Town Center Economic Development Commission - Special Meeting

was called to special meeting was called to order at 6:05 on May 6, 2025. Uh Lynn, can you do the roll call? Commissioner Michelle, present. Commissioner Hudgen, present. Commissioner Riley, present. Commissioner Keroskeo absent. Commissioner Goully absent. Thank you, Lyn. Anyone here for public comment? Hi, you can go on up to the mic. Yes, please. As always. Yes, as always, please state your name and address. Hi, my name is Ursula Deng. Um I live at 11 Pent Road and I attended um the last meeting and since then I've gotten through more of the document that that the presentation. Um I also wanted to say I appreciate all the work you guys have done. Um this is something that I think is important for our community and I know a lot of you are volunteers and um I appreciate that we are um moving forward um with with plans. I had one other concern or question that I wanted to ask. Um, one of the things that uh comes up a lot is, you know, oh, there's, you know, there's there's a lot of negativity around Wintonberry Mall. And I wanted to lift up some of the positive things. Um, some of the businesses, for example, that are located there. We do have a number of um we got like three really great restaurants there. um between Carbones and Pastaseria and Thai Palace. Um people say there's nothing to do in Bloomfield. Um we have a dance studio there and I can't think of anything more

fun to do than to go out for some dance lessons with with somebody that you're you're really crazy about that's um a great a great thing to do on a Friday night. Um there is a tailor on the opposite side of of Bloomfield. He is fantastic. He sewed a new zipper into my dad's leather jacket. He's tailor hemmed up my daughter's prom dress. Um it's an awesome business to have in the town. He's really great. Um just I mean State Farm is there and how awesome that is to actually be able to go into your insurance office and talk to a real human being. Um and they're lovely there. They're they're great people. Um the at the meeting, the last meeting, someone came in from the dental office, excuse me, someone came in from the dental office and was expressing concern about the plans for the Wintonberry Mall. And so my question is um how are we going to um interact with all those businesses and what will we do? I know we want to attract new businesses to our community, but I think we also want to ret retain some of the great businesses that we have. Um, I really appreciate those businesses. Um, and I I hope that we have some sort of a transition process um in mind for how we will help them get through this and hopefully, you know, keep them in our community. Also, we do a number of things in the town center um that I don't know if we've really considered like are we planning this around some of the activities and things that we actually do like um we have that our farmers market, we have um a pop-up vendor fair, the holiday parade, the memorial day parade, uh the Caribbean festival, all these activities

that are really quite well attended and that the community really appre appreciates. Are we thinking about how we're designing this to um incorporate those activities and not lose the those activities, lose the things that we have, the things, you know, build upon the assets and amenities that we have. Um, so, um, yeah, one of the things that that I was reading about in the document, you were talking about amenities of amenities of place, amenities and assets to be leveraged, um, and strengths to build from, um, nurtured, enhanced, and invested in. So, those were just some of the assets that um I'm concerned about and and how we incorporate that into this plan. Thank you. Uh, thank you much for those comments. Um, I think that when when Don talks, I'll ask him to address that. But that is part that is part of the strategy as we develop the the property in keeping current businesses in place as we do with different phases of the property so that no one loses momentum. We are also we're going to do everything we can to make sure uh the all of the um events the town sponsor on the town green continue without any interruption. Good. Like I said, those are great events. B community together, everybody worked and enjoyed. So, we don't want to lose that momentum. So, we're going to work around the schedule for those as well. So, that that that's been part of our conversation with our consultant since we started. Right. So, you're right. I appreciate you um pointing out that Winonberry more is not all dead. We do have some success and the the Italian bakery is amazing and carbones and so we do have some successes in there. It's just that most of it is empty. So so we have to do

something but those that are there that are doing well we want to keep them gone. So we we will do we do we'll do our very best to avoid shutting them down doing construction. Oh yeah. Yeah. They've been part of the conversation ultimately been part of the conversation. So, I appreciate your comments and pointing that out to us. Uh, and also before we get back on the agenda, I do want to on behalf of the commission, express our deep appreciation for last week's public hearing. The uh the amount of folks that came out to support and also gave us input and there a lot of good questions to move us forward. It is uh it is gratifying to us as a commission who've been working on this over the last 12 to 14 months to see the engaged community did the work that we've been doing is the town really appreciate what we've done because they did acknowledge that what we are doing how much they appreciate what we're doing but more importantly just them coming out and having read the report asking questions providing comments is really important to us but also satisfying us that we know we're on the right track to have the um so many people came out to give input that was greatly appreciated. So I want to extend my thanks and appreciation to everyone who showed up last week to express their views and we we will incorporate all of that into um into the plan as we move forward. Again, thank you for coming out today and appreciate that the followup. Having said that, um there are no other public comments. We're going to go back to item three in the agenda. Mr. chair. There is one um public comment from Valerie Rosetti. She couldn't be here tonight, but she asked that it be included with the record. Thank you very much, Valerie. Wherever you are, we appreciate your input as always. Um thank you. So, we're going we're

going to go back to item three on the agenda to um can I get a motion to approve the minutes from April 15th and April in in a special meeting for last week, April 29th. We have two meeting minutes that we are going to approve. So, moved. It's been moved by Mr. Hudgens. Second. Uh second by Miss Riley. Any um changes, discussions, amendments to the minutes as presented? Uh hearing and seeing none. All those in favor of the minutes as presented signify by saying I I I. Any abstensions? See none. The motion carries unanimously. The chair votes I as well. Thank you much. So now we're going to move on. Before we move on to item five on the agenda where Gman York give us an update on the master plan adjusted. uh with all the inputs and questions we got last week, I'm gonna ask my com uh my my colleagues on the commission if they have any comments they want to make before we go to go. Anyone want to comment? No. Is of last last week's um Yeah, I appreciate last week we had a great turnout. Um you know a lot of people old buddy, my old friend, my old friend. I was like okay like a French fry. I was like I don't know. Anyway, it was great to have so many people come out. Uh um and they're excited about it. Um you know, it comes down to the money, but at the same time, that's going to happen. I just was keep pushing forward and but um and keep the input coming in like you came in today. That was great. You know, um yeah, we do have a relocation program for the tenants. Uh well, New York does. Um we just don't know where yet, but all that stuff will work. whatever we have to do, that's part of our responsibility to keep everyone busy um working. Um that's all I had to say. Thank you.

Anything? No. Um just repeating the appreciation meeting last time for everyone's input that's gone into it so far. And I think most of the other concerns that people voiced are things that are either already in some phase of our plan or further from this concept, which is to me that whole reimagining. Think big, think very different. It could certainly change by the time we're actually digging up the ground and starting to build things, but that'll all be done in in the same thoughtful process that's gone into it this far. Thank you much. So our objective today is to get a updated um draft town center master plan from Goldman York uh incorporating the comments questions from last week and um to develop the concept even further. Then after that we will vote approve the the mass the town send the master plan to go to the to the town council for consideration and that meeting is happening tomorrow. uh at six o'clock. Uh so with that said, uh we'll move on to item five, Gman York updates to draft town center master plan. Thank you, chair. For the record, Don Poland, uh managing director of planning and strategy with Gman York Property Advisors. Uh just a quick I I just want to make a note on something you just said. Tomorrow night's meeting with the council is the governance subcommittee which will then forward to the full council. I just wanted to be clear with that. Thank you. that corrected? Yep. Uh so, uh we submitted this afternoon, I believe it was this afternoon, things blur together. Uh the revised plan, draft markings removed from it. Uh and let me talk a little bit about kind of what went on between last week's hearing and now. Uh, I sat through the entire

hearing, you know, virtually, uh, helped with answering questions, listened to all the input that we received. Alyssa also took very detailed notes for me uh and then sent them on to me I think the following day. Uh at which point I went through all the comments that everyone had made and kind of flipped back and forth between the comments and the plan and trying to figure out what our pathway forward was at the end of the day. And we heard everything the public said. We actually don't disagree with anything the public said. It just comes down to kind of the nuance. So, I want to give a few examples. For example, there were a number of comments about the East Coast Greenway uh and the need for it to be incorporated into this development. Uh there is a map in this plan that was prepared that actually does include I believe, pardon me, my vision. Uh I believe it's on page 21. Actually, that's part of the executive summary, but it it appears elsewhere in the plan also. Uh that map does actually show the greenway entering the center and exiting the center. We also recognize it's not finalized where exactly the greenway is going. So that is incorporated in here as we recognize the greenway needs to be part of this and as the town moves forward on the greenway itself and if the town moves forward with this uh municipal development project then the greenway needs to be considered. So I didn't feel the need to make changes to make a specific call out for the greenway. Uh there were other comments and even from uh Commissioner Riley uh

via email that you know the community wants better connections between things like the library and other developments or that the community wants better connections to assets like Philly Park and so forth. that amenities of uh place discussion that you mentioned uh is really about that. It it's why that section was included to show that there are assets within the center. There are things to build upon and they need to be part of this moving forward. They need to be leveraged. But at the end of the day, that's going to come down to steps down the road. So if the town goes through the process, acquires property, moves forward with an RFP, let's say to engage in a developer, then in that RFP process has, as John has stated previously in meetings here, uh it's at that point that you guys get to be very detailed about what it is you want, right? You can point to this plan as the foundation. you can point to, you know, we can tell that x number of apartment units and x square feet of space can be accommodated on that site with up to x number of parking spaces and so forth. Uh in that any proposal coming forward involving land acquired needs to include the expansion of the town green into a larger public space. that connections to the greenway that connections and relationships to other developments uh need to be conceptualized within those proposals coming forward. So without beating this up because I could go through kind of

comment after comment after comment uh I'm confident that these issues have been conceptualized, they've been discussed. the green itself. I may not have gone into detail, but through various planning activities going all the way back to, I believe, 2015 that the town economic development commission's been involved in, that Gman York's been involved in. Uh, a large emphasis has continually been placed on the events in town center and the importance of them. recommendations on increasing the number of invents in the center and the town did make efforts and has continued those efforts uh going back to around 2016 or 17. Uh part of the reason why the green is recommended to go from.3 acres to 1.5 acres is our feeling that whenever with the many successful events that are held on the green that actually can't accommodate them that it's actually overwhelmed by them. So, we're tripling. We recommend the tripling, almost the tripling or a little more than the tripling of the size of the green to better accommodate the events that go on there now, additional events. And that events that go on there now could actually grow and be larger events. Once again, this is kind of these thoughts, ideas, concepts that have been discussed and incorporated uh in the context of the businesses as uh Commissioner Hudgens made reference to. Uh there is a phasing plan within the plan uh that conceptualizes

retaining all that want to stay. uh through the construction period. It's not going to be easy, you know, I'll be honest. But the fact that the building is was constructed in various sections, uh the fact that luckily the relocation recommended, it may not be in the exact same space, but the relocation of Jerome A uh didn't cut right through, you know, primary structures and so forth. A lot of it worked out where we were able to create that conceptual phasing plan that relocates uh businesses into various wings of the building as other things go on at various parts of the site. In addition to that, there is uh a budget related to the uh related to the businesses and making them whole and ensuring that they can be relocated. Even if they choose to be relocated out of the center or off the site, uh the town will be responsible for that. Uh at the moment in time when I wrote that and I it's just something I feel I should let you know. Uh, I really had no idea what the costs were, so I went high. Uh, we were able to communicate with another community that's recently gone through this and got their actual numbers on business relocations and I can tell you the budget I put in the plan is twice that of what I would anticipate it to be. Uh, so a you could say there's some savings there. Uh, but b we're at least conceptualizing enough of the cost to accommodate that. So, at the end of the day, we made some minor adjustments. Uh, literally typos. Uh, I think we added a semicolon

someplace and we corrected on phasing an east to west wing swap that uh, Commissioner Riley had pointed out a while ago. But most important, we redid the conceptual plan to remove the parking spaces. And uh the first time it appears in the executive summary is on page 25 to remove the parking spaces and roadway that encroached onto the uh the congregational church property and the concerns over the grave site in the front yard there. So that has been redrawn, eliminated. Uh we are not encroaching there. We never intended to uh our apologies, you know, for that. That wasn't the intent. Uh but that has been corrected. Uh which I felt was absolutely necessary based on the circumstances of that. So essentially, you have the plan before you that was before you for the public hearing. Uh the biggest change overall after that adjustment to the conceptual design plan related to Wintonberry Road is that we finally added the executive summary. And just for the public record, because I know there was, I believe in that email comment concern that we didn't have the executive summary uh included initially, uh two things I typically do when I write. Introductions get written last because you don't know what what you're introducing until you've actually written it. And executive summaries I always hold on. We never issue a draft plan with them because we're never confident in where the plan's going. You guys could have gutted this. You guys could have told us we were wrong. The public could have come out yelling and screaming in opposition and chapters could have been cut or things could have

drastically changed. So we hold on the executive summary until the very end so that we know what we're writing executive summary for. So the executive summary has been included at the front end of the document. I apologize. I think it pushes the document from 86 pages now to 206 pages or what have you. Uh it is unfortunately a large document but that is what's before you and I believe your final I'm I'm available for questions and stuff but I believe your final item is your motion that would be for adoption and forwarding uh onto the process with the council. So thank you chair. Thank you. Thank you very much Don. Um let me uh before can we get a motion to approve the plan master plan as presented then we'll have any more discussions if we want to. So I get a motion to approve the plan. So moved. All right. So let the record reflect that Mr. Huden Commissioner Huden um move the approval of the plan. I got a second and Miss Riley has second that motion. Uh any more discussions, questions, comments, concerns before we vote. Am I on? Mr. Chair, um just a suggestion um if this could be read into the record for the motion. We will. Okay. Right. Before we vote, we're going to read it into the record. All right. Just want to know if there are any further questions, comments, or concerns from my Well, I had a comment. I've been doing some reading. I don't know that came upon me and I think uh state of Connecticut, they mentioned something about some gray fields, $150 million

worth of gray fields. It's a fund that is for revitalization and all that kind of stuff. You might I think you wrote it in here somewhere, but as one of the somewhere I read it, that's why I pulled it up. And I mean those are the kind of funds we can go after because we have everything we need to correct. Uh there's various state programs for funding including uh funding through the CIF program which you guys are already involved in. Mhm. uh you know when you get into the specifics of the development uh entities like CHFA have uh specific programs for housing. They have flexible programs that they can tailor to meet the developers needs uh you know and there's other DEC programs and so forth. So so there's there's funding you can go after from the state. That being said, as I've said from the beginning, uh you guys aren't going to be off the hook. Uh you most likely will be able to secure some state funding to help with aspects of it. Uh but there will also be local funding uh that will be needed. Yeah. Thank you. Riley, anything? Not at the moment. Thank you very much. Lynn, can you read the um motion into the record, please? Whereas the Bloomfield Town Center Economic Development Commission, BTCEDC, was established by the Bloomfield Town Council in accordance with GC CGS Chapter 130 section 8-126 as Bloomfield's redevelopment agency. And whereas in accordance with CGS chapter 132 section 8 through 188 and the Bloomfield Town Council, the BTC EEDC is the designated development

agency with authorities granted under CGS chapters 130 and 132 to engage in the creation of a municipal development project and plan. And whereas the BTC EDC has prepared the town center master plan centered and strong which in its entirety is the municipal development project plan for the proposed municipal development project described therein. And whereas the BTC EDC believes this town center master plan meets all the requirements of chapter 132 for the municipal development project and plan. And whereas a public hearing on the town center master plan was held by the BTC EDC on April 29th, 2025. And whereas the Bloomfield Town Plan and Zoning Commission has found that the town center master plan is in accordance with Bloomfield's plan of conservation and development. And whereas the capital region council of governments has found that the town center master plan is in accordance with Krag's regional plan of conservation and development. And whereas the town center master plan was prepared giving due consideration to the state plan of conservation and development. And whereas the project will continue contribute to the economic welfare of Bloomfield and the state and that to carry out and administer the project public action under chapter 132 is required. Now therefore be it resolved that the Bloomfield Town Center Economic Development Commission hereby approves the Town Center Master Plan centered and strong dated May 6, 2025. And be it further resolved that the Bloomfield Town Center Economic Development Commission is in accordance with GCS chapter 132 section

8-19 hereby submits said said Town Center Master Plan to the Bloomfield Town Council for the Town Council's consideration and action adopted by the BTC EDC at its special meeting held on May 6, 2025. Thank you. Uh all those in favor of a resolution as read and to the record signify by saying I I the chair votes I the motion carries unanimously. Thank you very much. Uh before I call for an adjournment, I just want to take an opportunity to um I know this is the first phase of the process. As you said, Don, we have a lot more to do, but this is a critical step that we have accomplished moving the plan, the master plan to uh to town council, subcommittee of the town council for consideration. I just want to express my thanks and appreciation to my colleagues in the commission. This was about 12 to 14 months of meetings on a regular basis and um everybody showing up doing their part. Thank you very much for that on behalf of the entire town. Also want to extend my thanks and appreciation to John Coleman and his team uh for supporting the work that we do and and the heavy burden that's coming their way as we move forward. John, I hope you're ready for the for the lift. I know you are sitting cozy drinking Kuba lot Kuba some type of alcoholic drink in the keys but uh please relax and enjoy because we have a lot waiting for you when you get back here but thank you very much to you and your team for what you've done to us for us thus far and also um Don you and your team Gman York have done an amazing job keeping us on track moving us forward thank you for getting us to where we are today and uh certainly last but not least is Lynn Lynn has kept us on track. Continuous

communication, timely communication. Lyn, thank you very much. And I will close with a thanks and appreciation to the town council and uh the mayor for entrusting us, but it's very critical part of the town evolution. So, thank you very much. Uh I would I would entertain a motion for a journ. Moved. Moved by Miss Riley. Second. Thank you very much. All those in favor? Thank you. I thank you very much. Motion carries unanimously. Thank you all very much. Appreciate it, John. Thank you, John. You're welcome. Thank you. And thank you for all your hard work. Enjoy your vacation. Enjoy.