feeling for it that you're not going to get from a corporation or someone who's you know in another another part of the area so what I would hope to see is that we try to set up something so that the business people who are just starting out are given some support in that area I uh I've been talking to Linda and to John about what we can do to help some of the new owners who come into town or new renters that come into town and and really are finding it hard to navigate what the system and how to get to the point where they are licensed and accredited and um Linda and John are going to put together a checklist for me with the names of the different people and their functions in the planning department and I've offered to be the leison this is something I did at copaco for a long time and it steer in my heart there's nothing like an entrepreneur they're the most amazing optimistic

people who can do the whatever whatever it can't be done they can always do they've just got an amazing approach to their businesses so that I think will probably be the first step with or without the commission going forward with this but I just like to hear some comments I'm just very and I hopefully tarica comes on um I'm very interested in seeing if the rest of the commission uh has any thoughts about this one way or the other Bonnie if if I may just jump in with three or four very quick uh bullet points way points as I call them uh before other people come in uh I did uh look at this with Bonnie as she said uh I will add to it uh that uh the this area also backs up to the University of Hartford uh which of course is partially in Bloomfield and is a big source of uh uh energy and activity uh if we could uh generate interest here I will add that Al schwap who we spoke to about this uh is uh quite interested in entertainment uh and arts in the town as a matter of fact the very first face-to-face meeting I had with him some months ago he said he dreamed he was in another town can't remember in the South he dreamed that we had an Entertainment District uh in this area and uh lastly a very less than a 10-second plug as you all know the art commission is putting on a show uh in uh uh May at the Oliver Philly house same place we had a show last May and it happens to be held in the industrial Barn of uh that property a Philly house which is uh a town property and there is huge excitement over it because it really creates uh an Ambience that's

very different from a formal gallery or Art Space so those are my several comments it's a very exciting area and potential thank you Bob Lenny yeah I'm familiar with this area um you got like spring of oil you got R companies so in this District with existing clients are we basically looking for um a facelift to that area the street skate also La gry Street and as far as toob Hook Brewery and I guess you got some other factories back there Co plan I think back there uh so I don't know the whole I just notice the district I'm not sure exactly what we're trying to accomplish with the existing structures and businesses there and uh so I'm trying to get a better flavor for yeah if you take a look at 31 Toby which is across the street from the bre big blue building yeah disregard what the paring looks like because they're in in the process of getting it patched up a little bit but those owners and I hope I'm not speaking out of line for the they really need some guidance as to what possibly Happ I'm getting a lot of background yeah Lenny can you can someone Lenny ex me one of those days okay um excuse me guys all right they are they could be the um the prime mover of this thing going forward because they have space that that actually would work one as potential performance space and certainly as

Studios and they I'm sorry um so I think that that that is an area that we really should should concentrate on if we want to go forward and I think that I'd love to have everybody take a look at the the street you'll you you really see it if you drive down it um but have an open mind see the potential and then I would like to have a field trip for all of us to go to the 31 Toby Road and to the into the brewery and talk to both of the owners and see um what if any interest there is on our part and their part of moving forward with this concept um Justin can you and sque I'm going to ask you to comment and then Jus I want a little feedback from you as far as what the process would be to move forward absolutely yeah um for me I think the basic point is that if we have some other alternative uses of it if there is no other alternative use I think this is one that is very appropriate and welcome uh rather than having nothing we should have something and I more uh you know impressed by Bob's pointing out that this is close to U heart uh and anything if we can create activity around that corner and attract the U uart youth I think that will have the multiplier effect um on other businesses around there uh so I I I am not really clear I don't have information if we can bring in some alternative uses of this so since there is none in my knowledge so I would um you know go for the suggestion that is

on the table thank you the the issue with UA and this has been the issue as long as I can remember is they don't have a physical connection to this property they border it on on the west side of the railroad tracks which is where the greenway is going to go in this is something else that's happening is just you w go ahead SD yeah so I mean if if there is no such connection which I got the impression from Bob's comment then it's kind of a neutral Factor uh so then on the I think the decision will lie on the basis of what other alternative we have if there is none so it's better than nonone situation I think uh but if somebody can especially Mike Gman and New York Mike is smart he knows the places he knows the potential of the you know businesses and uh you know Progressive uh ideas about what businesses want to you know locate in what areas so I think he would be the best guide or Denise if they have some other business or Dave who's the commercial expert is got yes yes yeah that's that's the point if they can attract some commercial people too and and you know benefit from Tiff program of Bloomfield I would prefer that um but if there is nothing else available so welcome uh you know public arts and Bob's project Dave thank you sque yeah uh just a couple points on that um one is the the University of Hartford land is full of wetlands so it's been very difficult to consider development but it has been the location often mentioned over the years

as a possibility for boutique hotel um which University of Hartford desperately would like to see um the second point I wanted to make is while the arts district sounds extremely exciting um that is uh one of the few Suburban Enterprise zones in the state and that's a manufacturing Zone with significant State incentives so uh if it were to be designated as really no manufacturing would be going in there anymore it would be uh advisable to speak to legislators about maybe there could be an expansion of the powers of the Enterprise Zone that it would not just be for manufacturers but it might have more of an Arts uh uh inclination for Community like Bloomfield so that's something to maybe think about that's a good comment Dave and I don't I'm not pre I wouldn't preclude manufacturing small manufacturing light clean manufacturing goes this is all kind of an industrial Vibe as far as I'm concerned for that area I don't think it's going to hurt I think it actually help it whenever improves the buildings and brings people into the area will help Bonnie a couple of very quick comments on that first of all uh and i' I'd ask Omen in York maybe to look into this uh I seem to recall that you of Hartford actually does have a path that comes out the back of their campus into an area of Hartford and I don't know where that dumps out but it's not important that the students necessarily be able to walk right into this space but having awareness of it as you all know uh until Yukon relocated uh their

dormitories in Downtown Hartford there was a lot of uh trouble along uh their uh uh Waterfront area and when they did that it it made the whole area alive the other comment and uh we could look into this and possibly see what the legislature uh would consider is Arts now overlaps with manufacturing with maker space Y and there are people uh and I don't want to speak for the Kaplin but when we took a a quick walk through there Bonnie there were people who are making things in that space now for sale and I wonder if that could be expanded to say uh artists and others who are making things all the way from perhaps jewelry to Art objects could be considered manufacturers it's a new definition of manufacturing and as you say Bonnie the small uh small businesses that jump up from this thank you any other comments um will our people and hopefully Tariq is is on here somewhere or another Linda is Tyreek has Tyreek ever been would come on no she did not well not okay I'll reach out to her Mike do you have any comments before I say anything else uh no I'm good Bonnie sorry I'm still on San Diego time I got in late last night it's 5:30 in the morning well I appreciate you're being here thank you very much but yeah you're in good hands with Justin and Dave driver and I in here and I I think it's a great idea uh it's always been a piece of uh of land or group of uh properties that have been of interest to us and we we think there's development potential there so you know we we'll continue to work on it see what we can put together I I'd also like to hear your thoughts about

potential housing because I think that that you know and again I gotta be very careful here my disclosure is my family the burit and Ro rosenthals own the property behind copaco part of it was carved out for the Bro Center the rest of it was under contract and that and that deal has now now fallen through so there's 31 acres of land back there that is available for something and whether it's housing whether I keep on looking at dayhill Road in the brewery they have never remember the name of the Brewer that's up on Day Hill Road and what that has done if you talk to the um Hotel in that area it's been phenomenal for the business owns for the Marriott because these are the people that show up on the weekends when the business people aren't there so there's all kinds of potential but I think we've got to be creative and we and we've got to come up with if this what the EDC da wants to do we really have to work on a plan that is that has different facets to it I agree any other comments Justin anything else you want to add yeah so I was just going to say before I have to jump off here um so I think the next steps would be like I said before you guys next meeting in two weeks just take a little bit of time drive through the area see what you see um come back with observations to the next meeting um we're going to be working on some more sort of inventory of what the businesses are I know Linda recently did sort of a um a a blight analysis of the area was that like two years ago Linda a year and a half ago or something um yeah about a couple years ago okay um so we'll have some good information there uh and we'll be putting stuff together like that to kind of you know see how we can get this process rolling um provided everybody's on board so I think that'll be the next step at the next meeting just make sure everybody's bought into it and then um we we'll get going and see what we can accomplish here okay that sounds good and and also I'd like some guidance from

your company as to uh when we're going to need money whether we're going to need to go out for for um any kind of a a grant I guess it's a Sith Grant is available able but I'm hoping within your contract that you're able to this is not a big this is not I don't think a big time consuming piece for you yeah we'll be able to support some of this at some point if we want to develop a whole plan we might want to go after a grant or something for that you know in the meantime the starting process it shouldn't be an issue okay and this should be taken into account I imagine with the budget process coming up so that's something I'll talk to John about and see John and and our town manager and see what they say okay any other questions question s yeah I mean just the point that you mentioned I want to reinforce that the cost element has to be considered you know who is going to bear the cost and how much it is going to be the the in in numbers in concrete numbers if we can figure that out and that should be another consideration I mean basic principle is comparing the cost and benefit so yeah there clearly there is benefit but where the where the cost number stands and is going to finance it uh that is very pertinent Point well I'm sure this is exactly what the Town Center committee is going through right now because that's a a pretty hefty number just to get it to the point where uh the feeling is it would be something um attractive to a developer uh my feeling is with gramy Street in Toby road if we could get a couple of those buildings cleaned up or taken down that would be huge because you actually do have some investment there it it isn't quite the same and you have and you actually have owners who seem to be interested in doing something which again uh should be a benefit to us thank you I have to jump off but I agree I think if we get a few catalysts going I think that's really going to start the start the ball here well we're talking about Denise and I were talking about that once all this goes along and

we assume we want to do it we will hold a big meaning of any of the stakeholders that want to get together so they can talk to each other I don't think they know each other I don't know I know that and I think they they I think they I know they've been a neglected part part of the community and I would think that they would hopefully be happy to hear from us thank you again Justin okay thank you we'll talk I also have to jump off Bonnie I know thank you guys for being here J stay on right okay good all right let's go back to our agenda are there any other questions or comments I don't know if the public can actually comment if they can uh Linda will you access them I know that the two captains are on um there there are no attend attes there are no attendees they couldn't get on okay we can we please get this taken care of before our next meeting this is just not it's not professional to not be able to have public involvement and it's not it's counterproductive so like you could give me some help here I would really appreciate it AB Bonnie uh just a pra practical comment especially for the capin since this is uh recorded could we at least send some uh note or notice to them to say would you please uh go look at it well they're watching this as far as I know they're watching it streaming but the streaming does not inter I misunderstood I thought Linda was saying that no attendees means they they're not on the zoom meeting but I'm pretty sure they're streaming it it's being live streamed that's correct yeah oh perfect forget what I said Y no then Bob just so you know I usually speak to them anytime we've had a meeting concerning them so that there's there's I'm trying to have good communication with anyone that's interested talking to me great Bonnie thanks okay um approval of the minutes I have December and January did we ever I don't think we ever did we ever approve the December minutes Linda you know no

because there were you didn't have a quorum you didn't have a quum that's what I thought um I'd like to try to approve both of them uh together in one motion has everyone had a chance to take a look at them and are there any comments on either of them so moved okay thank you Lenny second second all those in favor sadik I was not here I don't know the okay confusing okay Iain I abstain but you know I I I go for it you know okay thank you sadik all right minutes approved okay um Commissioners updates Lenny and then Bob you let you have any update for us on the Town Center sure yeah we had a meeting last night at six o'clock in town hall uh in the conference room on second floor room five and basically uh it's a couple of steps uh that has to happen um they had we have a draft of the the plan um but a couple steps have to happen with that we had to make a motion on the plan going to the town website so the public can take a look at it then we have to make a motion to forward all these plans to the to the tbz commission all right the third thing we have to forward a motion to cro that the capital region of something you right it's a it's a capital region and there it's like 38 towns they share information um so they had had to go to them for their review and then we had to make a motion for us uh tdcd to hold a public hearing um for the plan in April 29th April that's the date you have for it yeah good okay if I might Lenny if I might add that the reason it has to go on the website right away is it needs 35 days

before right right I I didn't know everything I just know enough uh that's good so so with your experience with the Town Center commission um how quickly think if we decide we want to do something uh are we talking about a year you think before we actually you and Dave can both comment on that well since the Tiff already exists now is a matter just educating the the I don't know all the particulars but once you get the district you got the Tiff district and we're and I'm looking at this body uh would represent that area and then you get the the people the the businesses in that area involved in it get you know go from there and then it's probably probably take a year but that's that's what I'm I'm getting but you gotta really gota get Buy in and that's the we still got to go there with the Town Center you gotta get byy in but the research has to happen that's where g New York they go do the research and all that stuff I W speak for them but it's it's a process but uh um I think doing that area there'd be more willing participants you have less resistance I I'll assume yeah I because it's because you're sort of recreate you're creating something new that's one reason I think it might and I'm not saying that we we would not do any type of manufacturing but I think it's a combination because I think grany Street may stay more of the like Bob was saying the maker spaces which is a type of manufacturing and Toby road because you've got a an owner and an entity that is interested in this I see them as I want to encourage them and I want to help them to at least develop something and figure out how we can all afford to you know to to do it I think excuse me sorry about that um I think that when I looked at the the old well one more thing tip we don't have a tip commission

Dave do we have any idea Orinda when that's going to be established I'm sorry the Tiff District well we have districts we just don't have a commission to monitor Oh you mean the the committee no yeah I can I'll talk to John about that but yeah that that is something that you know you know we have to really start looking into Quick since you're starting the process well and since the Town Center's been in the process already that's part of what concerns me but do you know how many people have to be on the commission and what kind of representation we're looking at Linda I have not looked at that okay requirements for the next meeting we talk about that a little bit or da you yeah yeah I I'll have to check that out okay I have already volunteered to serve on it as a as a rep from the EDC if someone else wants to do it fine but I I'm on so at least that will get that started Lenny anything else that's pretty much it it's it's exciting times in Bloomfield um I'm pretty optimistic um it's just a matter it's a it's it's GNA be a grind uh it's gonna be a lot of work um so but it's going to be worth it I oh yeah oh yeah I know that for everybody and it's just it's just convincing people that change is good I think that's probably the biggest problem we had the um public the last time we had it at the Town Center the center we had a second meeting there it was a lot of good turnout people ask bunch of questions and it's great to have the community involved in that and um so it's SC well it's our money we should be involved you thank you Lenny thank you very much you're welcome okay um Bob do you have any comments on your uh

uh yes uh just very very quickly you all know that we're having this show of Michael borders work he's a town uh resident for 35 years uh and I've sent out uh the announcement to uh all Commissioners we encourage you to come and also of course spread the word to to everyone including those outside of town this is going to be a real show case and we're publicizing it very heavily uh and it is well underway uh the artist has already started the installation and he'll be hanging his work in the barn uh in just two weeks so uh and the date Bob the dates are uh each weekend that is Saturday and Sunday afternoons from noon to 4: each of the first four weeks in May so open for the whole month of May and I will also give a very quick update uh the uh Arts commission has been invited to uh put on a mini drum event at their uh food truck uh Festival which is in September and we're already starting planning for that uh and with that in mind we've told you before we are going to try to reconstitute the full drum Festival that is large event uh for later in 2026 and uh we also uh are going to be participating in the opening of the uh rebuilt uh beautiful I've been through it uh Philly Park in the center of town and that is uh actually on May 3rd during the day so uh the art commission has been quite active as Bonnie says we've been meeting with Al schwap and

others in the town uh and uh it's really be coming integrated into into uh the town's fabric so remind everybody about the economic M multiplier for part yes yes uh thank you well established the economic multiplier for uh arts and events art events entertainment is five times the expenditure of towns and we know this because there's been National research done on including uh uh there are 27 Towns at last count that have a 1% for the Arts uh policy which we're trying to get uh included in uh uh bloomfields planning and that is anyone over a certain development size and that is dollar expenditure probably excluding someone building a multi-million dollar home but other than that uh any development or Construction would require 1% of the budget to be uh given to the town for the use in arts and entertainment so but that is a 5x multiplier which is kind of huge if you think about it s d did you have a comment yeah yeah just U for my information I know Bob is U and his commission is are trying to get the Tiff benefit in that area that we were talking about uh I just want to know a little bit how seriously those people are interested to really take the venture or or it's just an idea yet or they are seriously prepared to get into that and establish some Arts thing do I'll turn that back to Bonnie uh she Toby Road and gry Street s yeah that's what I thought well as I said this is

going to be an educational process for people but because we have an own of of significant property that um could be the the uh incubator for all of this that's why I'm very interested in seeing if there's any desire on the part of the commission to work on it because you know um and and Dave you can be you can respond to this too bricks and mortar what happened with bricks and mortar first we started to have a problem because people had the internet then we had covid and people got used to not going anywhere and ordering everything on Amazon so now to get somebody in physically into a building you've got to give them something that they that they have to either touch or taste or feel I think and that's what you'll have with art there's nothing like actual performance in person or touching a piece of jewelry touching a piece of fabric you can't do that online so that that's one reason that that uh a an art district has a lot of appeal to me anyway that I think that that is is something that you can offer that won't compete with the center of that won't compete with with West Farms it's something that and and because of our diversity we've got so much talent in our community that we can we can tap into that you can see I'm very I'm very emotional I I just I can feel it in my gut and I think Bob is the same way that this thing could work we just have to get it off the ground that's all and and Bonnie let me just add for all those uh who are out and about uh you can see this model in in action uh in uh a Canton uh there's uh an old axe Factory that's been turned into art space very successfully it's across the street from uh the canoe uh and kayak company uh Manchester has done this with old

industrial space and has very and I mean expensive high-end departments as part of their complex it's done all over Connecticut and all over the country uh that this kind of uh conversion and it often is a conversion of old factory or school buildings however in this case we have buildings that are already standing ready to uh ready to be used uh is a huge attract attractant of uh uh not only traffic to the Arts but traffic to the surrounding uh business as a very successful restaurant next to the Arts the axe Factory uh Crown crown and the and uh crown and horns I think it's called anyway not important uh so this is a a real uh an engine uh and it's not just you can even take the word art out of it if that is something that that people think that that uh won't draw it's it's just activity uh that's Bonnie entertainment going going to look at stuff is entertainment for people yeah yeah okay any other questions thank you Bob and thank you Lenny very I said I agree with you boy this exciting times and Tom hope I'm gonna live long enough to see it happen anyway Bonnie I have a quick H historical note to add to to Bob's uh discussion about Michael borders um I'd say it was about 35 years ago that U when I was with the state we provided Michael with his first uh Grant to start the mural it was actually provided by former commissioner Ed Stockton the late Ed stock who happened to be mayor of Bloomfield at

one time uh so it has already had a Bloomfield connection with Michael thank you thank you that's great to know hey um anything else Dave that you want to comment on no I'm I'm getting more excited by the minute about I knew I would convert you to this it's it it it's gonna work Dave I'm telling you this thing is GNA work we just have to get a little bit of money a little of impetus what we'll what we'll just have to do is you know the U the Enterprise Zone legislation was created uh in the in the um late 70s muh and speaking of you know make manufacturing modern look at things like that there might need to be some uh readjustments of the legislation to Encompass things that they didn't think about in the late 70s so um that could be a sort of a side agenda down the road is that something that your firm would do or is that we have to find someone that's uh works with the state or as far as bringing it to the state who who does it go to does it go to the legislature yes the legislature would change but it would have support it would have to be supported by the Department of Economic Development and U you know again I don't believe that needs to be uh dealt with right now but just something right yeah now the fact that that the 31 Toby is in this tip Zone that that's a big help we the first impression was that it wasn't so if it is that takes care of one big issue there and Dave I'd like you I know that when I talked to Don about Don Poland about this he was very negative about housing there I'd like you guys to kind of rethink what I'm talking about

and just see you know I don't know if you remember University Park did that this was also in the 80s this was when Steve tractenberg was the president of the of UHA and he was very interested working with St Francis and I think maybe Harman hospital because they couldn't find housing that was economical enough for some of their lower level staffers and they had looked at this and it just never you know just things changed and never got never went anywhere but you might want to think about it yeah I think uh that was Mount siai but um yeah I think you're right but while Harrison was also big on uh right housing for uh not only the staff but uh have a lot of international stff students that actually prefer not to live in the dorms right and um if they can find apartments for them that's good so I mean that would be you know sort of an ideal thing I I'll mention it to Don see what another take on it okay appreciate it okay um Linda uh the town planner report can you help us out with that please sure let's see what we have here PD update y the plan of conservation and development update um so uh we hope to have that uh the commission approved the final draft um hopefully at the at their next meeting this Thursday the 27th um and so it will be uh then put on the website um a public hearing will be scheduled then we're hoping uh we have to post it for 65 days so um just statutory requirements then we'll hold hold the public Hearing in the next uh month or two um simsberry Watkins Road um it's a 32 unit um development

scheduled um I'm sorry uh they have received approval and um are getting ready to submit their final plans to start construction hopefully sometime in the spring um 200 seberry Drive 24 unit building Edition was approved and uh building permits are were sought for so they are I believe they're having groundbreaking ceremony today on that um duncaster e expansion remains under appeal uh the town plan and Zoning commission continues to consider inclusionary zoning amendments um and explain what that is please Linda inclusion are re zoning it's requiring um so each Town um is required through the state um to have a certain percentage of affordable housing town uh Bloomfield does exceed the 10% um uh of of having affordable uh housing but the town uh wants to just uh Implement um newer developments um usually residential developments with 10 units or more uh to have a certain percentage set aside for affordable housing um and that would be um based on you know the statutes um 8-30 I believe I could be wrong with that but um but but with that being said um we're just uh implementing or starting the preliminary um draft of implementing affordable housing requiring developments to have a component of the definition of affordable housing is that a certain percentage of the income or an average 80% yes it's whatever um the medium income in the

state is um in that specific region um you say 80% 80% I I I mean maybe Dave driver have a little bit more information on the the data for census um but yes um it again it all depends on the town on uh what percentage they want to um include an affordable there's a a lot of different types of affordable um uh housing component when allowed in a town uh you know voucher programs a percentage program whether it's 8050 or or whatever the case is it looks like Lenny wants to speak on this um yeah I just had a question for you is um is affordable housing the same as Workforce housing is that a different the term Workforce is no I believe it's pretty it's pretty the same I I just it just sounds better than you know than just affordable but the workforce is also affordable housing yeah um Linda one other quick question on this I have been told that the reason that our percentage is still high enough for for affordable workplace Workforce housing is because the base number does not include the heirloom flats and some other things because it's based on a census is that correct or is it because I always thought that what was going on now in the center of town was going to kick us below 10% I believe Gman your gave us the numbers um the 11 point something percent Dave do you have that whether or not they were included no I don't have that I would have to check oh okay if you could check and let us know next time because that that is that's been a concern because we're doing so there's so much uh potential affordable housing especially up on the Avenue that um we want to make

sure that that off at what's going on in other parts of town okay I'm sorry Linda interrupt go ahead okay so um all right uh we have that so we are uh again discussing uh the requirements and um the guidelines for that um it's again not nowhere near um you know getting ready to present a final draft but we have been in continued discussion um pre-development meetings we've been uh 589 Cottage Grove Road um will be coming in for a new retail development establishment um they are going I believe they just went to Wetlands um and we are waiting for them to submit uh for a special permit where is that Linda 589 Cottage Grove Road is Right Where I think it's near the railroad tracks where a Duncan Donuts um is it's a uart property actually that was recently sold if I'm not mistaken on the other side of Goodman Street right correct um uh so uh that's a new retail development um we do have the battery storage facilities that are still a possibility um but uh the no one has made or the developers um interest developers have not made any applications to citing Council so we are not sure whether or not um you know there going to move forward uh 132 North Griffin Road um there was a preliminary proposal for 230 uh multif family units um they have now um withdrawn from that uh so uh that proposal is pretty much uh dead and the First Cathedral uh they are have been

and you know we've had several meetings about um uh the development of about three affordable housing uh buildings on their site um and 100% affordable housing it so uh we have not met with them again but I know that we you know they've been interested in developing for 100% affordable housing this is on Blue Aven that's correct First Cathedral is the we call it the three Church Corner y uh let's see and um we continue to uh focus on some zoning enforcement and blight enforcement in Toby grany area um and throughout town we focused there because it was a very um I guess an area that was bringing a lot of just unwanted activity as well um and so one comment on that I did have a meeting with the police chief this week or last week and um it was interesting because I said you know we're concerned we want to use 31 Toby Road I'm hearing that there's issues he said he did not think there were main major issues he didn't think there were any major issues on Toby road to speak of he said he thought Ramy Street was an issue um but that he they had had enough interaction with the people that were perhaps causing some of the issues that things were better but I said I so I said you consider a dangerous era he said no not at all no I I never I never yeah I'm just saying but that that's some of the feedback I started getting what do you mean you want something that's positive yes absolutely um okay yeah so that's pretty much um okay my update any questions for Linda sadik

sadik yeah just quick question we we had have talked quite a bit about all the project but I don't know what is the latest information it's sort of died away somewhere um what is the progress what is the status of that Aldo store remember the grocery store we were talking about Aldi Aldi Aldi Aldi yeah Aldi um don't know the status we have not had a formal um you know them come back formally for for development again um there there has been um talks about um you know continued text Amendment and zone change in the area uh for possible future development that's that's basically it I I think John would may have had conversations with the property owner um but that's that's all the knowledge that I know about that site but is this alive still it's this in progress somewhere or or no it's not in progress yeah uh sadik and Bob if you want to comment on this at all there is a gentleman who basically specializes in um one-on-one contact with neighborhoods Neighbors in an area that um he feels they need to support a project he approached me and I think Bob he approached you as well as you know him in my yes I'll comment after you Bonnie yeah oh you go ahead and then I'll comment how's that uh uh I don't know whether I should mention his name but but I can no don't bother yeah okay uh uh gentleman who uh and I'll just tell you a little of his background you can go find him if if you choose to uh he is representing them uh he is also very active in the Arts in West Hartford and that was the context

in which I met him uh and as of about oh just over a month ago uh he and I cannot speak to him for the project or or or in any way saying something that Linda uh is responsible for uh but he told me that uh the store Aldi uh is still uh interested in Bloomfield and uh is thinking about how they uh can proceed but there's nothing formal done uh and nothing uh concrete that he could fill me in on but he has as uh Bonnie uh said uh a specialist in this field and has held uh some important positions in West Hartford so he he is an influential uh spokesperson and and I spoke to him about Aldi and his first question was what would it take to get into Bloomfield I said put it in Blue Hills Avenue he thought that was funny he told me that Aldi's is much too upscale for blue Hood's Avenue which I think is kind of a fascinating concept but anyway um if Alves were to come into Bloomfield that is the only site they're interested in at this point and Dave if you have any anything to add to this please do no they just uh haven't really received a lot of warm and fuzzies from town well we see we'll see if they can come up with something that will protect the neighborhoods which is which is the big issue because if if anyone remembers there's a a fairly large um uh single family development behind this and then there's Prospect Street but you do have the farm in between which which buffers Pro ECT a little bit but certainly doesn't buffer was it g is it Garrison terrrace I'm trying to remember the the name of the main street bag there I if you if you get to that new stop sign

that was um put on Prospect Street and you um see the side street that's the develop that's the housing area that is probably uh most critical of what's going on here we'll soon any questions thank you thank you Linda um if there's no other comments uh uh I will remind you that our next meeting is Tuesday April 8th and you do have a homework assignment please and that uh I call for the German moved to second okay thank you all very much for attending Linda thank you for covering for John and we'll see you all next month thanks again thank you all bye now bye bye meeting is adjourned bye 9:32