Town Center Economic Development Commission - Special Meeting

Commissioner Michelle Commissioner Keroske present. Commissioner Goully absent. Commissioner Hudgen, Commissioner Riley present. second. Just one minor one. Um the comment was that there were no funeral homes in the town center. There are funeral home. There were no funeral homes in the town center. There are funeral homes in

town. Minor change. We'll have to re No. Good evening, chair. Thank you. For the record, Don Poland with Gman York Property Advisors, your consultants for this town center master plan and chapter 132 uh municipal development project plan. Uh tonight we are not doing a formal presentation of the plan to you guys because it just made it to Lynn this afternoon. Uh it is actually I think I told staff at some point in this process that uh I was going to keep this plan short that didn't happen. Uh the plan itself is 145 pages within an appendix that goes on further. Uh so kind of the plan here ultimately and actually my my goal was to get it to you guys on Friday but at that size you still wouldn't have been able to review it for tonight. Uh so what I would like to do tonight is we have a bunch of statutory requirements related to uh the formal approval process for this. and uh I would like you to do those motions to actually formally get this process going so that we can stay within

the timeline. That being said, just since I do know you have some print out copies of the plan in front of you there, I'm looking at page two, the table of contents. And while I would request that you review the entire plan, I want to direct your attentions to chapters 8 and nine. Uh chapter 8 is the big picture strategy for the town center. Uh and then chapter nine is the municipal development project. uh the area between Park A and Wintonberry A Jerome and Tungstus. Uh so those are the two most critical areas uh for you guys to review. Not that the rest of the plan isn't important. And then chapter 130 or uh I'm sorry. And chapter 10 is uh the most painful thing I've probably ever written in my entire career. But there are so many requirements in chapter 132 that we have to address. Uh and there was no cohesive way to write the entire plan in a way that we addressed every single one of them as they kind of appear and so forth. Uh so there's requirements related to demographics and economics and so forth and we have chapters on those but they're not necessarily framed specifically at chapter 132. So what chapter 10 does is goes through basically the requirements of chapter 132 as if it's a uh checklist and provides a summary answer to every

single one of the items we have to address by either summarizing what previously appeared in the plan or referencing a specific plan section or adding some nuance uh to an answer, you know, elsewhere in the plan and so forth. So, chapter 10 is critical. It's just I'm warning you, it was painful to write and it's probably painful to read. The process that we now have is, and it relates to these motions, is that the plan has to be posted on the town website at least 35 days prior to the public hearing that you guys are required to host uh to hold with the public. Uh, also the plan has to be referred to the town what how do you planning and zoning commission. You guys call it town planning commission. That's why I always get myself confused there. Uh, it has to go to the planning and zoning commission on referral. It has to go to Crague, the Capital Region Council of Governments on referral. Uh so essentially there will be a motion to post it to the website. It's already been posted there today. So the motion will be for posting it to the website today. Uh a motion to the planning and zoning commission for referral, a motion to Crog for referral, and then a motion to hold your public hearing on April 29th. I've counted forward and backwards multiple times and with April 29th we meet the 35day uh requirement. I believe we had one day

to spare in there if needed to go to tomorrow for posting but we will have that window. So then at the public hearing oh so between now and the public hearing we have a date already scheduled for this committee to meet on April 15th. And while my initial thought was we weren't going to need that, I now think it's important to use that night, you guys essentially have two weeks between now and then to review the plan and we can meet on the 15th, discuss the plan. You guys can provide us with your specific thoughts, feedbacks, recommendations, and so forth. We can hold on those. and we'll probably actually write up a summary of what you tell us. We can enter that summary into the record at the public hearing uh that the committee has already, you know, provided comment and so forth. We're going to host the public hearing on the 29th. We'll get additional feedback and any revisions that need to be made are then going to be made following that public hearing. So, you guys can't make a decision that night. Uh, and I typically don't like having committees make a decision like close a public hearing and then vote. It doesn't feel thoughtful. But I want the opportunity to make some tweaks and adjustments as needed based on what we hear. And then in discussion with Lynn, we are going to, provided you guys are fine with it, schedule a meeting for May 6th. We will turn around the plan back to you uh probably by that Friday following the public hearing and then we'll meet on May 6. You guys will do formal adoption and a motion to forward the plan to the town council for approval. Town council

does not have to hold a public hearing. They just have to vote to approve or deny the plan as you send it to them. uh they are scheduled to meet on the 12th of May, the following week. So, our timeline here kind of works perfectly so long as we don't have any snowstorms, earthquakes, or things that screw up the schedule, and I don't foresee any of that happening. So, that's about all I have to say for this evening. Uh unless you have any questions of me, I can then walk you through the motions if you wish. So back to you, chair. Thank you. Dr. Poland, can you um public assumption describe what is cragging? Why do we need to forward the plan to them? Right. The simplest answer is because the statute says we do. you know, it's a statutory requirement. At the end of the day, in the plan, we had to address your local plan of conservation development. Is this plan consistent with what your local plan of conservation development says? We also had to address, is it consistent with the regional plan of conservation development and is it consistent with the state plan of conservation development. Those are kind of common practices within planning in Connecticut that when a municipality engages in a planning exercise, consistency with the various plans are required for the town planning and zoning commission when they're considering and correct me if I'm wrong here. It's been a long time since I've sat in your seat. uh but when they're considering things like zone changes, when you're considering the

adoption of your POCCD, uh those things need to be referred up to the regional planning agency, the council of governments. Uh so this is following suit with kind of these general practices within planning and ultimately the CROG will have the opportunity to review this document and com comment back to us. Uh their comments are advisory. Uh meaning they don't have to be acted upon. Uh they don't alter a vote from a majority to a super majority or anything. They just have to be taken into consideration. And just very quickly, who makes up Crag? What who are they? What do they do? Uh they are the regional planning agency. Essentially, they have multiple functions. Probably their most important function is they are MO, which is the Metropolitan Planning Organization. It's a federal highway designation, meaning state highway funds that come federal highway funds that come through the state uh ultimately get administered through the MO which is CROG. So they get to decide on those investments. They have other statutory authorities related to housing development planning and so forth things that they do on a regional level. The Crag currently I 34 towns 38 towns. Uh there are 38 member communities within the Crag. It stretches from like Enfield up in the north down to Rocky Hill in the south. I believe New Britain, Hartford out into the Farmington River Valley. It covers a wide area. uh the municipalities within the region

are then members of the CROG and they have various committees on planning, on transportation, on policy uh where things are not only reviewed at staff level but oftent times are often reviewed by those member community committees and so forth. Thank you much. Uh I'm hopefully the public really appreciate the just the just the general knowledge who they are and why we have to go to them. Yep. Thank you for for uh for that lesson. So um let's go uh to the first motion. Uh let's get the motion on the table. Get a second there. If there any discussions with you then we'll ask you. Okay. Sure. I got a motion. The first motion is motion to post the plan on the town website. Can I get that motion? Um, so move to move by um by Julio and we need a second second by Lenny. Any discussions? Any questions for Gman York before we move forward? You want to make any comments or I I just like to make one comment that if you could amend the motion, sorry, to include that it be posted to the website today, March 24th, 2025. I just want that date on the record because it starts the clock for the 35 days. So, Julio, there's a friendly amendment to the motion uh to add to it the uh for it to start March 24th 24th at 6:30 p.m. to be to be precise about it. Will you accept a friendly a friendly amendment? I do. You second it. All right. Thank you very much. So, um, any more comments, Don? No. Any questions for Gman York before we move forward? Hearing none, seeing none. Uh,

all is in favor of the motion as amended, signify by saying I. I. I. My chair was I. Motion carries unanimously. Thank you all very much. Let's move on to um the second motion. Motion to forward the plan to the town plan and zoning commission. This is the town of Bloomfield's TBZ. Yes. Okay. So, uh we need the motion to be made. Moved. Been moved by Lenny. We need a second. Second. Even double second. It's a raise. You can take it. Thank you very much. Any questions, comments? Don, any I know you already spoke about it, but uh you're good. Nothing to add. Thank you. There are no questions, there are no comments. Uh all those in favor signify by saying I I I uh chair votes I. Motion carries unanimously. Thank you very much. The third motion is motion to forward the plan to Crag as um as you heard um Don describe what Crag is, what the role is and not that they are it's not a binding recommendation they're making. So but they do have to go through the process and check all the boxes. So, with that understanding, can I get a motion to forward the plan to Crag? That's moved by Lenny. Can I get a second? Second. Second uh by Miss Riley. Uh are there any questions, comments? Don, any any more comments you want to make about this particular motion? None. Thank you. Thank you very much. If there are no comments, no questions. Uh all those in favor of the motion signify by saying I. I. Uh chair I motion carries unanimously. Thank you all. And final motion of the evening is a motion for this committee to hold a public meeting on the plan on

April 29th 20 uh 2025 to get the public's input before we finalize the plan to the town council. Can I get a motion for that, please? So moved. Been moved by Julio. Can I get a second? Second. Second by Lindy. Any questions, comments, or concerns? Any comments from Golen York? None. I see none. Thank you all very much. Um if there are no questions or comments, uh I'm going to ask for a vote. All those in favor signify by saying I. I. I. Uh chair votes I. Motion carries unanimously. Thank you all very much. Uh next motion is very easy one. Can I get a motion to adjurnn? Move. Moved by Lendy. I got double second. Oh, second by Julio. All those in favor signify by saying I. I. I. I. Motion carries unanimously. Thank you all very much. We'll see you on the 29th of April. Thank you. Take care, Julio. Thank you for attending. Thank you, Dave. Thank you for thinking, Dave.