Zoning Board of Appeals - Regular Meeting

We're now recording. And let me put it on the live stream. Custom live live stream. Yeah, they just moved everything around, right? Uh I hate upgrades. Every time I get an upgrade to my phone, I don't know where anything is. Linda, are you familiar with what it should be under? I usually click the more with the dot dot dot. That's correct. It should be still. It should still be there. Uh I do not see it as an option on my uh do you mind checking to see if it's available on yours? I'm looking right now. No. Fine. I wonder where Mark is. Whereabouts? Unknown. Linda, do you have Mark's contact information? Uh, Mark Mitchell. One moment. Can you try calling him and tell him we need him? Sure. Oh jeez. Okay, I'm just going to beat myself one moment.

I just tried the number um that uh he has on record and it came up as not being in service at this time. And how about Pansy? Do we want to try her? Because we do we need another Yes, we do need another person. One moment. person you're trying to reach. whatever number I had for Mark. I just called and got his voicemail. Did you leave a message so that he can

call back? I did. Okay. I left a message to tell him that we could use him. Okay. Oh, yeah. I did. Is that Mark down there? Oh, thank you. I believe he's here. Welcome. Welcome, Mark. Thank you, Mark. Do you do you have the packet? Were you able to go through it? You're on mute. You're muted. Looks like he's on vacation. Lucky him. This looks like he's walking. Wait, you're still muted, Mark. Mhm. Okay. I just spoke with Pansy Archer and she said she'd never received a Zoom link. So, um I don't know why. Um I'll check that tomorrow with Yeah, I just sent her the link. Okay, that's great. And if you know how to broadcast, I'm still trying to find it. You're still trying to find what? Oh, that broadcast to YouTube. They moved where everything is. Can I can I talk or we have to wait for that? I mean, I wouldn't start the meeting until that's going if possible. Um, well, I was going to I was just going to introduce Rebecca, start there, but I I won't call it to order until you're ready. Okay. I did get the packet and you did go over it. Yes.

All right. So I guess I guess the question from Pansy is if does she feel she can do it or is she does she have a conflict? Yeah, she should disclose it. And if we have five voting or five five members that can vote, I mean it would make sense to just go with um whoever isn't in a butter if that's the case, but that I mean it's just up to her and you know it's a good question for council as well. Are we on live stream yet or no? No, the option's not showing up, which is a little Yeah, there there's an option to live stream and it has to be approved by our admin, which is they're not here now. Um it I I think we can move forward. That's a live stream option. If anybody wants to participate, they can obviously uh request to register. Um a live stream, it's just if they wanted to view it, which is just um an option but it's not requirement right and there's no public hearing tonight but that's there is but again if they wanted to participate in the public hearing they can register and that option is available to them so I don't think that having the live stream um you know anything yeah okay yeah okay then I'm going to call the zoning the meeting of the zoning board of appeals to order at 7:38. Um, I just want to introduce that to you that we have a new um a new recording secretary, Rebecca Jones, and she's there smiling at us. Come on, smile. Good. Did you want to uh wait for uh Pan uh Pansy Archer? Well, I was gonna have Shirley read the

call of the meeting and then we can wait a minute. Okay. And see, we do have five. Oh, okay. Okay. Shirley, uh, the secretary is going to read the call of the meeting. Okay. Uh, this notice appeared in the Hartford current May Friday, May 30th, 2025 and Friday, June 6, 2025. Legal notice, Town of Bloomfield uh, zoning board of appeals. Notice is hereby given that the zoning board of appeals will hold its regular meeting virtually via Zoom on Monday, June 9th, 2025 at 7:30 p.m. to conduct the following. Um A is a continued um deliberation at 69 469 Brown Street applicant owner Anthony Maluchcci principal manager Maluchcci Properties LLC for the appeal of the November 7th, 2024 cease and desist order. Uh B is uh 79 Philly Street applicant Anthony Dooms owner Philip Cosby for a variance of the zoning regulations section 6.4I.8 permit standards and conditions grading in section 6.7.8.2.8 a retaining wall um setback so to restore an excavated portion of his yard. Applications are available for review on the town of Bloomfield website and at the land use office located at 800 Bloomfield Avenue, Bloomfield, Connecticut 660 660002 zoning board of appeals Shirley P. Williams.

Okay. Maybe take the role. Okay. So, uh well, I'm just going to say who's here and that's the role. Um for regular members, Jackie Isaacson's here. Shirley Williams is here. Mark um Mitchell is here. Um Alan Bkovski is here. And uh Seth Pittz is not here. And I don't know, what's that other guy's name? Moore. Thomas Moore. Thomas Moore is not here. And Pansy Archer is here, by the way. Right. Right. And just gonna say, and we have two alternates here, Pansy Archer and Mark Mitchell. And um I guess there was a question Pansy if since you were a neighbor if you were going to sit on this application or or if uh you preferred to have Mark. You could have Mark. Um you can have Mark. That's okay. And Mark, you're comfortable with that? You're there somewhere. You're hiding. Mark, you're you're I am. I'm looking. Okay. So then hold on, hold on. We can have one more. You to have five consecutive members. Pansy Archer would have to sit also as an alternate as long as it you we have five people. Well, we have Jackie Isacson, Shirley Williams, Mark Mitchell, Alan Bedolski, and Pansy Archer. And Harvey Fry. Been voting on a few of these already. Harvey Friedman would be a good kind of logical next. I apologize. I didn't know Harvey was here. I'm sorry. I might have missed him. No, he is also an alternate as well. He just has been voting in the past. So, if he's an alternate, then

he'll be he's an alternate and he's going to be voting and Mark is an al Mark is a regular member. Got it. Got it. So, Harvey is the alternate that's voting. I'm sorry, I did say that wrong. Mark, I it was it was it was either Pansy or Harvey. And I messed that up. I'm sorry. Because Mark is a regular member. He all he always We sat on it last time, last meeting. All right. So um the first so so the first um thing that we need to do and since I don't really have an agenda in front of me is we need to have a discussion among the board members on uh the cease and desist order and we have to vote on that tonight. Point of order. Yeah. Point of order. The um since you don't have a copy of the agenda, I apologize that didn't get to you, but approval of minutes is first for the March 3rd, 2025. Right. March. I have April's here. April got to be I have April 7th. Oops, I got the wrong agenda. And and I've asked if we could move that on the agenda. I think I've asked several times if you can move the minutes to down at the bottom so that when people are waiting, we don't have to have them sit there and wait through that. Okay. Okay. So So do I have a motion to approve the minutes of the April 7th, 2025 meeting? I I move that we approve the minutes of the April 7th, 2025 meeting. I second. That was Mark who seconded it. Yes.

And all. So there were no changes to it. Okay. And then Jackie, I mean I emailed you the agenda. It's literally just a blank email with just the agenda on it. So you have Okay. All right. So the motion is Shirley and Mark the second. Okay. Okay. So then let me I'll pull it up on my phone so I don't have to do that. I I got nothing as far as that second application also. Yeah. Sorry. I I've been using the website. I know that it's a transition. So I'm going to find a middle ground where people are aware of what's going on. Okay. So we've done the roll call. Hold on. Approval of minutes. Okay. Oh, okay. What I would recommend is that you share your screen and perhaps um share your staff report andor application with the commission. Okay. Well, according to the agenda, the 79 Philly streets first. Yeah. So, we would have to do what we did last time where we moved that up. Okay. Okay. So, do I have a motion to continue the old business and then do the public hearing so that we reverse these? If that's what the commission would like. Yes. I mean, is that what the commission wants to do or do they want to just do do the Philly street first? It's up to you guys. Well, I move we uh rearrange the agenda so that old business is number four and public hearing is number five. And do I have a second for that? I I second. I see. Okay.

And actually Pansy can sit on on the on the second application because we try we try to give everybody opportunities. So um All right. So it may be confusing in the minutes though. That's the only thing. This vote. All in favor? I. All in favor? I I What was the second for that motion, please? Oh, I made the motion. Shirley Williams seconded it. Thank you. Okay. Okay. So, and there are no nays. So, we're going to go ahead with old business, which is the continued deliberation. 69 Brown Street applicant owner Anthony Malucci and this is for the cease and desist that was dated on November 7th, 2024 is what we're acting on now. So um and I believe that the public hearing on this was closed. Yes. And so this is just to be discussed among the board members and voted and we do need four votes. Consecutive votes. Consecutive um need four in the affirmative affirmative votes or whatever. Okay. So, does anybody want to speak first on this? Um, I I have a couple of things, but I thought I'd let other people speak. [Music] All right. Well, I I guess I'll start. I um I have read over this packet several

times and I um don't see anything that um collaborates Mr. Maluchcci's um request. He doesn't live on the property. So, we have an issue with um if you look at the regulations of um of having home occupations because he's not living there and nobody um the I guess the business um any of the people in the Maluchcci business aren't living there in that house at 69 Brown Street that is a rented property and going through all the land stuff that we were given, it doesn't have anywhere that it was commercial. So, I I don't see how we can grandfather something in if it wasn't if it was never there on the land records. And personally, I think it's a bad precedent to do that because um my my feeling is that that's a beautiful piece of residential property. And since anything we decide on is part of the property, that property gets sold and all of a sudden in the middle of that residential area, you're going to have you can have some commercial business. So that's that's all I'm going to say for now. Alan, go ahead. Yeah. Um, well, we're only uh the seasoned assistance only to the businesses, correct? Correct. Okay. All right. So, my feeling is that Maluchcci construction

was there before back in the 50s. And I believe that Mucci constru construction can stay there, but all the other businesses can't. Um whether they can live with that or not that's you know up to them but Maluchcci construct I believe Maluchia construction it should be grandfathered in. Sorry point of clarification um the the zoning the cease and desist order wasn't just for businesses it was for the principal uses and structures on the utilization of it as well. I'm sorry say that again. Um so the cease and desist order your question was that if if the cease and desist order was just based on the business um and I know that uh just uh to clarify um what chair Isacson mentioned and said yes it was based on the businesses but the cease and desist order also pointed out the use of the of one of the structures on the property as being a commercial structure. Okay. Yeah. Um, he would have to follow all it's it's a garage, not a not a commercial structure. Correct. That's what it was built for. He would have to follow all building code and uh zoning regulations for any addition to any other buildings. Um the leanto that's there that in question I think should be removed within 30 days believing you know just maluchcci construction. Okay. I I think the problem on on that the violation is that the structure was put there as far as the town is concerned as a

garage and not as a commercial building. And and so I think Mr. Maluchcci mentions it several times as a shop rather than a garage. A garage goes with residential. A shop goes with something else. So, um I think it needs to, you know, we need to discuss it as a garage and not as it shouldn't be a commercial building. Are you referring to it as a garage for cars or for heavy equipment? Well, it could have heavy equipment because I mean there was there was also farming being done here and and you can have the you can use that for the tractors and things like that, right? But the dump the dump trucks and back hose, those can go into the garage also somewhere. There shouldn't be outside storage in a home business. So, it would be it would need to go in the garage. Well, I mean, so you're you're you're happy with the one the one business still being there. Muchi construction period. Yeah. How about other other discussion here? Well, I felt that the um the property doesn't qualify as a homebased business because it goes against our regulations and um it it and I don't think that it can be grandfathered in because and I do realize what you're saying about the property Maluchcci having a construction

business there since the 1950s, but I don't think it can be the grandfathered in because our records don't um approve it as a commercial use. So it to me it's kind of in limbo and I would rather support the cease and assist. So So there's never been any approval for that construction company to operate there. Right. No, not from what I read. No. From what I read and not from what taxes are being paid. It's being Yeah. And and the taxes haven't been paid. Yeah. and the and the owner doesn't live there. So the owner doesn't live there. So you can't have a home business if you don't have the owner living on the property. Yeah. I mean were homebased businesses was that a regulation in the 50s? I mean I don't think they you know there were probably only 2,000 people in town at that time. Did they have a a homebased business then? That's something that came about, you know, more in the 70s. I I don't really think that was there in the 50s. Yeah. But I think in the 50s they probably lived there. Yeah. And they worked a farm. Right. Right. Um where where now he he doesn't live there and he's not working a farm. He's got a totally different business going on there. And once it came about, why didn't he apply for it? In the 50s, it was a construction business, right? And there's no there's no family members currently uh at that residence or on the property because I know there's a couple different homes. The other home is on it was subdivided that I was going that way myself. Yeah. Because there is somebody um a family member Ben Maluchcci.

Okay. At the other address, but back in let me see if I can find it. back sometime quite a while ago, 73 Brown and 69 Brown were subdivided. So, it's not it's not considered the same property property. Okay. And and and when Maluchcci Anthony bought it, it was bought as an LLC, not as a residence. Okay. Harvey, you've listened to this whole thing. What do you have some thoughts here? My thoughts are maybe because I've lived in Bloomfield for 70 years and I remember all these names. And back 70 years ago, there were no things written down and a handshake and nothing in town hall was written down because you knew these people. And so that's why there probably are no records. No records. But he hasn't paid taxes in 70 years on a business. Well, that's a different Well, that's very important. Why was he paying taxes? Why is it in the records? It's like Don Evans. How did Don Evans, you know, get used car permit? Go ahead. It's all right. Put a few cars on. That's what it was. You know, it's done with a handshake. Go ahead and do Correct. But once we make this a commercial property, it will always be a commercial property. When I I don't think we're making it a commercial property. I think we're allowing Maluchi

Construction to continue there and only Maluchcci Construction. Only Maluchi Construction. None of those other businesses can be there. How does everybody feel about that? That's their problem. Do people agree with Allan on that? I mean, we we need four people to agree. Oh, us. Yeah. I mean, I thought you meant Maluchcci. I mean, I mean, that's the only thing in No, it's just us. So, you know, for us to to vote and and to have a consensus, we need four of us, four of the five of us that are voting to to agree on on on which way we want to go. I I don't agree. I I still support the cease and desist. I mean, I I do realize that yes, business probably was done with a handshake back then, but the taxes haven't been paid. And somewhere along the line there should have been some kind of record filed with maybe not in the 50s but somewhere between there and now. Yeah, I think I think there should have been some records done in the '7s maybe. I don't know exactly when I don't know when the subdivision when when those two h those two properties. Yeah, but it was it was definitely not in the 50s. I I actually agree with you, Shirley. So, um, but I I understand what Harvey and and Allen their comments. So maybe we uphold the cease and desist and somehow

or modify it. Can they is there a way for them to um if we uphold the cease and desist um can Mr. Maluchcci go to the town hall and file whatever he needs to file to make it um something just for the commercial just for his his construction business only and not for all these other businesses and and can the taxes be paid I'm sorry only as a home occupation um without external evidence home occupation you must live on the property he must Okay that's the big deal too that's that's That's that's in any that's in any residential zone and it's in your package. Yeah. Yeah. And he's not living on the property. No, he's not. No, he's not. I mean, we can That's what's making this so difficult. We can uphold the U cease and desist with the exception of Maluchcci construction if that's what people want to do. And he's also got to follow all building codes and you know u other zoning. But yeah, but it's still not a homebased business because he's not living there. Well, I my personal feeling is that it was a it was a business there before that term even was invented. So, you know. Yes. But if it was a home So you're you're saying because it was I'm saying that the homebased business didn't exist when they were started there. But to me it seems like um the homework wasn't done by the Muchcci family. If if they claim that this is a homebased business, first of all, I I really think

someone should be living there. But if we're going to um go with just the construction business piece, um the the the legal part of it hasn't been taken care of. Like you haven't gone to the town hall and filed whatever you needed to file, whatever paperwork you needed to file there. Um the taxes haven't been paid. So, it's just like you've been operating, but you've been operating without the the the legal structure underneath it to support it. Well, you know, the the the hidden problem in all this is that the town has the authority to sell to put tax leans on the property for all those open tax bills and sell them. And then somebody will come along and demand payment with attorney's fees and foreclosing fees and it'll escalate and it'll be a big problem for them if they don't take care of that. But do they do they have an open tax bill on it though? It seems like they been operating under Malucci construction and may not have been taxed on that. They were not taxed on that. They were taxed residents, right? The other businesses, but still on that address. I mean, the big I think the big problem with the Maluchi is that they didn't hire a lawyer. They really should have gotten a lawyer. Well, that's done. So, yeah. If we uphold the cease and desist order, they will have time to hire an attorney if they if they so want to continue.

Um, and if we hire if we uphold the cease and desist, does that take care of the building um or whatever it's being? Well, the cease and desist order, everybody should have that. That's attached to his original Yeah. um application. Um and it says you so the nature of the violation is utilizing an accessory structure a garage as a commercial building and operating multiple commercial businesses within within their uh property and structure without any previous land use approvals. Yeah. Pansy, if you want to if you have any thoughts, even though you're not voting, I I you can, you know, if you feel like there's something that we're missing here that you want to contribute to the discussion that you you are welcome to do that. My only thought is I didn't like the idea s I mean the place was a farm at first they now have two beautiful homes on there. Um it's no longer a farm but why did they go ahead and it's a brick building that that they live that it's rented. So why did they add on who gave them permission to add on that garage piece? I don't remember when the garage when did the garage come into being? Can you

tell us? I don't It's like in the back and it's not a brick. It's not brick. It's just Yeah. wood construction. It's just wood or I mean there's also a stable there, but that stable's been there for quite a while, too. Well, the stable is there. I mean, usually two. That's fine. It was there. There's nothing you can do. that was there. But it's just the wood construction that they added on in order to continue to do a bigger business. You mean the overhang? Yes. I mean, yeah, that's a contention. The building department has been fighting with him on that, too. He's in violations, and they're going to take care of that one way or the other. Okay. I mean, he's got a foul building code. That's the one. Is that the one he got arrested for? No idea. All right. I have no idea. It's not a long story. Yeah. I mean, from the the one of the maps, the the second the Google Earth map that's or the second Google Earth map, you can see that the structures. The garage was put there legally. The garage itself. Right. Right. Right. It's the o it's the uh can it's the overhang that's in contention with the building department I believe. Okay. All right. No permits on that. Okay. All right. So, um either way, I think I want to um entertain a motion if you're ready to uphold the zoning enforcement officers cease and desist and see where we get with that.

You mean the way we have to get somewhere tonight because today's the last day. It's the 65 days. I I'll you know, uh Jackie, maybe um if it's all right with you, we can vote to uphold the uh cease and desist and I'll make an amendment to exempt Maluchcci construction and see if that passes. And then if that doesn't passes, then you still have to cease and desist. How's that sound? Yeah, you could definitely can do that. Would you like would you like to make a motion? Well, that would be a motion to modify the order, not not uphold it and then amend it. No, we're going just point of order. That's all. We're going to amend it after the motion has been made to to keep it in place. No, what she's saying is you're going to modify it. Can't you modify it? You can you can you can either you can Okay, sorry. point of order here. You can there there are three ways you can vote on this. You can uphold the cease synthesis, you can modify the order or um you can lift the order or overturn it. Um that those are the three ways you you can you can vote and then for each one you have to give a reason why. So if you're going to uphold it, your reasons for upholding it. If you're going to modify the order, as you mentioned, you can um modify the order or, you know, um you can uh lift the order or you could say overturn it. Um whichever. I think I think what Linda is saying that if you want to try to make a motion, Allan, as a modify, which is what and see if that's going to pass and if somebody's going to second that. We could do it that way. I I I

disagree. I mean, that's the way you want to go. I I think according to Robert's rules, you can make an amendment on any motion, but we'll go we can go way. All right. So, so what's your motion, Alan? My motion would be to uphold the cease and assist and modify it to allow Maluchi construction only remain in operation there. And do I have a second for that motion? I'll second that. That was Harvey who seconded that. Okay. All right. And all in favor of that motion? I I have two eyes. Uh Shirley, no. Okay. Mark. Uh I'm going to have to say no. Okay. So, the motion is defeated. Thank you. Um, how did the chair vote? I voted I voted against it. Okay. Sorry. That's all right. Let's try again. Okay. So, we have to try again with another motion. All right. So, I make a motion to uphold the cease and desist on 69 Brown Street um Maluchcci Properties LLC um as described in the cease and desist audit. And do I have a second for that? Let's second. I second that. Okay. Let's go with Shirley. Okay. And all in favor of that motion. I I Let me just make sure. I heard a Mark. I I heard an Allen. Harvey. Yeah. Ian I Rebecca, you got all this?

So that that motion is um five to zero. Yeah. In favor of of upholding the zoning enforcement officer cease and desist. Okay. All right. Anything? Yeah. And if he doesn't like that, then he can get a lawyer. We can go to court and they can, you know, you know. Okay. So, um, that's it for that. We go on to the Philly 79 Philly Street. Let me get my Do we have any documentation on there? Is that in on the website? I did not get this at all. I didn't get it either. I'm sorry. I know you guys are used to um I guess getting it via email. You sure? No. Hard copy. Hardy. Hard copy. Um, quick question for you guys. Do you want me to stay on for the 79 Philly Street variance or was it just for the um the Maluchcci matter? The Maluchcci, you're you're the attorney, right? Yes. Yeah. Yeah. No, that was it. Okay. Okay. So, unless you want to stay um Ashley, it's it's a variance. Um, it it's another one. Normally in in the past and and previous practices, we've always had a representative from from council on on our meetings whenever there's No, we have a town attorney. Not we have not. You have not. I've been doing this for 40 years and we have not. Sorry. My my past practices in other municipalities. So my I I apologize. Okay. I mean the town wants only in appeals. Only in appeals. That's been our understanding for Bloomsfield. I just wanted to ask to see if I was

needed for the Philly Park. I'm I'm happy to stay on if needed. Um I guess not. Okay. All right. Well, everyone have a wonderful evening. Thank you. Take care. Why don't we listen to this application and if we're having issues because a lot of us are not familiar with it, we can we can continue it. We can continue it. But why don't we have the applicant come in, tell us what they want to do, ask our questions, and if we're comfortable with everything, we'll vote on it tonight. If we're not comfortable, we'll have to continue it. Does that sound okay to everybody? Yes. Yes. Yes. Is the applicant here? I mean, can they come? We haven't let him in yet, but I assume Oh, okay. He's okay. In the waiting room. All right. I assume he's in the waiting room. Well, do we have any idea what it's about before we bring him on? Yeah, there's a staff report. I'll do a fairly I'll do a more lengthy presentation after Okay. All right. You know, it makes sense. If you guys feel like you need more time with the materials, we can always continue it. Okay. But if you're gonna give a presentation, Alex, just so you know that sometimes we like to drive by these properties, too. Yes. No, there's still time, too. I mean, you can always um You want go now? Uh go out there with a flashlight. We're right out there, Allan, for us. I'll call it in a field trip. So, what are we doing? Well, he's promoting he's promoting the person. I see Philillip. I don't see his engineer. Let me uh let me start by seeing if he has anything to say to clarify. Oh, no. They're both at No, they're they're both

together. Hold on. Uh hold on. Of course. I just asked him to unmute and turn on the camera if they can, please. I see I'm talking. I know. Hi, Phil. Hello. Hi, Phil. Can you put your camera on so we see that there's a person? Um, I don't even know how to do that. Mean, hold on. Let me see. There should be a little icon at the bottom of the screen of a picture of a camera. I got audio. Hold on. Yeah, it should be right next to audio. Nothing there, man. Let me see. All right, let me I don't know if it'll help if I promote him. I am still getting used to this system. Yeah, that would help. Yeah. To a P. Yeah, that might be the reason. Yeah. Yeah. Linda, do you mind trying that as well? I'm clicking it and I don't see anything changing. You're clicking on one. I'm sorry. Oh, okay. No, it it happened. I promoted him to a panelist. It just took a while to go through. Okay. I do see a video option now. So, Phil, if you don't mind relooking, um, you should have an option to do video now. There you go. Okay. Now you're you're still now you're muted. So, unmute yourself. Okay. Together. All right. So, um, Phillip, if you'll give

your name and address for the record. And um and did you want to go first, Alex, and tell us about it or do you want him to give his I mean, I wouldn't mind. I mean, I've usually seen the applicants go first, but there's been a lot of suspense and lack of materials. So, um All right. Go ahead, Alex. If that's if that's within convention, I'll just share my screen and go through the materials. Okay. Why don't you do that and then Philip will introduce himself and we'll go from there. Okay. So, can you all see the website? Yes. All right. Um, not the purpose of this. I'm just going to go through it, but this is where um the materials will be in the future. I'll share a fresh link every time. Um, so I'm actually going to go in reverse order because that's that's basically the uh the most recent uh oldest materials. So this is my staff report from June. So the the purpose of this variance is uh five point or the the variance is for uh 5.5 ft reduction of the retaining wall setback which in his district is basically half the setback. So our regulations currently require retaining walls to be within half of the required setback. Um I'm going to as per usual I am going to let them describe their hardship. Um, current conditions are an open face of soil. Uh, when the house was constructed, the as built includes what I can only assume are natural grades. Um, this predates the current owner uh that wouldn't meet our current zoning regulations. There's currently an open face of soil that the homeowner is

trying to close up andor find an appropriate grading for. If he restored it to the natural grading, he would need a variance for it. he would like to put up a retaining wall. Um his him and his engineer are present and there's a number of materials that he's submitted. Uh so in terms of my overall comments um you know they would need a variance to do the original grading that was there. Uh he did um you know as as is to be expected you know he wasn't familiar with some of the processes. So, his application includes some additional information like a patio um and a shed and and things that aren't really related to this variance. This variance is for the retaining wall to be 7 ft away from all property boundaries. And that's essentially what we're trying to figure out if there's sufficient hardship and and it's a reasonable request. Uh so that that's it in a nutshell but it would be the most helpful to show you the plans. So this is his house where you see the wall illustrated houses where can you go with the Okay, thank you. Yeah. So this is the footprint of the house. This is the driveway. Um where you see this this symbology for a retaining wall. This is currently an open face of soil and it's been that way for to my knowledge at least two years. Um I I haven't worked at the town of Bloomfield for nearly any any of that time and it may be older. Uh to be honest, I don't know, but he would like to put a retaining wall where that currently is. So he's, you know, he's sent his letters out to a Butters. There's there's a residence here, a residence here. This is a townowned parcel. Oh, look at that. that the lights are back on. Um, so this is essentially uh wetlands and a drainage feature for the roads. So that's his northern abutter. Um, southern, eastern,

and western are all residential. So this So what's this grayed out area right right where he wants to put the retaining wall up to the up to there. Uh, let me zoom in. So, as I had mentioned in the step where where your cursor is now, there's there's additional there's additional things on the plan that aren't relevant to the variance, uh, including this is a stone patio. Okay. To be honest, that's not relevant in terms of what we're evaluating is just this setback right here. So, this this 7T to the wall as well as this 7T to the wall. So, it's a uniform 7T buffer. That's essentially the only thing that we're we're voting on the the rest. There's I'll show you the next exhibit. Um you know there's comments from the engineering and preliminary building review um just in terms of construction things like that. For me it's more of a proof of concept just to show hey we could put a wall here close this up and it would meet you know with minor modifications can can work. So let me pull up that exhibit. So this is the survey. Um you know there's been feedback from the town in terms of what he should include in the location survey. Um this was his first plan. So one of the reasons why I've been kind of waiting to send out the materials is there has been this back and forth. um you know why I dated the staff report June is that staff report was done in June. So you know that was about a week ago. Um you know I've been updating this as we go along. So feel free to take all the time you need to evaluate this but their original plan was to just close up the open face

entirely and that would put them very close to the property boundary. you know, with all of the feedback um from engineering essentially, uh I think it makes more sense to just do a consistent seven foot buffer and the applicant has agreed. So, from their original plans, you know, they've been given a number of of feedback related to their construction which they're working on. And and so so what you're saying is from the staff perspective or the town, you you think this is a good thing? Yeah. I mean, in terms of current or conditions dating back years, it just makes sense to me to allow them to close that up. Um, you know, there's still a 7 foot buffer. They've notified all their neighbors. They've had a surveyor look at this. They've had an engineer look at this. They've had staff look at this. um you know, in terms of just doing the due diligence and getting it done, it makes sense to me, but they would need a variance to be closer than half the half the required um yard setback. You not going to Well, go ahead, Mark. What's the footage that would What's the footage that would make it in compliance? What What's the total? Yeah, it would need to be 12 and 1/2 ft from the rear yard and it would be seven. So, it's a five and a half foot reduction. Okay. Okay. Okay. All right. Um, and then I'm just going to for just for the record, I'm going to go through all the exhibits. Um, you know. Oh, can you stay on that one? Yeah, of course. So, there's a retention pond there, right? Yep. That's the town owned parcel, which is the abuing property to the north. Okay. And how close is this project to this retaining wall to that? So, let me go to the um the plans that we're reviewing. It would be 7 feet to the property boundary and I would need to

break out a scale. Maybe the engineer knows in terms of essentially where the retaining wall is too. Although you could kind of almost trace this setback. So, very just general um it would be at least 25 ft just to this line right here. Okay. So, is Peter seen this way out? Yeah. Yeah. So, he he provided the original comments and that's that was one of my decision-making factors in asking the applicant to just make it a consistent seven foot buffer. Um, you know, in terms of our approval, I don't need to reference a plan. So, they're not married to something where they're missing, you know, just certain construction elements in terms of um I don't know if it was geo fabric or whatever else. That's just based on my I used to inspect retaining walls. Um, so, so yeah, this this is just to be 7 ft away and Peter's working with them. I believe I'm going to ask the applicant. I don't know off the top of my head whether they have an application into wetlands or not. Um, you know, it'd be premature to do a zoning or building permit, but um, I know that Peter's at least reviewing this. Okay. Okay. So, he's involved in it. Yeah, he provided the comments on Okay. on the exhibit and you know was a deciding factor for me at least in terms of saying let's just do a 7 foot consistent buffer to any property line. Okay. All right. So these are all his notes. The red is all Peter's notes. Yeah. It's mostly notation. Okay. So things about the invert because there's an existing drainage system. Um you know just better notation essentially. Okay. Did All right. There were other there were other documents you want to show us.

Yeah, just for the record, I'm going to just I included their property card. You know, I just like to do that. I think with anything involving a public hearing, it's good to just have that on the record. Okay. This was my previous staff report. So this is based on the materials before Peter's kind of preliminary review. Okay. So that's with the diagram with the markup before the markup. So it's the same staff report but uh the difference is the motion. Uh so the original the original motion and I guess variance is for a modification of 67B2A. I added the seven feet because we're instead of referring to a a construction diagram that's, you know, in the works, we're just going to call it seven feet and they're just going to have to work with that buffer. Uhhuh. I think that's a a more streamlined way to do this. So the next exhibit is just the as built to show the grading. Um, so it's it's there were very steep slopes over here and to some extent there currently are. It's just an open face. That's all that is intended to do. I requested them have a licensed surveyor, you know, provide a survey. So that's this exhibit. Uh, and this is their original this was their original plan before it was marked up and this is their application. And I I note I make a note of it in both staff reports. There's additional materials here that are not being considered such as the patio. Um, but I said that's that's my take on the application. Okay. They provide useful information like if you want to see the product that they want to put in, you know, you can review their materials. Just note it does not include a shed or a patio. This is simply the 7 foot buffer. Okay. Okay. And then with that, um, if the

applicant would like to state their hardship and anything else, uh, I will leave that up to them. Okay. Actually, can you state your name and address before? Yes. Record and then tell us your hardship or what else you want to tell us. Okay. Philip Crosby, 79 Philly Street, Bloomfield, Connecticut. Okay. 06002. Um my hardship is that um there's water that puddles in in the yard and so then it was brought to my attention through the landscaper that if I put up a retaining wall, it would divert some of the water. So therefore, I wouldn't have a pond in my backyard for a few days after a heavy rain rainstorm. Okay. Right. And is the engine does the engineer have anything they want to add? Um well, um I think just give us your name also for the record. Yeah, my name is Anthony Dorm. I work with Engineering. Um I know Phil has granddaughters and I can't I can't hear him. Bill has granddaughters and I know that he would like to be able to play some kickball back. I can't hear you. Yeah, I I actually have a couple points really quick. Um the applicant, you know, that might be their motivation to the project, but it it might be simpler for them to just read what they what they applied for. They had a pretty extensive hardship listed. I mean, or I wouldn't say extensive, but um maybe a little bit wordy, but I think the existing slope. Yeah. In terms of the definition of a

hardship, it probably makes more sense for them to just read what they put in their application. Okay. I'm looking for it. Yeah. I mean, it is up on the screen. I'm sure it is up on the screen. Yeah. So, this is what you submitted. That's too small. Okay. Can any Can you make that any bigger, by the way? Yeah, I can zoom in. Okay, there you go. Okay, so do you want us to read that, Peter, or do you want to read it? No, read it. I'm sorry. So, yeah, Philip, if you could just read that or actually technically it's Tony. I'm sorry, Phillip. The existing slope in the vicinity of the proposed retaining wall slopes at a rate of three three vertical to five horizontal which is very steep. Flattening the slope would encroach upon the patio area while the retaining wall provides more usable area. Mr. Crosby learned that the slope wall was steepened steepened was steepened on 79 Philly street by a previous owner of one Lensson Ridge adjacent to proposed wall thereby making their property slope more gently and that's and we've included an aerial photo of when we think that work was placed Um, okay. All right. Um, is this going to have to go is this is this going to go to wetlands either way? Yeah. I mean, so this this is upstream of everything. The the only thing that

we're trying to figure out if 7 foot is an adequate buffer. Um, you know, they've notified neighbors. They've hired Do they have any neighbors here? Other than technically the town, uh, I do not believe so. We can check. There's nobody in the waiting room that that's a that's an butter that wants to speak. Did we get anything in writing in letters of support or of opposition? Alex? No, no letters either way. Okay. I do see one attendee. Um, Arnell Hines, uh, if you have anything to say, please unmute your microphone if that's the purpose why you're attending. Other than that, everyone else is already a panelist. Okay. Just so so is there a person? Good evening everybody. This is this is Arnell Hines. I'm the neighbor at one Lawrence Ridge. Oh, thank you. Okay. Yes. And I have no problems uh with um this. Philip Philip and I have talked um over the years since he was thinking about doing this and he told me that um this meeting was going to take place. So, we've been very uh he's been very communicative and um you know, I think again that's I I have no problem with the construction project at all. My wife and I I don't have any issue with that. Yeah. And are you the abuing property? So, you basically it's it's your yard and his yard where all this is taking place. Yes. Okay. Yeah, that makes sense. Okay. Great. Thank you. So, there were there were there were trees just for history sake. I don't know if you guys know this, but the former um resident at at Phillips residence, um there were there were pine trees, large pine trees that he wanted to remove. I think there were about seven of them. Um he removed four of them and I told him, "Well, I'll just do the other three." And uh that was just something that he he wanted to do. And I I'm assuming he got, you know, the the

various permits and things like that. I you know, so those were just there were trees just kind of blocking or, you know, bordering the property for that. So, we're just trying to figure out, you know, where to go from here. Yeah. All right. Well, I appreciate you speaking up and and just uh there is nobody else in the waiting room. Is that correct, Alex? Yes. Arnell was the only person. Um and it makes sense. He's he's the closest to this project. Okay. Do any of the board members have any questions of anybody? Allan, you're muted right now. Now, one question. Was the retaining wall really going to solve the water problem? It would divert it. Yeah. So, there's there's drainage features in retaining walls for safety. Um, I know I didn't give you guys a a format that you're familiar with, so you didn't have any time to to review it, but there's drainage features associated with the retaining wall. So, the water would essentially be fed into a storm line that would divert the water and and how how high would the retaining wall be? Uh, that's a good question for the engineer. The highest point will be five and 1/2 ft. Five five and 1/2 ft. 5 and 1/2 ft. Okay. Anybody else? Where? Wait, did we lose Allan? No, I'm good. No, he's safe. Oh, you're there. Okay. Okay. Is any I think this is pretty straightforward. I think it's something I'm sorry. I I think it's pretty straightforward and it's something that I uh feel that

we can vote on if other people feel that they can vote on it, especially knowing that that wetlands is also going to be overlooking this as well. Um, so I just wanted to see if anybody had any other questions for either Alex or for the applicant. And if not, we could close the public hearing and and uh discuss it among the board members. So everybody's good. I don't see any hands. One, two, three, four. Did we lose Shirley? No, she's here. No, I'm I'm here. I'm here. Oh, okay. It's only They're not You're not all showing up on my thing. I'm sorry. Okay. Okay. So, then um I And Alex, you have nothing else to add, correct? No, I I think this summarizes it as thorough. Can you um Can you put back the hardship there for us? So, if we decide we want to vote, we have Do you want the hardship or the motion? No. Okay. All right. So, I'm closing the public hearing. Um, do people feel comfortable voting on this tonight or do you feel you need to continue it? Youard I heard a let's vote. So, everybody's all set. Yeah. Okay. So, who wants to make a motion here? So, I guess Okay. Um, I will make a motion to

grant the variance as requested at 79 Philly Street, Bloomfield, Connecticut, as follows. A variance of the zoning regulation section 67B 2A 5 and 1/2 ft reduction of a retaining wall setback and section 64. What is that? I8 I think so. Permission standards and conditions grading table. Okay. Okay, I second it. Okay, Harvey seconded it. Okay. And uh and the hardship being we usually do list that. Yeah. I mean, it's usually stated more so by the applicant, but just the the former topography, the the work done not by the owner, and just the need to close the open face. And you'd need a variance regardless of of whatever solution is proposed if it original. Does everybody agree with that? The maker of the motion and the seconder. That's good. Okay. All in favor of the motion. I I Okay. I So, did everybody vote? Did we get five eyes? Yeah. Yeah. Hi. I'm sorry, Rebecca. Who's seconding that? Harvey. Harvey Friedman. Okay. So, that that is all set. That was that passed. And do we have any new business? No.

All right. Before we adjourn, I Alex, I think what we're saying is that we we want paper hard copies of these. Yeah. Yeah. It's tough as information comes as, you know, as time goes on. But I'll I'll just send them out periodically. So, you know, you'll get several revisions as would have been the case per this. But that doesn't mean I can't, you know, mail them out uh as they come. Okay. All right. I appreciate it. I'm getting I appreciate it. Yeah, no problem. See, I think that the difference in the past was that they would just bring it to the meeting and we'd get it that way. Right. All right. So, we are all in agreement that we want that the the paper copies. Okay. So, a motion to adjurnn. I I a motion to adjurnn. A motion. Thank you. A second to that. that second. Okay. All right, everybody. Okay. Good night, everybody. Okay. Good night. Good night. Good night. Night.