Plan & Zoning Commission - Regular Meeting

Uh, good evening. I'd like to call this meeting to order. Thursday, October 23rd at 7:01, Bloomfield Town Planning and Zoning Commission. First item on the agenda is a call to roll call. Byron Lester here. Renee James here. Dwight Bolton here. Leon Peters here. Steven Mallette here. Jennifer Marshall Neely here. Kevin Goff here. Ola Aa here. Roger O'Brien here. Ununice Medwinter here. Cororum.

Hey. Thank you. First item on the agenda is the approval of the minutes for September 25th, 2025. Is there a motion? I move that we approve the minutes. Second. It's been moved and second. Any corrections? Any additions? Mr. Chair? Yes. I I had a couple of minor corrections like capitalizing F and FA Fontaine and a few things like that which I gave the uh secretary. Okay, great. Thank you. Any further corrections? Seeing none, all those in favor signify by saying I. I. I. Oppose. Abstension abstain

one abstension commissioner Bolton and the chair votes high. Next item on the agenda it's a public hearing was scheduled but there was a meeting between staff and the applicant and there was a request to table this application until our November meeting. So at this time the chair entertain a motion to table this application. So moved. Second. It's been moved and second. Any further discussion? Seeing none, all those in favor signify by saying I. I. I. Oppose. Abstension. Chair vai.

Next item on the agenda. I'll ask the secretary if she would read that application under new business. Uh informal presentation by property owner at 919 Blue Hills Avenue for possible site improvements. an increase in number of used cars for sales and site parking layout reconfiguration. Property owner 919 Blue Hills LLC. Is there anyone here for that application? Okay, if you would take the podium and state your name and address, please. Thank you.

This a hot mic. Yeah. My name is John Clark. I'm a licensed architect. Uh I represent AXA Car Sales and Repair. Um, it was suggested by Alex Salamett, the zoning enforcement officer for the town, that we make an appearance before the TPNZ, uh, just to get any bugs shaken out before we make a formal application for a zoning variance. the variances related to a nonconforming use in terms of were specifically about the number of vehicles that could be parked on the site and uh I have a few passouts. Yes.

Excuse me. Just a quick question from staff. They need more. They need more. Okay, thank you. Um, just a quick question. John, is he Did everybody get one? Yes. Oh, I'm sorry. I was supposed to How many more do we Oh, it's down. Sorry. Uh, yes. Sorry. He just wants to ask a question. Yes. Um I wanted to know if if it is a variance that he's looking for and if so would that be something that would be handled by zoning ZBA.

Hi Linda Lauriana for the record. Um he is not searching for variance today. Um the property at 919 Blue Hills is a um they had received a couple of um variances in the past. one for used cars for sales on the lot. Um and um due to the fact that um the Blue Hills Gateway District does not allow for outdoor storage um any vehicles that are parked outdoors is considered or uh you know uh storage outdoor storage. So um of vehicles. So the uh the applicant um was proposing to um have wanted to increase the number of used cars for sale. The varants in the past have been granted. They believe that the site can adequately accommodate additional vehicles. Um it used to the site was a former gas station. Um and they have made some improvements to the site. It was a blighted property about a year ago until the new property owner um bought it. Um however uh it was noticed recently that they uh the number of vehicles on site that was approved for um as they it it's been increased substantially. Um they are only allowed to have 10 and I don't want to get into the details because then it becomes a variance talk but they want to increase the number of um vehicles on site. they feel they can adequately uh have it on site. And it was suggested by staff, the zoning enforcement officer, that if they're going to start investing in this and are serious about it and can uh prove uh that they can fit it adequately on a site plan and make improvements to the

lot, including extending the sidewalk um where it ends right at the intersection of Blue Hills and Maplewood. and um also put some plantings and buffers in the front. Uh currently there's no uh plantings at all. Um and either additionally enclosing one of the curb cuts um on the state right away, but they would have to obviously go to the state um for, you know, for permission on that. Um and so and they're also removing the want to remove that big canopy that's in the front yard setback. Um sir normally uh whenever a non-conforming use um wants to continue you know with with their use um they uh get permission from uh the they get a variance um but in addition to the variance if they get approved they have to come before you. So they I guess what they're doing is uh making sure that they come before you uh informally. um with the thought that if they do get approved to have more vehicles on the site that you're aware and that they have your feedback already. So basically that's what they're here tonight for. But they're not here to discuss any variance. They're not here to discuss um you know the I guess the variance application that they're going to be asking for for the commission. They're just they want your feedback on what your thoughts are about the improvements that they are proposing should they be granted the variance.

Okay. So this is just a presentation that you're giving just a presentation just a courtesy and then Okay. And then prior to coming to us if you are seeking a variance you would be doing that through the zoning board of appeals ZBA. Correct.

Okay. Thank you. Um, the pass out I gave you, oops, pass out I the pass out that I disseminated includes a small scale site plan and parking spaces 22 and 23 are identified with a circle and a dash to it meaning no no good. And this is a copy of a letter from the fire marshal Jim Simon. And um based on his observation uh there these two parking spaces would should be eliminated. Uh other than that he sees no uh no problem with the site plan. Of course, it it he doesn't grant us the variance, but um you know, it's a start. And thank you for clarifying that and everything, Linda. So, did everyone get a handout? Okay, that is the gist of the presentation. Um if you look at the site plan, you'll see an attempt to beautify the site. As Linda said, it's in the gate district. We have scrubs planner here. This is a linear appearance in terms of the layout of the parking. These are the two spaces that will be eliminated here. Otherwise, it's 31 parking spaces for repair for customers and four sales.

I just want to clarify, sorry, just for clarification when he's saying just for clarification on the elimination, those are not two legal parking spaces. Those are two parking spaces that they were proposing and the commission uh Jim Simone uh suggested that he eliminates those two to allow for the fire truck to get through uh between the buildings. And um that was just I wanted to clarify when you said eliminate, you're not technically eliminating the parking.

Any any questions? Uh, no. Actually, we're not going to actually take any questions because this is not going to be before us yet. So, this is just you giving us a little site preview or presentation of what you would like to see happen. Uh, but then there's a couple steps that have to take place before you come back before us. Correct. Yes. Okay. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, commission.

Okay, the next item on the agenda. Oh, I'm sorry, John. Yep. Okay. The next item on the agenda, I'm going to ask the secretary if she would uh read under old business.

Uh yes. 8.85 to 871 Blue Hills Avenue. Arabella affordable housing plan discussion housing preference. members of the commission. Uh first it's um it's a delight to see you all here and uh uh it's a I think a first and uh hopefully it continues and your schedule will promote it because I think it's great. Um not sure what we can do about the seating configuration but we'll work our way through it. Uh but thank you and um Um, I put this item on the agenda because when you approved the U Arbella Blue Hills development u now a year ago, you also approved as part of that uh because they had an affordable housing component uh the uh required affordable housing plan that's required under the state statutes. And in one of the uh provisions of that plan uh was the ability for this commission to uh prioritize if you so choose uh to establish preferences uh for the initial rental of the of the property for the affordable units. Uh, for example, if you wanted to give preference to Bloomfield residents, if you wanted to give preference to first responders, um um that's you know those those um military veterans um any category. So, I put it on the agenda this evening to put the topic in your minds um with the uh with the hope that we would um you could think about it and it when we come to the November meeting, we could have a

discussion and see a if you wish to establish preferences and see if we can then come to a consensus of what those preferences can be. You could then approve them and we can um pass them on to the uh our Bella folks. they are fully aware that we're doing this and therefore completely comfortable uh with us doing this and um are um well very comfortable with having a preference for the affordable units if you so choose. Um so that's basically to to sort of give you a forewarning of what we'd like to discuss at the next meeting. Okay.

Be happy to answer any questions. Uh, do any commission members have any questions regarding that commissioner? Am I good? Yes. Roger. My only question, Mr. Rogers. Mr. Rogers. My my only question is um why you didn't have disabled on here in terms of a category. I just did and so forth. I did not make it an extensive category. also disabled was and so forth. Yes. Okay.

And then it's not an intentional um left out. It just, you know, it's not working all the time. Yeah. Okay. Uh Commissioner Goff.

Yes. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Yeah. I I I think that um I think this is good and we need to have this discussion. The one thing that I guess I would ask staff potentially to think about in terms of some of these and I I realize these were just general categories, but we say something like Bloomfield residents. Okay. I think one thing that we're really thinking of for the this kind of affordable housing for seniors is that it starts the flow of letting people who own property and have lived in a house in Bloomfield for some length of time to start, you know, transitioning, downsizing, opening up some uh housing for young families and that kind of thing. So when we say Bloomfield residents, it seems like that's going to need some additional definition. So for example, do you give preference to people who've been Bloomfield residents for 20 years as oppos you know, do they have preference over people who've been Bloomfield residents for two years? I moved to Bloomfield, I bought a house, now I want to move into these apartments. And I, you know, I think my preference would be to have some kind of structure, but I don't want it to be too real complicated. I just, you know, as a general comment, I think that to have this discussion, we probably need to put some structure around like that.

The other thought we had um is whether we wanted to give a preference um for all the units. I mean, there's 19 units um and whether or not we want to maybe just give preferences for 50% of the units. So that non-bloomville residents also because we we don't want to be exclusive as well as we want to be inclusive. Uh so give it some thought there. I mean you know we have we have um you know eight onebedrooms and 10 twobedrooms. You know we want to do 50% of each or something like that. Maybe not. If you want to do more that's fine but you may want to give that some thought as well. Uh, Commissioner. Oh my god. Marshall Neely.

Thank you, sir. I I thought about this for quite some time and maybe this is not the platform, but I was thinking with, you know, the shortage that we have on educators in Bloomfield, maybe educators who um are committed to teaching in the Bloomfield schools. I don't know how you would word that or how we would word that if it came came around, but uh if educators are living in Bloomfield, it actually commits to them um okay giving back to Bloomfield.

We're open to all suggestions. We we do not have a a grasp of all of them. Commissioner James. Um, is this a idea that we'd have a group of pref like if you qualify if if you qualify under one of these then you have a preference or is it just we're saying we have one preference like Bloomfield residents or are we saying we have a group of them like if you're a resident or if you're a first responder or if you're a veteran and

I think there's a number of ways you can do it. You can you can you can have all the categories and if you're in that category, you know, it's going to be still a first come first serve, but you'd rise to the top. Or you can prioritize them if you want. You may want to say that Bloomfield senior residents are the number one priority to Bloomfield first responders are the second responder. Bloomfield disabled or So we could rank a preferences. You can rank the preferences. Um, so if you so choose. And it's also just a preference. It's not to say that

we're calling it a preference just we think that's the best term for it. It's not you couldn't say if someone didn't meet these these preferences that they couldn't have that unit right but in terms of the first go round um these would have would rise would have the first opportunity um if there weren't enough know if you didn't meet the cate you know if none of these these um categories it's a not a word I really want to use but if these categories did not show Yeah. Yeah. Like hypothetically if there were no, you know, Mrs. Mrs. So and so could come in and Mr. So and so could come in. Yeah. Yeah.

As long as they mean there is a minimum age across the board of 55. Yeah. And income. So the in the income is would be like for the for the low for the for the affordable housing. Yes. Yeah. Yes. Yes. Yeah. Thank you. Uh any further questions? Commissioner G. Yeah. Um thank you, Mr. Chair just in bringing up the comment you made and this is actually not so much the preference issue but I know this has come up in some of the discussions with Arbella. This is a senior restricted housing. It's 55 and older. Correct.

What exactly does that mean? Does it mean that everyone in the apartment has to be 55 and over? Does it mean that the apartment holder has to be 55 and older? Do you do we know what those conditions? I do not know the answers to those questions, but we can certainly get them and Jeff will certainly share them with us. Thank you. Yep. Okay. Any further questions? Okay. Thank you, Jonathan. Unless you have something else you want to add. I I do, Mr. Chairman, if the if uh you would indulge me before we adjourn. Oh, yes.

Um your next meeting is scheduled for Thursday the 20th of November. Um, I have a serious conflict and will not be able to attend. Um, I had a conversation with the chairman and one thing I would ask you to consider is whether or not there's a willingness to meet on the night before on Wednesday the 19th if that works with your schedules as opposed to the 20th. Linda certainly can do more than a capable job, but um if um you will be considering um the um the cathedral proposals, I'd like to be here for that, but if I can't, I understand. But uh I had a conversation with the chairman and we said we we would bring it up. But it's obviously entirely up to all of you that has a conflict. Uh yeah, there could be one conflict. Um Commissioner James is also chair of the DTC and I think they have a meeting that night.

Okay. Would encompass compass every on hopefully. Okay. We'll keep it at the 20th and um Linda will carry forth. I will not be able to attend. Okay. Uh before you go, is there any other um new business or updates you want to add? Uh no sir. Okay. At point chair, entertain a motion. Second. I thought Roger was going to speak. No.

Oh, I was I didn't know whether you wanted to entertain meeting on the 13th rather than the 20th of November, the week earlier. Uh, Linda won't be here then. And you don't want to meet without Linda.