Town Center Economic Development Commission - Regular Meeting

The town center develop economic development committee was called to order at 6 pm on April 29th. Good evening all. My name is James Michelle. I'm the chair of the committee. Uh and I see we have Robert Kasculo online and I believe uh Miss Riley is present as well. So we have a com to move forward with the meeting. Uh let me start by saying thank you to all of you who is here this evening to participate in what I call the great public input into uh this public meeting. The uh again um thank you for being here. We look forward to your input into our town center uh development plan. And as you all know, this is the town center has been a very sore spot for the entire town over the last two decades at least. And uh and and everybody in town is looking forward to an adjustment changes to to the redevelopment of the town center. Unfortunately, I'm not able to be there in person today because I'm traveling for work. So I'm in New Orleans. I'm calling I'm running this meeting from my hotel room. Uh Lynn, please uh can you please do the roll call? Commissioner Michelle, present. Commissioner Kerisio, present. Commissioner Gouy absent. Commissioner Hudgen absent. Commissioner Riley present. Thank you very much. Uh may want let me remind everyone that this is a public hearing to get the public's input on the draft plan for the development of the

town center. While we want every we want and need all of you to uh your input, we need to do it in a very fair and open process to ensure everyone that wants to speak will um get a chance to speak. We will follow the following guidelines. We will have two sessions. First session will be for questions. The second session will be for comments and each person who speaks will have three minutes for each and of each session and you could come up for each sessions as well. We will start with a reading of the public meeting noticed by Lynn. Then uh that also want to remind everyone there's a signup sheet. If you want to speak, make sure you sign up. When you come up, please um state your name and your address. Uh again, I want to extend on behalf of the entire committee. Thank you very much for coming out today. Uh as you all know, public participation is is is where we get the best results in terms of developing a town center where we all could be very proud of. I look forward to your input, your comments. Uh thank you very much. We also have Don who who will be leading the who will be answering your question. He's our consultant and he he also like me is remote. Uh thank you Don for um for for being able to participate this evening given the in the the situation that you um that you are in. So Lynn, can you please read the uh the meeting uh the posting? Notice of public hearing. The Bloomfield Town Center Economic Development Commission will conduct a public hearing on Tuesday, April 29th, 2025 at 6:00 p.m. The in-person meeting location will be held at Bloomfield Town Hall Council

Chambers 800 Bloomfield A, Bloomfield, Connecticut. Remote attendees can join and participate in the meeting via the Zoom meeting platform. The meeting will also be livereamed to YouTube. The purpose of this public hearing is to solicit public input on the town center draft master plan and Connecticut general statute chapter 132 municipal development project and plan. A copy of the town center draft master plan is available in the town cent's office for public inspection as well as at bloomfieldctct.govtced GVTCEDC dated at Bloomfield, Connecticut, 8th day of April, 2025. Thank you very much, Lyn. Uh, we're going to start with an overview, a high overview of the plan from our consulting um from our consulting. Don, thank you, Chairman. I appreciate uh the opportunity. So, for the record, my name is Don Poland. I am the uh managing director of planning and strategy for Gilman York. Uh and we have been the consultants working with the town center economic development commission and the community on the development of this plan. I'm going to share my screen and give a very brief overview uh of the plan that has been developed uh for the town center. Just bear with me for a moment as I organize my screens. So over the past few months, I've given quite a few presentations on this plan and uh both a large public participation meeting about a month and a half ago and also with the town center economic development commission. So

tonight is just a very highlevel uh 30,000 ft summary of uh the plan itself. So this slide uh provides a map that we've been showing for many months now of the entire town center as described in this plan and it actually matches with the uh town's existing tiff district plan for the town center. To give some points of reference, we have the railroad track along the east side of the district uh providing the primary boundary. There is one property on Winonberry A uh that's on the other side of the track. Gisters is located here to the north. Uh Ocean State is here to the west as we see there. Heirloom Flats is here to the south and it extends down to Gab Road uh at that location. This next map is the key focus area of this plan. This plan creates both a strategy for the town center overall, an economic development strategy that focuses on uh investments in the public realm and then also includes what's known as a chapter 132 municipal development plan. That is a Connecticut general statute reference chapter 132 and it is a very specific planning process that gives the town center economic development commission also the uh development authority for the town of Bloomfield uh a lot of authorities related to both property acquisition and then also the financing and management uh of a development project.

So this boundary is essentially Winintonberry Road to the north, the railroad track uh to the east and then bounding by Senica here and then Jerome Avenue down to Park Avenue as the southern boundary and it includes uh the town green as part of the study area. This map here is an early conceptualization. Essentially, our first step at trying uh to work with the community and work through ideas for the redevelopment of this site. Essentially, uh the site containing the Winenberry Mall has been deemed or recognized as functionally obsolescent. Uh I think that's something we've heard throughout this process from the public. It's something that also our research and data revealed and therefore trying to figure out how this site could potentially be redeveloped along with other sites adjacent to it. So this was our first attempt that created some important themes. the importance of the town green as a focal point, an entertainment area or kind of a restaurant hospitality area that interacts with the town green and maybe an expanded town green. The uh a focal point called here the district which would be around commercial uh primarily retail service and office uses. an area for uh residential apartments uh up in the northeast corner here called the depot block and then additional apartments down here along Park Avenue. This is not what the final plan looks like today. It's evolved very much so from this.

Here we have uh the final rendering of a conceptual redevelopment for the site. Once again, we have an expanded town green. The plan also calls for the closing of Winbury Avenue, which will be a big improvement to traffic in this area since currently it's a five directional uh intersection, which will now become just a fourdirectional intersection. It allows for the expansion of the town green both to the north area in Winintbury. it. This is also conceptualized with the expansion of the town green into the now Wintonberry site. Here uh fronting onto the town green and kind of an amphitheater uh pavilion area are commercial retail structures that are conceptualized for restaurant uh uses that would interact with the green and public space. Set behind that and along Winonberry A is additional commercial retail structures. Fronting on Park Avenue, we have some townhouse residential units and additional uh commercial structures in this area getting over near Jerome A. Jerome A is conceptualized as actually being reorientated. rather than running straight through to the north and exiting near where the railroad tracks are, it would be uh turned or curved to the northwest uh and ultimately exiting uh across from the Catholic Church approximately. And this allows for the construction of additional apartments in the north northeast corner of the site. Also with uh a parking structure, a

onestory simply a deck uh parking structure to help service the parking needs uh for that uh development. All of this is conceptual. Don't read this as this is cast in stone. This is exactly what it will look like. It's a testing of what could be done. It's a, you know, representation of uses and where they may be best orientated. Uh, but ultimately a lengthy and comprehensive process. Uh, if the town were to acquire these sites, the town would go through an RFP process to work with a developer to develop something ultimately in the spirit of this plan. uh as part of the greater town center. Uh moving away from just that chapter 132 uh Wintonberry Town Green area, uh we also looked at the overall town center area and possible improvements. This uh page here which is also represented in the plan itself provides an overview of many of the public infrastructure improvements. Things like improving pedestrian corridors, improving uh the availability of public and on street parking. Uh possibly the interconnection of parking lots interior to blocks uh to better facilitate parking and movement. uh also things like new bus shelters to encourage uh both transit use and also pedestrian activity uh within the center. And uh that was actually my apologies. This this uh diagram here stems back to the TIFF plan that was done around 2020. We

further enhanced that. We essentially used those recommendations that were made then some of which are already being implementated now and refocused it around this conceptual new development in the center there. So this is kind of version 2.0 which is represented in the plan to meet the requirements of uh the chapter 132 uh plan. We also had to consider the phasing of this project which also entails uh making sure that the current tenants of the redevelopment area are adequately accommodated either in relocation or being maintained within uh the redevelopment area. Therefore, contained within the chapter 132 plan is a phasing plan for how this could occur. And the phasing plan was ultimately designed around the idea of how the current tenants of this area could be maintained in this area. Uh that businesses could stay open through the construction period as construction was phased uh is phased throughout it and tenants are relocated as needed until their final uh location. The last thing and probably the most important thing at the end of the day was coming up with a budget. Gman York spent a lot of time doing real estate market analysis, financial feasibility, evaluating the cost of acquisition, evaluating costs of construction uh for the private development, cost of construction for public infrastructure upgrades and improvements and ultimately

came up with a number of budgets. This is just one of many that appear within the report assuming different scenarios. Uh and this one is kind of the largest scale of development assuming that the apartment block would be uh five stories with the largest number of units and approximately 65,000 square ft in commercial space along with all of those public infrastructure improvements contained within that area, the expansion of the green, uh the parking and so forth. In this budget, it assumes that public participation covers the acquisition costs and the site infrastructure. No assumptions are made at this point in time as to where uh that funding will come from. We assume it will be a mixture of state and local funds. Uh and then and that's represented here in the subsidy assumptions. And then developers costs or the development costs. uh and then the returns. So you essentially have approximately $85 million in private investments and approximately $29 million in public investments. Ultimately I want to turn it back to the chair because the committee wants to hear from you the public and I will be here with the chair available to answer questions as needed. Thank you. Uh thank you Don. Um, you know, Groman York has been a very trusted partner of ours and they've been a partner uh for Bloomfield for many years now, but we've been very lucky to have us to have them working with us as we go through this process. So, we look forward to their their able council as we move forward. Uh, thank you all very much. Again, as I said earlier, uh this

plan will be perfect only after everyone has had an opportunity to give us their input. But we live in Bloomfield and we want to have a very nice well-developed town center. That can only happen if everyone give us the their input and then only then will we have a plan that will reflect the community that we all live and love in. So, thank you very much for your participation. Uh Lynn, can we start with the first person on the on the sound of list? And again, we're going to start with the questions first. You have three minutes. So the first question is Pastor Sean Fischer right here. Uh first of all, thank you very much for the work that you all have put in uh reviewing the document. It is an incredibly well-conceived, incredibly wellressearched, remarkable piece of work and I know there going to be questions and different things that and input, but thank you very much. I know this comes at a lot of effort and I know all of you were made millionaires in your volunteer process here. So, thank you very much for that. My question is obviously we're not going to get to some of the core issues in a threeinut piece of input on a particular area. some of the stuff particularly around the Green and Bloomfield Congregational Church. We're talking about or looks like we're talking about merging a bunch of that land to work together. We're certainly willing to work together and try to make this the best possible scenario uh that can come up. Um in my comment part, I'll point out one area that we really need to we we definitely need to address. Um, but my question is what is the process if we really need to work through something to come up with a solution that we're going to do that because it's going to take more than a threeminut comment to resolve it and what's that process for interaction

um in these scenarios that we will go go forward as this process develops. Thank you pastor. So I just want to be sure I understand your question. US and what's the process uh the town will engage with the with the church or just overall with the project? Well, I I'm specifically asking uh representing the church and myself as a resident of Bloomfield, but I'm sure the question also extends to other people's questions not related to the impact of the green and and the church because what is that process beyond this three minutes that we can engage in dialogue to make something work as opposed to us just saying, "Wow, this doesn't work." And you're saying, "Oh, it does, and we're taking the land anyway." Like, it can be a very cooperative process. Mhm. And what's that process look like beyond just the comment period? Okay. Thank you. Hey, Don, you have you ready to respond? Yes, I am. Uh I want to thank uh the gentleman for his question. Uh remember and I I think maybe we took some liberties here in this design where we did uh possibly encroach into the church property. Uh that is not to say we want to encroach or take church property uh but to show kind of a cohesiveness now with the closing of Winterberry of an interaction between both sides of the roads. That being said, you know, as I said, this is a concept. It's conceptual. It's to inspire. It's to help move things forward to an actual feasible development plan. So my my answer to the question most clearly is that there will be ample opportunities moving forward uh to participate and provide further input. And in this case, I I would offer, you know, for you to feel free to reach out to myself uh or any of the

staff at GMAN York and if things do start heading in a direction where more formal participation were needed, uh we would definitely establish an agenda item and have a open discussion with the commission uh in whatever parties were involved. So, thank you. Thank you very much. Uh, okay. Let's move on to next question, please. Next questioner. Next, we have Roger Bunker. Mr. Bunker. Thank you. My name is Roger Bunker. I live at 28 Old Village Road here in Bloomfield. I've been a resident here for about 45 years. Um, I am not as well informed as the pastor is. And, uh, and I have just two specific questions. Uh, one relates to the church. Um, I don't that my question is how have how do you reconcile putting a parking lot where we currently have people buried? Um, my second question is I heard the comment that w closing Whittenberry Avenue is going to help traffic. Um, I've spent some Friday afternoons recently on the corner of Park and Bloomfield Avenue. Um, and we have park gets pretty busy. If you take the traffic off of Wittenberry and add it to Park, it gets even busier. So, I don't see how closing off Whittenbury Avenue benefits uh at the town, and I think it can substantially increases traffic patterns. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Bunker. We like the old time 45 years in Bloomfield. Uh, thank you for your input. Uh Don, the traffic flow that's being um raised. Yeah, we do recognize and we have basically looked at no engineering studies have been done at

this point, but yes, uh more traffic from Winonberry uh substantial portions of it will end up on Park Avenue. We do recognize that. But right now, the way the signalization is at Park and Tungstus A and Bloomfield A and I believe it's Mountain A and Winberry A, the signalization of those lights need to account for the multiple directions. It's not just a four directional intersection. So, Winberry has to be accounted for in the four-way intersection at park. that timing of those lights is one of the largest causes of traffic and delays at those intersections. So even though yes, more traffic would result on Park Avenue uh from the closing of Winintonberry uh we are pretty confident that the functionality of that intersection will be much improved uh and even though there may be more traffic coming out of park uh all directions through that intersection will flow better. Uh just very quickly on the uh church and the parking area. As I said, this was conceptual. It's designed to show a greater interaction between the church across the street and the expansion of the public space. By no means are we recommending the relocation uh of grave sites. Uh and I'm quite confident by the time we get to the final plan next week that the parking area will be eliminated on the cir church church ground. So thank you. Yes. Uh thank you very much. Again I would just want to re reemphasize what Don has been saying. This is conceptually this is the concept uh of a plan. Uh we we need your input your very passionate honest input so that we will be able to

finalize a plan that represent collectively the town's um the town's uh view of what the town center should look like. This is just this the first step in developing the overall strategy. Um Lynn, um very quickly, Commissioner Cariller has a question. Thanks, uh Commissioner Michelle. Uh I just wanted to piggy back off of that and remember that when this is done, we want that traffic to stop in Bloomfield versus crossing through and out of Bloomfield. Um and that's why we're adding parking. That's why, you know, we're closing some of the streets. We want our businesses to thrive, the ones that are here already and the ones that are coming. And that means the traffic needs to stop and park and spend money in our town. So, ultimately, that's a part of the the end goal here as well. Thank you much. Uh Lynn, uh next uh next question, please. Sure. Just a quick housekeeping note. Um, for folks in here, we have two overflow rooms. Um, next door, conference room 2. Upstairs, conference room 5. You are welcome to sign up for a question or a comment, and we will wait for you to come back to the room to do so. Um, so next up, we have an online question from Coleman Levby. Mr. Levy. Mr. Levy, you just have to unmute. Mr. Levy, we recognize you. Please unmute your mic and ask your There we go. Thank you much, sir. I'm sorry. Thank you. Thank you. and thank you uh for uh this uh extensive uh uh

revitalization of the center of Bloomfield which I think will result uh in a in a a benefit to the citizens and to the businesses. But the question I have is uh there's no inclusion with regard to three shopping centers that are in the center of town. Uh one where the CVS is uh next door where Liberty Bank is and across the street uh where uh there are a number of retail facilities and there's no process here of connecting these centers into the center. They're an intricral part of of the uh Bloomfield Center. They're to a great degree the shopping center of Bloomfield right right now. Okay. And I can tell you that all of those stores are occupied uh and uh they're a vibrant part of the uh central business district and they're excluded. I I mean I would think that you want to make that an integrated part of the uh center and I would also think that you might want to think about eliminating Senica. Uh it really uh doesn't provide anything to go anywhere. uh um but I I I would appreciate if there's some consideration um with regard to integrating uh those three shopping centers uh either walkway uh facilitate the ability to move from one to the other because the way it's set up right now, everybody has to get into a a car basically to go from one

center to another center and they're really an integral part of what I would consider Bloomfield Main Street. Uh Miss uh Mr. Levy, thank you much for your input and uh those centers were not excluded during our conversation the evolution of this plan. They're not excluded and uh I'm sure I'm going to ask Don to talk a little bit more about that. But during the the evolution of the um the the concept that's before us now, uh you are correct in that there was a lot of requests to um create more walkable space in uh across the town center and to connect all those um all those different shopping centers. So they were not excluded, but we're just focusing on the main area of the of the town that's most problematic for us. That's all. But thank you very much commissioner and uh happy to hear that. Yes. So but absolutely the nice but Don can you talk a little bit more about um the development of the connectivity across the entire town center channel. Don you're still muted. Sorry about that. Uh the uh the specific strategy for the town center overall uh conceptualizes multiple sites around the center uh and better integration and pedestrian movements and so forth throughout the center. We have looked at multiple times now both back with the tiff plan and with this plan at parking and the very thing that Mr. Levy said like you have to park at one place and then drive on and park at the next place. Uh we have looked at the idea of integrating parking and there were prior

recommendations in the 2020 tiff plan related to that that are incorporated here. But most importantly, and I think what the chairman was kind of getting at is vacancies or the extensive vacancy that exists within this area is what really kind of drove our focus of what area needs the most attention. now uh we had many designs that included actually Senakica uh and to the east side of Senica and so forth and at the end of the day kind of size scope scale uh we wanted to make sure that what was being done is manageable uh so I believe we even had a sketching one time that kind of showed Senica's phase two uh even though it didn't make it into the final plan the ideas the concepts are still there and as the chair said, you know, we're focusing on this area first and we will spread out uh over time once we have success here. Thank you, Don. Lyn, uh any other questions me for um online? Yes. Uh Robert Dickinson. Uh Mr. Dickinson, please. Mr. Dickensson, you are muted. If you are talking, please unmute. There we go. Thank you much, sir. Okay. I just want didn't quite know the procedure here, but I guess I'm with it. Uh would would the planned sidewalks in and around the area of redevelopment be wide enough to accommodate both pedestrians, bicycles, and even electric scooters coming from our retirement communities? Great question. So, we appreciate that.

Don, Don, you're muted again. Thank you. I'm going to stop muting myself. Uh so anyways uh yeah we we have conceptualized the pedestrian aspects of the center being much more pedestrian friendly and within the plan there is some imagery to provide kind of concepts for better design sidewalks pedestrian bicycle and as you said scooter spaces. Uh so we would anticipate a wider standard uh than what exists in the center today uh that would better accommodate either multial multiple pedestrians or so forth. I also want to make clear that we also conceptualize the east coast uh greenway coming actually through the center and being a part of this development area. So that trail network being linked into uh the redevelopment here. So, I can assure you that better pedestrian and other access will be provided. Thank you very much. Uh, so then let's go back to in person questions. Oh, next we have Bob Berman. Uh, my old friend, Mr. Burman. Robert Bermanade Harum Lane. Yeah, I saw your wife this morning. It's a golf meeting. So, yeah, she told me you're out of town. Uh, I'm always in track. So, I'm good. Okay. Couldn't resist. Uh, reviewing the whole plan, which took some time because it's a lot of pages. I found page 126 raised a lot of questions in my mind when I look at it. you mentioned that uh

Jerome Avenue is going to be rechain is going to be changed so it loops around and comes in differently and when I look at page 126 which seems to incorporate that I'm not sure what street is what and I think that that's part of the part of the issues here because those streets are are marked on that. So trying to figure out exactly what we're talking about and what's going where is not easy. Uh I understand why you're talking about dividing the center and by the center I'm talking about between Bloomfield Avenue and I'm going to say the railroad tracks dividing into entertainment center versus commercial center versus retail etc etc. I understand why you're you're grouping them the way you are. One of the things I didn't hear and I don't see is the opportunity for low moderate income housing in the center of town. And I'd like to know a was that considered and if so how and b if not why not because that's going to be crucial to show that this town is all inclusive of many different facets of the economy. So I hope you can answer that Bob. Thank you much for that question Bob. Yes, it was considered and discussed at length during um during one at least one if not two of our meetings and uh and uh the where we're going to leave it up uh to when the developers respond to the RFP after the concept is finalized and the plan is is u f is developed uh with with your input

and everyone else's input we are going to put put it out and developers will come in with their suggested plans for us to consider. Uh it was discussed by that at last and uh the answer to your question. We don't have a final response yet. We are we're gonna we're gonna look at what the developers come back with and we're going to leave as an option for the developers to um uh uh when they submit their plans to us to address um the strategy that we that we are laying out. We're going to see what they come up with. But it was it was a big part of our thought process came up a number of times from u from from many of us on the commission. Don, I don't know if you want to add anything else to what I just said. Yeah. Uh, just very quickly, I agree with everything the chairman said. Uh, I put the map up here of the town center. It's a different map. It's the one I'm using for the presentation tonight. And as you will see, it has the roadways labeled on it. Uh, my and Jerome here is actually blending in with the landscaping. So, my apologies. I do recognize the map you pointed to on page 126 did not have the road labels on it and we will make sure that's incorporated into the final plan uh when it goes for adoption to this committee. But Jerome A essentially starting here at Park A would continue north and then um start making its way to the northwest here and exiting which is approximately across from uh the Catholic Church property uh where they kind of have that green out in front of it. So that is what the new orientation of Jerome would be rather than continuing north from Senica and exiting out right up near the railroad tracks up

here. So Don I mean Bob I hope that answers your questions. Uh there's still a little bit uh we're still working through the process of low and to moderate income. Again, we are looking to the developers to come in with a strategy and how to and uh incorporate that into the u into the housing development. Um remember, it's got to work for everyone financially for it to work. So, um that's where we are. Um thank you Bob for that question. Lynn, any other question? And uh and the other questions please for in person. Thank you. We have a few more. Uh Sher Lavine. Uh Miss Lavine. My name is Sher Lavine and I live at Fort Nolan Drive. And I'd like to say that this is very impressive all the work that's been done. But I have a question and it may be for the town council. I don't know. It's a financial question. Who's responsible for all this financial to pay for all this? Um I I saw in the paper that the the mayor said she put 4 million aside for the road reconstruction. Who pays the $7 million? And I don't know, our tax has been pretty bad lately and we've been all hit. So I was just wondering if there's an answer for that, how that gets paid. Um, thank you very much for that question. You right asked a question for the town council to answer. Um, but as you um, as Don presented the financial, uh, paperwork, um, earlier in his presentation, um, a good chunk of the cost is going to be borne by developers

working with the town in a variety of u investments and financial financing. um opportunities for the town for the town to work with with developers as they come forward with their plan. Uh but also again the town will have to invest some resources to make this work and uh your your comment earlier that's more a question for the for the town council. Next question is for from councelor Merritt, Mr. Merritt, another old friend of mine. Hi, Joe Merritt 31 Woods Road. Um, I have a question. I have several comments, but that's a I'll get up again to ask comments to mention them. Uh my my question is and and this is something is very current and and kind of urgent that we have answers to it because it involves this year's budget and the approval of it. Uh hopefully I u we have $4 million that we are setting aside but we aren't really setting aside. It's going into a special reserve. So it's not coming out of current taxes or anything. it's just being designated as part of the fund and I assume that is uh towards the 29 I I gather because of what somebody else just asked um that that's that's our bailey wake I've been trying to explain to people on Facebook which is an unfortunate place to do it but it's best we have um that this $4 million isn't really money that

taxpayers are having to come up with now. Maybe in five or 10 years it will be, but right now it all it is is seed money towards the fund. So that hopefully we can get u uh contributions of grants uh from the state and other people but we need to start the fund and show that we have some skin in the game. So that's the intent of doing it and that's as I understand it. But this is the starter towards the 29 million I believe and I I I guess that's something I should know but I don't and I embarrassed to be answering these questions without being sure about it because it's it's just something we're trying to set up to get approval so that we can say yes we have a fund and there's money in it. It's not something we plan to spend on nickel dime things. It's towards getting enough money so that we can follow through in five or 10 years uh with this whole program and which is going to take some money and it's it's seed money towards getting grants so that we can build it up closer to that 29 million that I think is the amount that you said is going to be needed. But um I I think it does anybody have any contrary information that what I'm saying is untrue. Joe Monroe is that this these funds are coming out of reserves. They're not coming out of current or future tax dollars. They're coming out of staying in reserves. Right. They're staying in reserve. It's just it's just being reserve. Yeah. a category set aside within the reserve fund. Y uh for this for this project. Yeah. Okay. That's that's that's my understanding as well. Okay. So I you answered my question. Thank you.

Just another quick housekeeping note for folks coming in. There is an overflow room next door. If you do want to do comments or questions, you can sign up and then we'll call you in. And then next up with a question is Dr. Winston Campbell. Mr. Campbell. Good evening. My name is Dr. Winston Campbell. I live at 491 Simsbury Road in Bloomfield. Um, I have two questions. One relates to a comment made in the conclusion section of the report on page 32 and it says that the Bloomfield's population along with the state in the region is aging and the consumer spending of older households is is less than that of younger households. Therefore, Bloomfield and the town center are not not only confronted with shifts in the retail and commercial space market, but is also confronted with an aging population that will spend less at local businesses. So my first question is that comment based on just an assumption of what all the individuals will spend or was a specific assessment done of what the Asian population in Bloomfield will spend. I'm Asian and I'm retired but I'm not morbid and I and my wife and I do like to to do things especially since we're empty nesters and don't have to worry about what we're going to do with the kids. The only thing we worry about now is what to do with our dog if we go out. Uh I I would like to spend money and I would like to spend it in town. Uh the second question that I have and it may be in the report, I'm not sure. Um but in the Wintonberry Mall there is a movie theater complex uh that is now defunct. Is there a plan for this redevelopment to have such uh an activity? Because I

think it's important. It's something that age groups, all age groups can utilize and will tend to keep people in town. I mean right now my wife and I we either go to West Harper to Sonopoulos or we go to Berlin or we go to Planeville to watch a movie and when we watch a movie sometimes there is a dinner involved in that and I think that would be an important component in this redevelopment. Mr. H, thank you very much for your input. Uh I'm going to ask Don to respond to the question about um about the movie theater. uh that was part of our count system as well and there was a lot of discussion around that uh that and other um other um attractions u entertainment um to draw people into the town center. Uh but um Alice Dun also comment about the study uh on page 32 that you quoted uh Don. Yes. Uh thank you chairman. So, first off, I'm not saying you're morbid by writing those words, uh, in in in general, uh, in the context of market research and especially in the context of retail, there's just this recognition that at the end of the day, you know, a married couple with children in their 30s and 40s spend significantly more than empty nesters in their 60s plus. Uh it's been something that's been demonstrated time and time again. The comment was more directed at the vacancies that the town is experiencing, especially in the context of the Winonberry Mall that if you went back four decades ago or three decades ago, uh Bloomfield wasn't as old as it is today. And we looked at the median age or the average age of the community over

time. Uh so not only has retail changed and contracted, but the community has also aged over time and that would be a contributing factor to the uh to the vacancies. That's why that's in part why moving forward it's conceptualized with less retail space uh about a half to twothirds of what's actually existing there today to better rightsize it for the market overall. The question related to the theater uh then relates to kind of a bigger theme that I think we talked about within the plan was we talked about the experience economy and people are looking for more than just simply going to a store and buying something today. They're looking for an experience whether that be dining, whether that be outdoor dining, whether that be live entertainment, whether that be a theater, whether that be a bowling alley. uh they're looking to be engaged and active in what it is they do. So we conceptualize this as kind of being a hospitality, dining, entertainment district. That's why the interaction with the town green that could actually have performances and other activities going on. And we do conceptualize that hopefully the commercial space will have more than just a restaurant bent to it but some other types of activity type spaces like a theater and so forth. That being said, we have to be realistic. The you know the movie cinema market has changed drastically since the rise of VCRs and now you know online and streaming. Uh I can't guarantee that that will be something that's going to be replaced uh there, but I can

guarantee that through a development process, I believe uh the community will be looking very hard at more entertainment style venues within the center. Thank you very much, Winston. I hope that answered your question. At least gave you some some thoughts, some concept as to um what the way forward may look like. Again, developers going to come in with their strategies and plan and form us what's what's the best fit based on the marketing data that they're looking at. So, more to come on that. But again, as the process evolves, we will have more many opportunities to to um participate in in it as well. Thank you much. Uh Lynn, any other questions? Yes. Next question is Lori Julian. Uh Miss Julian. Okay. Thank you very much for all the time and effort that's been put in this these reports. I've been to about three meetings so far with the presentations trying to get everything see what's in here. And I also wanted to know because I believe that there was a lot of work done to gauge the public's interest in what we who live here want to see our town be. And so I'm wondering how you're integrating that with because I know you you have to or you have used a lot of studies and what have you, but it does come down to what the people that live in this town

desire within feasibility. And I think everybody would agree the town center needs to be worked on. It needs to be vital and attract attract something that's going to attract people to come. And so my question is what um has been done so far to integrate? I know that we've had a lot of surveys, questions asked. I know we've completed a lot of them. So I'm wondering how that has all worked in and um yeah well that's my first question. Sure then give some a general overview to to response to your question and I'll ask Don to chime in you know um there are multiple layers of opportunities for the public comment. First of all, our meetings uh monthly meetings are in person uh and um person and virtual and uh open to the public. And so we've had participants show up and ask questions, give us input during our meetings. And also we had um we had a big meeting um I believe back in February or some last year uh where we um in the U community center on park a by the junior high school where we invited the public to come in and that was well participated. A lot of input was given at that point in time and obviously we're doing one now. We also had a session at the SAM building uh with the high school for high school students to come in and and uh and participate. The plan that Don showed earlier uh that in everything that was has been input during our meetings from the commissioners as well as the public as well as the public meeting we had uh

back at the community center. um and uh it it has all the input has been incorporated into the plan that you are seeing now. So what you're seeing now is a compilation of every input that we got from the public from the commissioners and and as well as the studies that Don and his team have have looked at. So you seeing a comprehensive um uh plan with every with um all the inputs from everyone involved and tonight's tonight's discussion is also going to be very helpful to us as well and that the input we get tonight we also be incorporate into the plan. So uh so that uh it'll be a comprehensive complete complete plan from the uh with the town residents having haven't had any input. Uh Don, hey please if I miss anything, please uh feel free to chime in. Yeah. Uh let me just add a little bit to that. Thank you chair. Uh one is I just want to direct everyone uh and the kind lady to uh chapter five in the plan is uh does provide a summary of the public participation that we said we did. I know the plan doesn't show specifically it doesn't say like the public said this and we did this. Uh but throughout the process we've been listening to the comments and one area that's kind of unresolved that I just want to put out there is kind of we as the consultants from a market standpoint, from a real estate standpoint, from a financial feasibility standpoint have been pushing for uh as much housing as possible within this redevelopment area. uh that housing has the potential to has the financial feasibility to work better than commercial. Also has the ability to kind of carry commercial and then the

symbiotic relationship between housing and commercial development that they go together. Uh that households are consumers for those businesses. Uh and that's why actually in the plan there so then oh let me say this. So then we've had a lot of push back throughout this process from the public on housing that there's a you know greater favoritism from the public that they want more commercial and maybe less housing that there's a concern over the number of stories of buildings uh that they don't want a building to be too tall but without a building being tall we can't put more housing in it. So that's why when you actually look at the plan, I believe we provide a number of budget scenarios that conceptualize a three-story apartment building, a four-story apartment building, a fivestory apartment building. that's still yet to be determined and won't be determined uh until after this initial planning process when and if the town moves forward with this and starts negotiating with a developer when zoning approvals come into the mix. But that is a way that the public has informed us. We've been listening to that and we didn't come forward and just say five stories, 180 units, that's what has to be here. We have 120 units at three stories. Uh we haveund and I think you know 60 units at four stories and so forth and so on to accommodate those scenarios based on the feedback we're hearing. Okay. Thank you. Because because I I did attend the February meeting. I think it was in February and there was I I recall and there was a lot of push back with the apartments. And that leads me to my second question is what has there been any demand for

apartments? And then since this is going to be probably not I'm hearing not being if even begun or completed in the next 10 years. I just think we have to be careful about how much we dedicate to apartments. And in addition, I'm a little confused because I came to the to the budget meeting the other night and the whole idea was to offset commercial. We need more commercial. So I guess I'm feeling like this is not very well strategized maybe planned for what we I don't know this is and I don't know how apartments are completely taxed but I know it's not property payers like property owners and again it was emphasized the other night during the budget presentation that we want more commercial Anyways, so I guess that's I'm a little confused. I if I could just add quickly, one is the the plan never uh the plan never says that this is a 10-year project. I don't know how long this is. Uh what I couldn't say is it's at least three years. It's probably five years to full completion. I don't think it goes out to 10 years. Uh this plan is trying to strike a balance between residential and commercial. Uh in the world of rental apartments, they are a commercial asset class. They are taxed more similar to commercial properties uh based on income than they are say on residential properties. Uh so the plan is trying to strike a balance here between the two.

recognizing that storefronts need households and recognizing that households need activities in storefronts. So, it's really about trying to strike this balance and figure out what works. Now, you know, there's always uncertainty in the marketplace. Uh what we determine to be viable today in this plan uh may change a year from now or two years from now. We're just we're we're not that certain moving forward, but we know we're in a good place of striking that balance at this point between commercial and residential within this development. And I won't uh take up any more time. I just want to say I mean I we have a lot of new apartments just built in the last couple of years and I don't know if that has helped. I mean, we don't have something vital that they necessarily can go to. I mean, there's some disconnect, but that's more of a comment than a question, so I'll go sit down. Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you much, Lyn. Um, who do we have next? So, next up is Steven Zelman. And for folks coming in, there is an overflow room next door. Um, you're welcome to sign up for a question or comment and you can watch the meeting if you'd like to sit down next door. I'd like to thank the commission and the Mr. Z. I'm sorry. Go ahead, please. Like to thank the commission and all its members and the professional members who worked on this. Uh, I live at 179 Oliver Way. My name is Steven Zelman. I've been in Bloomfield long enough to remember when the post office was across the street before the Beckenstein built the mall and the garbage can outside said, "Keep our village clean." So, we were a village back then. My question relates to the commercial uses within the

proposal, and you'll forgive me if it's in the report, but I did my best high school effort by going to the summary first so I would know what was going on. Uh, based upon current occupancy of the Wintenberry Mall, your best effort for what would be the commercial usage within this the footprint of this entire uh proposal. Thank you. Do we have those the figures to to compare? Yes, we do. Don, yeah, the uh the existing Wintonberry and other buildings in that area, I believe, total around 120,000 square feet of space. The conceptual uh the number we're using for the new for the conceptual development is 65,000, but the plan talks of 65 to 85,000 square feet uh in commercial space moving forward. Would the 120 be occupied and unoccupied space? No, that that that's total space. Okay. Thank you. Yeah. Thank you. Uh Lynn, um anyone online then? No one online, but we have two more people in person. Please go ahead. Next is Bonnie Burkowitz. Miss Burkitz, another old friend of mine. old EDC friend there, James. Yes. Yes. Absolutely. Bonnie Burkowitz, 492 Park Avenue. Um, I'll just say I've been here three generations since 1909. Beat that one by No, I know that uh Doug can. So, anyway, uh that's always interesting. That always seems to be the way we start things out. In any case, I was curious if there was ever any consideration of a microloan program specifically

targeting residents who want to open up small businesses. And the reason I'm bringing this up is that I my experience uh running the Copako Shopping Center over the years where we did have a lot of very small startups was they were sort of like a young couple that wants to buy a house. once they buy the house, they can afford the monthly payments. It's the down payment that they don't have. And um my question just was if anyone had ever thought about that, if you've ever approached a bank, um a $25,000 loan that perhaps is forgivable after five years if you're still solvent in business and paying your taxes. Um Bonnie, thank you for that question. No, the the answer to your question is no. that was not part of our thought process as we were focusing on the development of the um of the town center and coming up with the budget for it. I think that um that's a very interesting u opportunity we have. Maybe this is something maybe your committee and and this committee could get together and come up with a strategy around um working with local banks, Bank of America, Webster Bank, uh NT see if they could come up um with um some set aside program to help small businesses that are starting up. Uh so that yeah, we didn't consider that. Uh but it's it's worth uh discussing going forward especially we have a lot of young folks with great ideas who may may want to rent space in the in the new environment and it will also structure it will also celebrate our diversity. James that's the other part of it I I'm I'm I'm so convinced again from my experience when you're a land landlord you really don't want an office. What you want is a res is a retail space because an office for 10 cents less will

go somewhere else. A retailer will die on the spot rather than move where they are. They're extremely loyal to their their space. They're extremely loyal to their town. They support the the kids. They support the the seniors. Um they're an invaluable piece of this and I hope we do get a chance to have the two commissions talk about this in the future. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Lynn. Oh, we have one hand is up. No, this is Council McCclary. Um I wanted to provide context to the last speaker. Uh the town council do have an RFP that closed two weeks ago ago called Elevate Bloomfield. Um and the interviews um the program that she talks about is exactly what we're doing. And so we have a consultant that will be coming in once selected to work with small businesses. uh just for full transparency. I think Gorman New York did apply for that uh that program. Um but we are the town council has been focused on exactly what she just did providing renters assistance um um providing access to capital etc. So uh she can go out and talk to India Rogers or John Coleman the economic development director who could provide more insight um on what the town council has put out there in our previous budget. Thank you Mr. Chair. Thank you, Councilman McCclary, for that clarity. Um hopefully um Miss Burker will follow follow up with the appropriate personnel that you just outlined. Thank you much. Um Lyn, I think you said we have one more question. Yes, we have a few people online now. Next in person is Ursula Deng. Miss Dang, I think also an old friend of mine. I don't mean old and age just, you know, we go. We go back. So, we go back a couple

years. That's all. Yeah. Hello, James. It's good to see you. Likewise. Um, so I have a question about the overall planning. Um, uh, one of the things that Oh, my name's Ursula Deng, by the way. 11 Pen Road. Um, I was I wanted to ask about the parking. Uh there's I I noticed in the the site plan uh there's a a lot of parking. We have a lot of parking in this whole um town center right now the way it is. If you look at Google Maps, Town Center looks like a giant parking lot. And I'm wondering if any consideration had been given to doing perhaps underground parking to minimize some of that parking around um and and be able to maximize more of the green space available. Um if we had like especially under the residential buildings um underground parking or under the building parking um and also um in terms of connecting uh the town center to the the amenities we have so many beautiful amenities in this town. I mean between Philly Park and our rec center and the the uh greenway that's coming in and the new library. um the different shopping centers and really make you know I I didn't get a sense of um how we're we're creating a walkable community um from that site plan. So, um, we have a lot of really great businesses and I think that if it's a if, if we make it as much of a green space as possible, we we just put up several new apartment buildings and, um, one of the things is those apartment buildings, they come right up to the road and there's a lot of parking space. So, there's very there's a sidewalk and there's maybe a tiny little bit of green space around them. Um, you know, and I I just think it would be more pleasant if

there was more green space around those buildings, less parking lot, and more connectivity from all of these great um amenities and businesses that we have in our community. that would attract people and and make people want to come and linger and do their business and in town and um visit restaurants and um uh other businesses that are that are in the town center. That's my question. Thank you. Uh thank you much. Um yeah u we we have gotten a lot of um input uh requests to um to have more connectivity across the entire the entire town center. So that is part of the uh strategy. Uh so I'll let Don to put some more context on that. Don. Yeah, I just shared my screen to put this up here just so I can point a little bit with my cursor. uh if you want to look at the screen next to you. Uh one is just so you know, it's not that obvious, but these two resident residential buildings out here front actually have parking designed under them. Uh that's been in the concept since the beginning. We did have a concept uh with parking under this structure. Uh and I'm not saying it's gone, we just didn't include it here at this point in time. Another key point I want to and it it could be swapped out for other parking. That that that's my point in saying that there was a concept with it under the building. Going down is more expensive than going up. Uh so going underground is always becomes more costly. So that was a concern with putting it under this building. But what I want to point out is we've we've specked out approximately 850 spaces on

this entire site. That is an ultimate max number. We wanted to make sure we could accommodate enough parking to accommodate enough development that's going to make this worthwhile. That being said, I don't envision a future with 850 parking spaces on this site. I think the number is more like 6 650. Uh that so that means there can be a reduction. Who knows? Maybe the end is this parking deck goes away and it's underground parking under this building, opening up more green space and so forth. There was a lot of time and effort and thought by our designer put into this the landscaping capabilities and pedestrian friendliness. So this central row here kind of starting at opposite the town hall entrance way into here is kind of conceptualized as this grand boulevard that would be treelined with wide sidewalks uh well landscaped and you know pedestrian friendly. Uh we did try as much as possible to work in green space uh wherever possible. uh the expansion of the green. The green actually doubles uh approximately doubles in its size uh creating a larger green space ultimately creating a green that's capable of hosting uh larger activities and so forth. So all those ideas were incorporated here. All those ideas I believe will live on throughout this process and we'll ultimately have to work hard at the final design of whatever is going to get built here uh to make sure that's incorporated. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you very

much. Appreciate that. Um I say we had a couple online questions. Yes. Next online is Susette to beam Brown. Uh, good evening. Thank you so very much. Well, thank you. Thank you for participating this evening. Please go ahead. Thank you. Thank you to the commission. Just a couple questions and I'm just going to try to rapid fire them. Um, thank you for all the time and attention that you've put into this uh project so far. I've heard throughout the presentation that you're refining it. You know, you're still making um additions to it, things like that. Will there be another public hearing once this plan is refined? And I do realize that there's probably going to be a lot of iterations of the plan before we come up to what the center is going to look like. So, I just wanted to know if there was going to be another public hearing. Another question is, will we acquire land and change road layouts before we have a um uh a developer on board? That's the second question. The third question is what comes first, the chicken or the egg? How are we going to move through um from this concept to a renewed town center? Thank you very much for your time. And thank you much. Thank you much. I think um let me take a quick crack at yeah the public will have more opportunities to comment on the plan. So uh again I can't tell you exactly when but uh but they would have more time to to have more input into the plan

but we need to finalize a plan tonight to move the process forward. Then uh there'll be opportunities at TPZ and other um other opportunities for the public to um comment have input on the plan as as it evolves as well as um the developers when they put their concept together and go to TPZ. So there'll be opportunities to comment. Uh the other question uh the chicken or the egg what comes first and that's probably a question for the council not for us and will there be acquiring public space? Uh the answer is yes. Uh Don I don't if you if I if I if I was wrong in any of my responses you want to comment. Yeah, let let me just kind of elaborate on some of what you said from a process standpoint. I think the most important thing that you said is the need for us to uh we need to get a plan adopted in order to allow both the council and the town center economic development committee under chapter 132 to actually proceed with other aspects of this. Uh so this plan once again as I said is conceptual. It meets the requirements that the state has set forth for us to actually adopt a plan. It provides very strong kind of framework and guidance to the stakeholders moving forward through this process. But the process as conceptualized right now is this is the main public hearing tonight for adoption. the committee, the the Town Center Economic Development Commission will meet next Tuesday night. It's a public meeting. It's not a public hearing um to consider the final revisions that will come out of

tonight's hearing and to hopefully adopt the plan. At that point, the plan is forwarded to the Bloomfield Town Council. I believe it will go to a committee first uh and then be forwarded on to the entire council. That will play out over the next I'd say uh 3 weeks to a month. Once the plan is adopted by the council, we have to forward it to the state department of economic development for their sign off. And once everything is approved and in place then the town center economic development commission can start working on certain aspects of this. Uh the first would be uh property acquisition let's say. So that becomes the first step or the first phase uh negotiations with property owners for acquisition. If acquisition is achieved, uh the town would then probably engage in some uh formal engineering uh the relocation of a road like Jerome, the infrastructure associated with it and so forth. Then during that period of kind of looking at engineering, they'd probably be going out to an RFP to retain a developer um and so forth. So these things I don't want them to be viewed as staggered or linear. They are going to be overlapping. Uh so it's not a chicken and an egg. It's kind of you know scrambled eggs with some chicken on the side. Uh in in that at in that at the end of the day multiple things have to occur. Some are linear, some aren't. Uh

and throughout each step of the way uh there will be opportunities for public participation at both this committee uh the town center economic development commission also at the town council and possibly TPZ as well. Right Don? Correct. And TPZ. Yes. Yeah. Thank you. Uh Lyn, any other questions uh online? Yeah, we have one last question from Donna Wanuk, please. Very much. Um, as everyone has said, I appreciate all the work that's been done on this. It shows. Um, my question, if I can articulate it properly, is about moving from a conceptual plan into uh some very specifics. And by that I mean I was struck by the question around I'll just call it affordable housing and the response being we have to determine what the developers want to do and then I was struck by Bonnie's question about have you considered so it seems to me that there are some potential things um in the eventual not design but the eventual implementation that are for me still up in the air questions. Who makes some of those decisions? If for in other words, wouldn't is there a way that we go out to developers and say we want x% affordable housing and then we see who wants to make bids. How explain to me how this works because I honestly don't know. Don, let me very quickly when we did RFP um for developers, we could ask them to incorporate um a percentage of affordable housing as

part of the the project. Yes, that can happen. All right. So that's that's that's that. And and u then as far as the um the microl loans to small business small businesses to develop and grow in Bloomfield and I believe um uh council councilman mccclary addressed that already. Okay. So to from my perspective I guess um I'm interested and I guess this isn't a question but I'll say it because it's quick. Um, those are the kinds of additional input I would guess that the uh the people in Bloomfield will want to have some opportunity to share opinions on. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, can I Yes, please. Can I elaborate on her first question? Uh, the Absolutely. The TPZ uh whatever development happens in Bloomfield will have to follow out TPZ regulations. Um, and currently the TPZ is waiting for uh uh remarks from Crag on our inclusionary zoning, which currently calls for 13% of affordable housing in Bloomfield. So any development that goes up, if that ordinance is passed, will have to include 13% affordable housing. That is 3% higher than what the state mandates through 830G. And so, Donna, if you want to continue to pay attention into the TPZ, I know the TPZ has some things to make sure that in affordable housing is included in future development in Bloomfield. I think that will answer your question as to who's to determine um the affordable housing um uh requirements for the town center. Thank you. Thank you, Councilman Clary. McClary. So, um Lyn, if there are no further questions, then we could move on to the comment part of this of of this

public hearing if there are any. Are there any um are there any public comments? There are. First up, Pastor Sean Fischer. Uh pastor, please. Thank you. Sean Fischer, 635 Bloomfield Avenue and the pastor of Bloomfield Congregational Church. Uh two comments. One, way before I ever became a pastor, I had a 20-year career in commercial real estate development. I've been to dozens of meetings like this. This is by far the most civil professional one that I have ever attended that had anything at scale and at stake like this. So I just want to thank everybody involved. I mean everybody who is here the questions have been right on point but not angry which is new for the country right now. So thank you for being a model for that. I think it's just really really wonderful and thank you for everybody here. um you know in chair and you know Don Don you've done a great job with the focus groups and the different things along the way as well. So thank you very much. Uh second comment is it possible to bring that page five up again from the that you've been using that has the street names and everything on it. So I just want to point out one specific thing if that's possible to bring up again. It's come up a few times. Yeah. Just give me a moment to find Yeah. No, take take your time. And and pastor, I just want to reiterate that this is a concept. Oh, yeah. You know, no, this is obviously it's a work in progress. I I am not about to change the tenor and get all angry on you. That's not No, no, no. I'm I'm not implying that at all. No, I I've heard that and I get I just want to I just want since you're then taking these inputs and then having another meeting on the 6th where it moves forward. I just want to give the very specific area so you have that ability to know what some of us are talking about so that for

the sixth it can be gone. Um and if not then we can be part of a dialogue for that. And hopefully people can see this either in the room or outside of the room, but right by this rotary right here, there are about 25 or so parking spaces right there. Right underneath those 25 parking spaces are the remains of about 75 people. Um, and there are other things that are going on there. We as a church are very willing to work with the town to make this a dynamic thing. I think everybody knows Bloomfield Congregational Church is a community partner and we'll do a lot of things with that. That is a bright red line for us. That is a bright bright bright red line for us. And so I I'm not trying to be a jerk. I just want to be clear because I think clarity is helpful in these situations. And so my comment is is a request that for the next iteration that that not be in that that not be in the proposal. Thank you. Thank you much. We will take down the advisement. Strong advisement. Thank you very much. We don't want to disturb any people who are resting peacefully. Thank you very much for that clarity. I appreciate the input. Um Lynn, any other Yes. Next. Roger Bunker. Mr. I have a And these are comments. These are not questions. So, I'm not going to sit and take time for an answer. Um, I've heard a lot about the future. I haven't seen heard a lot about the history of how the center got to where it is and what we've learned from it, good and bad, and I'm hoping that that was taken under consideration. Um, a specific thing that did come to mind is we have recently built a number of housing units near the center of town

and the theory was that they were supposed to improve and help our commercial business. I don't know whether that happened or not. It doesn't sound like it did. Um, but I'm hoping we're looking at the past and learning something from it. Uh, and then looking a little bit to the future, it was mentioned that there was a an interview or a meeting with high school kids, and I'm hoping that maybe somewhere we can find out what the input was from the kids because they are the future. And as we get older and don't spend as much, they're going to have to be the ones that spend it. And then my final comment uh which is really not gerine to the center but if you're going to come to the center of Bloomfield and you pass through all these streets that are heavily littered that's not going to make the center of Bloomfield a magnet for you. Thank you. A couple quick comments. Uh the part of our thought process we did look at what happened uh how we got to where we are today. That was that was one of the first conversations we had as a commission in working with our consultant. The one the two things I will share with you is that um uh you know uh we built a building back in the 60s or 70s that is uh the Winterbury Mall uh that was designed for the time that we that they were in back then. So the building is currently obsolete. So uh going forward we will design structures that will be able to grow with the with our ever changing marketplace. That's one. The other one also how we got to where we are today is the inaction over the last two decades on on part of the

town and we are addressing that tonight and going forward. So, I hope that answers those two part of your questions. I mean, comments rather. Thank you. Thank you. Next in the room, we have Mike Boss. Mr. Boss. Well, I guess my handwriting is pretty bad. I'm Mike Fuss. Oh, my apologies. M Mr. Foss, we stand corrected. Mr. F. Um, I live at 10 Lane in Bloomfield. Um, I am the uh chairperson of the Memorial Garden Committee at the uh Bloomfield Congregational Church. And it's already been mentioned my main concern uh that uh there's a parking spaces uh over the memorial garden. It's good to hear that. It sounds like they will be removed quickly. Um, I did want to mention that most people did not know this is a concept plan. So, when I brought this up at the committee meeting, there was a lot of angst. I'm glad to hear that uh things are going to be a little different. Um my other uh concern was the uh roundabout and I understand it's a concept uh where it's placed there now looks like it's very close to the church building and I consider that to be a very uh serious uh problem could be a a pedestrian car problems or where it's placed looks like it's about 6 or 8 ft from where the main uh gas line is. So I don't think that's uh a good thing to have. Uh thank you. Thank you very

much for the for those uh input and comment. Obviously we will take them on the advisement. Thank you. Uh Lynn, anyone else? Yes. Next is George McGregor. Uh Mr. McGregor. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, members of the committee. This is a really good plan. My name is George McGregor. I reside at Nine Stonehill Road here in Bloomfield. I'm also the planning and community development director for our neighboring town, the town of Simsbury. I have uh been a planner for over 30 years and I'm a member of the American Institute of Certified Planners. Of course, tonight I don't speak on behalf of Simsbury. I I speak on on on my own behalf. Um and you know, in my career, I I don't often get a lot of opportunity to be an advocate for something because have to be reasoned and and responsible like Mr. Coleman and other staff members. But tonight, I I I rise as an advocate for this plan. The draft plan provides this community with a consensus-driven planning document which combines what I think is visionary creativity combined with market realities. It offers the promise of a robust and thriving town center with new residential housing opportunities and the potential for the redevelopment of our struggling commercial properties. The plan asks us to imagine redeveloped properties, redesigned streets, and an expanded public realm in town square. The draft plan, in my opinion, is an extraordinary plan of action with strong recommendations that are achievable, actionable, and implementable. But I would ask you to

consider a couple of items. I would ask you to support new residential development housing opportunities for all levels and for all incomes and for all people. Do not be afraid of a little density and a little height. Instead, focus on good design, modern design, and how those individual buildings relate to public spaces and the street. Let the marketplace consider whether three stories make sense or four stories make sense. The housing housing opportunity for all really is the critical factor and adding units in our downtown will continue to help it be vibrant. The commercial does not come without the residential. I would ask you to support uh further down the line the removal of development barriers in the town center. things like removing or reducing parking minimums, eliminating unnecessary special exception and special permit public hearing processes. There does appear to be a lot of parking and so please prioritize building an orientation as as it orients to the street and hide the parking where necessary. Find the consensus in the uses we want and the zoning framework that works and the arch architectural flavors we prefer and then enable a clear and consistent process to allow for an expedited redevelopment process. Support the acquisition of the most critical development parcels. There's no more important action than acquiring I got 10 seconds through whatever means necessary the Wintonberry Mall parcel. Bloomfield Town Center is perhaps the most underrated and undervalued opportunity I think in the entire Hartford region. I submit to you that the redevelopment of the town center is the singular challenge for this generation,

for our generation, for us, for our planners, our elected officials, and our citizens. It is the single issue that will define the success of this community, I think, for the for the decades to come. This plan lays the groundwork for that. This is a good plan. It's a good plan. Its contributors, its sponsors, its authors should all be congratulated. Thank you. Thank you very much for your supportive words. Uh Lynn, who else? Lynn. Next online, Robert Dickinson. Mr. Dickinson. Yes. Can you hear me? Yes, we can. Okay. My comment is that the East Coast Greenway may be going through town uh before this development is uh finalized and uh I suggest that the provisions be made to route the greenway through town in such a way that it'll uh be integrated with with with this development so that the possibly having the trail uh go around around this development or through it in such a way that it will still uh leave uh uh opportunities to to vary the design of the development. Thank you much. We will we will take that under consideration. Thank you much. And then who else? Next up, councelor Merritt. Mr. Merit Joe Merritt 31 Woods Road. Um following up on that comment, uh I I have an obsession as you many of you may

know on the east coast greenway and u it is the planning right now and it like everything else is flexible but we're expecting it to come in from the north u next to congregational church not too close and hopefully that tungstus will be narrowed over away from it when we get rid of that windar access and that the the bike path will go right to u up to the corner of uh a park and left right in front. It' be 10 foot wide bike path. Um if we can fit it in and I think we will. Um, that's what the standard is for the East Coast Greenway. And it will go right in front of uh along Park Avenue, right in front of everything. Uh, and on to uh the high school. And that that section, by the way, from the center of town to the high school is going to be the first thing done. So, we see that in the next year or so. So, um, but I I'm excited about the East Coast Greenway being part of this because it will you have people through biking from Key West to Maine or or Canada. And so it would be kind of exciting to be on it. Um, and they will stop and shop. Maybe we can even put a little hotel somewhere for them. This is this is a going to be a new economy kind of thing in the next 10 15 years. So it's something to think about. It it will become an economic development thing in itself. Um it has proven to be bike paths have been proven to be that other places like for example Simsbury. Um but uh so I thought I'd mention that first

because that's the thing closest to my heart. I I am a uh I'm I'm a little bit concerned about the council taking this all over and I I would like to remark that this is a flexible plan and it will be flexible beyond the adoption of the plan. It's not something written in stone. So there will be discussion decisions on everything as we go. And I'm I'm just catching up on the reading and very concerned about how this goes on that intersection. We're hoping that by blocking off the end of Winbury and allowing the bike path to go right in front of that blocking um that the U state will approve, they are looking at now a roundabout right between Park and U. you're shaking your head about the parking. I'm I'm sorry. I've heard that they are considering again and uh uh that uh we we wanted to tell them and they were just told recently that we're planning to block that off so that they will go with the uh roundabout is which is they're looking at. Um, the roundabout has the advantage of being safer, cheaper, allowing more traffic to go through town than the lights, and uh, it's much better for pedestrians and for uh, safer for pedestrians and bikers. Um, beyond that, I have Joe, I think I think we are approaching beyond three minutes at this point, but go ahead, finish your thought. Oh, I I was just going to say I am partial to Blfield Center being a village rather than a urban center. So, uh that I kind of prefer the three foot three threetory

high buildings to the sixtory story high, but and that I I hope we can not get too obsessed with overdevelopment. Thank you. Thank you much, Joe. Amen. Next is Karen Sprout. Miss Sprout. Hi, good evening and thank you. Um, I've my name is Karen Scouch. I live at 35 Philly Street and have lived in town for 39 years. I'm old enough to remember Peterson's and I think I was at West Hartford Peterson's the other day and I think it was probably one of the saddest days we ever had when we lost Peterson's. So that type of place I would hope that all of our plans here would encourage gathering places such as that. The mention of apartments, we have a lot. Um I wanted to say I wasn't interested in a lot more but I heard what M I think it was Mr. McGregor just said and I was quite interested in and resonate with that. He obviously knows what he's talking about. Um, but I we need the commercial to go with it. But if they if that comes first, great. But it hasn't uh appeared to do so as yet. When I talk to the young people I happen to know in the apartments that are there, they say, "Oh, we go to West Hartford for a good time." Uh, so that's kind of currently the way things are. Um, and relative to Wittenberry Mall, uh, likewise, I can remember when that was thriving. Yes, a place for another time. uh built for another time. Um but I just happened to read we will probably I can't imagine that we will retain even what we have relative to active uh development there. Um the gentleman at Ciceria has pretty much had it with leaky ceilings and everything else that's going on. God bless him for hanging in there. Um but I would hope this plan will take some time to reach

fruition. I would hope that we can do something about the the disastrous conditions in that place now. I don't get it why we have to put up with that and risk losing everything, you know, that wonderful little place that's, you know, that remains. I don't know much about Carbones. I don't frequent that place, but I have frequented pastureria has made just about every birthday party we've had in town for the past 15 years fantastic. Um, so why we have to wait, I don't understand. Um, relative to the mall, um, I don't see demolishing it as necessarily great. So, I'm hoping we keep some of it because I can't help but think fixed up that inner courtyard. West Hartford would kill for that. Think of that parking out in front. They trying to park in West Hartford is a freaking nightmare. We have the parking and we have that magnificent courtyard for outdoor dining, which everybody wants. If it were cleaned up and weren't full of trash cans, it could be landscaped and used all during the pandemic. I thought we could have made a killing if we had outdoor dining in that courtyard. It's magnificent. It has tremendous potential and I wanted to just reinforce that over the years that I have observed that we have tremendous potential and hearing that gentleman from Simsbury compliment us on the plan is very very exciting and and the other comments have been constructive and very very positive to hear. I don't know if I'll live long enough to see see some of this come to place. As I mentioned, I've lived in town 39 years. Um, and have always been excited to live here and always thought that we have so much to offer and to develop and to capitalize on and the spirit and the con conviction is what we need. Thank you. Thank you very much for those comments. Next, Dr. Winston Campbell. Mr. Campbell.

I think he might have left. Um, next is Syd Sydney Schulman. Uh, Mayor Mayor Schulman. Good morning everybody. Uh, my name is Sid Shman. I'm at 8 High Ledge Road in Bloomfield. And uh, first of all, I want to say I was very impressed with the uh, study that was done. I think it brings a huge amount of facts. Of course, it should. It's 180 pages long. Uh, I managed to squiggle through a number of those pages. I have a proposal, a suggestion, uh, a strategy if you want to call it, whatever you want to call it. But in order to present it, what I'd like to do is just go through some of the things that are set forth already, excuse me, in the uh in the 180 page proposal. Uh first of all on page 43 uh talks about the Winton Berry Mall and in various places in the proposal Winberry Mall has a very large presence and if you look at the screen that was presented to us uh it looks like 23 or 3/4 of the proposed area is Winonberry Mall. So obviously what would you say would be the most important part of the proposal? Uh and also I would point out that there was a recent article I think in the Harford current about some of the problems that went to Barry Mall. I suspect that most of you have read it. Now on page 73 uh it encourages multifamily housing and

residences development uh in that in that proposal and that I think speaks to one one of the gentlemen who was very much in favor of uh housing and I agree also you know in every uh era there's something that is the go-to kind of proposal many many hundred years ago it was the strip mall uh Then it was some other kind of thing. And these days, if you look at the uh around the area, it's to take the malls and change them exactly the way the proposal suggests with a mixture of knocking down some of the building, putting up residential building, uh entertainment, u and and commercial. And I would note that Go New York, as a matter of fact, I think is working with East Hartford, Connecticut about the same kind of thing, the same kind of proposal in uh one in the disused mall in East Hartford and also up in Enfield where the mall is dying. So, um, on page 75 of the proposal, it says it talks about acquiring land and demolishing buildings, which of course has to be done if you're going to go forward with this proposal. And it talks about the property as it sits now being functionally obsolete commercial property. And I think if most of us have been over to Winbury Mall lately, I think we'd probably agree. On page 77, it says it talks about the need for private partnerships and incentives. Private partnerships and incentives. Well, of course, the town is not going to do it all itself. Now, what incentive are they talking about? Is it an incentive enough to simply say we're going to get this property for you? No.

And therefore, we get to talk some in page 78 about tax abatements. We used to do that in town. We used to give c tax abatements in order to spur economic development. As a matter of fact, I think, if I'm correct, and perhaps Mr. Coleman can correct me if I'm wrong, the last abatements, I think, ran out in 2022 or 2023. And uh what happens with the tax abatement? Well, you give the developer a break on taxes. So, you say, "Oh, gee, we're losing money." No. When we did tax abatements, the property got this amount of money uh from for taxes. We gave the abatement so that when the abatement ran out, we get this amount of money for taxes. But one thing the town manager at that point insisted upon, he never gave one penny of tax abatement for all the personalty within the building and the vehicles associated with the uh with the the entity. So therefore, we were getting all that money and not a penny was lost at taxate. So therefore, we wound up getting more money for the property that we were giving this break to the developer for. And they got a whole bunch more money when the abatement ran out. And let's be practical, folks. You know, developers are not going to just come in and say, "Oh, gee, we really feel for Bloomfield, so we're going to develop this property." They want to make money off of it. Um, Mr. Mrs. Two minutes. I just want to remind you you have three minutes. Yeah, three minutes is I try to skip some of what I have. Well, no, I'm saying the three minutes have elapsed. This the three minutes have elapsed and we have all the folks who may I'll get I'll get to the heart of the matter. Um, a private market can't change Whittenbury Mall. The first thing I think that we have to

do and we can do this while we're doing the process as explained by the commissioner. Uh we can get um we can get appraisals of the property. So we know what we're talking about right now. We don't know. I will tell you that I believe the buyer of W the owner of Wintenberry Mall paid $5 million. I also think that we I don't know that we necessarily have to wait for that entire process to play out before we start having meetings with mall owners. In my day, we used to have meetings with mall mall owners periodically. We have to go around to the businesses and I don't see why we can't do some of that right away. Now when when you I suspect well I don't suspect I know that the mall owner went mall has not been let's say it very receptive to uh to our discussions. So why not sit down with him and find out where he's at now? We don't have to make any commitments. We don't have to make any deals now. But we can sound them out now. and I suspect it would take a longer time to deal with. The odds are we may not come to an agreement and that's critical and you can't this whole thing is very nice but it can't move forward unless something is done with the Wintonberry Mall and so the last resort according to another page on here that I read is uh uh to take it by condemnation uh eminent domain. Well, you know, I had a talk with somebody on council a couple of years ago who said that the council was considering that a couple of years ago, and I said, "Okay, but one of the rules, as I understand it, and I'm not a not a lawyer for eminent domain, but my understanding is you have to put into court the amount of money you're you're saying that you will give for the for the eminent domain. then you fairly

immediately take the property and can go do something with the property but and then you go fight about money. Mr. Mayor, so I suggest we take the $4 million and put it toward eminent domain. Mr. Mayor, thank you. Thank you for your comments, sir. You've exceed You've exceeded in three minutes in sums up my comments and my proposal. Thank you very much. Appreciate it. Next we have Lori Julian. Miss Julian. Uh just briefly I would want to stress that any plan consider the uniqueness of Bloomfield and why people came here and why we choose to continue to live in Bloomfield I think is is its unique uh community feel and I think it's been said at other meetings that we don't want to be a West Hartford and I just I just fear that we're going in the direction of a lot of congestion, a lot of traffic and particularly if we build up these these uh apartments to five stories, it really I believe will take away from the unique feel of Bloomfield that I think people mentioned village the village feel and I I think what will attract I think we have to work on the on the vitality and what would attract people to come to this town, not just people that live here. And I I I'm thinking that we should also be considering what other towns are doing. We can perhaps look to places that you

might like to go to. Uh Northampton, Massachusetts is one of my favorite places. Let's look and see what it is about Northampton. I I think it's great the the bike path will be huge connecting that to to the town. Uh Collinsville Collinsville, Connecticut that with the bike path and people come in droves there. It's it's always busy. So I think I think we can look at like best practices first before diving in and then um perhaps um oh yes like a like a Parkville market, a food market. Um people come and and that seems to attract a lot of people. People love uh food and uh I guess what I'm trying to stress too is so let's let's keep let's keep the uniqueness. uh we do have to grow. I think we we uh have the have to work on the vitality aspect more than the living component at this point. So I think I think the I would have to sort of disagree with the um about the apartments bringing in the activity because I think it hasn't worked thus far. And so I I guess that those would be my comments. And I guess if we have to have apartments, maybe we should look at having apartments and uh commercial activity all in like one little like they used to do like Yeah. years ago and have Yes. Yes. Yes. So that that in summary is what I would like you to consider. Thank you very much for your comments and input. Thank you much. Mr. Chair, we have three more folks signed up. I have

received a request asking if people can do a second public comment. No. Okay. Next up is Bob Berman. Robert Burman Hyram Lane. Tom, would you bring up page five again? There's something I want to point out on that. While you're doing that, there a couple things I want to bring up. Number one, the discussion on on elder spending. One of the reasons a lot of elder citizens in Bloomfield don't spend a lot of money in town is because there is not that many places to spend it. I will tell you this, when we eat at Salt Salatai, quite often we see quite a few people from Dunkcaster there. So people were coming out and spending money in town where there are places to spend it. We have three restaurants that I would consider somewhat quality. Sally's Carbones and Salat Thai. Ginsa is now reopened. But that's it. That's not enough to sustain what people want. We need more than just pizza places and other fast food restaurants. And that's one of the things that's also needed. The reason I asked Don to bring up page five is I want to point out something that I don't think any of you are aware of. I'm also on the library building committee. One of the things we are doing and the state DOT has told us we have to pay for it is there will be an entrance to the library right here where Whittenbury now hits Texas Avenue right

across from it. There's a light there. Now we have to pay for the renovation of that and put striping in from Wenbury Avenue over to show it going in. And the state's telling us no left probably no left turn from tung in into that space. If you cut off Whittenbury back there and that light comes out, I'm not sure how people are ever going to be able to get in there. So that's something I I would think you need to talk to the library building committee about that issue. Second thing is low moderate income housing. Some of you have heard me say this before. Why haven't you talked to the housing authority? I would tell you this and I'm going to be blunt about it. Town planning and zoning, economic development, and now this commission. Nobody has asked the housing authority for input or for their thinking or what they're doing. I know that because I chair the housing authority. I have volunteered a couple times. I volunteered to make reports to council. I have yet to hear from them, too. You want to deal with low and moderate income housing? Why don't you talk to the people who deal with it on a day-to-day basis? Find out what they know. find out what they see is the future, what is needed. We do have the information. Thank you. Thank you, Bob. Next up is Steven Zelman. Mr. Zelman, thank you again. I just want to give a little historic perspective. Prior to being the probate judge for 27 years in Bloomfield, I was on the town planning

and zoning commission during the 80s. And there was a lot of discussion way back then about the Griffin Line and revitalization of the Griffin Line. And the main reason for the lack of interest by the state or any outside organization was the lack of density. And it was the density that was always required to maintain green spaces. but density within a packaged area. So that is the kind of thing that we're seeing now with regards to no longer emphasis on the Griffin line, but now in order to have that retail, you have to have the density. Reference was made that we haven't seen the density. Well, I think if you look at the uh shopping centers that are just down Park Avenue, we already heard they're 100% occupied. Why is that? It's because they're clean. Landlords take care of the properties. Tenants probably do not want to come to the Winonberry Mall if they know the roof is caving in. So, let's put the blame where the blame belongs. It's not its location. It's upkeep and maintenance. And we need the quantity of of quality housing in that area to support vibrant retail. Thank you. Thank you, Judge. Oh, go ahead, ma'am. Next, we have Dr. Matthew. Dr. Matthew, hi. How are you? Doing well, thank you. I think I have some of my patients here. Uh, also he's right here. He's my patient. I bought this practice in the Windbury Mall about 15 years ago and

there was a dentist before me and it's been now 15 years and I have seen the growth of this Windbury Mall. We don't know where we are going next with this mall. We had a lot of patients who used to come daily but now over time that's dwindling down because of the quality of the winterbury mall it's dark not taken care of and patients cannot even come in the evening so where are we going from now from here there were other doctors there they moved out so now there are only few practices there I think so There's only two dentists in that building and we are on the back side of that building and no patients want to come here. Where are all these patients being gone? We don't know. So something has to be done to this Windbury Mall. My lease is coming back in January with the Windbury Mall. Where are we going? And nobody has talked to us. Nobody has come to us. And what is our future of this Windbury Mall? What is the future of the local community? Where are the tendies going? Are the doctors going? Do you want doctors coming to this commu in this community? Yes, we have apartments. Where are the p the people in the apartments going to go? Are they going to go to West Hartford or other places? We need a a medical community here as well. So I don't know where the thought process for this community for the medical community. That's all my comment is. Thank you very much Dr. Matthew. Mr. Chair, anyone else? Yes. So there's no other um folks to comment. We do have some written comments um just for the

record from there's one from Capitol Region Council of Governments. There's one from um TPZ and there is also one from um the late David Man. So just wanted to note those for the record. Thank you very much. Um I'm going to invite my colleagues um on the commissioner me if they have any closing comments before we um end the public this public hearing. I just want to thank everyone for coming out and giving your opinions and sending in your opinions. It's um been great to hear from people as this has been going through participating in all of the surveys and the public outreach. A lot of that as was talked about before has been incorporated in here. But as noted, it's 180 something page document. So it's a bit to get through to realize where those pieces are. But all of the comments, the information that Gman and York had compiled from that was taken into consideration into getting to where we are here. But we've heard some new great things tonight. And I know that they've got lots of notes to make some adjustments uh before we meet again next week. But did want to thank everybody for coming out and giving your thoughts and and as as Sean had said in such a nice manner. We appreciate it. Thank you very much, Lenny. Nothing more to say. Thank you very much. Casillo, are you still on? I am. Yeah. I Yes, please. Echo her comments. Thank everyone for coming out, their investment timewise, reading the document, getting to understand it, asking their questions. Super important for us. I say just understand that we

are 100% in on making Bloomfield Town Center better. That's why we've invested our time. We are part of you all. We live in town. We are invested in this town and we're not going to do anything halfway. We are focused on trying to get this done for our town, for our elderly community, for our high school students, for everyone who lives here and is invested in here as well. So, thank you all. I want to echo my colleagues in the commission uh with the the comments they've made. Now, I just want to express my deep my deep u appreciation to everyone that spoke uh the passion that you have for the town center. Uh the evolution town center has come through with all your comments and statements and your questions. Very thoughtful questions, thoughtful comments. Uh we've heard you. we going to incorporate them into our into the plan going forward. I want to thank uh Gman York and and and their team to get us to where we are today. And thank you Don and the entire team for everything that you've done, the public hearings, the surveys, uh uh hearing from me every every at least every month. I'm sure that was not pleasant for you, but thank you very much for everything you've done to get where we are today. and uh by the town of Bloomfield, the folks who participated, you have been an enormous um treasure for us in terms of your input and so we can develop a plan that's going to capture the the spirit of Bloomfield. So the inclusiveness, your participation has been very helpful to us. Thank you very much. And for those of you who commented and congratulated us on on the work that we've done, I want to say thank you very much uh on behalf of my colleagues on on the commission and also the town staff John Coleman and his team who has been present for every meeting that we've had and again many more to come but thus far

they've been a tremendous help to us and guidance and and a certain counsel to me uh as I navigate through uh through the um through the town requirements. So, thank you very much. Um, with that, um, we look forward, uh, next Tuesday, next Tuesday, we're going to have our next meeting, uh, to, uh, vote on final plan to move it to the, uh, to the town council. Thank you very much. And Don has his hands up. Don? Yeah, thank you, Chairman. One, I wanted to thank you for your leadership. Uh, listening to you monthly has been great. You've made us better in what we do. Uh I want to thank the whole committee but the real reason why I raised my hand is I want to encourage uh members of the committee if you have specific uh comments that you heard from the audience tonight that you want addressed and incorporated please email them to Lynn uh as soon as possible since we only have six days now to turn around any revisions uh to this document. and we will be getting to work on it tomorrow. So, thank you guys. Appreciate it. And back to you, Mr. Chair. Thank you very much, Don and you and once again, thank you very much. And uh everyone, thank you very much. Please go home and enjoy your family and have dinner. Uh thank you. But this concludes the public hearing.