PLANNING & ZONING COMMISSION REGULAR MEETING FEBUARY 9, 2010
Present: Regular members Pat Hare, Lynn Cheney, David Colbert, James LaPorta and Heidi Kearns, Alternate members Emilie Pryor and Josh Tyson (in 7:26PM) and commission staff Karen Griswold Nelson
Absent: Regular member Chris Hopkins and alternate member Buddy Hurlburt.
Chairman Pat Hare called the meeting to order at 7:02P.M. in the Cornwall Town Hall with a quorum established. Mrs. Pryor was seated for regular member Chris Hopkins.
Motion made by Mr. LaPorta, seconded by Mrs. Cheney to amend the agenda to act on Agenda item 6A “First cut division of land as proposed by Rinker and Amelia Buck, 56 Everest Hill Road” prior to all other business: unanimously approved.
First cut division of land as proposed by Rinker and Amelia Buck, 56 Essex Hill Road.
Information made part of the record.
Soil inspection and percolation test results prepared by Brian Neff, PE.
Mapping(s) entitled “Topographic map prepared for Amelia Buck dated November 2009 by
Richard Adams and “Compilation plan prepared for Amelia Buck dated November 2009 by
Richard Adams.
Certificate of Title prepared by Stephanie Weaver, dated June 12, 2008 addressed to the Town of
Cornwall as relating to the proposed division of land constituting a first cut.
Mrs. Amelia “Amy” Buck was in attendance to represent the matter.
Commission members, staff and Mrs. Buck addressed the proposed division of land into two parcels, a 10.653 acre parcel containing the existing home and accessory structures and a 5.317 acre parcel to be used for the construction of a new single family residence, both parcels with access from Essex Hill Road. Note was made that the sites had been investigated for existing and future well and septic with no final report from Torrington Area Health yet available and that the new lot appeared to contain enough land to comply with the current buildable land requirement. Concerns were raised regarding the relocation of the blue trail with agreement by Mrs. Buck that the matter would be addressed. It was recommended that the mylar to be filed in the Land Records contain language stating that the new lot was not an approved building lot.
Josh Tyson in 7:26PM
REGULAR ZONING MEETING:
1. APPLICATIONS FOR ZONING PERMITS.
#0813. Heidi and Walter Kearns. Addition and deck expansion on an existing single family residence – 159 Flat Rocks Road.
#0814. Jeremy Brecher and Jill Cutler. Addition (mudroom) to an existing single family residence as per ZBA variance granted January 25 – 36 Yelping Hills Road.
Ms. Griswold Nelson advised the commission that Mr. Brecher had Ms. Cutler had received a variance for the construction of the mud room within both the side and front setbacks based on the location of the existing home being located almost entirely within the front and side setbacks of the grandfathered lot.
APPROVAL OF MINUTES. December 8th and January 12th meetings.
Motion made by Mrs. Kearns, seconded by Mr. Colbert to approve the minutes of the December 8th regular meeting with the change of the first line of page 3 to read: References to home based businesses be addressed and {the consideration of some} limited retail in home based business and/or central retail spaces [be considered]
Motion made by Mrs. Kearns, seconded by Mrs. Cheney to approve the minutes of the January 12th regular meeting as presented: unanimously approved.
NEW APPLICATIONS: None.
PENDING APPLICATIONS. None.
5. CORRESPONDENCE AND COMMUNICATIONS RECEIVED.
A. Correspondence from Margaret Cooley on behalf of the Cornwall Housing Corporation regarding amendments to the affordable housing parcel program Zoning regulations.
January 14, 2010 correspondence addressed to Patrick Hare, Chairman from Margaret Cooley on behalf of the Cornwall Housing Corporation was made part of the record.
Mrs. Cooley’s request to reopen the matter of the “buildable area” conflict between the one acre affordable parcel lots versus the buildable area for all other residential lots which both the Housing Corp and the Commission have not pressed ahead with since last spring was discussed. It was agreed that the entire matter of buildable area for both normal residential housing and the one acre parcel program should be addressed comprehensively by planning staff, Tom McGowan so as to move forward and correct the regulations properly and consistently overall. In response to concerns raised regarding the inconsistencies in the zoning regulations regarding this one area of concern, staff was directed to prepare a staff report regarding other areas of concern for discussion at the March meeting.
OTHER BUSINESS.
First cut division of land as proposed by Rinker and Amelia Buck, 56 Everest Hill Road. See above.
PLANNING MEETING.
Final draft of Plan of Conservation and Development –
Corrected copies (Bechtel edits and additional, deleted and modified language as prepared by Tom McGowan and incorporated into the Plan by Griswold Nelson) of the draft Plan were made part of the record. Agreement was that final edits, in terms of sentence structure and word syntax for clarify, form, punctuation and typos, could be submitted to the Land Use office within the next week with another corrected copy to be made available, complete with changes to photographs under the direction of Mr. Colbert, one week prior to the next regularly scheduled meeting if possible. The timing for the approval of the Plan was discussed and was to be revisited at the next meeting based on the timing of a corrected Plan to the commission and available to the public.
Discussion of Harrall Michalowski “Cornwall Village Centers Marketing Study” and presentation date to the commission.
Copies of the Harrall Michalowski “Cornwall Village Centers Marketing Study” were made part of the record. After discussion, commission consensus was to set a special meeting for March 23rd for a presentation to the commission and interested public.
Discussion of planning tasks and priorities for the year 2010.
Planning tasks and priorities as outlined in the Plan of C&D were revisited by the commission at large.
ADJOURNMENT.
Motion by action of presiding chairman Pat Hare to adjourn at 9:40PM.
Respectfully submitted,
Karen Griswold Nelson