Planning Commission Minutes 03/11/2014 ADOPTED

PLANNING COMMISSION MINUTES

MARCH 11, 2014

REGULAR MEETING

I.          CALL TO ORDER

Ferg Jansen, Chairman, called the meeting to order at 7:00 p.m. in the Main Meeting Room of the Simsbury Town Offices.  The following members were present:  Richard Cortes, Gary Lungarini, Mark Drake, Robert Kulakowski, Kevin Prell and Ron Locandro, Jr.  Also in attendance were Hiram Peck, Director of Planning, Janis Prifti, Commission Clerk, and other interested parties.  Chairman Jansen thanked SCTV for taping the meeting.

II.        SEATING OF ALTERNATES AS NECESSARY

Richard Cortes and Ron Locandro, Jr. were seated.

III.       DISCUSSION ITEMS

a.         Referral to Zoning Commission for Zoning Commission Application #14-03 of Ensign-Bickford Realty for a Zone Change from I-2 to PAD on the properties located at 437 Hopmeadow Street (Assessor's Map F13, Block 103, Lot 005-3), 200 Powder Forest Drive (Assessor's Map F14, Block 103, Lot 005-4), 225 Powder Forest Drive (Assessor's Map F14, Block 103, Lot 005-5), and 275 Powder Forest Drive (Assessor's Map F14, Block 103, Lot 005-6). Zone I-2.

The Applicant returned to respond to points raised by the Commission at the 2/25/2014 meeting.  Changes included adding the Senior Assisted Living facility to the PAD, and a vignette was provided for a corner of the building to provide a flavor for the architecture.  The boom in rental housing was discussed and a recent article provided on the subject from the Wall Street Journal, as well as their notes from their recent meeting with the EEC.  The developers are currently building the Mill Pond Crossing town homes and they are beginning the marketing process for the Carson Way homes for this project.  The Carson name resulted from their historic research of old names in Town and was agreed on by all Town departments.  Regarding the phasing and timing for the proposed project, the developer indicated the earth excavation is about to begin and will take about 1-2 years; the 2 rental properties would be developed in order to attract renters with 6 months of site prep and 18 months of hard construction planned.  They anticipate it will take about 2 years with 108 units in one area and 96 units in the 2nd area.  They will be grading for the site plan and would return to the Commission for any modifications to the site plan, as they did with the Mill Commons project.  The town homes are independent of the rental units.  The Commission was advised that the assisted living developer would come before the Commission some time later this year.

Commissioner Rice joined the meeting at 7:13 p.m. so that Commissioner Locandro was no longer seated.

Regarding the PAD needing to be a complete plan, the Commissioners expressed concern about what commercial businesses would come in to this area.  Town Staff indicated the commercial component represents one portion of this mixed-use development and any significant change would come back at least to the Zoning Commission for approval and would not include fast food or drive thru.  The West Street project had a well-defined residential and commercial component with a commercial restaurant in place.  Town Staff added the area status quo has been a commercial park for 30 years with nothing happening.  The Commissioners discussed what safeguards could be incorporated once the PAD is approved.   The Applicant commented they were the first ones to use the PAD for the West Street development and there are distinct PAD phases:  1) is the mixture of uses acceptable for the location; 2) a master development plan with building layouts, parking, sidewalk systems, and a rendering, but before the uses can be established they would return with information about the proposed tenants until expanding to a site plan.  The PAD was viewed by the developer as a long-term interactive process that is not yet defined.  The property owner added that about 90,000 cu. ft. of material has to be removed before the site can be developed and they are providing a conceptual picture of the flow of the area, which included the businesses across the street, and meeting the PAD goal of a wide mixed-use product.  Their thinking includes six premier smaller office and multiple use buildings.

Regarding whom controls the building sizes and parking, Town Staff explained that the Design Review Board would review the building design and the Zoning Commission would assure the original concept is met.  If the Zoning Commission approves this change, components that are locked in include the general location of the development, the number and type of buildings shown on the plan, and the site coverage of 75,000 sq. ft.  The Planning Commission role would be to recommend to the Zoning Commission whether this development fits the mixed-use concept of the PAD.  The Design Review Board provided a lot of input regarding West Street's design, which included design modifications as the project progressed; the same procedure would be followed for this project.

The POCD discussed mixed use for the PAD with the potential to walk to transit, a variety of residential products, and the positive economic development provided by this development with minimal impact on the schools.  The $17.7 million estimate for positive economic impact was developed by the Applicant using a 10-mile economic ring for the property halving the $140,000 average income to $70,000 to $75,000 per household as a relative amount.  The Commissioners asked whether spending $70,000 in Town with $75,000 in earnings is likely.  The Applicant indicated the amount would include investments and the numbers are considered reasonable and relevant with a lot of cash buyers currently in the market.   They noted this project ties into the proposed Weatogue Village District which stretches from Rte. 165 to Powder Forest Drive.  The Applicant mentioned that once the apartments went in on West Street, the Sonoco station experienced increased business.  The Applicant noted that while currently the Town is paid less than $1300/year for this property, when this project is built they will be paying the Town about $2+ million/year in taxes and another $2 million in building fees to be able to move forward.  They felt the number of students added to the school system would be a minor incremental cost; traffic has been covered; there is a tremendous tax boost to the Town; the project fits within the general feel of the Town with multiple uses for the PAD; and they are not asking for Master Plan approval at this time.  The Applicant requested Commission endorsement of the PAD zone change.

Commissioner Needham joined the meeting at 7:20 p.m. and Commissioner Cortes was no longer seated.

The Commissioners asked whether this project would compete with the Town Center goal to have a great density of population.  The Applicant summarized that Simsbury is a phenomenal bedroom community and this project should create more of that synergy with the Village Weatogue District.  The Commissioners wanted to assure the center of Town remains the center and that this area not compete with that.  The Applicant responded that the office-space anticipated to have been built here 30 years ago never happened and this project would provide demand-based, expensive, new construction and could only take place when available units are already occupied.  The housing and apartments are the new portion for this area; an exhibit provided to the Commissioners at the 2/25/2014 meeting highlighted that the Charrette process revealed Simsbury needs about 700-900 multi-family housing units. The State has projected small growth for Avon and Farmington, and negative growth for Simsbury and this would offer a more suburban lifestyle similar to Blue Back Square with residents shopping in Town Center contributing to economic development.  Town Staff believed this project would not compete with Town Center and added that development of Weatogue and each village district will go through the village district process and each will have a very different character than Town Center; it is hoped the plans for Weatogue will be out in the next few months.  This project is anticipated to be additive with the working population here traveling toward West Hartford and people in the North End of Town toward Day Hill.

A significant increase in Town Center population density is a goal in order to encourage and sustain commercial development, and a significant commitment to that development would be required in such a well-established area.  The energy from this 200-unit development would similarly encourage commercial development in the Weatogue area.  In the north end of Town, Big Y will encourage spin-off economic activity, as would the 200-300 units for Meadowood.  The amenities of Town Center were discussed as very different from these other areas and the population densities are very different.  This project would transition from complementary single-family detached homes to attached for-sale product to rental product.  The Applicant indicated this Weatogue project would have about 5 units per acre in line with village district discussions, while Mill Commons has about 10 units per acre and development of Town Center would likely be an even higher density.  These units are not being designed to be condos in the future while Mill Commons could be.

The Commissioners asked about the heated rental market.  The Applicant responded that currently there is less land to be developed and permitting is much more demanding; the last new apartments built in Simsbury were in the early '80's.  Simsbury has had negative growth due to an imbalance between single-family detached homes growth in the last 30 years no growth for multi-family.  If the 700-900 units are built over the next ten years, that could become the new Simsbury core.  The developer in 25 years of business has never seen rental rates go down and statistically the Greater Hartford market is one of top five in the nation regarding multi-family vacancy rates.  Current trends include growth in immigration and less generations living in a house leading to demand for more housing.  Regarding the pricing effect on 30-40 year old homes in the area, the developer believed they operate independently of one another.  It was noted that more young people are relocating to rental apartments from family homes and are looking for new product, while Simsbury has a lot of older housing stock and re-building of sites could take place.  Marketplace mobility has increased causing increased demand for rental properties.  The Commissioners noted the need to increase the younger demographic in Town.  The Applicant commented that once the economy turns people will start new businesses and require office space and they selected very high quality award-winning developers to maintain Simsbury's character; diversity of high-quality housing stock with amenities is already reflected in their Mill Commons development.

Commissioner Rice made a motion for a positive referral from the Planning Commission to the Zoning Commission for Zoning Commission Application #14-03 submitted by Ensign-Bickford Realty for a zone change from I-2 to PAD on the properties located at 437 Hopmeadow Street, 200 Powder Forest Drive, 225 Powder Forest Drive, and 275 Powder Forest Drive.  Commissioner Rice noted, if the Commission agreed with him, that the Applicant has demonstrated their commitment to the PAD process and also adherence to the POCD.

Commissioner Prell seconded the motion, and it was passed unanimously.

            b.         Discussion regarding apartments

The Commissioners noted issues surrounding apartments include:  the number of apartments; whether there a saturation point at which they impact the Town's image and what is that image; how to correlate the presence of apartments to the quality of life - the POCD discusses housing for all segments of society; review of MIT and Harvard studies predicting change to adjacent property values; what is Simsbury's character - the POCD has a lot of discussion about that; the POCD does not discuss limiting the number of apartments and may need some revision for that aspect; if a developer's plans are compliant with all regulations, Town Staff did not believe Commissions should interfere - regulations for work force housing, PAD, etc. are already in effect.

Town Staff provided a series of documents to the Commissioners, as well as to the Zoning Commission, comparing Simsbury to neighboring towns demonstrating:  number of single family homes in Town at 6350; adding in all units approved (including Meadowood and Carson Way) single family homes would be 6723; currently, there are 1226 condos and adding the 20 under construction at Mill Pond would be 1246; currently, there are about 775 rental units and additional approved units would be 991 units (including Dorset Crossing's approved 216 units) and the Powder Forest project would potentially add about another 225 units.  Town Staff explained percentages for Simsbury are about 75.03% single family homes, condos are 13.9%, and rentals are 11.06%.  This was compared to Farmington's 8133 single family homes at 77% of their housing stock, rental units are at 22.8% or more than double Simsbury; Avon's single family homes are at 81.9% and 1259 apartments are 18% of their housing stock; Canton has almost 82% single family and 18% rentals.  The impact on values revealed that Avon's median residential price at over $406,000, Farmington's median price at $337,400; Canton's median price at $330,000 and Simsbury's median home value at  $324,000; the effect of rental units appears to be the reverse of what was expected.

 Town Staff believed the amount of development taking place in Town in the next year or two will have a positive economic impact toward compensating for the loss of the Hartford; the Big Y development could provide about $250,000 in taxes/year.  The Commissioners were provided housing statistics for Simsbury that showed only 3.4% of housing units are affordable with the Town vulnerable to State requirements under 8-40G at Meadowood; a substantial portion of housing stock was built after 1970; less than 14% of housing stocks are multi-family; and the average age in Town is 42 as opposed to 43 and 44 in some neighboring towns.  The Commissioners talked about whether people make a conscious decision to live in Town based on its attractiveness, attention to detail, Performing Arts Center, education, ambience, services and that there is an identifiable town center.  It was noted that several interesting developments in Town Center failed to come to agreement with property owners.  The Commissioners discussed conceptually in 20 years where apartments would be located and what the Town would look like with the number of recently approved apartments.  However, developers are moving at a cautious pace to meet market demand with well-built nice quality units and renters need to be motivated to pay those prices.  It was noted that typically, the boom-bust cycle is demand causes over-building which is eventually absorbed and the cycle repeats.  The Commissioners want to achieve a balance between encouraging economic development while maintaining the Town's quality and character.  Town Staff would like to see work force housing in place for those who qualify where 20% would be deed restricted and 80% at market rate, while  these units would all look the same.

A 2007 survey about Town character indicated residents would like appropriately sized development and businesses to preserve character and it included discussion of retail, apartments, views, etc.  The Commissioners discussed residents reaction to more work force housing vs. the State law requiring an increase from 3.4% to 10% with the Town subject to another development like Meadowood where all the regulations were thrown out; their original request was for 644 units and after 11 years of litigation ended up at 299 units which was the original zoned density for 300 acres.  Town Staff felt it would be preferable to get a well-designed work force housing project in the right location, rather than have Meadowood-type protracted litigation.   It was questioned whether the work force housing developments going in are in fact affordable.  In the future if developers don't want to provide affordable housing, they could pay into a fund for affordable housing which would add up quickly; desirable communities can do require such funds and a Town regulation could be considered.  For affordable 2-bedroom housing in the Hartford area, a household needs to earn $21,017 or $10,010 each for two people.  Regarding the full Town mixed-use concept, it was noted that the Town Charrette, Weatogue Village Study, and Hartford Study provide a lot of that information for the Commissioners review.  Town Staff clarified that the PAD could be for several parcels and commented positively about the assisted living facility deciding to become part of the PAD process at Powder Forest.  Many of the issues discussed could become part of a revised POCD which is also pushed by economic reality.  As the Powder Forest development becomes known to the market, Town Staff based on inquiries received, believed young people starting businesses and other business will be interested in renting space.

IV.       COMMUNICATIONS AND ADMINISTRATIVE BUSINESS

The First Selectman has requested the Meadowood Griffin Land Developers come to this Commission's next meeting to explain the status of their activities and the care being taken regarding trucks on the road.  This Commission was very involved in the Meadowood approvals and had to sign off on the Court decision.

V.        APPROVAL OF MINUTES of February 25, 2014

The February 11, 2014 minutes were amended as follows:

On Line 122, following the word representative, a comma is added followed by the name "Andy DiFatta,".

Commissioner Kulakowski made a motion to approve the February 25, 2014 minutes, as amended.  Commissioner Prell seconded the motion, and it was passed unanimously.

VI.       ADJOURNMENT

Commissioner Prell made a motion to adjourn the meeting at 8:45 p.m.  Commissioner Kulakowski seconded the motion, and it was passed  unanimously.

_____________________________

Mark Drake, Secretary