MINUTES OF A REGULAR MEETING OF THE CORNWALL

PLANNING AND ZONING COMMISSION HELD ON FEBRUARY 14, 2006.

 

A Regular Meeting of the Cornwall Planning and Zoning Commission was held at 7:30 pm on Tuesday, February 14, 2006, in the Cornwall Town Hall. Present were: Chairman Anne Kosciusko, presiding, members Lynn Cheney, David Colbert, Patrick Hare, Richard Lynn and alternates James LaPorta and Emilie Pryor. Emilie was designated to vote for Chris Hopkins.

 

REGULAR MEETING

 

The Minutes of the Regular Meeting of January 10, 2006 and the Strategy Session on Updating the Town Plan on January 21, 2006 were approved as circulated.

 

APPLICATIONS FOR ZONING PERMITS

 

The monthly report of zoning permit activity by staff was briefly reviewed

 

OLD BUSINESS

 

Subdivision                 William Paley, Poughkeepsie Road

                                    To subdivide 10.354 acres into two lots

 

It was unanimously voted to accept the application.

 

 

Planner Meetings

 

Members discussed which planners they preferred and their different ideas on how to approach a Town Plan. Pat Hare stated that all three planners avoided the issue of single family zoning. Tom McGowan spoke about taking on common septic systems. Rick has concluded that the Commission should try to prepare the Plan quickly and all at once instead of incrementally and that they should look for resources to implement the Plan when it is completed. Annie stated that the Commission needs to put a number in the budget. She said that members need to decide if they want to go through the process of coming up with an entirely new Plan, when a lot of the old Plan is still valid. She is not sure if a new one would be drastically different. The Commission could work from the old Plan and do an implementation plan. Gordon Ridgway said that it is important to hold other events which would include the public. He said that the existing plan is good and a lot of the issues discussed are in the existing plan. The Board of Selectman has put $30, 000 for the Town Plan preparation and $3,000 for mapping into the capitol budget and has removed it from the Land Use budget. Dave Colbert stated that he is in favor of a whole new plan because if it is not done, there will be no opportunity to have new ideas introduced and the Commission would not know if there is a change in emphasis on various issues. The lack of affordable housing and sprawl are big issues that the old Plan has no teeth to address. Pat suggested a session to look at the existing plan, and then bring in experts to work through the ideas with the public on specific proposals. A planner could be hired to only work on certain portions of the Plan or to be a coordinator. Emilie stated that the Commission should have the build-out analysis done to enlighten the public to the worse case scenario. Gordon suggested Jim Gibbons, from the UCONN Extension Service, to be a

resource for agriculture  related issues.  Rick said that the approach taken will need to depend on how

 

 

much time and energy members are willing to devote. A survey of the community could be done to identify the major issues. Those who respond to the survey could be asked to serve on a subcommittee. Subcommittees could work with speakers/professionals. A planner would not be asked to write the whole plan. The Commission should budget for a build-out analysis and data on growth in the town. The Commission could combine the survey with a meeting including the public at a later date. Emilie suggested a facilitator or wording the survey questions to make people think. Pat stated that the Commission should do research and provide data in the questions. Two of the planners who spoke at the Planner Session have provided samples of plans from other towns, which will be left in the Land Use Office for members to see for two months before being returned. Members were encouraged to read the old plan and review the new state statutes involving town plans, which Rick will send to Vera to be copied and distributed. Lynn suggested starting with a build-out analysis and the old plan to educate people. Gordon will ask David Grossman to provide an updated version of the ÒCornwall in ContextÓ, which he compiled for the existing plan. Vera will distribute copies of the old version. Pat said that the Commission should rank issues in terms of what will happen if something is NOT done about a particular issue. Members should be prepared to decide by the next meeting whether to redo the entire plan or to update the old one. Pat reported that Andrew Roraback has been researching towns purchasing farm land and that he would be willing to speak about it.

 

 

GIS Maps

 

Rick has copies of 4 out of 7 of the completed maps contracted with HVA. The three that are not complete include: aerial photos, agriculture and cultural resources. It is past time to complete the contract. Rick stated that the Commission could advertise in the Waterbury  Republican for requests for qualifications, samples of work and references to find others who do GIS mapping and what they can provide. Those who reply could do a presentation at the April meeting.

 

 

Sign Enforcement

 

There was no new information to discuss on this item.

 

 

It was unanimously voted to change the order of the agenda, moving open space guidelines to the end of the agenda.

 

NEW BUSINESS                

 

Preliminary Discussion           First Selectman Gordon Ridgway

Lorch Farm

 

Gordon read a letter written by Barbara Gold which will appear in the March Chronicle, explaining that money will be raised to purchase approximately 100 acres of land on the east side of Route 7. No Town funds will be used, but the Town will own the property and it will be overseen by a committee of citizens.

 

 

 

OLD BUSINESS (continued)

 

Open Space Guidelines

 

Dave explained that the original guidelines required subdivision applicants to give 15% of the property or pay a fee in lieu of open space. The first draft was dated 9/02 and was adopted in 8/03. A first draft of the revised guidelines was dated 8/9/05 and was adopted 8/17/05. He was upset that he was away and unable to give his input. He reviewed the changes that had been made and explained that he objects to all of them. Rick explained the reasons for the changes, including the fact that at the time the original guidelines were written, land values were an average of $3,000 per acre and now they are approximately $10,000 for raw land. Some adjustments were necessary to be more reasonable for a couple of applicants. Annie explained that when it came time to apply the guidelines, they looked different. Dave said that he does not feel that it is a hardship to ask people to pay 10%. Pat suggested doing it as a lien on the property instead of paying it all right away. He said that small of chunks of property (15%) are of no value if spread all around town. Anne explained that the Commission is dealing with peopleÕs property and its value. . Dave said that he is in favor of the maximum.. Jim prefers a percentage, not a set fee. Emilie stated that it should be up to 10%. Rick explained that the Land Use attorney said to have a set percentage in order to not show favoritism and that the Commission made the decision to change the guidelines knowing that they could be amended further with the update of the Town Plan. Anne said that it was good to start with 5% and it could be bumped up after people got used to the idea. This will be put on the agenda again with a focus on how to address it with the Town Plan.

 

COMMUNICATIONS

 

Vera reported that the Town of Sharon P&Z will be holding a public hearing on March 8th for an addition to St. BridgetÕs Church. She also announced an ÒEffective Meeting and Parliamentary ProcedureÓ workshop to be held on Tuesday, February 28th.

 

Anne said that her husband is concerned that CornwallÕs emergency crew could not handle an elderly housing community in town.

 

Rick said that Tom Byrne will respond soon to KarlÕs request for legal opinion on the Berkshire Country Store.

 

Jim Gibbons will be speaking in March about Town Plans, an event sponsored by NWCCOG.

 

ADJOURNMENT

 

The meeting was adjourned at 9:48pm.   

                       

                                                                        Vera Dinneen, Land Use Clerk

 

NOTE – THESE MINUTES ARE A DRAFT.  THEY WILL BE NOTED AS FINAL ONLY AFTER THEY ARE REVIEWED AND APPROVED AS DRAFTED OR AS MODIFIED AT A SUBSEQUENT MEETING OF THE CORNWALL P&Z COMMISSION.