Notes: Planning and Zoning Meeting Sept. 13
Planning and Zoning Meeting
September 13, 2005
The Planning and Zoning Commission began its September 13 meeting with a discussion of land use regulations and a possible moratorium on subdivision development. The discussion had two parts.
The first part dealt with a suggestion to have the current land use regulations reviewed by the staff of the Council of Governments. Dan McGuinness, Executive Director of the COG did a similar thing for the town of Sharon some years ago and the committee reviewed the contract used to do that work. A motion to contract with the COG to review the subdivision regulations and recommend changes was approved.
During that discussion, a member questioned whether it was time to update the town’s Land Use Plan, which was adopted in 1989 and was readopted in 1999 without substantial changes. Chairman Wayne Wilson suggested starting with the subdivision regulations He noted that the planning statements are pretty general and the statistics are out of date. He noted it could take as much as two years to get the Land Use Plan revised and it could take much less time to deal with the subdivision regulations. The consensus of the commission was to move forward to deal with subdivision regulations and, in the meantime, for all members to read the existing Land Use Plan in preparation for further discussion at another meeting.
The second part of the discussion was on a moratorium on subdivisions. Chairman Wilson noted that a moratorium requires a public hearing and review by COG for 30 days before it can go into effect. The commission reviewed a draft motion to adopt a moratorium which was used in Washington some years ago. They made some modifications to that draft which resulted in a motion that reads:
“Resolved that the Subdivision Regulations of the Town of Warren be amended by the adoption of the following new Article Section 10.2. On and after the effective date hereof, and for a period of ten (10) months thereafter, no tract or parcel of land as it exists as of the effective date of this amendment shall be subdivided or resubdivided in such a manner as to create more than two additional parts or lots, nor shall any tract or parcel of land for which subdivision or resubdivision has been given during the term of this amendment be further subdivided or resubdivided, and no applications for such shall be accepted, considered, or acted upon by the Town of Warren Planning and Zoning Commission.”
Further resolved, that the foregoing amendment shall expire, and be null and void ten (10) months from the effective date.
Further resolved, that this amendment shall be effective upon publication in accordance with Connecticut General Statutes Section 8-28.”
The date for the hearing on the moratorium was set for October 17. A Special Meeting of the commission was scheduled to follow to decide on whether to adopt the moratorium. Following that Special Meeting will be a second Special Meeting to hear from townspeople on needed modifications to zoning regulations.
Chairman Wilson then opened the meeting to the three members of the public in attendance. Trisha Barry of Town Hill Road expressed concern about the influx of development in town and indicated she was happy with the discussion of a moratorium. Greg Fisher of 20 Wintergreen Lane expressed similar concerns about backing into development and announced that he was glad to see some discussion about what the town needs and its impact on the budget. Donna Libby, 100 Town Hill Road, indicated she sees a need for discussion of growth in town and its impact on schools and she looks forward to some open discussion of plans for future.
ZEO-issued permits were approved without comment for:
Martha Atwood for a single family dwelling at 314 Brick School Road;
Demetrio Meduri for a deck and porch at 167 Town Hill Road;
Fran Lawlor for a deck at 212 Melius Road; and
Scott Davis for a Gazebo and storage shed at 4 Partridge Road.
The commission then discussed Public Act 05-124 and the resulting conservation restrictions and concluded that a new clause needs to be added to zoning applications to require owners to identify conservation easements on their property and notify them to follow the correct procedures. In his note to the commission, Dan McGuinness, Executive Director of the COG wrote:
“Effective October1, 2005, the bill sets out a procedure that applicants for local land use permits must follow if there is a ‘conservation restriction’ or ‘preservation restriction’ on the property. Basically, if there is a conservation or preservation restriction on a property, no application for a permit is to be filed with a municipal land use agency unless the holder of the conservation or preservation restriction has been notified.”
A member of the commission raised questions about size and position of fences by Lake Waramaug. The ZEO agreed to review the matter and the commission will discuss it at its next meeting.
