Planning and Zoning Commission - Regular Meeting

Alex. Fire little buddy. Yeah,

that makes sense. a second. Did you give them like I have had very hard. All right. Ready.

Yeah. Good evening. It's 7 o'clock. I'm going to call to order the town of Winchester plan and zoning commission meeting for April 27th, 2026. We'll start with a roll call from the left. Scott Eisen, Jeff Perry, Peter Marsh, Willy Flat, Adam Polei, Charlene Lavoy, Rrista Malaka, John Coney is absolutely excused. Who you going to see?

Uh, Charlene has a Charlene. We're going to see Charlene tonight, please. John, that's And now on agenda review, I want to move old business 5A up to before the public hearing for 4B. You going to make that a motion? Make that a I'll second that. Sorry. That was going to be what? Uh we're going to move 5A before 4B. Okay. All in favor? Okay. Now you have something for agenda.

Yes. Also under agenda review, uh we have a A24 referral regarding 281 Walnut Street. Uh I recommend we make that new business uh item A and bump the regulation discussion for public act 251 to new business item B. I'll move that

second. All in favor? Okay. Now we open for public comment. If anybody has anything to say that's not on for something that's not on the agenda. I think most of you are through. Okay. So now we're going to go on to public hearing PZ. I'm going to I move to open public hearing PZ 26-3. Applicant Roxan O'Neal, location 150 Ashley Road, zone RR, proposal special permit for home occupation uh cottage food operation. I'll second that. All in favor? Okay. Are you here? Yes.

All right. Step forward. Um, yeah. So, I'm just going to be uh baking and selling out of my home. I will be delivering the packages to my customers or mailing them. So, it's not going to have any impact on the street whatsoever. Okay. Um, what do you have to go through with the board of health to get one of these permits? I had to go through the state of Connecticut. Yeah.

Cottage foods and they approved everything and then I had to do certain recipes and make sure that all the ingredients were in there. Um, any allergies, um, like milk, soy, anything that a person would be allergic to. Okay. So, I have that. Board got questions. Anybody in the audience got any questions? No. All right. I move we close it. Close the public hearing PZ 26-3. Applicant Roxan O'Neal. I'll second.

All in favor? Okay. Now we're going to go on to old business uh PZ-26-3. Applicant Roxan O'Neal 150 Ashley Road zone RR proposal special permit home occupancy cottage food operation. Do we have a motion to approve? Do you have a draft motion? Yes. Oh, wait a minute. I think I have it here. I do have one. I'm not getting anything to come up on the screen this evening, but I can read it out to you. Give me one moment. I think I have it here. You have it there.

Good.

To approve application 26-3 for special permit. Owner Wayne Roxan O'Neal. Address 150 Ashley Road. Proposal special permit for home occupation cottage food occupation. In evaluating this application, the planning zoning commission has relied upon the information provided by the applicant and if such information subsequently proves to be false, deceptive, incomplete or inaccurate, this permit shall be modified, suspended or revoked. Two, this applications consists with town and plants conservation and development. Three, this application meets the criteria and standard of section 415 24D special permits and special exceptions. I'll second.

All in favor? Okay. You're all set. Fast. All set. Okay. Thank you so much. Huh? I'll bring you some goodies next meeting.

Oh, she's got to sign it. No way. Last video. funny about that.

That's okay.

Okay, now we're on to public hearings again. PCC-26-6 applicant Alexander Fortuna on behalf of the Forsaken Lands location 32 Northfork Road zone RR special permit for commercial recreation. So it's all yours now. Thank you very much. All right, let's see if we could get this. Do you want me to try to plug this in? See if that works. Keep our fingers crossed. Yeah. All right, let me turn my screen on. See what happens here. All right. Anything there?

The good news is if it if it doesn't um come up in the packets that I've provided everybody with, I have a hard copy of the slideshow. So, we could just refer to that. That's fine. And I could go slide by slide. That's fine. Yeah, we could go slide by slide. It's um the uh first the first packet actually. Do we have to throw a switch or something for? Yes. This is it. Yep. So, that's the hard copy of the slideshot. I prepared for that just in case. Yeah. All right. How is everyone doing tonight?

Good. Would that be okay? Uh, no guarantee it'll work. I can try it, too. Okay.

I believe it was the first the first packet in the Yeah, the first Yeah. section of the packet, right? It should start with request for permitted land use, I believe. jam in your hand. The one you just proposal for that one. Oh, looks like it was trying.

I got one of those, too. But that's a different wonder drawings. That's Oh, I see. That one because it blinks sometimes. The first time we had trouble with this one, so I'm not sure the board is on. Yeah, I suggest I suggest we proceed analog.

That's fine. That's fine. Yeah. Okay. All right. Um, my name is Alex Fortuna. I'm the owner and operator of the Forsaken Lands Outdoor Haunted Attraction. Uh, currently located at 54 Carill Road in Goan, Connecticut. My home address uh is 264 Ridge Road, New Milford, Connecticut. Um before I begin, I'd just like to please request um that all documents I filed with my application um and delivered to the zoning office um please be part of the official record whether we review them individually, you know, um you know, part as part of this presentation or not. Um, all right. So, I'm here tonight uh because I believe our project um proposed for 32 North Road presents a unique and valuable opportunity for the Winchester community. Uh, for the past several years, I've operated the Forsaken Lens outdoor haunted attraction, uh, seasonal recreational attraction located in Gian, Connecticut. Um, it's always been a dream of mine, my teams, to find a permanent home. Uh, a place where we can truly put down our roots. We aren't just a scary walk in the woods. We're a professional production specializing in immersive storytelling, technical theater, detailed set, and most importantly, creating memories and contributions to the surrounding community and the community members. We chose Winchester uh because of its character, its natural beauty, artistic diversity, and its potential to host a premier fall tradition. I know that with any new project, there are natural questions about impact. I want to address those directly here tonight. The land we are proposing to use uh a portion of the 63 acre site located at 32 Norville Road. This massive acreage provides a natural buffer that ensures our activities remain contained and respectful to neighboring property of others. Unlike a re retail store, park or a fair, we operate on a time ticketing

entry system as we have in our all in all of our previous years. This allows us to monitor the flow of guests and ensure that um you know all the traffic and uh foot traffic and you know capacity is you know appropriate and capable for the property and operational efficiency and safety of course. Furthermore, uh we're committed to full compliance with state and local ordinances from fire and life safety codes to building codes. Um I have also uh I've met with the fire marshal as well um and been in direct contact with him in the building inspector um to ensure that we're all you know set on that front as well.

Stewardship. Uh we we fell in love with this land as soon as we saw it. Uh our goal is to maintain the natural wooded aesthetic of war and not to replace it with high density development. So beyond the recreation and entertainment aspect of our operation, for Sacreman will bring many tangible benefits to the town of Winchester, we provide seasonal employment for local high school and college students and people of all ages. We're giving them a chance to learn skills in acting, lighting, theater, and hospitality. We don't just provide them with a job opportunity. Uh we're providing them with a home away from home. a place filled with people, you know, like-minded individuals who share a similar interest um to ours. A place where we consider them more than employees a family. Our guests don't just visit our attraction, they visit the surrounding community and the local establishments. They buy gas down the street. They get dinner. They get a drink at the local bars um and local breweries. This will help put Winchester on the map as a fall New England attraction destination. a shared tradition. We want to be the reason people look forward to October in Winchester. We want to be a hub where local food trucks can set up and perform business, where our guests can create memories for years to come. My very dedicated team and I, some of who are in the audience with us today, uh have spent years building this business with integrity and focus on safety, quality, and community. Those are our three pillars. This is not a new endeavor for us. We have years under our belt of proven knowledge and expertise and uh bringing successful and beneficial operations um to you know local community in in Goan. I'm not just looking for a permit. I'm looking to become a long-term member of this community. This is not just my business or my

employees. There's a deeper meaning to me um you know in in the moments that the gates of the forsaken lands open tonight. Uh, seeing our guests share a laugh, seeing a once shy teenager find their voice and becoming a very entertaining scare actor, and uh, seeing the town come alive in the fall. I feel a personal responsibility to provide a space where people can escape the everyday and make memories. That's the why behind everything that we do. And that's what I'm proposing to do. I'm here tonight to listen, answer any questions you may have, and hopefully earn your support in making Winchester. Thought I needed that.

No worries. Uh, I'm here tonight to answer any questions. Hopefully earn your support and, uh, you know, to help make Winchester permanent home for the Forsaken Lens. Thank you for your time and consideration. And without further ado, um, I I will get started on the first uh, slide of our slideshow. So, this slideshow presentation um basically is a very in-depth summary of all of the uh pages on those 80page packets that I that I gave each of you. Um this presentation is included in the packets and serves as a highle summary um in the proposal documents which covers every detail of our planned operations in all aspects. So, please feel free to stop me at any time um with any questions along the way and um yeah, we'll go from there. Uh our request for permitted land use, the Forsaken Lands Outdoor Haunted Attraction, a premier Northwest Connecticut Halloween tradition. We're seeking a special permit for a creation rec commercial commercial recreational establishment at 32 North Road. Located within the rural residential zone, this outdoor walkthrough experience will preserve Winchester's wooded character in the 53, I'm sorry, that's a typo, 63 acre parcel by utilizing the natural landscape with temporary structures. We're committed to being a recreational anchor that bridges the tourism gap between summer and winter, providing over 50 seasonal jobs for the locals and actively directing thousands of attendees to downtown businesses through partnerships and cross promotions as we have done in our previous four years in Gan. To ensure community harmony, we utilize a strictly managed time ticketing entry system to contain all traffic on site and prevent local congestion of any kind. Our production features professional-grade controlled directional audio and low shrouded shielded lighting to eliminate glare and any potential noise disturbance beyond the property lines. We look forward to working with the town of Winchester fire marshall, local law enforcement, and to create a safe permanent home that contributes to the

town's uh diverse economic landscape. So, the proposed property 32 North Road, the property ID is listed there as well. Rural residential zone 63 acres. So, I'm going to kind of run you through the customer experience here about what customers could expect when they visit the Forsaken Lands. Upon arrival at 32 Norfolk Road, guests will be guided down a gravel drive to a dedicated 1.2 acre on-site grass parking field. To ensure seamless flow, we utilize a timed uh entry ticketing system. Pre-booked guests bypass the ticket booth, which will be an 8 foot x 10 ft shed to enter the main queue where live actors and themed audio will begin the immersive experience. Structures will stay up year round for the purpose of us being able to maintain them and change the attraction um each year to keep the experience fresh and unique to, you know, drive customers to, you know, have an incentive to come back. Um, the attraction itself is a 25minute walkthrough trail featuring open air floorless structures and stockade fenced paths that utilize the natural terrain powered by a self-contained diesel generator towbehind generator. We we rent it from companies like Sunb Belt. Um, the trail will feature low voltage LED lighting, animatronics, and live actors. After exiting, guests can enjoy free photo opportunities and local food truck refreshments before departing, ensuring a complete, contained, and memorable visit. So, our operation, so this is going to kind of run everyone through uh our dates and hours of operation and um how we staff the operation. We will operate on the last Saturday of September, Fridays through Sundays throughout October, then the first Friday and Saturday of November, and you work from 14 to 16 nights per season. per year. That is that's the entire operation for for each year. Uh we will be open each night from 7 o'clock p.m. to 10 o'clock p.m. The last guests typically exit the property on an

average between 10:15 and 10:30 with 11:00 being the absolute latest. That's on our very busiest nights, and I'm going to get to that a little bit um further. Um we employ a number of scene supervisors, build crew members, makeup artists, ticket scanners, and actors. Each season we will be reaching out to local high schools uh theater organizations to provide their students and members with job opportunities that will give them experience in fields in which they aspire to have a career in. They will have an opportunity to become well-versed in a variety of these fields and um we will be creating approximately 50 seasonal jobs for the locals each fall. It's our goal to of course create even more jobs each year as the operation grows. Any questions so far? Nothing yet.

No.

All right. Um, so location and local economic benefit. Over our past four years in Gan, we've established a fall Halloween tradition that draws visitors from across Connecticut, eastern New York, and southern Massachusetts. Our attraction has served as an economic driver for host communities, increasing foot traffic and revenue for local businesses through partnerships, cross promotions, and sponsorships. Haunt Haunted attraction industry data uh suggests that approximately 40% of haunted attraction clientele will combine their visit with either meals or drinks from local establishments. Furthermore, that data also indicates that for every dollar spent on a haunted attraction ticket, an additional 25 to 50 cents is typically injected into the local economy. Again, via visiting restaurants, bars, gas stations, you name it. Um, so and to put that into perspective, our general admission ticket is $30. Our Fastpass ticket is $40. We plan to bring this same collaborative model to Winchester uh by attracting regional visitors who will support all of your local establishments. Um, our marketing will promote Winchester as a destination, introducing new audiences to the charm of the Winstead area. We're committed to using local vendors and services whenever possible, ensuring our presence directly benefits Winchester's uh economy and workforce. So neighbors, a key factor in our site selection was fully mitigating any impact on neighboring properties. Due to the property's size, topography, and natural buffers, our operations will be both visually and acoustically isolated from the surrounding community. The nearest residence is over 1,500 ft away from the the proposed area where we propose to operate the haunted attraction and parking area. While the

closest neighbor on Route 44 is more than a mile distant, far exceeding most standing uh standard zoning buffers. Um, this attraction is located uh within the natural basin surrounded by mountainous and heavily wooded terrain that serves as a substantial sound and visual barrier. In addition to these natural protections, we employ directional sound aimed inward towards guests and shielded downward-facing lighting to prevent light spill. Together, distance, landscape, and technology ensure our operation will not impact the quiet enjoyment of Winchester residents. And to add to that, we also have um sound test levels, decibel readings from our previous location um you know to to further you know prove those numbers.

On this map, where's the neighbor? So the neighbor is going to be you see the Forsaken Lands attraction logo in the info box right there. Yep. In that direction. That would be the closest one 1500 ft in that direction. Yep. A licensed on-site security team is present during all operating hours.

Three guards monitor the property each night. Includes bad checks, back checks, metal detector screening at entry, as well as patrols of the parking queue and attraction areas. Security staff communicate via two-way radios with management and staff, monitor guest behavior, and address any safety concerns. Disruptive or unsafe individuals may be escorted off the property, and local authorities will be contacted detected if necessary. This is a dry campus. No alcohol. We do not serve alcohol. We will not allow alcohol on the property. Lighting plan to preserve a dark, immersive, haunted atmosphere. Low-level downward focus LED lighting will be used throughout the attraction. Small shielded LED pin spots provide minimal scenic light along the trail, queue, and ticket areas while preventing light spill beyond scenic walls and fencing. String lights will illuminate the ticket booth area only. A shielded downward-f facing portable light tower will be used at the edge of the parking area to ensure guest safety while minimizing light impact on the surrounding areas. All attraction parking areas are also set back over 1500 ft from the nearest residents with dense wooded terrain providing light bleed from any neighboring properties. So to put this into perspective, um our pin spot lights are literally the size of my pinky and they're low low voltage 12vt DC. And in the full proposal PDF document, it actually has a breakdown of how many lumens they give off, you know, the power that they draw and whatnot. So, if you know, you could see further detail on each of our all all of our lighting equipment. Okay. Where were we here? Okay. Sound plan. Um, all speakers will also be located over 1500 ft from the nearest residence set at a low conversational volume level. Speakers are individually adjustable and aimed downward inward to contain the sound within the attraction walls and fencing. No sound projected will be no sound will be projected

towards neighboring properties. Our generator will be a low hum unit with enclosed with fence panels to reduce noise and the dense forested buffers uh further limit that sound travel. No unreasonable unreasonable noise will be produced by the attraction. We've taken again sound test levels with a decibel meter while the attraction was in operation. So to put that into perspective, you walk through the attraction where we were located at Great Acres Farm. When you walk out our exit path about 50 ft or so, you can barely hear it. You continue on out to the parking area. You can't you can't hear. So, our ticket sales plan and capacity, all Forsaken Lands tickets will be sold in halfhour time slots starting at 7:00 p.m. ending at 10:00 p.m. We have implemented this time ticketing system so that we are able to control the amount of individuals on the property at any one given time. 85% of our tickets are sold online, if not more. Uh, we do accept walk-ins. However, those walk-ins are only available uh the amount of walk-ins is only, you know, contingent on what we have left over from our online sales. So, and we have obviously a limited number per time slot. This reduces Q times, allows for efficient um and safe flow of foot traffic throughout the attraction, and keeps the amount of cars in the parking lot to a manageable number in relation to the amount of parking spaces that we will have available. We'll have a sellout point of 150 tickets per night. That's the absolute cap. There's

the mics are on. Yeah. Are they watching on YouTube or on the public access channel?

It's great when it works well. Yeah. Yeah. When it works. Modern technology at its finest, right? You want me to just continue? Yeah. Yeah. Okay. All right. Um All right. So, yeah. So, we'll have a sellout point of 150 tickets per night.

Um therefore, each half hour time slot there will be a total of 150 tickets available. And again, this is on an absolutely fully sold out night. Um there will be both general admission and fastpass tickets available for each time half hour time slot. There will be 100 general admission tickets and 50 Fastpass tickets available for each time slot. The only tickets that will be again available at the booth for walk-ins will be the guests um you know the tickets remaining for each time slot that did not sell online. We've made the fastpass tickets available uh to you know offer our guests uh reduced you know wait time in line just as any other you know you know entertainment operation would you know Disney you know Six Flags typically fast pass ticket that'll reduce their wait time by 50% also expediting the process of getting that portion of of the customers through the attraction and on their way even quicker.

So our parking plan let's go back to the ticket sales. Yes. Yes sir. So, you've got uh 150 tickets for every half hour, correct? On a sellout night. On a sellout night. Yes. Yep. You have 150 parking spaces. Correct. You're going to have a food truck. Yes. So, what are you how are you going to make sure that your your customers exit the property in a timely manner? If you have food truck there to Yeah, absolutely. to make to keep them there.

Yes. So on the next slide, I'm actually going to touch a little bit on that. So they spend an average of 45 minutes on the property. Now that includes the 25 minutes inside the attraction, our queue times, you know, the waiting line to get in, very minimal. So we've done this for, like I said, like four four years. We've had food trucks on the property um you know photo ops and that's the number that we have hit right on the money is 45 minutes even after going through the attraction getting when they get food it's usually you know a quick snack they don't have the intention of sitting around all night that's not our goal we have picnic benches they get their food they go and honestly I'd say not I mean not you got to remember too not all of the guests that are coming in for each time slot are getting food we have a very large portion that just walk right by those food trucks, you know, cuz it depends on the customer. They may be looking for a quick bite. They might be looking to go to a bar or local, you know, restaurant after. Um, so we've, you know, that has never really played a factor in taking up parking spaces. So, typical attendance on an average night ranges from 300 to 400 guests. That on that's on an average night. Not on a slow night, not on a busy night. Um, and most of these guests arrive in groups of three to four. Car pooling. It's just how it is in our industry. Again, like I mentioned before, it's not like a, you know, a stop and shop or, you know, you know, your typical storefront where people are gonna one person per car. They're car pooling. So, with that being said, on a sellout of 1,50 guests, we expect approximately 300 cars over the course of the entire evening. Um, with about 115 cars parked at any one time, the turnover is very, very efficient. Now, we have parking staff as well that will make sure that, you know, they know where to go. Boom. As soon as they get into their car, they're directed right out. So, it's it's a welloiled machine.

Somebody scary chases them out. No. No, we can't do that. I mean, we could. That's, you know, that'll make it go that'll speed up the process, right? But the chainsaw will get them going. That's all. Just chase them with it.

That's it. Yeah. Right to the car door and they're out, right? The food trucks might not be happy, though. Um, so the 1.2 2 acre grass parking field will accommodate approximately 152 vehicles. Um the entry driveway over 350 foot long uh can queue at least 16 cars without impacting Route 44 at all. Combined with time ticketing, our parking plan ensures smooth flow of traffic and eliminates parking backups. So we have a nice long queue um you know before any cars could even have the chance of being backed up on Route 44. So to put that into perspective, at our previous location, we've never had a line longer than four four cars waiting to get onto the property just because that turnover, you know, of parking spaces is so quick. And you something I also want to touch on is that we have those halfhour time slots so that all guests in that time slot can experience it. That's not saying that every guest that walks through this thing is going to be spending a half hour in the attraction. We have some guests that will turn it into a fiveminute experience because they're so scared they'll dart right through and they'll be gone. So that you know that that also helps. So, but yeah, it's it all depends. People ask me all the time, how long does it take to walk through? I said that depends on the pace that you walk. So, it could be 10 minutes, could be 20 minutes, could be 25, right? So, at least one CPR EMT uh EMT trained team member is on duty each night with first aid kits and fire extinguishers available throughout the attraction. The emergency response plan is obviously a lot more extensive than what I'm going to, you know, go over briefly here um in the uh design and life safety plan that's in the uh full proposal PDF. All the details are there. Reviewed that with the fire marshall as well. Um emergency exits, lighting and evacuation plans are in place and reviewed with all team members before opening. We have our training with our team members um two weeks before opening night and uh they are all going to be

well well versed in our emergency response protocols and that goes any way beyond fire uh you know evacuation that goes from power outage to active shooter to you know you name medical emergency we cover it all. Flow managers and area supervisors manage guest movement uh to prevent overcrowding and ensure rapid assistance if needed. In an emergency, we call 911 in security or management coordinates traffic and guides emergency vehicles to the emergency vehicle access point, which is a coned off area in our parking field that will be dedicated to only emergency vehicles. No foot traffic, no vehicle traffic can go through there at any times at any time. That's specifically allocated for emergency vehicle. Um the trail layout allows for quick access for emergency response and a turnaround area at the EVVAP. accommodates large vehicles like firet trucks and ambulances. And then we also throughout the attraction itself uh behind the scenes we have a series of emergency walking trails as well. Again went over all these egress requirements with the fire marshall and ensured that our layout you know meets all of the um you know codes and requirements. Um it's very very compact design so that if myself or one of our managers uh needed to get from one side of the attraction to the other could do it in two minutes. What about wild animals?

They don't like the noise. They're too scared of us. They don't They don't like the noise. And we Yes. We make sure we remove all the ears from the cornstalks before we bring them on site. No raccoons. Um where you were in Ocean though, you were in an enclosed area, right? At the wildlife. At Action Wildlife. Yes. So that was at that was Yeah. Action wildlife. Wildlife. It wasn't actually. We were set far back away from any of the animals because obviously we didn't want to upset the animals. We bordered what's you know and it I think now the property uh beyond action wildlife is owned by uh Eversource I think now if I'm not mistaken I could be wrong on that but um it's acres and acres and acres of wood so it's not real we weren't enclosed by fence or anything like that.

I think you're going to address it on the next page but you know bears love garbage. So

Oh that don't worry. Customers spend an average of 45 minutes on the property including 25 minutes in the attraction which means a maximum about 350 guests on site on a sellout night of,50. Portable restrooms will be available for guests and uh staff will clean them daily, emptied regularly after each weekend by the portable restroom service and lit with battery powered interior lighting. Garbage cans will be placed throughout the property with all waste collected and removed from the site each weekend for off-site disposal. Jeff, I know we also spoke about us having a dumpster on site as well. So, we've, you know, in the site plan as well, you'll see we actually will have a dumpster on site as well. Um, and we will be very uh diligent about making sure that that doesn't stay full. Um, so on the next page, you're going to see uh some drone shots of our previous setup. This was at Action Wildlife. Obviously, you know, last season we operated at Great Acres Farm, but this was back in 2023, an overhead shot. Um, you could see how we construct our uh sets. Again, no roofs, no floors, um strictly wall panels and a lot of scenic design on the inside. Uh fences. Uh it's beautiful. Number one, no permanent structures, very easily maneuverable if we want to change it the following year, modify it, which is obviously very important.

Slow down for a second. Where we were looking at the overhead shots and part of what doc Yeah. Yeah. That one right there. I apologize. They might not have been attached. I'm sorry. They If you go to the You got us like 65 million pages. I'm sorry about that. I apologize. If you go to Let me see. That should be on the design um the design drawings document. It should be uh might not be in that. It should be in the design um not in that one. In the design drawings document on the back page. Yep. on the back pages there. Design drawings.

Yep. Sorry, I threw a lot at you. I apologize. That's That's it. Correct. Yep. All in one page there. Yep. So, uh those are the drone shots. Yeah. Um so these were a setup from your last place, correct? That was 2023. 23.

Yep. Obviously, it's grown since then, but again, the style and way we design everything remains the same. So again, no floors, no roofs, no foundations, uh strictly wall panels braced overhead by 2x4s and 2x3s uh to ensure for structural stability. Um and we've also touched base with the fire marshall and building inspector. Um they request that we uh you know put rebar into the bottom sill plates of the wall panels to anchor them into the ground. Um we still have to touch base on the details with that. I believe they said every 12 feet or so. that's, you know, further to be discussed. But, um, very strong, very, uh, stable design. Um, and again, as you could see, they exit on any side at any time. They can get out very easily without any obstruction, um, of egress.

And that remains year round or do you do that? That remain, this all remains year round, correct? Yep. And obviously our sound systems, our lighting systems, our um you know electronic, all of our wiring is outdoor grade. So we don't have to go redoing the electrical every year. Obviously our animatronic props, our pneumatic props that move, you know, made of latex, we take all that in, but all the scenic furniture, everything else, that all stays out throughout the year. And you can see we have an 8 by10 shed. They're located in the middle as well. That's what we use for our costume and makeup storage and prep for our staff. You mentioned no permanent structures. Uh that it'll be powered by generator. Yes. And the lighting. What about the wiring?

Yeah. So basically in the design and life safety plan. Um is that all outdoor rated component?

Yeah. So the the diesel generator, you know, the diesel generator. It's a job site generator. It's meant to be outside. Then we will have our electrician come in and he will be uh putting together again I think I believe I have pictures of that in the design life safety plan. our uh distribution breaker panel, again outdoor grade. It will then branch off to the individual branch circuits with uh UFB sunlight resistant uh feeder cable. So that's designed to be outdoor um that will then will go overhead attached to either posts or trees, you know, whatever's, you know, in that area that we're trying to reach with eye with eyehooks. And we'll be using aircraft cable as well or the messenger wire, you know, some call it aircraft cable, messenger wire. Um, zip tying those runs to that aircraft cable to ensure nice firm support. Then it drops down to each of the locations where the outlets will be. They are weather rated um, you know, outlets, wet resistant with the bubble cover, the weather, you know, weatherproof bubble and all the breakers in the panel are GFCI protected. So everything is 100%, you know, outdoor outdoor rated. Um, yes. So that's our that's our power power setup. And then the layout, if you're in that same packet there, um, if you flip a few pages before the drone shots, you should see or it might even be in the beginning. Don't quote me on that. Just look either in the beginning or the back. Um, we have our full attraction layout as well. Um, might complicate.

Yeah, it might be. Yeah. So, this I've already reviewed with uh Mr. Passie, fire marshall. Um so, this is an actual layout of what the attraction will look like with full dimensions um that shows fire extinguisher locations, emergency light locations, the generator location, all egress routes, and so all detail of how the attraction will be designed and the footprint that it will accommodate. Would you have any future aspirations of expanding this or Absolutely. Oh, absolutely. Yes. So that would be more traffic, more everything. Yes. So and as we as we can as we you know grow

in you know correlation with that we will expand on parking. will expand and now our ticket sales threshold at this time we don't we don't plan on expanding the sellout point of,50 for quite some time. We don't we don't see a need for that. Um but again if there you know more traffic you know more you know customers each night it's still going to remain within that 150 on a night 350 cars throughout the whole night. Our parking lot right now can already accommodate for our maxed out night. So, it's even if we grow it to as big as we can, we're prepped for it now. Yep.

And the footprint of the attraction, of course, we want to modify it every year. We want to make it, you know, longer. We want to change it. Um because guests aren't going to want to come to see the same show two years in a row, right? Um so those are all factors that we took into account. What's that? mentally have already we set a goal. Sorry, I'm kind of the right hand. That's great. We set a goal for how long we eventually want to make it, but that's like 10 years down the road. If you're going to speak, why don't you come up here and identify yourself and let's have a seat. Sure.

This isn't something that Christine Sati. I'm from South Windsor. Um I'm Alex's girlfriend. I've been in the industry about 13 years now. That's all right. So, just tell us about what you want to talk about. We're not we this is not something we plan to grow indefinitely. We don't want to become some mega mega operation. Um that's not the goal. We want to get big enough to live com comfortably because the bigger you grow your business, the less personal life you have. So, it's a true statement. It's true, especially in a business like this. So,

yes. Um so, you will also see the site plan. um attached to the on the legal piece of paper there. Um yep, that's it. Um so our site plan maps out the location of the grass parking field. Um our food truck area where we will have the food truck staged haunted attraction area. Um our proposed driveway. So the existing driveway that's there right now is the one that goes straight from Route 44, cuts right up the center of the property and goes to the existing cell tower. Um, we have another driveway as you can see that's tailing off from that. We So, let's go back to your site plan here. Yes.

Uh, you have your evacuation plan. I do. We talked about that yet? Um, we skipped over that or what? So, that is We're all fumbling through these drawings. I'm sorry. We're all fumbling through these drawings. Okay. Okay. Yeah, I can pull up the evacuation plan right now. Did you want me to go through the narrative of it or the or would you like to see the drawing of it? Well, I think we understand the narrative, but if you It's quick. Go ahead.

Yep. Okay. So, I mean, I can I can summarize it. Uh, let me pull it up here. One second, please. We want design and life safety. Okay. So, Okay. Okay. Fire. So, um, upon discovering a fire, our staff are immediately going to notify an area supervisor. Area supervisors, security, ticket booth staff, parking staff, myself, Christine, all of our mobile managers, as we call them, have two-way radios. So, line of communication very strong. Um, the supervisor nearest to the breaker panel or the midway point will press one of our two emergency stop button locations. that will immediately deactivate everything. All of the uh attraction audio, all the pneumatics, all the fog, everything will stop immediately. Emergency lights will come on and we will then carry on our evacuation procedure. Um all staff will of course actors will break character gathering all guests within a 50ft radius of their area while we each do uh each of the managers do a sweep of the perimeter of the attraction. So we cover all potential areas that guests may be at that time. Um, and then they will then proceed. Um, in that uh packet there, I think it's probably the one right behind the layout that we were just looking at, it will have u an evacuation plan. And you'll see the egress routes as Yep. the lines going around the perimeter of the attraction. each of the emergency exits which are located every 50 ft of travel empty out into the primary egress arteries and those will then go straight up through the queue area and then into the assembly area which will be the food truck area. That's our open area where the picnic benches will be. That's where we will then carry on with our accountability procedure at that time.

While all this is going on, of course, emergency personnel will be directed in from Route 44 with our from our security staff and our parking staff to hold traffic from coming in. We'll hold traffic from leaving so that they have a clear route to come straight into the evap. Curious. Yes, I've been looking at that a little bit too as well. Um, and it seems though like a more direct route would be a secondary maybe emergency exit entrance going straight from let's say inside the gate. Yeah. Right towards the the food truck area. Was that considered? It was considered, but it

I want to make sure I phrase this correctly. So, right when you come in, if you were to take a right-hand turn, it's a very steep grade going down and very rocky. So, we've considered that. Um, but I don't I don't think it's going to be too feasible. Um, like I said, I I I went over this with um you know, Mr. Mr. Legassie. He you know, didn't have any concerns of it. Um but we have considered that but just due to you know design and terrain terrain constraints that would be extremely difficult. So it looks like go ahead maybe a little more steep than your regular entrance from I guess just from the contour map you provided. Yeah, it's a little more steep. So

not not substantially. So basically, you're going to see with our entrance that we have right now, it curls, right? So that helps a lot with the grade. It's not traveling with the grade. Whereas there, if we were to go make that immediate right and go down, it's, you know, straight down and in. Yeah. So that's that's the big difference, you know, that's why we um designed the exist the driveway there as it is. So, the site where your attraction's going to be. Yes. Is it open now? Is it forested? Nope. It's it's it's wooded right now. Um, so did you get to review our landscape management plan? No, I'm more Let's just talk about this right now. Okay.

So, you're going to be clearing this site to put this in? Yes. Is it flat? Is it angled? It's flat. Yep. Okay. So, and how far past your attraction are you going to clear? So the attraction area itself is about 150 ft by 150 ft for this year's design. Um we will then be clearing out and honestly minimal clearing for that. We want to keep as much vegetation as possible just enough so that we could put our let's call it modules you know each of our scenes build it into the the vegetation.

So okay so now you've got your emergency exit doors. Yes. And how how much of a cleared area are you going to have from the outside of your modules? Yep. For emergency exit, we're looking at six six feet. Six feet. And your doors are how wide? Four. Four. So, they're going to open up and they're going to block your emergency exit. When the door is open, they're going to block people from coming down. So, that means either people are going to get trapped inside. And that's well I mean the other thing with that too is that they're not all going to be used at the same time. Now the you have the interior. Okay. They could be. Okay. I mean you know I watch too many 911 shows on TV.

Yeah. Yeah. So I So and again it's not I'm not saying six feet is the number on there. We could go 10 feet. We could go 15 feet. We could whatever. So that's not what I'm looking at is a potential blockage here with the doors opening. Yeah. And then the people trying to get out going to close the doors, keep people trapped inside. If there god say forbid there was a fire, you know, this stuff is going to be outside weathered and all that stuff. It could just go up fast. So I'm looking at you need more space on the outside, especially if you got somebody inside the attraction in a wheelchair. Yeah. You're going to have to get them out and around out the door and

Yeah. And that's, you know, that's if if you're more comfortable with a bigger buffer on the outside, totally fine. Um, and I I think it's a safety hazard myself. Okay. I mean, so I mean, it's nice to have it built into the wood so it looks good and all that, but you're talking somebody's potential life. That's, you know, a theater door being blocked, you can't get out. Yep. That's totally understood. So, to put into perspective, at Great Acres Farm, we had, what would you say, 15 20 feet? 15 20 ft on the outside if that's what uh that's action wildlife. So yeah, on the on the outside I mean you're probably looking at the same thing on the outside. We could fit a we could drive a truck.

We drove a truck and that's the goal. We want to be able to drive our pick, you know, our trucks around there to, you know, maintain and work on the attraction. Anyways, um the other thing to think of is that very few of these emergency exits are actually doors. Most of them are curtains. They're curtain curtains. Very few are actual doors. They show doors here. There there's both. There's a mixture of both. There's doors. They don't show curtains. They show doors. I'm sorry. That's what they don't show curtains. They show doors. That's why I'm I'm That's why I'm questioning. Yeah. Yeah. No, that and that was the 2023 design. We we moved in the direction of of curtains a little bit more since then. This is the design you you presented us. I'm sorry. This is the design you presented. Are you looking at the drone shots or No, I'm looking at that. Oh, that one. Okay.

Doesn't show curtains. It shows doors. So I if you'd like I could go in and label which ones would be curtains and which ones would be doors. Well, it's I just think there's a potential problem if you don't have enough clearance around the outside. Okay. That's and like I said if you know we could do whatever you are comfortable with. We will make sure. I think that's going to be for the fire fire chief to decide probably. Yeah. And we reviewed that with him. Um you know we went through everything. We went through egress. We went through emergency response protocols. He didn't have any concerns at this time. No, that was the fire marshal. I'm sorry. That was the fire the fire chief's a different person. Oh, I see. Okay. Mhm. Got it. Got it. Um, it's the guy who drives the trucks. I see. He and his guy who brings the trucks, right? Got it. Got it.

Yep. We can bring that up with him though also. Yep. So, um, and we also spoke with the fire marshal around the outside. So, whether we do like like you'd mentioned that 10 20 football, whatever you'd like. Um, we are also going to have stakes with caution tape around the outside so that it defines the egress path so that when they come out they just don't go straight in the woods. They know where to go so they're all funneled uh in the right direction. Okay, we can continue.

Yeah. No, that's so that's um that's the um the gist of of the emergency response plan. Like I said in the design and life safety plan, it goes a lot more in depth than that. Um, so yeah, u I've completed the slideshow. Um, does anyone have any other questions at this time? I'm happy to go further in depth with any other areas. Yeah. Have you ever had an emergency situation while you've been in business? No, we have not. That we have had no evacuation um no full evacuation scenarios. We've had we've had a couple medical emergencies where guests, you know, were too scared, you know, were having trouble breathing. And that's we've had a few of those. Not many,

but the no am no ambulances for any of that, right? So, we uh we had we had one one actor who need an ambulance one time. Um but yes, so we've had medical emergencies. We haven't had anything further than that. Anybody else got any questions at this time? I'll do I'll do a softball one. Um, sure. You mentioned what attracts you to uh to Winchester Winstead. Um, were there any I guess complaints if we were to look and and see in Ocean Go if you had any noise complaints? Just curious, were there any and then what are you doing to mitigate those risks? Absolutely. So, Action Wildlife,

if they're buying up in Winstead where there's nobody around them, right? That was that was the primary choice. That was the primary reason for that site selection. If I'm being honest, um it's, you know, quite remote, but at Action Wildlife, we had none in our three years. At Great Acres Farm, we did have we did have one neighbor who was a little bit upset with uh our operation being there. I'm going to be 100% I'm sorry. Great Acres. Uh so that's also in Goan. So that's on 63 uh right before the fairgrounds. About a about a mile or so before the fairgrounds. So how far was that neighbor from your attraction? Quite close. We we we were riding the property line whether we he was about 200 300 ft from the act all the activity. So he was right on top of it.

Our main hub area was just at the edge of his property. Correct. Yeah. Correct. So you're actually at the edge of people's property here too. You know you see keep saying you're 1500 ft away from the house. You're closer to the property. Yeah. And so our decibel meter ratings that we've taken um were at the property line. So we we ensure that those numbers were you know of course appropriate. What were your decelers? I believe they were readings at peak they were you took them.

Like I said our hub where we were playing music in the hub there was a sixoot fence and that on the opposite side of that sixoot fence of the property the neighbors property line started about two feet three feet behind that fence. I went behind the fence and that's where I I measured with a decimal meter and it was 50. So for reference, average conversation is 60. So okay. Yes. So I'll just say I don't I don't have any questions, but I did go when it was at Action Wildlife. Okay. It was so much fun. Thank you. Um it was so well organized. We appreciate that. Um I think the parking was really seamless and Was that a smaller parking lot that went?

That was small. that was like a small parking lot, but it was really there was no no issues there. Um, and from a noise standpoint, when we pulled in and parked, we didn't hear anything. We're almost like, are we in the right place? We walked up and you could start to see the light and as you got closer, you could hear it. But we were really like, and that's all because of the, like I said, you have, you know, your two wall panels that meet here. They're 8 foot wall panels. The speakers mounted facing down and in. It's it's contained within those. like we didn't even have trees around, right? And we didn't have trees at Action Wildlife either between there and the parking area. And then I don't know if this would be your same plan, but at the time there was food trucks, but they were like

like I don't know churros or like like popcorn or it wasn't like um you're going to order and say we don't want that, right? It was kind of fast moving. And so I think donuts. So I think that that so I had a great experience. I think that was everything you're saying there. I I can see how it would translate to this. Um, and I do think, you know, as an economic developer, this type of thing and, you know, similar to uh, Limerock or to, you know, the fairs that we have in the area are drivers and do help support local businesses. So, I I don't have any questions, but just kind of wanted to tell my my experience. Thank you. I appreciate that. Thank you. You told it scared you.

It was pretty scary. We did our job. We did our job. We did our job. So, your parking lot's going to be created, too. You guys are going to That's not existing. So, you're going to have to go in there and clearing clear it and all that. Yes, sir. Uh from the parking lot down to the attraction. Yes. What's the grade like from the parking lot to the attraction? That path that connects them? Yeah. Nice and flat. Nice and flat. Nice and flat. Kind of hard to believe there's flat ground over there. You're not going down a hill or anything like that. Obviously, it's it's wooded trail, but you know, we're not talking any hills or, you know, mountain type topography

and obviously we will be grading that as well. You know, we'll have machinery out there and ensuring that it's it's safe. There's actually old logging trails. That's where actually it's already flat. That's how we picked that spot for that path. Yeah. Are you leaving the parking area? Grass. Grass. Yep. So that's how we had it located at Great Acres Farm. I mean, and you know, you look at fairs, you know, concerts, carnivals, anything like that. It's it's, you know, temporary seasonal use for 14 to 16 nights. So yeah, grass surface. So remain like, right? I'm sorry. remain pvious or won't be impervious at runoff. No, it's Yeah.

As part of I think you touched upon a little bit too as part of this permit. Yeah. You're going to be clearing more than an acre of land. Normally, if we're clearing land over an acre, I think you might want to special that I think Jeff. Yes. I'm sorry. For for the landing here. Yeah. We're author we're also authorizing them to clear that land. Um, is there going to be like a soil erosion plan for any of that activity as part of this permit? They'll I would say that they're going to have to do some some erosion sedimentation controls around the site as they go depending on how depending on how much you have opened up at one time if you're doing stumping and all that kind of stuff. Yeah. I mean, we plan to do it in phases,

you know, and like I said, for the attraction area itself, it's it's not we're not clearing that whole area. We're literally nestling the underbrush is coming out. Correct. We're going to have a skid steer go through and we'll be cutting down trees with chainsaws for that. Uh for we kind of want to keep as soon as we can. Yeah, I think with something like this as they go, you know, I think our st we'll be in touch with them, I think, a lot. And I think the building official, the fire marshall going to have to be up there as the thing gets built out. So, and I I spoke with Mr. Legass about that. I told them, please come, you know, at any time to, you know, peek in, look at the progress, see what you think. Yeah. So, in terms of ENS controls, we'll just kind of have to we'll have to work the site as they work the site, you know.

So, looking at your site, how do we how do we cover that? Um, so I I have a suggestion in there that um, you know, that I think this thing should have a yearly zoning permit in in addition to its in addition to its overall special permit from you that there should be a yearly zoning approval and we could do the first one could address ENS controls when they come in for that initial CP. We could address it that way. You do have wetlands that are down. Yeah, it's outside the regulated area, but you're right. It's 130 ft away or something. And it's a bubble. Yeah. So, you have your emergency vehicles up at the parking lot. Yes.

But you have food trucks down in that little circle. Yes. Is that something that you could have an ambulance come down there? Could an ambulance come down? So, that Yeah, that path that that dirt path from the evvap to the food truck area is 20 ft wide for that purpose. and then they could pull in and make that turn. Yeah. So, I have a question for staff. So, were the legal notices all posted in the newspapers for this and were the butters all notified by mail and they all received it? Nobody had any comments or anything?

Yeah, everything was sent out. No comments received. Okay. All right. Is there already a gate on the the little the access road to the cell tower? There is. Yeah. For the cell tower management company. There's a gate there. It's cast the point of where you're going to turn off or you have to put or do they have or you have to put in the gate? That gate's already there. Yeah. Yeah. That gate's at the end of the state property right where it is. Correct. So, here I can show it right there. That's the one. All right. But how about how about a second gate? Yeah. How about spur? We don't we don't feel the need to put one there. I mean, the only people that will be on site there aside from us will be

How do you keep the public from Oops. going that way. Oh, I see what you're saying. From going up. Yeah, I'm sorry. We're temporary barriers. We're going to have cones and temporary barriers. We cannot put a permanent gate there because we can't impede the access at like any time. That's part of the easement. So, they need to have 24hour 24/7 access to the cell tower. So, we would be putting temporary barriers. Yep. We we're gonna have directional signage, right? Yeah. Correct. When you're dealing with people or people Where are we tower? I mean, that cell tower is pretty scary anyway. Yeah, we've been up there. The cell tower is scarier. Yeah. The Pine Tree cell tower. Yeah,

it's steep. Steep up there. Yeah, that's the real scary stuff. Any other questions from anybody? Um, yeah. You've got a letter from DOT allowing you the use of that right away. Yes. Did they explain to you that you're going to need a DOT permit to widen that driveway on their property? So, that part will not need to be widened. It's already 20 ft wide. So, it's 20 ft all the way back to the state end of the state property. Correct. Okay. So, on one of your drawings, it shows 12 feet. So, I'm sorry. On one of your drawings, it shows 12 feet. Uh, which drawing is that? Oh, you got to find it. This one right here. See?

Uh, no. That's So, this one right here. Yep. So, that's uh culvert. Okay. That's a 10 foot. Culver. Okay. So, it's 20 ft wide all the way. Okay. So, wait a minute. 10 foot culvert and a Well, there's a culvert in there in the state right away. And state right away. You say it was 10 foot long. It's 20 the access that's currently there. It's Oh, it's a 15-inch culvert or Yeah. Yeah. 15 inch. I was going to say it can't be a 10in C 10ft culvert, but it's 15 inch and 20 foot road. Got it. But yes, the uh the existing the existing driveway that's there is 20. 20 all the way. Yeah. 20 all the way. And I explained that to the DOT. There's no work that will need to be done in the state right away.

Right away. Yep. You don't envision running electricity to your property instead of using the diesel gun in the foreseeable future that there's power to the cell cycle. Okay. Not in I mean maybe long long term. I just wonder they run power up to the cell site. Yeah. Yeah. I mean I I've spoken with Eversource about that as well. Um you know there's that you know the potential is there for us to tap into sometime if you in the future you have that availability then. Yeah. Anybody in the audience have any questions or are you all part of it?

Yeah. Uh I believe looking at the site map that we have we're very familiar where adjacent an adjacent property probably quite close one of the 1500 ft individuals. Okay. Uh so there's a few concerns that I have. Sure. Um, even though my favorite holiday. Sure. Why don't you come up here by the microphone so everybody can hear you and then identify yourself. Yeah, you can stay there and maybe address a question. Want to just leave us. That's it. Okay. Okay. Sorry. What's your name?

My name is Cosmos Heidman. My wife and I own the property at 223 Cove Street. Uh, which is if you're looking I because I can't see exactly where the proposed clearance site is. I suspect it's there. Yep. Okay. So, we butt up against the property right there. It's right here. Okay. Um, so a few concerns. One of them, and maybe it you mentioned something about this, about a yearly zoning review or something like that. There's talk about, you know, potential future expansion. Where's the oversight on that? Where where does that come from? Right here. But so, so that that's under review year on an

any any future expansion would have to come back to the court to be approved. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. I just wanted to be sure of that. Um, I own and run a recording studio on the property, so I have some concerns about decibel readings and I would like to have an understanding of what the real, you know, if you take a decibel reading for instance behind a a a panel where there's speakers voice facing inward. Yes. That's not necessarily going to be an accurate decel reading. Basically, you're in because I'm very familiar how sound travels in the in our surrounding area. Basically,

uh so the way acoustics work is that's not going to be really a clear representation of what the sound is going to be like. So the potential is and and again not trying to be adversarial in a way. Yeah. Um if that decibel level is actually much greater in a broader scale than what you're talking about that could potentially affect my business. Understood. And uh so I'm concerned about that. I don't know what reassurances there are. And I appreciate the what you said about how you're considering those things. Yes. Um and the time frame we're only on the weekend. I appreciate that as well, but my business tends to happen on the weekend.

So we So the beauty of our setups we have So you're familiar with audio and audio engineering. Excellent. So we have six zone individual amplifier which each of the speakers you know run we home run them straight back to the amplifier unit. And these are you know very very expensive. Are they, you know, if they're like line arrays or are they like single point speakers that they're single point? Yep. And so each of the speakers volume levels can be adjusted individually so that if we, you know, run into the issue where, hey, you know, it's a little bit too loud, hey, you know, the decel level is becoming an issue, we can fix that and remediate it instantly. Okay.

Um, and that's part of what we do in our weeks leading up to opening. We do our sound testing. We do our light testing. We do to make sure that you know it's all kosher and to make sure it's contained and and lighting projection as because we we kind of we do have a lovely property and a panoramic view of the whole hillside including the wonderful cell tower. So we may be the property that's 1500 feet from you guys. Got it. So I guess the other concern I would have is and my wife her business is I can I please do

so my concern is is more we used to live in Bethlehem and they opened a large uh school rehab type of place and it had a huge fence with like barbed wire on top and we would get regular escapees knocking on our door. So my concern So you're worried about these creatures coming out? Yeah. No, more the humans than the creatures. Humans are the more scary. I agree with you on that. Yeah. More. But I mean, we have a pond. Our neighbors have a pond. To get to our, you know, it's bunch of woods. You go down the hill. We walk up to the top where the property is a joint. It's part of our regular routine.

You could easily just walk on down, be at the pond, be at our house, you know. Is there some kind of plan to fence that off or? Yeah. So, I mean, right now there's an existing rock wall. So, that will you are perfect. So, that right there will set the boundary for the cars. So, we know the cars will not pull up any further. They won't be going, you know, past that. So, there's roadway right there to that rock wall. No, no, no, no. We're we're staying back from that a solid 30 or so. I I see what the plan says, but we're staying a solid 30 35t from that wall.

Um, so then obviously our parking, so that's part of where security kicks in. We have security monitoring the property at all times. They monitor the parking. They monitor the queue area. They monitor the, you know, traction area, the parking. We have eyes mobile at all times. That's great. We're here. Yeah, I'm pretty sure that's us and that's our neighbor. Well, thank you. Yeah. Thank you. very they're very diligent about maintaining you know all of the foot traffic and it in our in our four years we we've done if you wouldn't mind so where where the parking area is going to be where so this is the parking area yep right here and then you have a 34 I'm sorry 35 from the rock wall the edge of the parking lot

y that's that's you okay you live on co street yeah and raise it a little farther. It is a big piece of property. All right. 15. It's not huge. Yeah. But what kind of noise do you experience there now? Well, we definitely hear every car that drives up 44. 44 is, you know, especially at rush hour. It's pretty loud. And in the winter, I live on the back side of the lake and I can hear when when they come through the rock. That's something sucker pro. That's a whole lot, you know, a you know, a fair amount of like firearms noise and stuff like that.

So, you have the ability to take a decibel meeting reading out there. I could. Yeah, I could. So, you might want to track your noise for a little bit before this starts. So, you see where we're at, see what your base thing is and see where your trucks are and stuff. Yep. Okay. That way you have a record. Um, it's a good Are you Do you understand what he's how he's doing his noise? I understand it. Yeah. Is that Does that seem

We're all ears as well. We We're 100%, you know, open to maintaining consistent communication with you. You know, if there's ever a concern, we'll even let we'll keep you in the loop. Hey, you know, we're opening this here on the 28th, whatever it may be. Any concerns, you know, we are all here. We want to be respectful. I I I did some due diligence on you guys. You did? Yeah. Yeah. I I I like it. I mean, I like the You get free tickets. And here we have it. Yeah, that's right. You can bribe the neighbors. Just don't try to do it with us.

I mean, and you know, we and especially, you know, we will we will do everything we can. I mean, even if we had um we could do stockade fence blocking in that side as well. I mean, I just feel like do something, you know, along the lines of that. Celebrating to be adventurous and like going literally 30 ft from where your car is parked into the woods to go do whatever seems pretty likely to happen.

So, I'll give you an idea of how our parking uh operation works. So, we have three parking attendants. We have one at the main entrance guiding them. Okay, you go down. Um pull up on my iPad. We have a diagram of our parking lot. So, We have three parking staff that are running the lot at all times. Okay. Staff member one stands at the main entrance to the parking lot where the driveway empties out into the parking lot. Then there are three lanes of or I should say lanes that get them through the rows of the spots. We then have one staff member in that lane

who is meeting the car. So basically the first attendance is we're going to go down lane one. We have an attendant down lane one literally standing in front of the spot where that car is going to go. We do that for every single car and we have to do that on our end to make sure of course they're getting in there safely. Number two to make sure that they are parked properly in that space so that we get max correct. So at that point they say okay you're good. They are watching those people get out of that car and go to the security wanding table. So every single guest that gets out of their car has eyes on. Okay. Yep. So I can show you. So I have a question for you. Yes. They didn't want

pull my parking. So for our uh for you for you that's the whole package. This is going to be operating in go through the whole thing. All the stats are This is going to be operating in the fall. Uhhuh. And potentially lights will be shining up the hill if you're on that stone wall boundary. Yeah. Would would that would they reach up to your house? They would definitely Well, the stone wall is up is up the hill from Yeah. So, so it it I I think in terms of elevation, it'll probably be about at the same because it it kind of comes down into a valley and Yeah. Our house is it's the pond is at the bottom and the house is by the road. So, I I I'm I'll be shocked if we don't see some light shine from the from the parking situation,

you know. So would you be agreeable to put up fencing there so the lights don't go to be open to absolutely absolutely great well you guys ought to exchange numbers over there and this is actually this is actually the layout of our parking field

as you can see they come in right here you have lane one two and staff number one there whichever one traditional that time will have that staff member guiding them into that space move to the next one they down glow sticks and everything so they watch them literally walk back this way so there there's no nobody unsupervised because that's one of our key concerns too is that if they venture off into the woods liability for us, you know, so that's extremely important. Yeah. Oh, I see. Yep. So, if you have any more questions of the

I mean, no, but this is help. We will we will do I can email it to you as well. I I could email. Let's see. Okay. You could change emails. Great. Thanks so much. Any more questions from the board? So, um, any any potential offseason use at this time? That's not in the plan. I'm sorry. You're That way you get to the microphone. I'm sorry. That way you get to the microphone.

Okay. Um, at this time that's not in in the plans in the coming years. Um, I'm not saying we would never be open to that in in the future. Um, you know, but at this time, no. And then the hours operation I might have missed it. It was in there probably 11 7 to 11 p.m. 7 to 10. So the last time slot is 10:00. Probably I'm sorry. It'll probably extend until 11

usually on average 10:15 10:30. Our 10:00 time slot something I'd like to add is the slowest on average. That's are we probably see maybe maybe maybe 10 people for those time slots. We're usually done on average 10:15, 10:30 each night. On the absolute latest, busiest night, we might have one or two nights where we're going till 11. But again, that's very, very, very rare. Nobody wants to be scared that late. Nobody wants No, they want they they want to Yeah, especially on Sundays. Four people at 10. Yeah,

we're we're sitting there waiting for the last four people to come at 10:00. The other item I have is uh it looks like we're expanding the width of the driveway. Does that mean we don't need any driveway pulloffs for egress for vehicles or anything like that? Uh as part of our driveway, so Mr. Legassi and I spoke about that. He said it just needs to be 20 ft wide and we're widening it to 20 ft. Yep. It's existing paved and then we're widening it with, you know, milling's keeping it at grade widening it to 20 ft. And then I also had the car line of sight um headlights and I I I have here installed fence 4 to six feet in front of rock wall. It looks like you don't own fully own the rock wall.

Um I'd have to it's we're we're Yeah, we're 35 ft back from that rock wall. Yep. Yeah. So we could we could put it we could put it at the edge of the parking area. That's all I have. And we could even, you know, we could go taller, you know, then our our fence panels are Christine, you may have asked that question. I'm sorry. What's the requirement? If it's over, we need a building permit. Okay. If it's over to Yeah, six. Our panels are six foot panels. And I think that's something maybe that can be addressed through a zoning permit.

I mean, I think there's a a balance and I would leave it to when you actually get out there with the terrain, you know, of neighbors running their vistas and out year round versus having to look at an 8 foot tall fence because it's being used, you know, 14 days out of the year. So, um you're saying like maybe take it down at the Well, then maybe it's not needed like, you know, as you get there and you go and depending how the terrain is, if it's needed, work with the land use office to put it up. Um but I also don't want to be blocking views and, you know, making things. Yeah. You know, not natural if if it's not necessary, right? So maybe working together to make sure Yeah,

because you don't generally need a a permit approval from us to put up a fence. So that's build building official I would assume. Yeah. Only over seven under that is just got it. Got it. You should have a better idea of where the action is going to happen from the what you got there. Yeah. So and the good thing is the attraction area is way further towards the front toward 44. Yeah. Yeah. And sorry, I forgot to ask before you guys buying the land. Yes. Yes. Anybody else in the audience have anything? Any questions? No, we're all good. All right, Jeff. Um, this was referred to the police chief. We got nothing.

Wasn't able to get us comments for tonight. Uh, and we'll also reach out to Chief Field to get his comments. Yeah, because we're going to need something from the fire chief written comments from him and the police chief before we can take any action on it. I'd say specifically for the for the emergency access. I don't want to speak for it, but what's that? I would say specifically for the uh emergency access plans, right? Well, the police the fire chief has to both of them have to. Yeah. And then uh do we need it right now that we don't need a permit from our a permit? I don't think you should get into whether there's electrical permits or building permits. Let let the building official handle that part of it.

Yeah. Because that he he may need to be involved. He will need to be involved in some of this. There's, you know, theatrical display uh portion of the code and that's going to play into this. And I believe um Mr. Legassi mentioned that the the building official will be part of the inspection process, but I don't have to worry about that. And so, and something I would like to add, probably the thing I should have added first, we would not be opening until fall of 2027.

That's something that's very important. Uh, because just simply um, you know, if this is approved, um, we we need a healthy amount of time to get it taken down, moved over, and we want to do it the right way, the safe. We we don't want to rush it. So, this would be starting fall of 2027. Motion. Okay. Any more questions? Because what I do, I'll make a motion that we continue PCC 26-6 public hearing for Alexander Fortuna on behalf of Forsaken Lands to our next meeting on May 18th. Second. All in favor? And and just for clarification, we're only continuing it because we want the police chief and fire marshall reports. We want comments from the police chief and the fire chief.

Okay. And if we close the hearing, this also gives other residents time to speak also by have continuing the public hearing. I might be absent that night, but we got healthy attendance here. So in case someone needs to fill in I'm always willing to be seated. All right. And and that I mean you said you're not opening for a year, so that timing would still work for you. Um we do. So my I'd have to look at um so we have the property under contract uh contingent on town approvals. I have to see what our contingency period is because I do know it's starting to get a little bit close. Um I'd have to figure out what that because we have I know I mentioned it.

Yeah, I don't remember that. I I have to figure out what that is. But um if we're looking at when when was the next meeting? You said May 18th. May 18th. we might be getting a little bit close, if not past our contingency period. So, that might create a little bit of an issue um for the um for the sale of the property.

Did we send everything to the police and fire chief? They were included in the fire marshal. Fire marshal. Police chief. Did we sign to chief? I I don't know if Yeah, it might be new for the uh fire chief. Police chief has seen it. He sat through the presentation. Uh he did have some questions about traffic on 44. Uh but like I said, he wasn't able to get us his written comments for tonight. Yeah, the police fire chief was not saying that I talked to him today. Okay.

Chief uh Chuchi, is that did I say C? I apologize. Um he wanted he requested um traffic studies from the DOT which I and traffic you know study maps from the DOT which I included in the uh PDF. Um and he wanted our previous season's attendance records which I also included in that. So those I took note of everything that he was looking for at the end of that meeting. I made sure I included it in the updated PDF. Do you have a copy of your purchase and sales so you can look at your contingency date? I don't have it in front of me at the moment. Um, second motion. Second. We're still discussing that.

All right. I I will have to Is there Okay. Find that out. Um, so my my only reason I I ask I do think that this could be good for our community. I think it can really support businesses and I don't want to to ruin the sale or you know make this not happen because well could you make could we make could we make the um well I I don't know the answer to this. I'm not comfortable voting on it until we have something not even and the approval about getting the report and then compliance. What if we don't like what they have to say and they need to redesign it? Well then they have to comply with it. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I think the way you would I think if you were to go down that path, I think the way you'd structure that condition of approval is that any comments that we receive from either police chief or fire chief get incorporated into the final site plan. And if there are any significant changes, then it comes back to you for a modification. And I would like to throw out there as well that the design of the attraction is built modular for that reason. So, if we need to make modifications, it's easily modifiable to, you know, any um requirements. Because the we're not meeting in the 11th because it's a budget meeting. We meet at the 18th. Right. Right. So that's

if if I'm not mistaken, I believe if it's the 18th, it will go potentially past the contingency period. Again, I not sure real estate agent just Yeah, that's that's my real estate agent. So, go get I will say the uh our office field fielded multiple uh inquiries about the property. Um one gentleman who is anxiously waiting to see how this works out. Uh just to put that on the record as well.

So, I mean, if we um we wanted to have a special meeting for this only, do you think we could do it next Monday if there but is that too soon? That only gives them one week. You can't do it next Monday because of public notice. You've got to give Well, the public hearing's open. So, you're just continue it. Good. Uh, yeah. I mean, I can't speak for them. Uh, but that would give them a week to get their comments in or

So, I'm just trying I'm trying to think through, you know, evacuation plant think. No, no, please do. Yeah. I mean, we could meet next Monday. That's I have no problem with that. You're We're about to have an answer. She didn't. I I don't I don't We'll see. Hopefully, she has it. Are there any further questions? Any anything else I could

If you're if you're not planning on opening till 27, yes, the urgency I could see if you're going to open this coming fall, but couldn't your agent just get an extension to the contingency date? I'm not ruling that out. Um, but I think the seller was anxious to have it go through. Yeah. So, the seller the seller was anxious to sell it. They, you know, like we we've spoken to them about that and they were very strict about that contingency period. That was one of their main points of the cont. Can you make it by next Monday? We should be able to Yeah, we should be able to do that. Next Monday should be Yeah. But not the 18th. Not the 18th. May

All right. I'll amend my motion to uh continue the public hearing to May 4th at a special meeting. Thank you. Thank you. At 7 p.m. Thank you. We appreciate that. Second it. I'll second. At at 7 p.m. 7 p.m. I'll second. Y. Any more discussion on this one? No. All in favor? Okay. We'll see you next Monday. Thank you very much. Hopefully we'll have the answer. Thanks for your time, folks. Thank you very much, Jeff. We'll take care of field and see tomorrow. Make sure they test it for

you. I don't want to appate that. Hopefully they'll digital files. We've got this. This is our business. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. All right. So, now we're off to item number six, new business. Walnut Street.

It's all yours, Jeff.

Uh, yes. So, 281 Walnut Street is a town-owned piece of property. Uh, it's actually quite large. Uh, you guys got a GIS print off there. It it goes all the way back to the mountain. Um, Habitat for Humanity is interested in this piece of property to construct a single family home. They only need that that front bit. Um, so we prepared for you would be approximately half an acre what they're looking for. They would be responsible to get this site surveyed uh to lop off the the part they want. The town would um retain ownership of the back acreage for a potential expansion at some point in the future uh to be determined for uh an expansion of the Tetro Pond Park which is adjacent there.

Yep. You can see the the pond there in the GIS. Uh so no one has really heard this officially yet. Uh this information will be brought to the board of selectmen hopefully along with your positive referral for sale. Uh, and then Paul, uh, Tom Manager Harrington will do his, uh, dog and pony show to get all the, you know, good press out of this. We have a two minute recess. Sure. All right. Try it again. Yeah. Actually, while Willy's up, we'll go under the desk and see if cable and if not, you think it's all connected with the sound on you the

YouTube sound is working? I got uh information from Slackman Hester that he was watching and it was fine. The cable access has always been screwy. Messy. Yeah. So, if someone was watching on that, I there's nothing I can do. We're back home videos. Oh, perfect. Just what I was looking for. So I presume the 54 meeting will be across the correct. Yeah.

Yeah. Oh, maybe it's under the cable there. Nope. Keeps going. Keeps going. No, that comes under here, I think. Yeah. I'm not going to

Oh, you want to try to cast? Yeah, I do. I'm going to try to do that. Which Which one are we trying to get? It'll be the Samsung. I don't How did he get the You must have the source. over there. Oh, yeah. You got There we go. Okay. So, hit allow. Yeah, that one's looking good.

Okay. There's a display adapter in this room. I might be able to get on that. What's happening here? Parking high grade. This is trying to There's a display adap

brush fires up on top of the cell tower. It's all state forest behind it. Three times major fires up there. Is there any opportunity for the state for any trail system out there? No. What's going on? You guys left the crayon your decks because that's the only one I can attach to. But when we get to that, it'll be helpful. Can we get workers come? Ah, I can try. But it's pretty.

At least it's Lake Winchester anyway. It's It's Lake. It's actually Highland Lake. So forest in uh Stoddard, New Hampshire. Oh, okay. I know that. Well, yeah. And it used to be called Long Pond. Oh, so yes, there you go. Yeah, that's uh the one in New Hampshire, the one up here. The one both, oddly enough. Yeah. Yep. That's the Colonials. Yeah, we just keep the same name going over and over. I don't Yeah. How many Avons are there in New England? Well, how many Winchesterers are there? We're going to get That's not too far from Winchester or Winchester, Virginia. Yeah, that's only I know.

I don't know 40 40 minutes, 45 minutes from Winchester, New Hampshire. Even for us. It's a It's beautiful. My family's got a place up there. It's on the west side of the lake. So, you ready to restart? Coming back from research. Okay. So, you're going to show us something here on this. Okay. So, are we good with the 824? We never voted on. We didn't do a motion or anything. Uh, we're still talking about it, right? Yeah. Lost my train of thought on there. So, do you have any specific questions on that? Um, we did bounce this off of Jim Rollins. I'm not sure if the email made it to the package. That is I'll put comments on the bottom.

Yeah. Okay. So, he's got off the property. They're looking to get rid of his comments. I'm sorry. The comments he made are on the 5 acre piece, not on the halfacre. Correct. However, his point is it'd be easier to remove those uh foundation and walls now, attacking it from what will soon be Habitat's property. You have the money to do it. Well, that's a different question uh that we'll we'll decide. It's always possible to take it out of uh the blight and beautifification funds. Um although there'd be no payback uh for for this usage, but you know, his comments well taken. If it came through from the park, it'd be much more invasive.

Well, I don't I don't know that that's something that we would have to determine here. You know, we can let them negotiate that. That's right. And it may be nothing that happens with that. Maybe when Habitat Humanity has equipment there, you know, we can they're already mobilized. We can just perhaps Yeah. What do we we just have to So I would I I unless anybody has any further discussion, I think this is good and I can make a motion to give a favorable 8-24 uh report to the board of selectman as it's consistent with our plan of conservation development. I'll second that.

Any discussion? All in favor? Who seconded? I'm sorry. I will That was 6A. 6A. Yep. We the new 6A reshuffled. So now we get on to regulations. Item 6A, regulation updates related to special session public act 25-1. Yeah. So, this is the fun stuff we've been talking about. What' you say? This is the fun stuff at 9 o'clock at night.

Yeah, the fun stuff at nine o'clock at night. And I And I I'm not going to I I I think, you know, I I sent all these regulations out to you on Saturday. I don't anticipate that you've had a chance to read them because nobody wants to read this stuff. Um, including me. Uh but you know, I'll kind of go through it really briefly and give you a chance to read through it and we can talk about it again when we meet uh in a couple of weeks or we can keep it on the agenda for our special meeting in next week if we want. I'll let you guys decide what we're going to do with that. Um so I'll run through the sections first um and just give you a recap of what I've done and then I'll go back to the use table. We'll talk about that and then I'll talk about the traffic uh mitigation overlay zone last. So, first thing you're and and this is just in order. The way that this comes up is just in the order of your zoning regulations. So, chronological order 41515 first is conservation and traffic mitigation zone which is an entirely new overlay zone. Um purpose is to ensure adequate parking remains available in the in the residential mixed use areas surrounding downtown Winstead. Um authority is granted to you uh under 25-1. Location is shown on the map and I'll come back to that in a little bit. Parking requirements, we go through that. One space per efficiency in onebedroom unit, two spaces uh for two or more bedroom units. That just follows the language of the public act. So, we really don't have a lot of flexibility there. Um, and then the allowance for a parking needs assessment, which again is um is something that's allowed within or required of you within the public act. Um, so the way that's written right now is in accordance with special special session public act 251, developer may present a parking needs assessment. If said needs assessment is submitted, the commission shall approve the development using either the figure found within the needs assessment or the minimum parking minimum required number of spaces as

determined within the section, whichever is lower. So, for example, um if if you have a regulation that equates to needing 30 parking spaces for a residential development, the developer submits a uh parking needs assessment saying he only needs 28 based on the IT and other factors, you have to approve it with 28. Doesn't matter what your minimums say. So, that's essentially what that section is telling you. Um 41520, this is your used to be 19. We're going to have to renumber all of these things as we as we add gear regulations. And that's what you're seeing there. So, it becomes 41520. Uh, parking types, outdoor lighting, and landscaping. Um, minor changes here. Um, simply adding again simply adding the allowance for um there's a little bit of a lag between my computer and that screen. Apologies. um uh an allowance for the parking needs assessment and then a a statement on small residential developments. So, as you know, and as we've discussed in the past, for residential developments outside of a traffic mitigation zone that we'll talk about a little bit, um, anything fewer than 16 units, you cannot require, or rather, you cannot deny an application for failure to meet the minimum parking standards. I'm not proposing that we eliminate the minimum parking standards. I think they should stay in there as a guideline, and hopefully most developers adhere to them. However, if uh developer comes in with a number that is lower than your minimum, you can't deny it. And so that's what uh subsection 8A is telling you there is is telling

for that reason you can't deny it, but if it becomes a safety hazard or there's no parking on the street or things like that. Well, and that's where the overlay zone comes into play and that's we'll talk a little bit about that. Um, right. You can continue to um, you know, you can, the police department can continue to enforce on street parking. You know, I think the reality is any developer worth their grain of sand is going to it's going to provide the parking, right? Because people have cars. So, and if they want to lease out their units, people are going to want to park their cars close to where they live. It's not like it's in a city like a walk or a bus or transit.

You're right. This is not a train community. you don't have buses. It's I mean the reality is it's going to be foolish for a developer to try and go no parking. Um what you might see is lower than what you're used to. Um historically I think we tend to overpark. Uh we have you know you go to a supermarket, go to a big box store and there's acres and acres of asphalt and not half of it's used. So, we kind of know that and I think that's kind of what the state is getting at is saying let the developers figure out what they need for their development. We don't necessarily need two spaces for every single unit, especially if it's a studio or one bedroom unit. So, that's kind of what this is getting at. Again, I'm not proposing that we change the parking standards. We'll use the numbers the state is giving us and if somebody comes in with a lower number, we'd be able to look at it. Um, scrolling down 41548. These are new standards uh that pertain to middle housing and mixeduse developments. So those are developments of between two and nine residential units. This is an entirely new section um spelling out the standards. I'm not going to go through it in detail. Take a look at it, read through it. Um but you know gives you the intention, gives you the applicability um an explanation of what middle housing and mixeduse developments are describes the review process. So again these are in the statute what's called summary review which I like to call site plan plus um it's not a special permit. You cannot require a public hearing but you can look at it from a life safety perspective. So, it's not quite the same as a site plan, which is check off your regulations and go on. Um, but it allows us to create specific standards for these types of uses. So, that's that's

what we've done here. Uh, our firm has developed sort of out of the box regs that we're we're rolling out to all of our communities that we work for. If you like it, great. If you don't, we'll change it. Um, but we have design standards in here. We have landscape standards in here. lighting, parking. We have all of those things specific to these types of developments because I think we're cognizant that the big thing is when you're putting residential into a commercial zone is sort of the aesthetic and the look and feel and how it functions with those commercial users next door. And so that's the idea. Where do we envision this kind of stuff going? I saw the map.

I'll get to the uh I'll get to the use table next. It it has to be per the special per the public act. It has to be allowed in your commercial zones. So we're talking town center and town gateway and Highland Lake business. We have to allow it. There's no where though there's there could be redevelopments, could be tear down, rebuilds. I mean it's has to be allowed in the Highland business district. It does. It has to be allowed in your Highland Lake business district. Yeah. And so, you know, we could we could move forward without adopting regulations at all. Um, but what that does is then you have no standards and if somebody comes in with a development proposed under under the

statute, you just have to say yes. So whereas if we create some standards that go along I understand what you're saying. Yeah. I I just wondered the practicality of it. Where do we have to Yeah. It may never be taken up, right? I mean, you may never see one of those developments. you might see one or two. Um, you know, we we know what demand we know what demand is like in town. Yeah. Um, you know, I work for other communities where we're sort of, you know, our wheels are spinning because they've got more demand. Uh, it's different, but I think it's a good idea to have the rag in place and and we'll um we got to go through the and it's a good exercise. Where did I you what did you send that overlay map? Because I saw it somewhere.

Yeah. And I'm going to pull I'm going to pull that up next because I want to talk about that. I think that's the bigger the bigger piece of pie that I want to talk about with you guys. Okay. Um and then after review process, we get into um is these I've already I've already taken them and kind of massaged them to what you to your to the Winchester framework.

Okay. Um, and then we get we get into uh specific it's almost a formbased code as as opposed to uh traditional zoning regulations. So you're almost you're regulating the form because we already we know we have to allow the use. So this is more regulating the form of it. So it's you know lot line coverage and and how much of the lot it it takes up and where it sits on the lot and how it functions you know in in conjunction with its neighbors and all those things. So again, I'm not going to go through it in detail. Just take a look at it. Um, we include some um, you know, images into the regulation. Not that every development is going to look like one of these things, but the idea is it's it sort of goes along with the use table and the and the form and function because what we're trying to avoid is a box, right? Um, and so we're just trying to encourage, you know,

Yeah. oldfashioned multif family houses. Yeah. Yeah. Exactly. So, the next bunch of pages are are all of that stuff. Um, we get down beyond the building types and and we call out the this the public act calls out certain building types, duplexes, triplexes, quadlexes, perfect sixes, and and multif family buildings. And so, we cottage clusters. So, we've drafted up and created um you know, specific regulations for each of those. And then a commercial conversion um table and uh building type as well. So like you know cottage cluster that's mixed use.

Are those tiny houses? They could potentially be tiny houses. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So that you know this is an example site plan of what a of what a cottage cluster could look like. Um so again take a look at those. you know, give me com comments back when we when I see you again in a couple of weeks.

And not to confuse us, but I I did just want to bring up a different conversation sort of to your point of where uh in pouring over the rags specifically to town single family. Uh I figured out that we as of right now have an option A and an option B. Option A basically is what you think as a condo development, you know, so in a row kind of thing. We used to have a dwelling row home regulation at least back in 2011 which sort of got cobbled into the town single family and we've been having a little discussion of well you know should that be allowed should it not be allowed uh Peter even looked at our GIS and basically most of our little condo developments are in town single family. So the question I have for for Jeremy is if this is all driven by public act 25-1 and we wanted to roll town single family or anywhere else into the missing middle housing that's discussed here. Are you allowed to expand on it?

Yes. Okay. Yeah. So that and that's up for your discussion but I just wanted to bring that out. So middle housing in the in the public act is defined as two to nine, you know, development of two to nine units and it is required that we have to allow it in all of your commercial zones. So that's what we've done right now. If the commission feels as though, you know, town single family makes sense for those types of developments, we just simply add it to the use table. Um, and the other rules in that district would still apply. The coverage, lots, you know, all that kind of we were going to add it in the town single family, we would have to make sure there was no commercial on the first level. Oh, yeah. For sure.

Right. And so, what we could do is remove the mixeduse component. Right. So, because you're not required, have to be residential only. Right. Has to be residential only. So we you know going back to those those tables and you know all of these graphics we could simply add you know if you note each each of these tables has a HLBTC and TG specific column. Yeah. You would add TSF and you know ex used.

Yeah. And put and right we' we would take mixed use out of it. So that would uh we'd add the column and leave it blank essentially so that it's not allowed in there and in in the use table it wouldn't the mixed use category wouldn't get wouldn't get carried over to to town. Um and then the next bunch of pages in here are you know site design and building design stuff materials uh roof types and we have a bunch of graphics to go along with it. Um, you know, we're looking for essentially roofs with with pitches. We're not looking for flat types, flat roof types. Um, you know, sighting diagrams, a whole whole host of stuff.

Any of these developments would be put on the sewer lines, right? Do we know what the capacity is or excess capacity you have? Not necessarily. Wait, I can I can actually speak to this. Yes. Right. our water and sewer capacity. We could have a whole another Winstead in this town. Yeah, we can pretty much our what's on what's on the water and sewer now. We could double the capacity easily. I mean, it's just amazing. It's a great place to be. And they would love to have that because then they'd have the revenue to do what they need to do. Yeah. But when we were building them, it was like really? Yes. Anticipated I mean it was 30 years ago. We're anticipating the town's going to They didn't.

Right. They just the engineers just came in and well you know and grow growth rates were totally different than 30 years. I mean if you think about what we were doing with schools 30 years ago we were building these massive buildings thinking that our student population was going to double and where are we? It's collapsed all over the state. So it's just well anyway we do have that except we don't have them run everywhere. Right. I mean, we don't have the lines run every place, but you're but again, you're well, with the exception of portions of the TG zone, certainly your town center is on sewer and water. Your Highland business district is on sewer and water, and a chunk of your town gateway is on it. Not not certainly not the section running down with possible expansions being discussed already.

So, I I say that because, you know, the rep process I know it's we're duplicating some of our regulations, right? And is it because we have to limit to these items only? Yeah. And sewer cannot be one of them. So yeah, sewer. Well, right. Sewer. Sewer cannot be one of them because you have to allow it in those commercial zones. You can't say in those commercial zones if you have sewer. Well, wait. How do you building goes in? Yeah. Right. How do you accommodate it? They have to have a septic. They have to have a septic system. Yeah. I mean, they have to size it right for the for the lot down there in the waterhed. I mean in the

which means functionally it may not have right. I mean somebody might come in and say I want to do nine units and not have the soils for the septic system. Well the septic system is going to drop I mean you think about route 8. Yeah. Yeah. Not passed on to the town right that they they propose something hey all the standards. We're talking about state laws here. you know, uh, but there there there are potential um, you know, investments coming from the state to enhance capacity, you know, should these developments be planned for. And we also need to create our housing growth zones, right, which could help towards

when we go to the state saying, "Hey, it'd be great if we could expand the sewer down here and there's all this, you know, potential housing and all that kind of stuff." So, just hope it doesn't happen. hope that happens but doesn't

I mean I mean some some growth some growth is a good thing right I mean I agree you know I think I think Winstead is a is a great place to grow and I think that you obviously we know that the infrastructure we have can handle the growth um we've had conversations with the superintendent we know we can handle some growth we know that birth rates are way down anyway I heard a report a couple of weeks ago that uh birth rates nationwide are down 27% from 2007, which is just crazy. It's just and it just every year it drops a little bit more, a little bit more. So, uh, but anyway, that's beside the point. So, I would say go through these. Um, I can send out a a word version if you'd like to take it and mark it up and and, you know, do any redline changes. I'm happy to send that out. Um, handwritten, whatever you want to do. Just, you know,

I thought we couldn't change them. I thought it's state state requirements. How can we change this there? You have to allow these types of developments, the standards that we've developed, we can play with all we want. I see. Yeah. Okay. Y once we develop them, there's no discretion or there's less discretion. Understood. Right. Right. And that's why and to Adam's point, we are duplicating some of what's already in our reg. Well, you want to have something, right? If you know if if somebody comes and says, I want to do a middle housing development, this is what they have to follow. The rest of the rag is a little looser. Um,

just scrolling down here. Um, multif family dwellings. This is this is a minor change again just to stick with the state requirement in terms of parking currently, and it's a little odd that it's in here because it's in the the use table, but I'm not going to mess around with that right now. Um, subsection B currently says garage space or off- streetet parking space for one and a half vehicles plus a quarter guest space shall be provided on the lot for each unit. Going with the public act, it's one space for a a studio or a onebedroom, two spaces for a twobedroom and above. So, just minor change there. And then the definition section. Um, this is where I know Jeff and Peter were going back and forth in an email and I think we started to look at your dwelling definitions holistically. Um, and I wanted to do a couple of things here. I'm suggesting we do a couple of things here. Your dwelling unit regulation or definition rather um, currently is the black text. So building structure unit or portion thereof providing complete housekeeping facilities including only one kitchen for one household living independently of each other. An additional kitchen unit is permitted through a special permit. Okay. So the problem I have with that definition is we just out of the blue threw a regulation into a definition. Nowhere else in this regulation does it say that it requires a special permit if I want a second kitchen in my house,

which having a second kitchen in a single family house is not uncommon. Um especially common around Highland Lake. Exactly. Right. And I was just going to say especially if I have a house on the lake, I might want a kitchen in the basement which is at walkout level to the lake as opposed to having to go upstairs.

So as a zoning enforcement officer, somebody else coming in here knew, okay, I want a second kitchen. Okay, have fun. And then buried in the definition section is this. I want to get that out of there. I don't know that it's necessary. And if the commission thinks it is necessary to require a special permit for a second kitchen, we should add that somewhere else. But it shouldn't be in the definition. Um, and then I just sort of cleaned up the definition a little bit. So, you know, to define it as one household living independently and then it contains at least one bathroom uh and sleeping quarters. And then I also added that that this term shall not be deemed to include units in a hotel, motel, motor, hotel, or rooming house regardless of the presence of a kitchen because I think it's just a little streamlines a little bit. It's a lot better.

Um, I added a definition for efficiency dwelling because uh we do refer to it in in the use table a couple of different spots. uh we refer to it with regard to parking and now with the middle housing especially we refer to it with parking um so I just wanted to define that and you know it's also a studio apartment same thing um multif family dwelling uh we're we're calling those 10 or more because again anything between two and nine is middle housing so minor definition change there and then this single family dwelling stuff that Jeff just kind of alluded do is a little funny. So your current regulation and again it's it's in strike through here but it kind of has two definitions under single family dwelling which I couldn't quite wrap my head around. So I thought maybe I'm probably not the only one that can't wrap my head around.

I had to read that 10 times. So, a the primary building on a lot designed for occupancy by one family, which for purposes of these regulations shall mean a building containing multiple single which for the purpose of these regulations shall mean a building containing multiple single family dwellings being separated horizontally by fire resistive walls without openings and each having independent access to the exterior of the building in the ground story. That's sort of like sounds like is it horizontally or vertically? It doesn't make sense, right? You can't have a single family dwelling that also. So, I I kind of want to just strike that entire entirety of of subsection. I agree, too, because I I think it got missed in the 2011.

That's my That was pretty much the definition of the the the dwelling row home right there, which when you think about it like that, it kind of makes sense, right? They're next to each other. If you look at Greenwood's Garden Senior Housing, that's the way it's built, just the way that's described. But again, that's sort of more like if you have a regulation that allows row houses, then you have a regulation that allows row houses. Each one is a single family dwelling, right?

It's that is not a multif family. A multif family is like a an apartment building, right? Where you walk in and there's multiple units off from a hallway. Um a rowhouse is is different. They're individual single family units. They don't connect with each other. They don't talk to each other. They just share firewall. Um and then B was a building or structure designed or used exclusively um as residents purposes by one household each dwelling being separated by open space or yard. So I just kind of cleaned that up so that single family dwelling is building or structure designed or used exclusively as and containing one dwelling unit.

Any opposition there? It sounds like much easier. and then uh definitions for middle housing development, mixeduse development um and summary review. So those are all new definitions and again take a look at them. We can I mean within reason we can mess with

So let's talk about the and and I'll try to keep this brief but let's talk about the conservation and traffic mitigation overlay zone. Uh we talked a couple of weeks ago about sort of focusing on the town center residential zone. Um not so much along Main Street, but but some areas kind of on the outskirts of Main Street. So what you're seeing there is your zoning map overlaid by the the new and this is just me throwing things on a board to kind of get your thoughts and feelings and and we can discuss further. Is there any size restriction to this? There is those those are within the size of your You are way under. Wow.

Okay. You are way under. So, let me pull that up really quick. I saw that in something you wrote. It's in my report and I want to I want to refer back to it because I'm going to forget exactly what it is. But wait, this is something you're proposing. This is not It is allowed by the statute. It is part of that. It's allowed, but is it mandated? It is not mandated. No, but you want to. But you probably want to because because you cannot regulate parking under 16 units. Okay. For for residential developments under 16 units, you cannot regulate parking

except under the new under the new statute except if you create one of these traffic mitigation zones, then you can regulate the parking for any size residential development within. So the statute contained its own back door. Okay. as they typically do just to confuse things. I know just like you know all the accessory dwelling unit stuff that you could then opt out of if

um so you can have two of these zones. Each one can be 4 cent uh 4% of your total land area. Winchester is approximately 20 thou 21,632 acres. 4% of that is 865. So 4% of that's 865. So if you do two four downtown. Yeah, you could do 1,600 acres. We could just blanket Winston. You could blanket Winstead. You could blanket a lot of things. Um, what I've shown on this map is approximately 297 acres. So, you could quad quadrup almost quadruple this, but you only get one crack at this. Right. Right. Mathematically

unclear. I think you can I think you can modify the zone later if you need to. So my one question on this is 800 is in the currently in the town center zone we don't require any parking currently in the town center zone you do not require so and we want to not include the town my streets on there

and I think that's a question for for you all threw in some areas that Jeff and I had talked about that maybe should be transitioned to town center residential because they are primarily residential. Streets are narrow. There's some other complications back there. Think about back here on Center Street. We had the conversion of 25 and Bowen was going to convert all of multif family. Thank you. Again, I threw this on a map to to start the conversation. Um, and you know where you all want to take it. What's your theory on drawing the line? What's my theory on drawing? Yeah, we'll just draw a line, but like what's our theory on like why should that line be there? not extended. You know, I

it could be all of downtown essentially what you're saying. It could be all It could be uh not downtown. Yeah. All those neighborhoods around there. It could be. Now, you know, you you um Why not? I grabbed Highland Business except for that one parcel that I missed because it's out on its own down there at the end of the lake. The Beast Lake. How'd that get in there? What is that? It's old. That's Le Points. No. Oh, it is. Yeah. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Okay, great. That's La Points. Yeah. Yeah.

So, yeah. I mean, I, you know, I think right to Rrista's point, right now, we don't require parking in Town Center at all. Um, and maybe we continue to keep Town Center zone out entirely. We had talked about, you know, some of these streets kind of behind Town Hall here and they're narrow and it's mostly residential. Maybe they don't really belong in Town Center or or maybe those are areas in Town Center where we should regulate parking. You know, I leave that up to you. You all are the local experts. Um, you know, I defer to consider one area. The way I have it drawn right now, two different separate, but each one could be bigger. Oh, yeah. Each one of those we could really regulate the whole town just as we're doing now.

They're each about allow two zones, right? Correct. Right. So, we had to we had to be careful we do it correctly. But each one of them can be 860 acres. Oh yeah. What would we do? So we could do the whole town that way basically. Why wouldn't we want to do that? That's up to you. I I Can you tell argue why we wouldn't want to do that? In other words, it would remain just as it is now under the regs more or less. Yeah. Yeah. With the ex I mean if you exclude Yeah. If you excluded town center. All right. So what's the advantage of building? Is there areas where we want to encourage these types of housing? Encourage what? Encourage this type of housing.

Well, this isn't about this about the housing. I thought this was about parking. Parking that goes with the housing. Yeah. Parking that would go with So I don't see some of the buildings in back here back at the town hall eventually getting torn down and taking advantage of the increased sizes. you know some of those fun bigger apartment buildings and Greenwoods there's one of those discussions already happening for properties on uh the ball so which is a very narrow with the lack of parking in this town you know everybody complains there's no parking so where are those people and how are those people that live in those units going to park so

well that's the point we want to we want to control that instead of this statute which says you don't have to have all that parking we We want to make sure we have enough parking for everybody who lives there instead of go this route which says we're gonna let more people live here but we're not going to have as much parking. But that's why we have the parking overlay. Exactly. But that's why I'm saying extend it. So you have it everywhere. Route 800.

We if we can if we have the acreage to do it, why wouldn't we do that? So, so one of the things I mean if if you if the commission wants to one thing to think about, you know, I was sort of focused on the areas that are eligible for the middle housing and the mixeduse developments because it's higher density. But if the commission wants to extend um what do we say town center residential and potentially town single family. If we wanted to extend the middle housing out into TCR and TSF, those two, then you might want to extend this zone into as much of those two underlying zones as you can because there are a lot of small lots, especially in town single family, which if you, you know, start to have seven, eight, nine unit buildings go up,

you might want some control on the parking there, but some defined control. I I want to I don't have I wish I brought it with me. The statute says, isn't there something in there about the purpose, right? Like Yeah, it has to be tied to like a traffic mitigation,

right? And and I think you could make the argument for a lot of these areas that we don't allow we don't have provisions for on street parking. We do not have um substantial public parking lots for people to use. We don't have transit. You know, we don't have bus lines running through. So, no, we're not going to extend this out into rural residential. It doesn't make sense. You know, it it can't we can't justify that in the state. But I think with a lot of these streets in and around the downtown area, I think we could probably justify it. And I, you know, and I think there you're trying to prevent on street parking where it's not allowed or where it's not practical because of width and you need to be able to get fire trucks through and you need to, you know, you need to public access and all those types of things. So I think I think we can justify it easily enough. And I I would I would uh veer more towards like the town single family like that, you know, Oak Street, Walnut Street, that kind of denser neighborhood more so than even Town Center because we do have a few municipal lots. We do allow on street parking.

You know, I I think Well, that doesn't preclude us from allowing that, right? No, having it right. So, it doesn't affect that. By having that doesn't the overlay lets us decide what we're going to do in the center of town visav parking, but we already require parking. We already what? Don't require parking. Yeah. In the town center zone, which is the red on the screen, you already do not require parking. Yeah. Yeah. Right. Right. which isn't most of it isn't included in either of the zones here, right? Proposed zones. Gotcha. Yeah.

So, if we made that line come down Hinsdale Avenue across High Street, but not Hinsdale, what's the secret? Hinsdale Avenue, cross High Street, drop down to Center Street, and let go that way. that it's going to preserve Main Street the way it is and it's going to gather up a bunch of these houses, properties that are potentially in need of parking because right now some of the line I just I mean there was no criteria when you drew it, right? You just kind of drew it.

I I like I said I focused on some areas that Jeff and I had talked about previously. So right now you got like between Hinsdale Avenue. There's no streets in there. So, we we should like be going down on the street or just the buildings side of the street. Maybe that's what you did. You grab the buildings on both sides of the street. Yeah. Yeah. Well, and I focused on the zone. I mean, in there, you know, it's I grabbed the town center zone because you already you allow I think you allow multif family in town center zone. So, it's, you know, it's already allows some density. So, I think I grabbed that zone for the most part because you already allow some density. The streets are kind of narrow back there.

And not not to confuse this discussion, but some of the uh upper town center uh so the red you see on the bottom of the upper parking mitigation zone, we've been talking about possibly reszoning those anyway because they logistically aren't really part of the town center. Uh, so that's a different thought exercise, but that it makes more sense if you think about it that way. Are you splitting the lots? Uh, ideally not. No, ideally not. And so that black line is the lot lines. Yes, it should be. It It may not be perfect. I got to clean it up. How hard is this? I didn't know if they were just long locks.

There are some There are some longer ones. Got it. Yeah. So, just as long as the same. Yeah. as this when we go to set these lines and say this is it. You know, it's five years. No, it's I mean I I don't know that there's real clarity that says you can't Jeff just asked me the same question like one and done, right? And I don't I don't think it's one and done. It's a it's a zoning regulation. It's an overlay zone. You can change it. You know, if you add to it, great. If you remove it, then of course, you know, I thought it was a one and done. I don't think so. Okay. No, I that was my That was my thoughts on it. Once you did because you don't need DO approval for this.

No, you don't need approval. We have we have to tell them we have to tell OPM that we created the zone, but we don't need their approval. And it's it's a zoning. It's an overlay zone. You you have discretion there. So, it's I think you can I think you can shift it as much as you want. You just have the parameter of it can't be more than 4% of your landing. 4% twice. 4% twice. And and I would do and I would, you know, document the record with enough information of why we chose this so that if we ever denied something and it went to appeal, this was never an issue in an appeal. Yeah.

Right. But I but but I think it's I think I interpret it the same way that it's just an overlay and it could be like any other it's a zoning map change, right?

Yeah. And you know, I've had conversations with other towns about, you know, I' I've sort of had the conversation, well, let's max out the 8%. And and my statement has been, you know, may maybe you don't max it out because then there's no room for growth. You know, I I I used to lighting design when I was in high school and college. When the director says, "I want full bright light," you set it to 80%. Because they always want more. So, same idea here, you know, maybe we don't go to 8%, maybe we go to 6%. Because if we need a little bit more later, we have some

But but I I also think like this whole thing, we we've talked about this a lot and I think you just mentioned it, right? developers are going to come up with the number of parking spots that they need because that's how they're going to rent out their units where, you know, there is some level that this is going to be kind of managed. But I think that there's some places in certain towns, including Winstead, where on street parking in different demands impact the neighborhoods differently,

right? you know, I think it's very different um even, you know, over by Pearson where there's a school and everything else maybe instead of up by Colony Drive or you know those neighborhoods. So, I think we should be thoughtful in like Oh, yeah. I think they already do that, right? And they already

where where is this and and is it by the town center, you know, because this is where we expect there's going to be the most highest density development. Um but you know even up by me if you look at um Upson Avenue and Lewis Street all of those has turned into rental properties and there are cars on both sides of the street and there like I to me those are the neighborhoods I think that are more maybe impactful if we're looking at town single family residential we can draw the connection versus like our main streets and our not that they're not impactful But like how do we want to look at it? Different volume, you know,

how how do we want to think about it? All right. So, under that example, you'd want this overlay extended to there so that we can have more retain more control of what the parking requirements are. Yeah. If if we Yeah. Yeah. I agree. Definitely. Yeah. Got to expand it. Yeah. And we got plenty of room.

Yeah. Plenty of room to grow. So, so what I would ask of you then, and this is just kind of a broad ask, but um throw some street names into either into an email back to me or um or back. Yeah, I think probably that's the easiest thing to do. Throw some street names into an email back to me. Um, you know, over the next couple of days as you think this through and then I can adjust the map accordingly. You know, like I said, you guys are the local experts. You live here. You drive down these streets. You live on the streets. Everything inside the city limits. Yeah. Well, that's the easy way. Really? Yeah. The the old me square of Winstead. Everything in there.

Two overlays. It might be too big. I mean, I don't know. It might be too big, but No, it's practically that carve out the 44 corridor. Yeah, you're right. Yeah. Yeah. You're one north and one south. Well, I we should Okay. Yeah. I mean, I think I think Rrista's right. I think we want to be a little bit more strategic than just Yes. We have to be very think about this because like even looking here, I've seen some places like I pointed out that I don't think we that's what we really wanted to do.

Yeah. But this past winter with the two big snowstorms and all the debacle in town with off- streetet parking and cars getting towed, I think we had to look forward and say, "Hey, how do we control this in the future? Let's not make it worse." Okay. All right. So now we So my my last question to you all on this topic is do you want to us to include this on the agenda for next Monday or do you want to just get in and out next? Get in and out. Okay. Yeah. May 18th. Would you anticipate a public hearing

when we're ready with something that we can you know let's get let's get a consensus. Let's get let's get some comments back on the regs. Let's, you know, get a map that everybody can kind of get on board with, you know. I And what session? This will be driveway 2.04 this year, something like that. Driveway 2.0. Yeah, I know, right? There's going to be an extension to these rags. So, but we'll know by I also don't want to drag. Yeah, but let's see where we get back up on. But at least we'll have some time. We won't feel pressure with the public hearings even now.

All right. So, we're off to number seven. Other business. All right. We need some pushing done on the marina. We need site plan and special permits for 170 West Lake Street, which is Union Pin property because that's been we we did the zone changes and you never do this.

Now, we also need it on 159 Lake Street for boat storage. We need it on 165 Lake Street for boat storage because I took these numbers off the GIS maps. And we also need it for 220 East Lake Street for the rear for boat storage because he's doing boat storage on all those properties without a special permit. And boat storage is a and storage boat storage is a special permit. Thank you.

So we need those. So we got to keep pressure on him. And then the other thing is where he tore down the building. He put the millings in and created a parking lot on top of a building. Now, that was never parking to begin with and he's parking on it. So, we've been in touch with him and uh he's hired an engineer, local engineer, as you all know, uh to do a site plan for that. I actually had a conversation with the local engineer last week. It must have been a week before last week. Yeah. So, a week and a half ago. Um and yeah, that's in the works. You will you will have something here. I don't know if you'll have it for your May 18th meeting, but we're going to push for at least to get an application.

What about those other properties where he's got boat storage? That I we'll have to look at that. It's either he gets a special permit or he stops storing boats there. I think the goal is to get his boat storage out of there. I know. Yeah, we we got we'll look into that. It's drive up and look now, see where all the boats are. It's all expanded and I didn't realize it Yeah. took all those properties. Yeah. Okay, we'll look into it. And then and I'd like to keep this on other business until this is addressed. And then two East Lake Street, the the uh the Point building. Yes. Yes.

Uh I happen to be driving by as they were erecting the new signage for the storage. Uh so I was able to get right on top of that. Where is this? Uh La Points, Old Bruno's Market.

Oh. uh without contacting anyone in the office, he decided to change or add a business model of self- storage to the building. Uh I explained to him that that is not an allowed use in the district. I gave him the the whole uh cut sheet of what is allowed. Asked him to review it, get back to me, and he said, "Yeah, I don't think any of those are going to work for me. Um so, what do I need to do?" I said, "Well, you can ask the commission to add it as a use. I don't think it's going to work for you, but you're free to ask." and he said, "Well, that's what we're going to do." So, um, according to him, no customers are in there yet. There was minimal interior fit out required for it, which again would have been done without permits. Uh, but he doesn't it's not operational yet. He is in South Carolina now. Um, his attorney may start on the application process uh without him here, but in any event, he will be coming before you asking for this to be an added use in Highland Lake Business District and we will go from there. Okay. But he could still run

possibly run now. No. No, he's not going to run. Not according to him. I did not serve him with a cease and assist or anything like that. There should be a letter coming from the town stating you cannot rent until you get approvals. I'll follow up with the letter until you get approvals. At least it's in writing. Yep. So, we have some a leg to stand on. You got it. Otherwise, he'll be denying it. Yeah. I have email correspondent, so it is documented, but I I'll get a letter. Yeah. Out as well. Anybody got anything else for other business? Did you uh did you get a chance to drive by Main Street 142 Main today? Yes, I did. Uh I got my pictures taken today. I didn't get any further than that.

Uh also got pictures of the logging operation. Farming farming operation. Well, it is uh you know a recognized agricultural but the operation being harvested from the property. It's a commercial. Oh, those are being dropped there. What's that? Logs are being brought in. They're all being brought in by law. Well, that changes things for sure. Yeah. Yeah. It's not being cut from the property. Yeah. Well, as I said, I just started my investigation today. Bringing it up for discussion for the group. So, they Yeah, they're aware of it. Yeah, cuz I'm sure he's going to right away pull the farming next to the moral. What's that address? Uh, it's on address, but it's way 263. Yeah. Okay. Take a take a left on lower way and it's a lot right there.

So he didn't do what he was here. Okay. He's got huge pile of log cordwood logs that have been brought in there by by a truck. Oh, he switched gears. 142 was an earlier discussion. Now we're talking about it's a rural residential piece. Was there any conditions on the dumpster being there? Are we still talking 142? We are now again on 14. Uh well the conditions are if it's going to be there, it needs to be enclosed properly. I noticed when I was there today that they now have traditional garbage totes. So I think he's off the dumpster, but the dilapidated enclosure remains that's full of other junk. That was part of the pictures that I took. Remember Scott? Yeah, Jess.

The fence has fallen down. That was also documented today with photos. Well, that's enforcement, so he'll get on that, right? Yeah, it's blighted. Let's put it this way. Yeah, it's right back to Well, not as bad, but well, pretty close. Did he sell it? The fence is a risk. New owner, right? When I originally reached out to him, he said, "Give me a little time." Well, he's had a little time, so that's over. Too much time. Yeah. Okay. Anything else? No. Okay. Now, we're on to number eight. Approval of the April 13th, 2026 regular meeting minutes. Make a motion to approve the minutes of April 13, 2026. Second. All in favor? Okay.

Wow. It's 9:30. You set a record last minute. I know. We're making it on. I got No kidding. I got credit built in. I saw your number nine communications with the Main Street Promise Program.

Uh yeah, we don't need to belabor this tonight. I provided you some information there. Uh emails back and forth uh with folks at Connecticut Main Street as well as just a print off of the web page. uh in question. Uh Winstead is going to be starting the operation here with them. And you'll see in the email that a date has been set, May 27th at 10:00 a.m. uh for a working group. And I thought it might not be a bad idea to have some representation from P&Z. So if any of you are available, willing and able May 27 at 10:00 a.m. this room.

Yeah. Yeah. So, the promise program did start and kind of stop and is restarting now. Um, we're going to be picking up what did we say with the main street momentum portion uh the downtown walking tour and such has already happened in the past and we're re-energizing this.

Yeah. So I can so a little bit we we we at NH developed the main street promise program and we did 17 assessments was one of you I think a lot of you were on that walk which was great and we figured out we noticed a common theme throughout those assessments was that towns didn't have an identity. No town was like we are the best place for this. They were like, "We're at the crossroads of we're the gateway to no identity." So we said, "Well, you know what? We need to fix that." So we said, "Every town is a shining star. Together we're a constellation and tell us what makes you your star." So we came up, we Connecticut Main Street came up with this whole visioning session plan, and it's really cool. So we launched it, we did it, and like only a handful of times showed up. someone once showed up but it didn't really go anywhere and we were like we have to go back a step further because towns don't even have the capacity or the ability or the expertise in place to be working together to develop a vision to then implement it. So, Connecticut Main Street created a whole series of workshops starting from towns that don't have any working groups to towns that have some kind of working groups that are there but maybe not working cohesive right through to fully functioning groups that are going to create visions and implementation. So, we finally launched those. We finally got the funding in place for that. And I think Winston is our first town.

Oh, wow. Very good. We we have five scheduled but Winstead's scheduled first. Um and I think building momentum is the right workshop for Winstead because what I've seen is we have so many people that are interested, right? Like planning zoning wants to do something and the EDC wants to do something and the board of selectmen are interested and friends of Main Street are interested but nobody is working together and nobody has a visions. We're all like kind of doing our own thing, but we're we're not really. So, I think this will help bring all of those pieces together, get people working together, build lines of communication so that we can do the the hard work of managing a main street more effectively.

So, if you want to attend, let me know. I'll put you on the list. More than business owners, every anybody can attend. And I brought this to EDC last Tuesday at their meeting. Uh so we should get good representation there. And then we, you know, need to branch out and everything, too. So yeah, starting to see little signs in the median strip there. I saw one the other day. I think restaurant mile or something. I mean, we got the music mile they talk about. We used to have the antique center. And now uh I saw another one which was weird. I drove by and I forget exactly what it said. There was something new about on main another mile on Main Street. Oh, I don't think I've seen that.

Yeah. So, there was some activity. We all done with that one? Yes. All right. Yeah. Number 10. Motion to adjurnn. That's the good one. I'll make a motion. Second. All in favor? I 9:30. So you