Simsbury, CT - Zoning Commission Minutes

Austin Barney, Chairman, called the regular meeting of the Zoning Commission to order at timeMinute0Hour197:00 p.m. in the Main Meeting Room of the Simsbury Town Offices. The following members were present: Garrett Delehanty, Jr., James Gallagher, Patricia Askham, Alexis Popik and Alternate Madeleine Gilkey. Also in attendance were Hiram Peck, Director of Planning, Lois Laczko, Commission Clerk, and other interested parties.

a. Application of Gao Zhen, Owner, C. Jonathan Lavery, Agent, for a Site Plan Amendment for construction of wooden rails to the perimeter of an existing patio and also for the placement of twelve (12) 2´ x 2´ tables and twenty-four (24) seats to the patio on property located at the Green Tea Restaurant, 570 Hopmeadow Street.

Jon Lavery, addressStreet298 Hopmeadow Street, Weatogue spoke on behalf of the application for the Green Tea Restaurant His client wants to utilize a concrete floor surface area that is roughly 7´ by 80´ to place twelve (12) tables and twenty-four (24) chairs so they can serve food and alcohol on the patio.

Chairman Barney asked Mr. Lavery if he was the agent for the owner of the building or the owner of the business. Mr. Lavery said that he represents the owner of the business. Chairman Barney said that the commission needs written evidence signed by the owner of the building that this application has his approval. Mr. Lavery said that he will supply Mr. Peck with this evidence.

Mr. Lavery said that this patio is already an existing covered patio area. There will be a wooden railing system around the area and he showed this on a drawing. He said that the Design Review Board asked that the existing planting area, which is between the fire lane, parking lot and the patio be made denser. This will provide a more attractive appearance from the street and make for a better experience on the patio. Mr. Lavery said that this application is not going to effect parking at all on this site. He said also that as the patio is under 10% of the gross area a special exception for the extension of the liquor permit is not required. Mr. Lavery also asked that he was asked by the Design Review Board to consider establishing some landscape out at the street. He said that this land belongs to the State (showed photos). There also are overhead wires and site line issues.

Commissioner Delehanty asked if the parking ratios are adequately met with the use of the porch area. Mr. Peck responded yes. Commissioner Askham asked if the parking lot would be re-aligned. Mr. Lavery said no as the parking lot lines are in good shape. They are not extending into the parking lot. Commissioner Askham asked how close the nearest parking spot is to the patio area. Mr. Lavery said approximately 18-feet.

Mr. Lavery said that the Design Review Board recommended replacing the existing plantings. The Design Review Board did not like the yews. Mr. Lavery said that the yews are mature and healthy. They would like to keep the yews and place planting boxes in between the yews.

a. Commissioner Askham moved to approve with conditions the application of Gao Zhen, Owner, C. Jonathan Lavery, Agent, for a Site Plan Amendment for construction of wooden rails to the perimeter of an existing patio and also for the placement of twelve (12) 2´ x 2´ tables and twenty-four (24) seats to the patio on property located at the Green Tea Restaurant, 570 Hopmeadow Street. This approval is contingent on the receipt of a letter from the property owner approving this use by the applicant. Also this approval is based on the applicant’s construction of wooden rails around the perimeter of the existing patio, placement of twelve 2´ x 2´ tables and twenty-four (24) seats to the patio, maintaining and adding yews as necessary, and adding planter boxes between the yews to accommodate the plantings. The motion was seconded by Commissioner Popik and passed unanimously.

Hiram Peck introduced Dwight Merriam to the commission. He is special council to the town on land use matters. Mr. Peck explained that the RFP’s had been sent out about eight months ago for law firms in the state that would be interested in doing work for the town, specifically in regard to future potential large applications. The Board of Selection unanimously made their selection one or two meetings ago.

Dwight Merriam said that his first task was to look at the PDD draft saying that he feels it is about 90% to where it should end up. Attorney Merriam said that he has taught land use law every year for the past 29 years. He said that the PDD is a powerful technique and it is good for everybody. It is a natural place to end up as you begin to look at a town that is largely built out. There are very few big parcels left to look at in a wholistic way and a lot of little parcels that may have to be redeveloped over time. Attorney Merriam said that there is very little that is original in land use regulation as everybody is looking at everyone else’s documents.

Attorney Merriam said that his first mentor when he graduated from law school was Professor Daniel Mandelker of placePlaceNameWashington PlaceTypeUniversity in placeCitySt. Louis. Professor Mandelker has just finished a book (not published). This will be the text on Planned Unit Developments. They are the same as Planned Development Districts (PDD). He said that the commissioners should have copies of a few chapters of this book and asked that they read them. He will discuss this with the commission members at a future meeting.

Attorney Merriam said that a problematic part of the PDD is how you value the transfer of development rights. In 1978, while he was in law school, he wrote an article called “Making TDR Work”. The commission members should each have a copy of the article. The issues that are in the article are much the same issues today. Attorney Merriam said that the idea is a good one and can be successfully implemented. The difficulty will be how you are trading land area in one part of the town for coverage in another, what the ratio and values are going to be. He said that this is a great technique as it creates a dialogue early on and lets all the stake holders resolve everything that they can resolve. This is an action forcing strategy.

Attorney Merriam said that a PDD concept allows the land designer to come in with a very flexible design, gives the public a high level of participation early on in the process and allows the commission to shape the larger public interest in the dialogue with the developer and the other stake holders in the community (i.e. neighbors, etc.). He said that this is all done on a conceptual and legislative level when people are most able to \

change their plans. He said that the process is as follows: 1) adopt an amendment to the regulations (PDD). This does not apply to any particular site in town. The action of adopting a PDD regulation is not appealable under placeStateConnecticut law as it does not apply to any particular piece of land. 2) next step would be a floating zone (commissioners had two cases to look at prior to next PDD meeting). On the basis of an application made by a property owner the floating zone would then descend and apply as an overlay district to some parcel of land. This does include a concept plan so you would have a general idea of what activity would go on the site. Developers can make changes in the conceptual stage before going on to a master plan. 3) administrative step. The developer would come in with final site plan (very detailed – construction ready drawings).

Commissioner Barney asked where in the process they would have public hearings. Attorney Merriam said that there are public hearings in the adoption of the initial regulation, and a public hearing when this descends and applies to a parcel and the conceptual site plan is approved.

Attorney Merriam said that he recommends prior to someone applying for a PDD and concept plan the applicant should first go to speak to the Director of Planning and set up an administrative meeting with the Town Engineer, Conservation Officer, etc. and discuss the project. They could then have a nonbinding pre-application meeting with the commission to discuss their project before they actually put in an application. The petitioner would have a chance to get some feed back. He said that the applicant should, in some form, reach out to the neighborhood.

Attorney Merriam suggested they should take some of the more detailed criteria’s that were in the draft (configuration of parking, etc.) and create a Planned Development District resource guide. This would give the applicant an idea of what is important to the commission. You would create a legislative history. You need to keep good verbatim records.

Attorney Merriam said that the principles that are important are 1) keep regulation short, 2) guide book, 3) step wise fashion where the applicant, commission, and public have the least financial investment possible relative to the need to fix the critical elements, 4) committed to a concept plan and 5) master site plan.

The Men’s Warehouse, 6 placeCityAlbany Turnpike, has come back to Mr. Beach and complained that they are over budget and want to make design changes. Chairman Barney said that they should go back to the Design Review Board.