Economic Development Commission - Regular Meeting

I'm going to call the meeting to order. We do not have a quorum uh and will not have a quorum. Uh so we will not be passing any motions, but we can at least have a meeting and discuss various activities that we want to begin. Um Linda explained to me that because we have a new recording secretary and she is not quite up to speed with everybody, we do not have any of the minutes to approve at this point. And because we do not have a quorum, we cannot approve the June 10th minutes, which we we were set. So, let's just leave all that tabled. And um when you get any of the Linda, if you could forward them to us, that would be helpful. So, at least we'll see them. We'll be ready to to act on it when we can. Yep. You got you received I believe the June meeting within minutes. That was Yeah, she's working on the Okay. Okay. Any old business, John or Linda? Anyone else? No, ma'am. Okay. No business. All right. Any new business, John or Linda or anyone else? Okay. I think I think what's going to happen and what looks like is going on right now is the EDC because we're a reactive entity. um unless people are coming in and want some input from us, we're probably not going to have a lot of activity on that side of our uh charge, which is probably good considering where where I think we're going to be moving on the other part. So, having said that, uh any commissioner member updates, Bob? Uh no, not really. Uh just very briefly, we're having a meeting after this uh to discuss uh the drum festival hopefully for September coinciding with the food truck festival, right? Uh but I have nothing to report. Okay, thank you. Um we've got the EDC report. Is there anything that uh Denise

or Dave want to add to it? No, but I I just wanted to last night, John, at at the meeting when they were um it was the governance and economic development subcommittee. Um they were discussing um a tax abatement that was up for Arbella and they had asked if the they had presented in front of EDC. John, is that something that we think they need to do or um let me I thought they came back way back when, but what is the entity, guys? It's the Arbella at Blue Hills, the age restricted housing up on the old cinema site. I don't remember it coming before us. Okay. Do I don't think they have to do it, do they? I don't think so. It doesn't ring a bell. Yeah, it wouldn't hurt because they there has been a precedent of doing that and um at times we've said, "Yeah, it's a great idea." And at times we said, "Boy, you really ought to, you know, rethink what you're doing." So, if they would like to and it won't delay things, they'd be happy to hear it at the next meeting. Well, last night it was um it was tabled until they can do some other things. Okay. It goes over to finance. Excuse me. Goes to the subcommittee for finance to This is the This is the drive-in site. Yes. Yeah, that's what I thought. I'm sure they're, you know, they'll be happy to do it. You know, they can do it virtually. Sure. They have a slide deck. Oh, good. Okay. There'll be a lot of reminiscing with a certain generation of that drive. I'll tell you that. Okay. Um, anything? No, nothing from New York. Um, John, the plan of conservation and development, how's that going? It just went down the tubes. No. Um, are you serious? No, I'm not. I'm punching. He was up late last night. That meeting

lasted till 8:30 last night. I'm punching and I'm annoyed. But other than that, um, what's new? P the PC will have the TPZ is going to have its public hearing next week from Thursday. And then um after that Justin and I will get together in early August uh to uh take all the comments and whatnot and and finalize the document. The document will then be sent to the council per statute for their uh review and comment. Um they they can like it, they can not like it, they can act on it, they cannot act on it. um they have 65 days to do whatever they want to do and then the TPZ can ignore whatever they do. Um it's an interesting way of doing business. Okay. So, we're talking about before the end of the year at least it should be done. Yes. And hopefully we'll hear back from the council fairly quickly and um you know it'll be adopted hopefully sometime in September or October and finally put to bed. Um any any highlights that that are being uh contested that you want to share with us or not really? I think and Justin can jump in if if I think the the major uh thing is um is aligning uh the future land use plan with what we really want to see along Cottage Grove Road and in a couple other areas of town and along the corridors. Um that alignment is is is not good right now. Uh secondly, um and I'm not sure whether there's you whether there's consensus on enough to make it happen, but there's certainly a push to um be much more upfront on the retention of agricultural land and the preservation of open space. Um the plan is is is fairly strong on it, but others want it a lot stronger or some want it a lot stronger. I'm not sure how. I think those are the the two

major areas that still remain under under open discussion. Is there a map of of land that's designated as agricultural land? And if there is, could we have that sent to us? Well, we have the future land use map, Bonnie, that has um what I call amiebas where so they're they're not as specific as other zones, but there sort of three general areas in town that uh are appropriate for potential retention of agricultural property. You know, the rub, of course, as you know, is that um if you really want to retain it as open space, then the public sector needs to buy it. uh because you don't want you don't have the right to restrict the private owner from developing their property and um we do not have um although there probably will be a push for that as well. We do not have quote an agricultural zone in the zoning regulations and um there may be some push for that as well. I'm I'm curious and are these amiebas that you're talking about are they currently under uh growth as agricultural areas? Um, generally, yes. Okay. So, you've got the you've got the Northwest area, you've got the Hour Farm area, and you've got the Bloom Farm area primarily. Um, I don't think it picks up um the Toby Road property. Yeah, I don't think so either, which is interesting, but Okay. Okay. Any questions? This should be a very interesting conversation. uh uh town development update. Um there's a lot going on. I did um I gave a report last night to the uh to the governance committee that I won't run through in detail since Bob wants to get get moving. Um but I think that

looking for the annual for the year um let me just run some numbers by you that will interest you. We had in in um in the building and land use department we had a little over 2600 customer visits at the counter. We had a little over 18,000 customer phone interactions in terms of people calling us and us calling back. We had um a little over 2,200 building permits filed with a value of about $1.4 million $1.4 million with a construction value of about $89 million. If our Bella goes forward, um we're already on track for this year to match that in terms of building permit revenue. Um so we've been pretty busy. Um and are you fully staffed now? We will be. We are now we are actually in the process of recruiting for an environmental planner. Great. That's wonderful news. that was stayed in the budget and um and we're moving ahead notwithstanding what may happen on the referendum question. Okay, great. Any questions? Kudos and glad to see you bringing money into town, guys. Yeah, we almost cover the expense of this department. That's a joke again, right? No, it's true. Just checking. Boy, they must have given you a big bonus then. Oh, you got all the inspectors and Oh, I I know. You got to spend money to make money, John. We all know that. Anyhow, okay. And and moving forward, the town center update, where are we

with that right now? We um we're waiting for a uh final approval back from DEC on the town center plan. Um, I've seen some staff remarks come back that say it's a very good plan. Um, I think there may have been some confusion on their part as to what we had sent them. Um, because we had um, we sent them the fully adopted plan, but um, we left the word draft on the pages on purpose until they adopted it. So, they I think assumed we sent them a draft plan. Okay. We've clarified that with them. So, we should hear back from them shortly. and we have submitted a um CIF grant for a little over $22 million uh which should be acted on by the state um in September I believe. Um and uh there's been correspondence back and forth with them with questions and uh Denise uh has really the been the yman person on that in terms of responding to their questions and actually we should applaud it to Denise and her staff for preparing the grant um in exceedingly short time uh and doing a really really good job. And um the questions that came back were um in my opinion um while somewhat extensive, fairly minimal in terms of what they were really asking for. Yeah. And I think I think that's a positive sign. And Denise, we are very appreciative what you and and the whole crew do for us. Believe me. Thank you. Very impressive. Thank you. Thank you. Had a good team. I agree. And it's been a good relationship with the town. Um, I've got a couple of questions that are going to sort of segue into the development agency piece. Uh, John, what was the cost of getting to the point where the town center plan could be uh sent to the DEC? What was that cost? The plan's been sent to the DEC. Yeah. So, what was the cost again? I'm trying because I'm trying to get an

idea. The cost I can give you that. Okay, Janice. Yeah. It was done with a CIF planning grant. um of and the planning grants are all 250,000. Now, a portion of that went to Gman and York and um and then a portion of it is used for like the meetings and um mailings that were done to the town for the survey and things like that too. And are those grants still available? Um they are. There are oh god eight nine I think there is three more rounds John I have three or four more rounds three more rounds okay how long did it take to get to that point to get the grant well the preparation the plan took about an hour an hour about a year with all of the um you know why I'm asking right 14 months okay plus the and then add a couple more months on for the approval process. So, okay, any questions? Okay, hearing none, I'm going to move along to the other part of our responsibility, which is we are the development agency for the town of Bloomfield. Uh let's move on to a discuss a continuing discussion on again I would love I keep on calling it JMT uh GMT. We got to come up with some short name, but that's we got time to do that. Um, Denise, you said that you would give us kind of an overview of where we are and what you think our next steps should be to get to the point where we can actually make a proposal for this prop for this area. Yeah, I think what we had talked about, Bonnie, is that, you know, we've looked at the properties, we've done the tour, now we have to actually um do a property conditions and look at

what is dragging down the area, you know, who the current tenants are. Um because right now, you know, it's industrial zoned right now and that's the primary tenant there, right? There is some good news in the area. Um there was a young woman and her sister that bought 96 um Graanby Street. I don't know if you're familiar with it. Linda and I got to tour the property um along with the raccoons and the rats that habitated it. Um it was but she came in. It's her first commercial property that um she's bought. She was very open to Linda and my suggestions. We went through, we said, "You got to clean the property up. It's overgrown. It had um just debris throughout it. Really rundown condition. And she sent us pictures last week um of the property. She has had it all trimmed. She had there were tree huge tree in the front with dead bush, you know, dead branches on it. She had that all cleaned up. She cleaned up around the entire property. um took down a sign from a previous business that was there and was just kind of dilapidated. So, she's really cleaned up the property. If you're facing um the funeral home, it's the one to the right. So, if you get a chance, drive through. She's worked on Linda, correct me if I'm wrong, the roof, which she intends to put solar on. um she is in the process of um repairing the sprinkler system cuz it hasn't worked in 5 to 10 years and then she has to do some major HVAC work. Once she gets to that position, she can start doing someone in the interior, but she wants to um lease it out to small entrepreneurial businesses. Multiple multiple tenants. Is that what

she's looking at? And what's the size of the property? Linda, do you remember? You're muted. Linda, you're muted. Yeah, she's still checking. Yeah, I'm going to say it's about maybe five 6,000 square feet. Something large. Okay, sounds about right. Yeah. Okay. And did she say what types of is we talking about like an incubator space? we talking about something more just small businesses to support small businesses whether that be um which she really liked the idea of when we talked about Bob the the um arts or makers space or small incubator businesses. Right. Right. What was the use? What was the use before she bought it? Um, it was a used office furniture storage basically. Um, it had I mean the entire third portion of the back portion of the building had so many leaks in it that it was just just horrible. So, it was a mess. Yeah. Terrible conditions outside, inside. Yeah. There was someone was living in one of the um empty trailers out back. So um somebody the co-host stopped my video for some reason. I don't know why. Rebecca just joined us and Rebecca is the recording secretary. John, are you the co-host? I just I'm having an issue with my Zoom for a second. Oh, okay. Just so I know I'm not being I can still talk. That's not a problem. Um, it's At what point do you think we ought to have uh what's her name again? Uh, the the owner Carmen. Oh, no, sorry. Carmen is the owner of the property. Um, and she would like to

uh meet with us again with Linda and you and I. Um, and anyone else who is, you know, we'd love to have a presentation if she's interested in doing that and and we can give her some some input hopefully what we're hoping to do with the area. And I realize and Linda has done a great job expressing that to her on what you know you're trying to do with the with Thank you. Yeah. And and hopefully if you want I can see if she's available for the next meeting. Yeah. Yeah. Just to put a face to the name Rebecca. Um the gross I just wanted to say I'm looking at the property card. The gross first floor area 17, 18 square feet. So it's a lot bigger than what we thought. Yeah. 17. Bunny, I cannot see your video. Did you turn it off yourself or something happened? Uh, there's a little problem here. I didn't turn it off. Yeah, you know how our Zoom goes. But I'm here. They're all the same. I can hear I can I can hear you at least. Yeah, exactly. You guys know what I look like. There we go. So, um, Bonnie and I have been working on a new spreadsheet that we're gonna, um, she's going to do it and I will help her with it. We're going to attack and go through all of the properties again and look at property conditions and who the current tenants are. Um, because you have to decide, you know, we want things to move ahead. We love the idea of, you know, maker spaces in there, too. But you have some very good and very viable businesses in that area that support that area. There's things that we've been looking at too there. Um, and Bonnie, if you want to talk to the signage a little bit. Oh, yeah. um it artifacts which has been a long time Bloomfield company and Lauren Rosen

who's the owner um is someone I've known for over 30 years. I contacted him. He his company did originally make those signs. He said whatever changes have been made he they were not his changes. So but um I'm going to meet with him on Thursday. We're going to talk about what potentially can be done with it. He felt the same as you, Janice, that those signs were certainly viable for a renovation. Um, he said that the sign, interesting enough, the sign on on the corner of Graham and Cottage Grove was always supposed to have been lit. It never was. So, that might be something to also look at. And um um yeah, it did look like it. um that kind of brought Bonnie and I to an a discussion of, you know, if we want to focus on this area and what needs to be done, who we have to look at for tenants, what are the vacancies in the area, what's the potential in the area, as well as supporting the current businesses that are there. There needs to be some kind of if we're going to promote this area, there needs to be some kind of brand image for it. So, I know BR Bonnie, you had talked about, you know, the district. I think there were a couple others that we were throwing around for names. So that that pylon sign or monument sign, sorry, that is on the corner of Cottage Grove and there's another one at the corner of Toby, a smaller one, can reflect the name of that area to give it an identity as you move forward with things. Denise, my idea if you call it the district and leave space, you can add another name to it once we figure out what to actually call it. But at least I would think that would interest people if you call it that is who's what's there, you know? Yeah, but I and Denise again, um, once I get that information to you, I really would appreciate some kind of a a timeline and and a to-do list of what we as a commission need to do to get to the

point where we can go to the town or go to the state and ask for funding to move forward with this. And and I'm assuming the timeline to actually get anything done is probably a year or so. Am I right about that? You think it's sooner, John? Linda, I know because there is minimal in the EDC's budget right now, right? Well, there's nothing. Yeah, they used to have 5,000. We have 200, I think, now or something. I have I I just want to uh note Steve Kaplan is attending and he raised his hand. I know we're not we're not in the comment section yet, but did you No, he we certainly can let Steve comment. I'll let panelist. Yeah. Okay. Oh, both Stephen, Andrew, welcome. Okay. Hi guys. Uh, unmute yourselves, please, if you'd like to speak. Okay, Andrew, you're unmuted. Steve, can someone unmute Steve? They're It takes a minute. Just They will They're both muted. That didn't work. technology. Don't you have an unmute button for these guys? Yes, I'm I've requested it a few times. I just don't know what's happening on his end. Yeah, Andrew, you're unmuting. Andrew, why don't you start speaking? Maybe your dad can can unmute himself afterwards. There there's also a comment and I think it was um by Oh, Kevin had a Yes. I don't know what it refers to at this point, but it says it's I think it was the conversation you were having about the having um Arbella come before you to present the tax abatement. That's correct, Kevin. Let us know. His comment was I think it's required in the tax abatement policy. Okay, thank you for that. Can they hear me?

There you go. Yeah, there you go. Hello. Can you hear me? Yes, we can. Hi. Thanks for taking this because I just wanted to add a little history to the sign. Uh because I was involved with it at the at the very beginning when the when the sign at the corner of Toby and um and Graanby was put up first put up. It was the idea of someone economic development council person named Deborah something Davis. Deborah Davis. Yeah. Many years ago. and she got the the building owners on the Toby and Granby together and asked who wanted to participate in funding that sign. So I actually uh bought at the time I don't know if there's any record of this but I als I actually paid a portion of of that sign and I have three spaces along the bottom that I uh paid for and two other spaces. One one says, I think it's been changed now to um used to say Iron for Zion, but the the daycare lady down the street on Toby Road took it off and put her name on. I've spoken to her. I told her that was my um placard and that at some point I'm going to ask her to give it back to me, take her name off and put a a larger tenant from my building on there. And then there's another um placard that says uh Bloomfield Center for Commerce and Industry and that's also ours. So there's like two at the top and the very last three at the bottom I paid for um for the privilege of putting uh buildings uh tenant names on those. The same with the um the one at the corner the Home Depot sign. I believe Home Depot put it up, but somehow uh Deborah worked it out so we would buy the uh

property owners along Grandby and Toby could buy the placards below and I bought I uh two uh the one that there's one there that says Bloomfield Center for Commerce and Industry. There was one that said iron for Zion, but the again the daycare lady hired somebody and they took off that placard because he he moved out anyway and she put her sign up there. So, I've spoken to her about that also that I was going to reclaim um the one that she uh took over at some point when I'm ready to dedicate it to a large tenant. So, I just wanted to put it out there. There are property owners on uh Toby and Granby that have a stake in that those two signs. And this is Steve talking not Andrew, right? Yes, that's right. I recognize the voice. I knew that. I a quick question on that. So, who approved the changes made to the sign when they're whoever? No, no one. Well, the no one approved any changes. Uh I'm I changed some of the names on my placards as tenants came in and out. Um, but the approval of the sign, I mean, I could look way back at my records, but uh, really Deborah Davis was the instrumental person. If I don't know if she's around or there's any history in the EDC records, but art artifacts was the artifacts. Yeah, Artifacts was the sign manufacturer, so they may have some history also. But I literally paid money to for those placards and uh as part of reimbursement for the purchase of the installation of the signs. What do they charge you? Oh, this is we're going back like 20 at least 20 years. I I really don't know. Yeah, both of those signs are so faded that they need to be totally refurbished. And sometimes when you refurbish them, cuz I've probably done more signs than I want to know through my ears, um, we can change how they look

and the placarded areas and stuff on them, too. Yeah, that could all be changed, but Home Depot was the, uh, primary motivator for the big sign on the corner of Toby and they may have had to pay it as part of their um, you know, their development. So, it's possible, but they don't know anything. The people who work there now because they were supposed to maintain the landscaping around those signs. Yeah. If you go there, and I've done it several times in the past, talk to the manager about why they aren't maintaining them. Uh those people, they don't know anything about it. They don't know because technically I think that piece of land, Steve, is owned by the town, right? Yeah. That's not Okay. But I think they had a maintenance agreement that they were supposed to maintain it. And then the dog people, dog rescue people on Toby. I'm sorry. They had volunteers who took care of the landscape. They decided on their own to take care of the landscape around the sign at Toby and Granby. And then of course when they moved or moved, I don't know, it's going to go to pot again. Yeah. They they have since moved. Okay. All right. Well, that's all I wanted to contribute. Thank you for No, thank you. Thank you. All right. So, the question is who actually owns the sign? I think it's on town property. It's it's on the town of Bloomfield owns the and the sign on the corner of Toby and Graanby is also on town property. It's on town property. Okay. So So the town has the ability to make the changes he wants to make. Yeah. So I I'm going to talk to um to Lauren about excuse me how he envisions redoing it. Uh tell I told him a little bit about what we're interested in doing. And by the way Bob Lauren is now a very avid drummer. so that you might want to discuss something with him about the drum festival when that comes up next year. Okay. There's there's a lot of synergy going on there. Um any questions about the signage? Any comments about it? Uh

okay, we I'll report next month on what's going on with that. Denise, anything else you want to talk about on Graanby Street? I'm hoping, excuse me, within the next month to one, go into the assessor's office and see if I can find out who the tenants are in the various spaces and two to actually physically walk the properties. Again, it was a very interesting experience because I show up out of nowhere and I tell them I'm nobody and they talk to me and that's good, you know, and I want to just get a feel of of who is there and how they feel about what we're talking about and if they're staying, if they're going, that kind of thing. And I will report all that back to you. And Bonnie, I you you do have the new spreadsheet that I made for you, property conditions and the tenants. Yeah. And it is in numerical order now for which makes it a lot easier to figure. So it also it has the owners and the owner's name on those properties. So, um, and and, uh, Andrew or Steve, I had asked you if you could give me an update on your tenant mix there also because, um, I'll tell you again that Bob and I both feel the same way that you are going to be the, uh, the first mover to get this prop this area to look different. Uh, if we can find a space to to use as a either a maker space or a gallery. So, that's something we'll be in conversation with you as time goes on. Okay, that's fine. Thank you so much for attending. We appreciate it. I do I do want to mention, let me just since you're on that topic, we do have a few new tenants who are going to be moving in um for short terms and they're going to come I think some of them have already come to the uh zoning and bu building department to get started. Um so we're actually filling up the building again. we we kind of let it um let the tenency linger, but now we're going to fill we're filling it up again with short-term tenants. There's a lot of people out

there who are just, you know, still, you know, looking for small, you know, they're entrepreneurs, but they're not entrepreneurs in the sense that they're rich uh venture capital people. They're just want get out of their houses or wherever they might be now and get more legitimized as a business. So, there's going to be several people coming before the zoning board for permission. Um, but we do, you know, in order to do a lot of that, there's commitments that we need to make to them. So, you know, we are writing leases and those leases are predicated on their going in and their responsibility as far as getting their legitimacy uh through the town for occupancy and use. And Steve, again, my my services are available for what they're worth. Um well actually that's it's I'm actually very grateful for that offer and I've had it in the back of my mind because these people are uh ambitious uh energetic but they don't know the process. Yeah. They're they're entrepreneurs and and they don't care about the process. They care about getting the business up and paying you the rent. And we all get that. But that's why I want to make it better for everyone. Alinda, when you when you are able to, I really could use just a a flowchart of what or at least a list of what they need to do and um I will take it upon myself to uh work with these these folks. So, let me know when they're coming in, Steve, and you and I will set up the time to meet with them. Okay. Thank you. Okay. Thank you. Bye. Uh Denise, any other comments about the uh the district and what we need to do to go forward? No, I think that's I think we have a good start right now. You know, we have to get a handle on it. So, you know, and we still do realize that, you know, this is our focus for right

now um with the EDCDA, but we also are keeping our eye on the other areas of town. Oh, yeah. What's going on there? And if you didn't get a chance, John, if you can watch last night's meeting, uh, the section that John did an update on the development that is going in and around town, what's been proposed, what's in, you know, going on. That's very good for, you know, our team to be able to know what's going on. So, John did a wonderful overview of it. No, it's a very exciting time in town. I I wish more people would have more positive views of what's happening, but there's some great things going on. There really are. I know. So, we we need those cheerleaders out there. So, well, I'd hate to think I was a cheerleader, but I'll be happy to say something. Cheerleaders can be both male and female. Okay, we got it. Bunny Bunny, is there an update on Wintonbury Mall? Anything on that? Denise or John, whoever wants to talk about it. Uh there's no really I mean the litigation is still pending. Um if they're having I'm not aware of any conversations with the uh with the property owner. Um you know the uh the u the plan was submitted. I, you know, I think that um the town is um has to wait and see whether they not they get the CIF grant which would provide them the funds if appropriate uh to begin um you know property acquisition not just at that property but others as appropriate. So I think that um you know there is um as far as the mall is concerned I think um in many respects um to some degree that's in the property owner's ballpark.

So litig litigation is still progressing. Any signs of the direction it's going in or can't predict? I I don't think we can predict at this point. Um okay, we have the plan, but as we all know, um when all is said and done, it's going to be it's really going to be determined what the market um uh desires and what a developer is prepared to to construct. Okay. But I think we have the broad outlines of what the community would like to see and we're certainly going to, you know, when the time comes to get in conversations with a developer, uh certainly the community is going to put forth its its preferences and ideas and hopefully um the developer that's selected will be responsive to that. So I think the plan gives you a good guide, Sadique. Um but I think the details um as all the folks at Goldman York will tell you uh are yet to be um finalized. Yep. Until we have concept right now. Until until we have a developer in in place. Yeah. Thank you. Thank Thank you very much. Um Bonnie, I just wanted to bring up I don't know if uh a lot of people have been watching the news, especially the HBJ um about the um proposed development for the um come on data warehouse. Please talk about that. That's pretty exciting. Data center. And Dave, I'm sure you're up on on most of that and anything else if you want to give a a brief overview. I think that's a I don't am I muted? No, I think that's a significant development for Connecticut if it happens. And I think that would be a a a particularly interesting presentation before they get all their contracts, you know, with Eversource and all that for

them to come and inform the town, the EDC, you know, what it really means. I mean it it's I think a transformer. It's a it's basically going to be a a new industry that that is um taking root here. Dave, can you tell us where the the property is located and a little bit more about what this actually involves? Does it involve additional work with Eversource uh to support the infrastructure? That sort of thing? Well, the if if you looked at the article, it's going to be a million square foot multi-story building. Um, it's over on the um is it not to interrupt the not to interrupt, but the um they have made a preliminary presentation to the TPZ. If you look at the okay last TPZ meeting, it's they made a they made an informal presentation and the commission asked for some additional information. So they will be returning to make an additional informally presentation before they decide whether they want to proceed with a formal presentation. It's located um on what is on what was supposed to be the um retail supermarket development related to Griffin Office Park. Um that's the that's basically the corn field. Yeah. before tobacco field where 80 189 and 187 intersect. Um it's it's a two-story building with a parabit significant parabit to um to uh screen and and diminish the the hum from the cooling fans. That's the sort of the major um potential impact that it has. It's basically an inert building. It has about 40 employees at most. Uh it's

basically um racks and racks and racks of um data storage uh facilities. Uh it would be very heavily screened because they would not remove any of the existing vegetation. Um very little traffic impact uh potential humming impact uh from the uh from the cooling fans that are on the roof. And um there are a series of um step down transformers uh that are at ground level along the side of the building. It um it does not supply power to the grid, but it draws a hell of a lot of power from the grid and has to be located in um in locations where they can attach that can they connect can connect to some fairly significant power from the grid. that location um has that they have talked to Eversource and Eversource is prepared obviously to do what they need to do. Um it's a challenging site in terms of easements. There are a ton of easements that run across the property that they are aware of. Um there's a major gas line that goes across the property that they have to avoid. Um but it, you know, it sort of came out of the blue quite frankly. It's a it's certainly an interesting proposal. Um and u you know in terms of um neighborhood impact um you got a fairly inert building that doesn't generate hardly any traffic as compared to a either commercial or significant residential development. Um and um the property owner has determined that um that it cannot uh financially develop um a residential development there at a at a scale that the town would probably approve. Um so that they are pursuing other avenues at this point. We've had two proposals for

residential development there. Both at a density that we indicated would not be appropriate or acceptable uh even though permitted. And um the uh property owner which is which is what the third or fourth offshoot of Cobb land um um is now they're also marketing that property and they're also if you want to know they're marketing um the property um just the just uh between just north of Deill Road between Tungstus Avenue and the railroad tracks uh which is right now um in agricultural land. Two questions please. Um, this is a a data processing center and not a um artificial intelligence uh uh back back office building. No, it's Bob as we understand it. It's a data storage facility. Okay. Okay. And um what is the uh proposed value of the building and how much will they be paying in taxes? Do not have that information as yet. But I might add it's a tax generating machine with no kids to put into the school system. Right. Right. And presumably I'm sorry Dave. presumably taxes on all their computers in their and their facility. Yeah. Right. But I mean besides the real estate, they'll be taxed on the equipment. Yeah. Personal property which is not necessarily exempt. There'll be an issue about what they want to try to pro convince the state that's manufacturing. Um manufacturing equipment's exempt. computers generally are not. Um it also could be a boost to the battery storage

proposals um who would be nearby and um so there you know there might be a lot of activity going on with that. What is the property currently zoned and do we know if these people are looking at other sites as well as ours? The property is presently zone DDZ. It's a very, you know, it's a it's a sort of a unique zone up, you know, that that zone is it's been zoned that for 25 plus years, right? And um that's a fairly flexible zone that allows a variety of uses. The initial use was going to be basically a retail center anchored by a significant supermarket that they were never able to attract there. Y um I do not know if they're looking at other sites Okay. Um, Bonnie, I'm sending you and Bob and Sadiq the article from the H Heartford Business Journal on it. And is there also a link there for us to subscribe because I would like to subscribe. Uh, this is just a PDF of the actual article. Contact them. Um, yeah, you can just go on H I think it's hbj.com. Okay. Okay. Thank you. Thank you, Denise. You're welcome. So, anything else? Uh, any other public comments? Any other updates? Uh, wait a Yes. Hold one moment. I'll promote her. Okay. Am I Can you hear me? Yes. Okay. Um, can I comment on things that um were from a former meeting as well? Because I This is actually fascinating. I I'm really enjoying being at these meetings to be honest. I'm guessing that's not the common opinion, but um I find we're delightful. You don't think so? We're entertaining. No, no. I I I'm I mean I I am really trying to like I I came here 38 years ago, I think. I grew up in Windsor. I

mean, I'm I'm a local. I'm not I'm dying in Connecticut, you know. So, um it's important to me. And I just have not I mean 8:30 in the morning is kind of a hard time. I think a lot of people can't go and that's kind of a shame or come it's not kind of a shame. So among other comments I guess I would have loved to go on that little bus tour of Toby Road is it? Um I think that's kind of a fascinating idea and would be interested in hearing about it and the whole Grandandy Street area. I mean um I I think that is a really viable place to be doing a lot of things and I like I said find it interesting especially at the incubator stuff. So that's one thing but if you are going to go down there I'd love to go anyway. Well come keep on attending the meetings and you will get updates on this is although we are a development agency for the entire town this is our focus at the moment. So the there will be a lot of work done and I'm sure we're going to have another road trip because it was it was it was an eyeopener for a lot of people I think and thank you very much for being here even though you are a local I mean a a newcomer but no 38 years it's a beginning. Well yeah right right exactly well like I said if you add the Windsor part to it I've only got a small time elsewhere. Um, so I guess a couple of things. First of all, that data center, I'm not sure like should anybody actually be finding out how connected to AI it is and whether or not that affects our perception of it because I mean that's kind of a gruesome concept in its own way depending. But also um right down the street at Peppidge Farm, they have a fuel cell which has all these other benefits like being able to generate heat and for a substantial area around it and um can co-generate uh energy and stuff like that. And I

believe that um Pepperage Farms is a uh oh the the fuel cell company that's in Connecticut out in oh god um fuel cell energy maybe it's out it's been there a long time. It's a very old fuel cell company. It's got a bunch of patents. That's a Connecticut company. And in terms of um generating power and stuff in a clean way, it's really something that ought to be considered andor maybe making these people, if they're going to be there anyway, put solar panels on their roof cuz kind of like what the hell. So there's that. Um let's see. The thing about uh I guess my point in coming initially was um 620 Cottage Grove, the flat part next to the the farm. And I have been interested in what people have had to say about it. Um, and wanted to correct a couple perceptions, but also appreciate especially Miss Burkowitz's appreciation of the fact that there are still people who do miss the petting zoo and and such. So, the first perception is that um that there are actually people in the neighborhood who don't really care. Most of us don't like the idea enormously. There's just not a lot of time out here what with everything in the world to actually adequately respond. The second thing is that the reason that Wesian um appeared and Garrison appeared there were signs on Garrison. People had taken them down mistakenly assuming the meeting was over whatever. Um, but there are a lot of people down there that absolutely have objections, especially to the idea of a an inlet at at the end

of Wesian, which would allow people free access into their neighborhood. They're pretty protective that neighborhood and that's been that's been dropped in they that was the uh developers heard that object. We also the EDC thought it was a great idea. there be walking path, but we heard that people wanted the protection to the neighborhood and my understanding is that that is no longer part of it. They are working very hard to try to find a way to buffer the neighborhoods and still accomplish what they would like to accomplish on the part of the property that that uh is adjacent to Cottage Grove Road. I mean, the biggest issue that I think everyone's going to have is Bloom Farm is It is. Yes. And I and and we understand that and I do think the developers understand that. Well, I I think they probably understand that we don't want a gas station there, which before when it came up, I looked into it and we actually have more gas stations per capita even before the sitco than anybody in the area and we don't even have a major highway. Okay. I know, but what I guess I'm pointing out is um if you want to look at the objective overall of development in an aerial, one of the reasons that you're doing it is because you want people to live here, at least presumably. And I think that what is kind of getting overlooked there, and it's not just the Bloom Hill thing. Nobody likes the idea of an Aldi. It's a second rate store. Um, Chipotle has a really crappy labor history. It's not like a good addition to our town. It is not high-end retail by any sheer stretch. We have no idea what the empty building would have except that we already have a bunch of empty buildings that nobody seems to want to be in. So, not really convinced that that's a great idea anyway, nor is some of the other stuff that could be there. But here's what I think nobody is actually looking at. And that is that there are a number of people who come through town

routinely on Cottage Grove Road that are only going from one place to another. They don't know anything about us except Cottage Grove Road. So a putting another traffic light in there and making their lives more annoying is not really a good place to or way to improve their image. Secondly, even if you ask some of the people who really have no use for Bloomfield at all as a landmark, if they know Bloom Hill, where they sell ice cream at the farm, these people will smile and acknowledge that in a a positive way. So, um, if just for instance, and it's not I know that this is not, um, either appropriate either, but if there were a Whole Foods down there instead of an Aldi, people going by would at least say, "Well, Bloomfield's moving up in the world, isn't it?" However, with an Aldi, it's kind of like, "Yeah, what do you expect? It's Bloomfield." And we really don't want to be in what do you expect Bloomfield? So, that brings me to my final point, which is for those people who have been around a while. You, I'm sure, remember before 44 got to be what 44 is now, especially out in Canton, where you could kind of go over the hill and the the golf course was still there and all the businesses weren't and stuff, and you'd kind of go into an area that was really cute and quirky. And the the the intuitive feeling that that generates in people is one of, you know, this place is kind of neat. I think I should like come back sometime when I've got a couple hours or maybe have lunch here or something. Whereas increasingly as it becomes more 44 like in in the Avon section which I do remember what when it was nothing um people have no real reason to be there except to buy stuff and then leave and if you told an out oftowner that Avon was all and and big doings and if you asked them they would certainly tell you they would if they

were only driving through there and that was their only image they'd be like you know unless Unless I want to go shopping, I have no reason to even consider looking around town. And I appreciate the comments, but we are we are tight on time now. Usually we limit it to three minutes, but I wanted to give you a chance to talk. Okay. I'm sorry. We hear you. Well, my last point is you want people to go into Bloomfield because they think they want to be there. If you turn it into 44, they're not going to see any reason to bother going to the center. I hear your comment and I appreciate it. Bonnie, thank you. Yes, Von. I make two very brief comments uh back to an and for the group and I'm speaking just as one man with a lot of experience but just my personal opinion and uh sadly an and I don't want to shoot down your comments. We value them. Um there are two observations. Bloomfield is no longer a farm. We have to move forward in the world. But when we move forward, we have to, and I'm not the expert here, we have advisors who really are uh we have to be realistic about who we are and what we are. Whole Foods is never going to come to Bloomfield, nor any other high-end retail. We are not a market for that. So, we have to deal with what we can attract and what will work for the most number of people in town. That's all. Hey, Bob, in one segment, one one comment on yours, but the other reason that Whole Foods or someone like that will not come to town. It's not so much that we're not a market. There's one in Avon. There's one in Bishop's Corner. They need a critical mass of people that are going to shop there and they're going to just cannibalize one of their own stores. Well, that's what I mean about market. I'm not talking about our style. The traffic count. It's the traffic counts that go by. Um, I'm not I don't think Whole Foods should be there

either, but an Aldi would just cannibalize, for instance, Gistler's, which has been a faithful tenant forever. Okay. And I appreciate your comment, but let's have this conversation. We have a little bit more time. Um, Bob and I both have another meeting that we have to attend. Are there any other public comments? And are there any other updates? And if not, I will entertain a motion to adjourn until our next meeting, which is on August 12th at Some moved. So moved. Second. Okay. I guess c can we actually adjourn, John, since we don't have a forum. Well, you never you you never formally started, so you have nothing to adjurnn. Oh, good. Okay, fine. See you all next month. All right, Bonnie. We'll talk. Thank you. Thank you, Janice. Thank you. Have a great day. Thank you. Bye. Bye now everybody.