Economic Development Commission - Regular Meeting

I guess we'll call the meeting to order at 5. Huh? Whatever you'd like to do. All right. Should we call to order? Why not? And let me just say once you call the meeting to order, that's a signal to uh Katie. This is where she splices it. So, okay. You know, to put online. Okay. So, um, I will call the meeting to order at 5:32 p.m. And, uh, we have, uh, by teams communication, Cheryl Pyer. Uh, we have myself, Joe Cameian, and Jeff Hartman as co-chairs. And we have, uh, Wend, sorry, Mona Caldwell, and Jean Wzinski with us here in person. Uh we have an excused absence for Wendy Russell and uh we hope that Scott Smith will make it to the meeting. So first and foremost u our call to order and and welcome. I don't know if anyone from the public has signed in. Uh we'll wait and see if that happens. Um, but I want to first and foremost say a a very profound thank you to Cheryl for her herculean efforts in a highly orderly change in command. The military would be impressed by you, lady. Uh, as Jeff has said already, you know, it's taking two men to replace Cheryl as chair. and and from my more than 20 years on this commission and I've seen many chairs and I've escaped being the chair until now. Uh I will say that Cheryl has been an exceptional chair taking every initiative to up the game and support the town. So I want to just say thank you for all of that because we are now learning how much work this is. So um you made it look too easy. You made it look too easy. I know. Don't

tell the others, Joe. You're the successors. So, uh I appreciate it. Thank you. So, so we will try to diligently adhere to our agenda and uh the first thing is public comment and uh we will apparently is there anyone on from the public? Um not hearing any. I will uh proceed to our next item which is the approval of the May 7th meeting minutes. Um, do I hear a motion to approve the minutes? I'll make a motion. Okay. Anybody second? Second. Okay. So, we have Cheryl making a motion. Jeff has seconded. All in favor of approving the minutes. I I we can actually and we can check after the second if there's discussion. So, uh there someone might have something they want to bring up about the minutes before we vote. Okay. So be we'll we'll walk back the vote and discuss. Is there any discussion? I got to learn these rules. Um the the other um um I'm just thinking out loud. Okay. So no discussion. We vote. Everyone had voted I. I think that still stands. So the minutes are accepted. You because I wasn't here. Oh, you abstain. Okay. I'm sorry. It's okay. All right. So, um, we've kind of modified the line items of the agenda slightly by discussion of the two co-chairs and the first item is the strategic plan progress on initiatives 4 to 7. Right. And I'm going to send this to Cheryl right now. So, if you could assist, Mr. Chair, we could we could pass out while I send Cheryl. Cheryl, as you know, we're going to make sure that we

bring your project home to fruition. Thank you. So send you impressed that we got these u we have the I want to tell you a little story about them one when I was a much younger CFO Moheaggan son my uh boss at the tribe the corporate CFO used to print stuff on large paper and as a young 35year-old I always made fun of him about the paper I've become the old guy now I hold want I'm uh getting it to you. Okay. So you can participate. So why I'm doing that? We we when we last met um tell me forget that Shaw, we um we worked on the promotion and marketing section. So basically I took the took the document that Shaw handed off to Joe and myself and we have our seven initiatives and this is stamp draft. So this is um draft. Um we have our seven initiatives and then we worked on some tasks and the previous strategic planning work that support the initiatives and then we were going to do some some action. So I in the risk of you know time management maybe we'll try to spend 354 minutes to see if we can push forward on this. Did you receive it? I do. It looks great. Thank you. So I think ultimately what we would like to do and as a as the originator of this we like to collaborate with you to kind of pull this together. maybe put this in a document at the end and and publish this. So as we go forward, we can use this to monitor our uh progress on our initiative. So the

initiatives, the task, what are the actions? We always think it's good to set a target date that we're going to do this. So, you know, I think we perhaps Joe and I discussed a period of this is a 25 through 28 plan. So, you know, we're not going to be able to do everything in one year, but of course, we would like the input of the of the commission to validate that that assumption that it's a three-year strategic plan. So, um you know, with that, maybe we should start reviewing with initiative one. So, to support the initiative was to support the town's economic strength, promote online was a great place to live, visit, and work. And we had tasks such as you know build our story of place uh I I won't read 100% of them but you know research our online partners develop a social media strategy pursue marketing ideas and you know those were the things and then we had a number of actions we discussed at the last meeting and we had some good discussion on on them and and basically I we John I picked up where um we left off from Charl's notes. If you remember, it was in the word document. The actions were in the blue uh the blue font that Cheryl put together. So, [Music] um, is it safe to say that we feel comfortable maybe moving forward upon initiative one and we've laid it laid out the actions and um, you know, there's a lot on here. um as we as we go through all these initiatives and the and resulting actions we laid out you know we probably have to thin thin a few out because you know as a group it would probably

consume all our time to do these as volunteers so I don't think we can do everything I think some probably have a higher ranking than others um so how how would the the commission like to proceed would you like to focus on the actions now or finish all the tasks and actions for all the initiatives then come back maybe next month and kind of go through and review it and and put some deadlines against. So I think it's a pretty heavy lift to try to push through the whole thing. I think it's going to take at least two more meet you know this meeting another meeting to finish this to be a thoughtful document and reflect everyone's you know you know Wendy's is not here we would want Wendy's input and Scott's input as well. So the collectively we're not Yeah. I I'd like to I this is an amazing document. So thank you and I'd like to suggest that we um hold off on the promotion and marketing as you're saying to when Wendy is uh able to participate. I also have my notes from our last meeting when we went through that work plan for promotion and marketing. And Jeff, I can um add I can update that section. Um if there I mean it looks like you captured a lot, but I can update that section for you. Um I Okay. Personally, I'm concerned we'll never get to economic development, you know, those numbers four through seven initiatives if we keep honing the promotion and marketing, but that's my point of view. Okay. Yeah. I mean, that on the agenda, we I did want I think from Joe and I, I wanted to get the four through seven. So, maybe we'll just jump right into that. I think that's a smart way to proceed. So I I will give you know I'll give everybody electronic copy of this Excel file so

you can have it if you wanted to make edits or thoughts um on the on the marketing section. All right. Initiative four was to ensure economic development perspective is considered in land use decision-making assigning EDC commissioner as our zoning liaison to track commercial activity going before the land use commissions and organize EDC's participation in upcoming regulation review process. So I do believe that the zoning commission right now has engaged some consultants to to review the zoning regulations. I I spent about a half hour observing their meeting and it seems like they're at the beginning stages. So, um you know, I think that getting it, you know, if we if we want to pursue this initiative and assign someone to track uh zoning activity and report back to our committee so we can potentially have some input, I think um was something we should consider. Uh but I'll open the floor to anyone else thoughts on this. You know, with without mixing in too much new business, which is way down our our agenda. Uh this is something where a commission a commissioner that has a legal background would probably be the ideal leazison to zoning. So we have two vacancies on the commission and those two you know we've discussed and you know it seems like the you know we obviously have to replace MJ who was a commercial realtor because commercial real estate seems to be something I think important and then from a from an economic and business standpoint and also we should have somebody with legal expertise because getting into the thick of all the zoning regs that's the expertise I think that's most appropriate. So any discussion on that? Anybody think otherwise?

I I I would Yes. So I'm hoping that the zoning does the any modification doesn't become even more bogged down in process and oversight. I'm I'm believe you know I think the the the less regulation uh and oversight um you know there's some there's some balance but to overengineer it and and do it will just continue to make the process difficult to develop on our town and will not allow developers or other people to come in. I'll I'd like to suggest the uh the approach that I was uh shall we say instructed with many many years ago as a young engineer. I was asked to write emergency procedures for a nuclear plant. And I'm I'm a young, you know, relatively novice engineer. And I'm thinking, how the heck do you expect me to write the emergency procedures, right? And the comeback was, look, write the procedure and then when you're done, cut it in half and then repeat the process. You know, cut it in half again. And after four cycles, you might have a useful document. And that would be the instruction that I would want to give to our commissioner, you know, working with zoning because um I I authored a blight amendment for the shoreline gateway committee that's going to ultimately make its way into that process, I hope. And I went through the town's regulations, the zoning regs, and there is so much repetition, redundancy, and conflict, which is why this update is supposed to happen. I would suggest that we do need to cut it in half and maybe do that a couple of times if we're going to have a document that is conducive to investment in our in our town. So, how do we what are we doing?

Anyone else have gan you have any feedback on this issue on this initiative to Joe's point about legal background would be helpful but it has to be the right kind of legal you don't want an estate planner No doing land use so that may be a difficult um find in our town as for a commissioner. So maybe we need to broaden that a little bit. I don't know. Um can I add another Yeah, you want have something? Go ahead. When I look at this initiative, um, another scenario I'm thinking about is when a company like Kellogg Marine is going before zoning or comtock hydr, you know, hydrangeas galore. Um, so what I see in this initiative, the way it's worded, is that we want to make sure that not only um are we part of the process as zoning and their consultants rework all their zoning, that they understand what our priorities are as an economic development commission. you know, ensuring we've got good commercial activity on Halls Road and that, you know, we have a robust uh light industry area and Shore Road, not Shore Road, I'm sorry, Sound View is a healthy business environment, but also helping individual businesses. And right now, we don't really have a way of knowing what's going before zoning unless we're monitoring that um you know, watching zoning agendas coming up. No one's alerting us saying, "Hey, Kellogg Marine

is going before zoning." So, I think one thing one of our commissioners can do is just kind of be assigned to watch those agendas coming up or if someone like Mr. Commtock reaches out to us and says, "Hey, I'd really like a letter of support." that liaison person is the one who kind of coordinates that and makes sure we have someone there to, you know, share it during public comment, that sort of thing. So, it's not as big a task as making sure the EDC is involved in the zoning regulation rewrites because I I know they're going to invite us to share our input, but I don't know beyond that how much we're involved in that to be honest. But I think we should be helping businesses be able to be successful within the confines of appropriate zoning. Yeah. Or whatever framework exists at the time they come forward to start a business. So, so, so would the task be assign an EDC commissioner within the next two meetings? It's as simple as that. and and then or the actions, you know, whoever the EDC commissioner signs, you know, sign up to receive the zoning agenda emails, uh monitor the zoning, um board meetings and so on and so forth, you know, and perhaps also to seek, you know, solicit input from u, you know, business enterprises that have come before zoning to say, you know, why can't this be a simpler process, for example? I think that would be another task. I I think that would be a great benefit to us if uh you know we

had that sort of outreach to to see how businesses feel about the process especially as we get into initiative five I think you know feeds into that. So is a task to you know assign by the end of the July meeting a commissioner to monitor zoning. I had volunteered with Cheryl a few months ago when this got brought up and then I mean that was a few months ago right but I haven't done anything about it. Yeah. Yeah. So, I mean, I'm more than happy to monitor and pay attention and at least be willing to bring that information forward. And Cheryl said it didn't really require going necessarily to every single meeting unless Yeah. No, it might even be an email to the Jeff or the whole commission saying, "Hey, I mean Kellogg Marine is the simple example because we went through it." Kellogg Marine is going before zoning because they want to expand. Does someone want to call Mr. Knap and find out more about this or whatever? Yeah. No. And and certainly the town should not be roadblocking what they're trying to do. You know, if if there's nuances that need to be attended to. We'll attend to nuances, but we shouldn't be creating obstruction. And I think actually, Mona, you're so detail oriented that I think you probably can fulfill what Jeff is looking for and what I'm looking for without embroiling it. We'll sign you up. Okay. All right. All right. you what happened to us. We'll take you for an issue. Well done, Mona. Okay. And thank you. Just to finish that point, you know, there are residents at these sometimes at the zoning meeting public hearing,

there's residents because they live in the area and they're concerned about noise or pollution or whatever. And you there also needs to be an economic development voice at the table. So to say we support Thank you, Mona. Thank you. You're welcome. Initiative five to build an environment encourages and supports business and property owners in old line work to improve the existing development process. So we identified tasks to analyze the current regulations and how they support or deter economic development inherence with the with the plan of conservation development. We said also work with the land use office to consider ways to streamline and clarify processes for new business or property owners and develop communication tools as well. So one thing I can share is that um Eric Knap and his um land used land use assistant whose name is escaping me right now. I want to say Craig, but I'm not 100% sure. They are very interested in putting together uh some sort of communication tool that helps people understand the whole process, whether they're going before zoning because they want to, you know, put up a new sign or they're going before zoning because they want to change a business, whatever the case may be, they're interested in creating that. Um, and I think it would be nice for the EDC, not just nice, I think it's important for the EDC to be part of that process and because we're going to have some marketing materials in the future for new businesses saying, "Come to Oline. We're easy to work with and here's how you go through the process." Okay. So, the action is to work with

Eric Knap and his assistant on developing the materials. Yes. And it's to that second bullet um under your task initiative number five. Yeah. Yes. So work with the IRK. Um I'll look up his name while we're talking. What about the first uh task on initiative five? Analyze the current regulations have supported for economic development adherence with the plan of conservation development. So is that is that as just when we when we said what regulations should we should we be a little more specific? Well, is that C 30 and C10 marine marine use? So So again, that's back to zoning regulations, I believe. Yeah. And yes, so probably the process that we're going to be going through and uh an example of this would be uh when we were speaking with someone in the light industrial zone, there was that issue that Kellogg was running into with the ceiling height, right? That's a good example of I mean if we're knowledge about knowledgeable about it enough for us to say from an economic development point of view you know that doesn't really work for a business because we're talking about warehouse you know whatever the case may be um I think that's an example of how we could weigh in and that's talking to our businesses. I mean, Mo, I think this kind of goes handinand glove with initiative four, which you're involved in. So, I'd be

willing to help you, you know, if we wanted to collaborate together on the task one under initiative five. Um, I could take a look at the plan along with the rest of the committee, whoever else wants to volunteer. I I'd be willing to volunteer if within the bounds of our commission's charter to somehow lobby to combine planning and zoning, which I think is the majority of towns in the state of Connecticut have that. Yes. And we do not. And that is part of that that is a root cause of the of many of the issues that we're dealing with. So, I'm I'll volunteer myself to lobby in so far as I am able to try to change this separate planning zoning that to the best of my knowledge evolved because of personality conflicts back in the day. Okay. Yeah. I think it's just much more efficient and streamlines the process that I only have to go to one person. So, so, so it'll it'll be on initiative five it'll be Mona, Joe, and Jeff. Task one. Yep. You good with that, Mona? Yeah. Thank you. And I'm just going to add that Eric Knap's land use technician is Craig Bonati. BN A TI. I was a little embarrassed. I couldn't remember his name. So, got it. Craig Bennady. Okay. Initiative six to ensure the long-term viability of Old Lime's primary

commercial district support business and property owners investment in Halls Road. And we said the task would create an actual plan to encourage responsive economic investment in Halls Road area following any updated district regulations by the zoning commission. So that was what's we we we kind of edited that post the Halls Road decision to come back to this. Right. So we we believe that this is still viable, still an important item. Yeah. Part of Hall's Road and it kind of fall it it um falls in line with the previous initiative. uh zoning the zoning commission as they're going through all of these regulations that need to be updated or streamlined etc. They you know they're going they're going to be talking about Hall's Road um not changing it into a village district but uh or an overlay zone but what kind of zoning will make a you know updates will make a difference in Hall's Road. So my reaction this is this would be a 20 26 or 27 and this should have let the zoning bake and then react to what they approve because if we jump into this now yes the the thing but oh here goes EDC they're getting in the midst of hell's road and we don't want to I I wouldn't want to get in the middle of that process. That's my reaction but I'm only speaking for myself. No, I think I think this one it is appropriate to to hold it in obeyance as far as you know action item wise other than can we solicit input from the business owners. Would that not be a worthwhile way to for example where

um you know I I call it the hideaway shopping center but you know that shopping center the one with the abandoned foundation that's been there for the 40 years that I've lived in this town. You know who owns that? They put it up for auction. Didn't get their price. I don't think it's sold. They're asking 4.5 million for it right now. Yeah. Which is more than it's worth it arguably. But yeah. So, so when you say business owners, you have to be careful because there are business owners and there are property owners and they're not the same because most of the businesses rent, right? So, so, so that's should be should it be both? So, how would you approach it? Do you Well, I think you gota maybe address both, right? Because many business owners would like the properties to be improved, but they have really no input other than, you know, because they're leaser leasers and not owners, right? And many of the owners aren't local. Yes, I believe that they they're out of town owners of that hideway plaza and there are other buildings along Hall's Road similarly. So I think you need to try and get both inputs potentially. I mean it certainly maybe that's a 2026 survey that we do. Um and in the survey suggestion we could have them delineate are you a property owner or are you a a storefront or an office you know who rents? Um and then have a handful of questions. Everybody agree to that to do a survey. I think that's a good idea. Yes, I think it's a good idea. Do we still have those? Um, you remember you gave us

business cards at one time. Do you still have those? Yes, I can bring them to the next meeting. Yeah. And I think for each of us, if you just make it a goal to be constantly giving them out and and stuff, too, and then building those relationships because then maybe the businesses will contact us for whatever reason or the business owners or the property owners. Um, no, it's it's sort of what it boils down to is to the, you know, to both parties, you know, what would it take to make your, you know, your presence in old lime more profitable, you know, more satisfactory, more long lived would be kind of the questions I would want to put up. See, so is the task to develop use the next six months to develop a survey once you're in 26? Yes. And that goes to what we were talking about last month about uh really focusing on listening to our constituents. Yep. Okay. Um so I believe that's initiative six. Initiative seven, improve property values, invigorate shoreline gateway area, work with the Shoreline Gateway Committee, Sound View Commissions, relevant land use commissions to preserve this important historical area while positioning it for future generations per the gateway commission's vision. I didn't make all the edits, did I? No, it's fine to ask. Yeah. So, no, I I support the shoreline gateway committee in seeking solutions for blight and cond buildings and this EDC shoreline gateway leaison. I'm sure the EDC is aware of

ongoing efforts and appropriate ways to support the effort to reinvigorate this. So, and that's what we have in Joe. Yeah. Yep. That's me. I've been I've been obviously a member of the Shoreline Gateway Committee. Um, and the um, president of the Sound View Commission also sits on the Shoreline Gateway Committee. So, I'm keeping close to what's happening there, which I've actually been doing as long as I've been in the town because I uh, Sound View is much improved from what it was 40 years ago. Uh, but quite a long ways to go to to make it better. So, what would you like the actions to be? I'd like the action to be um succeeding in a blight ordinance being adopted by the town. Right. So, you know what? That's sort of my charge. I want to see a blight ordinance adopted. Mhm. Um I don't know within what the town can lawfully do, but I'm of a mind where properties that are made more valuable are taxed at higher prices. You know, if you live in a little tiny house, you pay so much tax. You live in a mansion, you pay more tax. What about is eyes? If buildings are being warehoused in our town and I have to look at eyes, you know what? that maybe there there needs to be some um compensation to the town's people for having to look at an eyesaw. Maybe it needs an ugliness tax. I'm just throwing that out there because right now what we're seeing is and part of the blight ordinances to prevent deterioration of warehouse buildings in the shoreline gateway area. I mean look at cherry stones and and the by the way the Italian-American club has

been sold. that one is going to be converted to a private residence apparently by a buyer. So that's that's a major thing that's been there just deteriorating for many many years. Um so the blight ordinance being adopted I I'm making that my personal mission, right? Um, and the the other concern is we are, and I'll I'll report this, you know, when we get to Shoreline Gateway Committee, but we're we're working on getting some professional help in the way of what I'll call municipal planning for the gateway area. So, that's a two other item that we're working on. I don't know if this is a related piece of feedback, but I'll give it to you. from the town the town meeting when the golf cart legislation came up. The folks that live down there definitely feel like they're picked on and I and and you know um I would be careful to make sure how this if we're pushing a blade or so we don't make them feel like they're picking on we're picking on us again with another another regulation. Agreed. You know, understood. Um, Joe, what is the Italian American Club? It's a building. Um, you're familiar with the gas station convenience store that's operating there. Across the way. Okay. There's a white structure. It's like a rounded roof. It looks like an old military barracks. Oh, okay. Yeah. And that's been that's what you know, it's classic old lime, right? You know, it's Oh, yeah. go by where the AMP used to be. So it's like that's what it was always known. Known. Oh, okay. Kind of like Mono like in Sound View there's that Moorish looking building that was the El Morocco, you know. So, but

anyway, no, I I understand Jeff what you're suggesting and I I certainly do not want to alienate people. As far as the Shoreline Gateway Committee, the feelings are that the blighted properties are obvious and they need to be remediated, you know, and that's sort of, you know, I've got no negatives that we're we're unduly picking on anybody. Okay. So, we'll we'll uh we'll sign you up for that. Yep. I'm signed up for this one. Okay. So, I've gone over my time crane, so thank you for your feedback. So we'll we'll uh we'll update this and circulate this to the committee. Thank you. Thanks for volunteering. Thanks for the feedback. So back to you, sir. Okay. Um so going through our updates, the first one you know that we've got is grant funding status new and pending. So, I think everyone's aware that we uh gave our letter of recommendation to the town in support of the connectivity grants from the Connecticut Department of Transportation to do sidewalks at Halls Road. from uh looking at a report that uh the office of the select persons Martha had sent to Jeff and I uh the state of Connecticut uh gives sort of an update on um you know on what's happening legislative wise and in that report there was a call out that the special transportation fund of the Connecticut DOT has $147.5 million surplus and the connectivity money comes out of that, you know, surplus. I guess it's discretionary spending. So, uh, as a potential new grant, I want to look at revisiting the Connecticut Riverway

Trail, which was a mixeduse trail, uh, that, uh, many years ago. I say many more than 10. I'd have to look at the dates, but I I was uh trying to to create a bicycle, pedestrian, uh handicapped accessible, and so-called multi-use trail from the old Baldwin Bridge abutment called the Scenic Overview to uh ultimately to the um Great Island Smith Neck boat launch, the state boat launch. And it would be a greenway, blue way, so trail as well as kayaking. And I I envisioned it as something that we could do where uh businesses in town uh the you know kayak and canoe rentals, the standup paddle board rentals, bicycle rentals could play in that and it could create rental business. It would create uh you know seasonal employment for you know let's say young adults in town who you know college kids probably most likely who could participate in you know coordinating all of that. So I I'm unfortunately what is needed now is a design is funding for design. Uh the connectivity grants are only given for capital work. So you have to have a design completed ready to go. Uh, I only took it as far as a conceptual design and budgeting and uh, I'm going to see what I can do um, possibly from Connecticut DEP who was very very supportive of the effort I put in years ago to see if there's some way they could fund the design element of this unless the town is able to fund it. But I'm going to try and I I just think if they've got a surplus of money and I know that the connectivity is a certainly a priority of con DOT, uh I'm going to try and go

after that. Um and that's as much as I've got on any potential grants. I I encourage our commission wherever possible to keep an ear to the wind of what grant funding might be out there because we're in a town. We're a volunteer committee. We don't have the luxury of a lot of funding. And if there is opportunity to acquire funding, we should be going after it. You know, it that's the biggest force multiplier we could have as a commission. So, I don't know if anybody's got any other thoughts on grant funding, but that's all I've got. No, I think that's important. So, go ahead. Right. Can I can I add something about grants? I'm sorry. Um I interested in grants for small businesses for facade improvements. Um it's something I really wanted to support when we had our ARPA funds and I was encouraged not to pursue that because sound view needed or not gateway needed a master plan. But here we are 5 years later, four years later, and businesses would love to have a loan or a forgivable loan to paint their front or put up new awnings or to beautify the front of their small businesses down there. So, I always eye out for that kind of grant as well for our businesses to um be able to take advantage of. Okay. Um, anything else on grant funding? No. Thank you. Okay. Move on to real estate where I think Jeff is the most knowledgeable guy to report on this bill that just came out. But I'm going to share again the table with Mars money if you don't mind. You said you attended the hearing as well. I did attend the hearing. Yeah. So, I have, you know, I have House Bill um 502 that passed. you know, it's kind of a hodgepodge in my

view of a lot of different things. [Music] Um, you know, that there are combination of um kind of social issues that made it in the bill, some opportunities for development. You know, one of the things that I think we should study is is this um adjacent transitoriented development towns and could online, you know, given the fact that it's adjacency to Old St. Brook be a transitoriented town and what that would qualify um financing programs for housing and and you know from that perspective I think that is one of the more meaningful items in this bill that could impact old lime um you know they have something like a fair rent commission there if it's municipalities over 15,000 which um we don't qualify today. But um I don't know. Do you want to add anything to what resonated with you? Well, there's a lot of arguments and a lot of push back from towns throughout the state against this because they are infringing on the this is big government infringing on local government. Although they're claiming that local government zoning is big government, which doesn't make any sense to most people. So, it's one of those things where it's a lot of rules. We just want to let you know we're all done. So, you guys are the last one. Thank you. It's a lot of rules, but um I think there's going to be it's going to be interesting to try to see it being implemented. I think people are going to be fighting back and forth over this. I think it's important for us to be aware of and it can lead to

developers being able to develop things in areas that we don't want which could lead to towns suing the state over this. So, I mean, I think it's going to be really messy for a bit. Um, that's my opinion because like it allows for developers and to be able to come in and convert commercial spaces to residential spaces. So, we just went through this with the Halls Road overlay and, you know, they could they could now just do that without an overlay district really. So, it'll be interesting to see. But what's the what's the um what's to stop the town from fighting against it? You know what I mean? Like a town can fight against anybody that tries to come in. I just think it's going to turn into a lot of legal battles in a lot of different places. That's my opinion. Yeah. Other thing there's there's a section in the bill talks about a statewide wastewater capacity study. You know what areas are underserved by wastewater infrastructure which I think could impact yes residential commercial development and and things like that. So that that's also in the bill. So was wasn't there an a a threshold of communities of 15,000 or more for a fair rent commission? Yes. For that. Yeah. Okay. Okay. So it was not not for the implementations of the uh you know let's say RIP commercial to residential conversion. No. And the wastewater the wastewater study is supposed to be finished by July 1st next year. Okay. So I don't know. We'll see. All right. We're in the middle of our

own zoning stuff going on here in town anyway. So that could be our argument. If anybody's tried to take advantage of us or this bill in the meantime, we probably could. I mean, the moratorum approach is pro possibly a method of buying time letting this shake out. I don't know if we have the rights to do that as a town. I don't know. We'd have to get legal advice on that one. I think every town in Connecticut wants to take a moratorum. Get online. Um, all right. So, our next line item, businesses. Um, yes, Gan, I'm going to ask if you've got anything to report as far as businesses because you seem to be the closest to that world. I'm not sure what you mean by businesses. So, that's where I'm I don't Do you mean I think that Do you mean like new businesses or business activities? Yeah, new business, ribbon cutings, that sort of thing. Um, do you want me to speak to that? Yeah, if you don't mind, Cheryl. All right. One item we have is the carousel shop. Um, you all know that they're celebrating 100 years of the carousel itself on June Saturday, June 14th. And you've all received an email. I'm sharing this for uh the public um in reiterating it but uh the EDC board of selectman Devin Carney um we will um gather at the carousel during their celebration. I think we said 3:30 for kind of a formal presentation of some certifica certificates and citations. So that's very exciting for them. They were in the mid the Memorial Day parade. We just had an EDC ribbon cutting for the hideaway which uh was

very nice and they are very appreciative of everyone who could make it. It was a lovely morning. It was Yes. And you guys was great. Pizza was very good. And so as you know um the couple who is running the hideaway, they are in business with the other couple who is part of their family. um Joseé Louise and Carolina who run the Stumblein because as you know the Caramontes owned both the Stumblein and the Hideway. So these four individuals, the two couples that are related, um one's running the Hideway, one's running the Stumble Inn. This coming Friday morning at 10:00 a.m. the Greater Sabbrook Chamber of Commerce is hosting the ribbon cutting at the Stumble Inn. Um, and some of you have been around long enough to know that we did a the stumble in was our first ribbon cutting in 2022, I think. So, um, so that will be Friday morning. For those who can make it, if you can, please stop by. They would love to have you there. And the only other uh specific I have about a business is Sound View Shack. I mentioned last time they're open for business. there people are uh enjoying getting lunch and uh you know late day meals there supper I guess um those are the ones I knew about for this month thank you thank you all right marketing and outreach efforts um I can report that I attended the Yale innovation summit which was heavily swayed towards biotech uh but you know had other areas.

Climate was another one of the areas they had. Um I pitched to a number of the biotech companies that exhibited. So they had sort of you know it was conducted as a summit but also an exhibition. So they had booths with um different companies you know advertising their services or or looking to drum up business. So I kind of pitched heavily to all of the biotech uh exhibitors there that here we are world lime. We have a significant population of PhD scientists and other uh persons trained and and expert in you know the pharmaceutical research and biotech type of work. Uh we are midway between New York and Boston. If you're looking to set up a you know an operation we we would welcome you. And I gave out the cards as Mona had said. Sharpy's got my old lime card with me handwritten on there like a small town would. We'll see what might come of that. Uh the other uh important thing I attended a seminar on um state workforce development which obviously is a big big deal right now because the major employers you know General Dynamics uh I guess now is Rathon Technologies they're having a real hard time recruiting talent. So the the talent um pipeline is getting serious consideration and there appears to be money there. So I'm going to follow up with uh there's a gentleman who is the point of contact for you know Eastern Connecticut and I have his contact info. I don't have it with me, but I'm going to follow up with him to see what I can acquire for our high school's technology and engineering laboratory. Uh they have

done an an amazing job of beg borrow steel to get equipment because some of this equipment is very expensive. If you're talking like you know robotic controlled machine tools and so on, you know, we're into hundreds of thousands of dollars per piece of equipment. So, if there's workforce development funding that I can bring to them, I'm going to try and bring it to them. So, I'm going to follow I it's on my to-do list to follow up with the workforce development. That's as much as I have for marketing and outreach. Does anybody else have anything to report? I had gone ahead Mona, please. Okay. Um I had gone to an event um now this is a couple months ago and it was called Shaping CT's Future. And it was um they do an event every three months. The next event is coming up in August and they're free events and they're like fourhour events and they have a whole bunch of different speakers and different topics. So the one coming up in August is going to be on business entrepreneurs and entrepreneurship. The one that I went to was on the sport on sports industries within the state of Connecticut. And um they had one thing that I thought was interesting this year. There's a Connecticut season pass. It was a joint effort between NBC and Telmundo and it spotlights fun things to do in Connecticut. And it's some central location where people can go to find out different things to do in the state. So, you know, if we were to have any of our businesses featured on it for next year, if this is a repeat thing, that would be really great. Um, because we do have great things for people to do in Old Line. And it is a

seasonal thing. It's a Connecticut season pass for the summer. So, um, I can try to find out more information about that. I these are just my notes from the event. And um then there were a lot of guest speakers and talking about the different um people that are doing things in related to sporting. So like there was a gentleman who owns a company that makes baseball bats. There there were a couple people that owned sporting teams. Um there was uh the CEO of the PGA tour that might have already taken place in Connecticut. I'm not sure happens every course next week so the CEO from that organization um and it was it was just really it was very interesting. It was very great to hear these people who are doing the great things in Connecticut and very excited about it and and very excited about the growth opportunities for that particular industry in the state of Connecticut. So, I'll send the group um the invitation for the next one. The one I went to was at Foxwoods. The next one is going to be in Hartford and I believe it's on August 20th. Okay. And um yeah, I just I went just because I thought I want to go check this out and see who these people are. And I definitely think it's worth going to. They had a lot of vendors, too. There were a lot of vendors there. I don't I didn't really know what I was doing as far as talking to them about, you know, old line with the, you know, they were trying to sell things and I wasn't really shopping. So, but I otherwise a great event, good speakers, and I would highly recommend

it. And and I'll follow up on that Telmundo. Yeah. ET season pass and see if I can find out anything for next year. That would be great. Um, and just real quick, I attended a webinar from CT Main Street Center. It was called Beyond the Curb: The Key Elements to a Successful Main Streetscape. It was very interesting and they recorded it and they had their own YouTube station and you could watch any of their webinars. They do have a webinar on there about wayfinding sign strategy, which I haven't watched yet, but I'm sure it's extremely relevant to one of those initiatives we have. So that YouTube station, the name of the station is CT Main Street Center. Um, so I found that very useful. I went to one of their in-person conferences last year. It was good. Um, and then also, uh, I think here, Joe, in terms of outreach, community, our own community outreach, can we talk about Midsummer Festival now? Yeah. music day. So, make music day is once again June 21st, which falls on a Saturday. It's up and down Lime Street um from 5 to 7:00 p.m. I usually have a little table in front of town hall with our Explore Old Lime L um lawn sign and uh materials out there. Um so, um I'm usually sitting out there for from 5 to 7 more or less. And um if anyone wants to cover that table at some point, you're welcome. Okay. I think I'm due to cover that. I've been out of town. New brochures printed. What did

that printer? Yeah. And I have to thank Jean for um to CCM. What is this? Connecticut conference of municipalities I guess is the name of it. They're they're printing. The price is amazing. So, um yes, the updated Explore Oline little trifold is at the printer now. In fact, I was looking for an email from them today and I didn't get it, but um that's in process. And Midsummer Festival is Saturday, July 26th from 9 to 3. Um, we have had an outreach tent there the last few years. This year we're again on the front lawn of the Lime Art Association, but we have a more central point near their center sidewalk. Um, we collect brochures or, you know, menus, things like that from our businesses. We have them all out there and then we have the program kind of the list of events for Midsummer. We hand that out as well. Um the twist this year is that I won't be there. So um the if we can talk leading up to that to who would be available to help lift that tent that you know 10 by10 tent the afternoon before and um want to you and I have done scheduling in the past. If I could get your assistance on that, that would be great. And um hopefully I'll among those in town. Yeah. And I'll I'll volunteer to help us make the sure. I've been out of town the last couple of years. So yeah. And so the one great thing is Cheryl usually has to be there all day. So even though we always try to have two people at the tent, we could

always count on her to be somewhere in the crowd. I don't get a lanyard this year. They they've taken away my lanyard because I'm going to be out of town. Okay. Anyway, so that's that's the outreach. Okay. Thank you, Sean. Yeah. All right. Our next line item is uh Shoreline Gateway Committee. And just very briefly, I can report that we put out a solicitation for a planning consultant. Uh the bids were due May 21st. Nobody bid. So, so, so, uh, I got a little more involved in a rewrite. Uh, maybe being a little more specific now, asking for municipal planning consultant because I think it none of the appropriate potential providers recognize what was being asked for. How do you pay for that out of the town's budget grant to to that? There there is town budget money allocated for planning consultants. Yes. So um it was basically the requested budget for Shoreline Gateway was to cover the planning consultant cost. So um anyway, so the RFPs revised. I think it's a little more targeted and hopefully we'll get a response. Bids are due June 17th. So we'll wait to see what happens with that. And we have been continuing with the blight ordinance. um you know looking at reconciling with the existing zoning regs and also what potential changes might occur in the rewrite of the zoning rigs. So we're trying to dovetail the blight ordinance in. So that's the activity that's been going on with shoreline gateway. Uh chamber of commerce is our next item and Jean te you up for that.

So, Cheryl had already mentioned one of the one of the items which was the Stumble Ins. Um, and then there's the building business Old Lime at the Old Lime Inn on Friday, June 27th from 8 to 9:00 a.m. I I'm currently planning to attend. Um, and soon there will be a new president of the chamber. I don't believe that person's been announced yet. Um, so an interesting thing that has it maybe I missed it because I've been I've been away for two weeks. So it was in an email. So and you've been away. So yeah. So the other thing is that the town of Old Sabbrooks chamber or economic development commission just gave out a bunch of awards. I saw a notice I think maybe on Facebook from them that but it Judy was one of the people that received an award. It was for people who had and there were like five or six businesses that they recognized for contributions to the community. So that might be something that we would con that's not a chamber of commerce but I think I saw it on their site maybe because Judy was recognized the former president. So something interesting, a little different than the ribbon cutting, but a way to recognize businesses for contributions to the community, something we might think about. Um, so that's all I have on the chamber. So if it was announced in email, who can you tell us who the new leader is? I don't have the EDC email anymore. I'm Oh, I've got it on Google. name is Andrew Surprise. Surprise like a surprise party. He will be taking over

the role June 2nd. Oh, so he's already in place. Um staying on through June 30th to facilitate. He has served executive director for two I'm sorry. So Judy's been executive director for two decades. He has previously served as executive director of the Windsor Chamber of Commerce. Okay. So, good experience. Okay. Jean, Friday, June 27th was what event? It's the They do an old Lime business like networking event. Okay. They call it building businesses in Old Lime. So, that's wonderful. Where is that? It's at the Old Line Inn from 8 to 9:00 in the morning. is they serve coffee and like everybody sits around and says I do this and what do you do and right so everyone has an opportunity to say what their business is and what they do and things like that so we go and just take notes like oh that person that person is EGC you know can we show up maybe we'll pay for coffee you know there's no charge there's no charge you just have to register okay and when you do the round table when I was there and I know Jeans has gone to many more than I have. Um I just said I'm with the EDC and here's what we're doing in the coming months. That kind of thing. Okay. All right. I've only been to two, but they're very nice group of people. Yeah. Yeah. It's great. All right. Thank you very much, Jean. Jean, when you go, do you go for your business or do you go for EDC? I go for my business. Yeah. So, you don't even mention EDC. I I mentioned that I'm on I I say I'm call myself a serial volunteer. Right. We we mentioned I think we acknowledged that we were both

on EDC. Yeah. One meeting or two meetings I was there. Yeah. All right. Our next agenda item trying to march along here and wrap up by seven which is the goal. Um Eastern Regional Tourism District. That's usually Wendy. Wendy's the one that's been following that. Okay. So we'll have to hold that hold that in obeyance until 20 is back with us. Um regional economic planning committee. It's actually not planning. It's economic development committee. Oh, so that is a correct. So normally that might be my bad. Okay, that's okay. So normally we would be meeting next Tuesday because usually the meetings are the second Tuesday of the month. However, this um meeting is cancelled and we are having a joint meeting, the regional economic development commission and the regional housing committee on June 24th at 2 p.m. We will hear from a panel that has been renovating schools in the region into housing. And that's as much as I know. That's that we haven't gotten an agenda or anything about that. And we were also invited to attend a regional brownfield brownfields roundtable for Rivercog pounds next Monday, June 9th from 8:30 to noon. I can't attend next Monday. Um I have the information if anyone wants the it's at um the Connecticut State Community College Middle Sex, so in Middletown. Just thinking out loud for old line. I don't I'm not aware of any brownfield. I'm not aware of any either. I don't think we have any. I had to look into that for sustainable old lime and I don't think we have any brownfield properties. The you know the worst case here would be like you know inappropriate quarrying maybe is about

the only thing I could think of. So that's um that's where the group is for the the June period. Rivercco. Yep. Okay. And our last item is retention of in town talent school to career. And that's kind of my personal uh pursuit of trying to help the town. Um I already mentioned I'm going to try and see what I can find in the way of any funding that can help expand the capability of um you know the very good work that the the high school is doing. I'm also working on and I will suggest that a at a future meeting recruiting professionals in town to mentor students you know in particular um you know professionals in different fields that could help with the whole school to career uh familiarization of our students. So that is something that that I'm working on and that's as much as I've been able to do with, you know, with this particular topic. Anybody else has interest, you're welcome to pitch in. I'm mentoring a young boy in high school uh started his own site work company. He's very successful. He's an Eagle Scout in town. Good. He's elected not not to go to college and he's developed a very successful um company. Very rewarding. Yeah, he'll text me, you know, he's 17, he does, and you know, he texts me at 9:30, ask me questions, but it's very rewarding. And this young man is on to building himself a nice business, and he has a few employees already, other high school kids. It's really cool. Good. And and he's gonna, you know, he's going to go take some community college classes and things like that. So, it's uh very interesting. Good. How did you get

connected? and Martha Shoemaker connected him to me. I don't want to mention his name on the but he's he's an Eagle Scout and very together and how he amazing intellect at age 17 and how he pricing jobs and he's already figured out that the lawn care is low margin business and I I will get some I'll basically lease those lawns to someone else so I can work. He owns equipment. He has he he came to the meeting with me at the Dunkin Donuts with his dump truck and his excavator in the back and a kid 17 years old. Good for him. It was great. I said unbelievable. I did say your accounting together. I know that doesn't sound very but I said get your admin together and doing that. So teaching these young kids how to run the because it's one thing to get the business right, solicit the business, but everybody usually when there's a problem, it's usually over the paperwork. Yep. That's definitely true. So it's fantastic. Is that um an Lysb program, the mentor program? It's a they did have a formal program several years ago. Okay. They still do. They still have that program. Oh, but this is different. Got it. Yeah. Okay. Martha just asked for me to meet with them and I was in the first five minutes. I said, "This kid's going places. I want to help them." Great. Really? Great. Okay. New and other business. Any new business? Anyone have any other business? Then do I hear a motion to adjurnn? Mona, I'll make a motion. I'll second it. All right. Any discussion? I'm learning. Cheryl, what is it? Is it Is it Robert's

ros? Right. Yes. Any discussion? Hearing none. To adjourn. I I unanimous to adjurnn.