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These minutes are for informational purposes only. For official minutes, please contact the Town Clerk's Office.
PLANNING COMMISSION
REGULAR MEETING
MAY 28, 2002
CALL TO ORDER
Joan Howard, Chairman, called the Regular Meeting of the Simsbury Planning Commission to order at 7:35pm in the Main Meeting Room of the Simsbury Town Offices. The following members were present: Susan Bednarcyk, Ferg Jansen, David Ryan, Pamela Katz and John Loomis. Also present was Leonard Tolisano, Senior Planner.
APPOINTMENT OF ALTERNATES
Chairman Howard appointed John Loomis to serve for Ernest Gardow.
DISCUSSION OF PRE-PLANNING FOR PLAN OF DEVELOPMENT
Discussion of 1994 Implementation Guide
Open Space and Recreation
Historic Preservation
Chairman Howard opened the discussion by asking Mr. Tolisano to give an overview of this section from the last two Plans. He explained that the driving force of the Open Space activity in the past was the southern end of town where there is very little green on the map. Zoning regulations were modified to establish a 20% open space dedication requirement; thereafter, the town began acquiring open space regularly. Over 400 acres of open space and 189 acres of conservation easement have been acquired specifically due to the 20% open space dedication rule. Mr. Tolisano said that by the 1983 Plan, the pattern was to acquire open space with the 20% dedication. The 1994 Plan expounded on that by enhancing and improving existing open space parcels. The focus was on linking parcels, and on
enhancing the river and stream corridors. In addition, parcels were flagged as high priority for acquisition, and the town began to acquire land outright, not just through the 20% dedication. Mr. Tolisano mentioned that the town now has an Open Space fund of $1 million/year, which is a very good mechanism for acquiring parcels, although, as Chairman Howard pointed out, a million dollars doesn’t go very far when it comes to real estate in today’s market.
Commissioner Loomis addressed the technical document and questioned the validity of the figures listed in the Open Space section. He felt that much of the information in this section would need to be updated. Specifically, he pointed out figure 4-7 and chart fig. 2-1 as needing to be updated. Commissioner Loomis gave an example of the listing of approximately 10 acres belonging to the Land Trust, stating that the Land Trust acreage is much more than that now. He felt that it would be necessary to first update the open space inventory to ensure that the numbers accurately reflect the amount of town-owned open space and to be sure that parcels are classified correctly, if in fact they are open space parcels, or are for either active or passive recreation, etc. He said this listing would then fuel the
rest of the discussion with respect to how to manage the Open Space section of the new Plan. Mr. Tolisano agreed that semantics are important in this section (i.e., active vs. passive recreation), as to whether something is considered open space. Chairman Howard said the Commission would need to look at some of the language and definitions to make sure they accurately represent what they should. Specifically, figures 2-1,
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May 28, 2002
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2-2, and 4-7 were highlighted for updating. Chairman Howard said she would discuss updating of the Technical Document with Mr. Tolisano and Mr. Voelker; she then directed the discussion to the Implementation Guide.
The Goal, and Policy One and its objectives were read. Commissioner Loomis questioned how Objective A had been accomplished, and Mr. Tolisano said no zoning regulation changes had been made that specifically address this objective. Commissioner Loomis asked if they would want to keep Objective A if nothing has been done to this point and no one has followed up to ensure implementation. Mr. Tolisano said he was unaware if other towns have zoning regulations for open space and said this was a difficult objective to implement. Commissioner Jansen pointed out that perhaps having the updated data and hard numbers would facilitate gauging the necessity of Objective A. Commissioner Katz mentioned that in Objective B, the key word is “buffer”, stating the idea is not to take land away
from what little industrial land the town has, but rather to ease the transition between differing land uses. She felt that they might not need both Objective A & B of Policy One. Mr. Tolisano mentioned the green space regulation for commercial development, requiring unpaved areas to be left on the site, stating these areas are kept undeveloped, but are not considered “dedicated” open space. Chairman Howard asked if Objective B might be a place to address the character places with the Design Review Board, and Mr. Tolisano said this might be one place to do that. Commissioner Jansen felt Objective B addressed biodiversity, mentioning that presently kids have no bike paths to get them directly to Simsbury Farms from different parts of town and asking where in the Plan to suggest that. Commissioner Bednarcyk mentioned Policy 5, Objective B, and Mr. Tolisano said to look at the areas referred to as “linkages” for this.
Chairman Howard agreed with Commissioner Jansen’s idea about bike paths to Simsbury Farms and said the Commission would need to look at that as they go through the Plan again.
Policy Two and its objective were read. Mr. Tolisano said that in the two cluster subdivisions, plans were in place for this, although not on town land, but those plans were never implemented. Commissioner Loomis questioned if the term “higher population density” referred to the southern end of town, and stated that it appeared that this policy seems broad relative to the objective and what is actually possible. He questioned that if this hasn’t happened, is it really meaningful. Commissioner Katz felt they might want to specify certain parcels or areas as “higher density”, and Mr. Tolisano said the code on the map “proposed open space” is used to flag potential areas for further open space. Chairman Howard said it is useful to have the general
intent laid out, perhaps getting more specific underneath that. Commissioner Loomis asked if the goal was equivalent to the intent, and Chairman Howard said yes.
Policy Three and its objective were read. The members discussed the different ways trails are marked and maps and information are disseminated. It was agreed to revisit this objective, broadening it with respect to how best to get this information out to the public using open space markers, trails maps, and the town web site. Policy Four and its objective were read. Commissioner Loomis asked to what extent there is such a plan regarding town-owned recreational facilities, and Mr. Tolisano said there is none. Commissioner Loomis felt this typified the problem in the overall Plan of things being said and not being done, as in this case the Plan says to create a development plan for recreational facilities and no plan was ever created. He said they need to look at these things that get
said and never get done. Chairman Howard said some progress on this objective may have been made piecemeal, but they should look at the
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overall progress. She said they may want to have someone from the Parks and Recreation department come in and discuss this with them. Commissioner Jansen suggested also having someone from the Trails Council come in to speak.
Policy Five and its objectives were read. Chairman Howard questioned whether some of the lack of long-range planning on recreational issues is due to money, and Mr. Tolisano said partly. Commissioner Katz felt that in many cases, things in the Plan are too broad and need to be more specific to give people something real to act on. Commissioner Loomis agreed, saying that if one test of these policies and objectives is whether or not there has been any identifiable action on them, the members need to look closely at that. Chairman Howard felt that it was still important to keep things somewhat broad to give individual departments the latitude to do what they need to do, and Commissioner Loomis said that perhaps the right mix would be to state the broader ideas, but then get specific below them with “for examples” or something like that. He questioned how much town staff actually use the Plan of Development when making decisions, and Mr. Tolisano said most decisions are made
because they are good planning, and would probably be made whether or not the Plan of Development exisited. He said the Plan of Development is intended to be a management tool with the Planning Commission overseeing the management. Ideally, the Commission should review the Plan at least annually to see what needs to be done and by whom, etc. Chairman Howard said this review of the Plan provides an opportunity to look at specific issues related to the general goals, policies and objectives. The members then further discussed how general/specific the Plan should be, the pros/cons of either approach, and how to give the Plan real functionality, perhaps more than it has now.
Policy Six and its objective were read. Commissioner Jansen said he felt this was redundant, and Commissioner Loomis agreed, saying it seemed very similar to what’s already stated. Policy Seven and its objectives were read. Commissioner Katz mentioned there are not too many parcels left that relate to this. Mr. Tolisano said the Stoddard Resevoir and the Baker property relate to this very well. Policy Eight was read and discussed. While retaining title to town-owned open space might seem obvious, Mr. Tolisano mentioned that land acquired generally, and not specified as “open space”, could be sold by the town. He said that these sales would require an 8-24 referral which would come before the Planning Commission for approval. It was agreed that Policy Eight
should be looked at again. Chairman Howard wrapped up the discussion at this point. Chairman Howard made a motion to defer the discussion of the Historic Preservation section of the Implementation Guide to the next meeting. Commissioner Katz seconded the motion, which passed unanimously.
ANNOUNCEMENTS
None
STAFF REPORTS
Commissioner Katz provided the members with a draft document she created from her notes on the discussion of the Housing section of the Implementation Guide. She said she had gone through the notes and put the information into a narrative-type format rather than the present bullet format being used in the IG. She asked the members to read over the information for discussion at an upcoming meeting.
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Commissioner Jansen pointed out that at the last meeting, they discussed the issue of sending out letters to various Boards/Commissions, civic groups and other interested parties regarding the Plan of Development update and schedule. He asked when and how this was going to be done, and Chairman Howard said she wanted to discuss it with Mr. Voelker first. Commissioner Bednarcyk said she had updated the ‘94 introduction letter from her files and gave a copy of that to Chairman Howard. It was agreed to do two letters, the first a general letter of introduction and the second a letter with the specific schedule. Chairman Howard again stated she would meet with Mr. Voelker to go over this and said she wanted the members to see the final draft of the letter and review the mailing list before the
letter goes out. With respect to the mailing list, she mentioned that the Commission had previously requested the mailing list(s) from Mr. Voelker and had not yet received them. She asked to have those provided as requested.
Commissioner Ryan mentioned that he would be able to attend the October 17, 2002 CRCOG meeting, and Chairman Howard asked to have him put on the schedule for that meeting.
CORRESPONDENCE
None
NEW APPLICATION(S)
None
APPROVAL OF MINUTES of May 14, 2002
Commissioner Ryan moved to approve the minutes of May 14, 2002 as presented. Commissioner Bednarcyk seconded the motion, which passed unanimously with Chairman Howard and Commissioner Katz abstaining.
ADJOURNMENT
Commissioner Ryan moved to adjourn the meeting at 9:50pm. Commissioner Bednarcyk seconded the motion, which passed unanimously.
____________________________
Pamela Katz, Secretary
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