Board of Selectmen's Minutes - September 21, 2006

Present: First Selectman Woody Bliss; Selectman W. Glenn Major; Selectman Richard Miller; Town Administrator Tom Landry; Administrative Assistant Judy DeVito; Matt Meizlish; David Burstein; Carlton Anderson, Chair of the Commission for the Elderly; residents and member of the press.

Discussion/decision regarding the appointment of Matt Meizlish as a regular member on the Commission of Children and Youth for a term to expire June 30, 2007. He is a senior at Weston High School and has been an alternate Youth Commission member for about one year. He is on the United Way Board of directors. He is setting up a student center for community service in High School to facilitate student’s access to agencies in the community that need volunteer work. He feels the Commission for Children and Youth are really important to the community and are worth pursuing.

Mr. Miller made a motion to appoint Matt Meizlish as a regular member of the Commission for Children and Youth for a term to expire June 30, 2007. Mr. Major seconded and the motion passed unanimously.

Discussion/decision regarding the appointment of David Burstein to fill the vacancy of Barbara Kleban the Commission of Children and Youth for a term to expire December 31, 2006. David said he has been on the Commission for over a year as a Student Commissioner and graduated from Weston High School in June. He is taking the next year off from college to work on a film about encouraging more young people to vote and get politically active.

Mr. Miller made a motion to appoint David Burstein to fill the vacancy of Barbara Kleban to the Commission of Children and Youth for a term to expire December 31, 2006. Mr. Major seconded and the motion passed unanimously.

Discussion/decision regarding changing the name of the Commission for the Elderly to the Commission on Aging. Mr. Major commented that everyone who attended the public hearing was in favor of it.

Mr. Major made a motion that the section article IV Commission on the Elderly of the code of ordinances, Town of Weston Connecticut be hereby amended to read as follows: the title of the article shall be modified to Commission on Aging. Such amendment shall affect not only the article name but also shall change all references in such article from Elderly to Aging. Mr. Miller seconded and the motion passed unanimously.

Final report from the Town to Town Partnership- David Muller: David Muller said there was a thank you coming from the parish government as well as a plaque which is for the Fire Department in thanks for the work that the people of Weston did over the pass eleven months.

The final project was packing a 53 foot moving van. He said it was fascinating the turn out of people from Town. The van was so full that there were leftovers that stayed another couple of weeks in Mr. Major’s garage. There were also some leftovers that were donated to local charities.

Mr. Muller said they would not have been able to pack the truck had it not been for the football team. They were very helpful and many of them stayed till late afternoon. He said they had great help from Kiwanis, the Fire Department and a lot of people from Town.

In summary Mr. Muller said they were able to identify specific needs and matching up the needs with specific donors. Not necessarily cash donors but people who donate equipment, time, effort and energy. Lacombe did express an interest in continuing a relationship with the middle school here. He publicly thanked the other members of the committee Martin Strasmore, Rev. Wilson, Dr. Pierson, Charlene Chiang-Hillman, Michael Carter and Dawn Egan. He said they are ending their committees work.

Discussion/decision regarding Planning & Zoning Commission request for changing the process for approving Town projects: Don Saltzman said the Planning and Zoning Commission for about one and one half years have been discussing the concept of the zoning exemption. Dan Gilbert said they are trying to come up with what they consider to be zoning coverage for the Town that would bring the Town under the regulation to a level that still provide a lot of flexibility to get things done in a timely basis. They are trying to find that common ground where the Town needs to get things done in a timely basis and they believe it would be very healthy for the Town moving forward to be covered by the same regulations that everyone else is.

Mr. Miller asked if in the 30 years that this process has been in effect in how many instances, that they were aware of, have they ever objected to an act of the Board of Selectman. Mr. Gilbert said he was not going to answer the question because that was not what it was about. He said it is about Weston’s future and the guidelines that they truly believe Weston needs to continue to develop as a low density residential community. He said coverage of the regulations would increase the community’s voice when it comes to decisions relative to building.

Mr. Major said there is no greater voice than the voice that a vote carries. He said in the last 25 years of municipal elections there has not been one race for Planning and Zoning. The voter have never had a single choice as to who serves on Planning and Zoning as it relates to an election whereas there have been many races for Board of Selectman. Mr. Major said he was not sure that the proposed process would give them a greater voice than not electing someone and throwing them out of office or putting them in office. He said his concern is whenever you have to work within a set of regulations you are not able to look at what is best for the Town, what the Town needs, what works given the particular set of circumstances that are facing the Town at any given moment. He said he did not believe that this proposal was the best thing for the Town. He felt that it did not give the Town a greater voice but it took away from the voice of the people.

Stephan Grozinger said under the Planning and Zoning proposal that the neighbors would be mailed notices about the proposed project. He said everybody gets an opportunity to speak. The time to make a decision, instead of 35 days from submission of the 8-24 application, the proposed P& Z structure would be 90 days from submission of the application to decide. Currently under an 8-24 application there are vague standards and the majority rules. Under the proposed structure it would be written zoning regulations and under certain circumstances P & Z could waive those regulations and the project could move forward none the less.

Mr. Bliss said that they were using the word “exemption” which was inaccurate. He said the Town is not “exempt” from zoning. They have a different process and what P&Z is talking about are changes to the process. Mr. Saltzman disagreed. He said exemption in the state statues as a condition that the legislative body of a Town may vote to exempt itself from zoning.

Mr. Bliss said he was concerned that they could not come up with examples from the last 30 years of where the current process did not work. He said he needed justification for changing the process. “If it ain’t broke don’t fix it”. He said let’s understand where the problems are, why the process did not work so that we can intelligently put a new process in place.

Mr. Bliss wanted to talk about Stephan Grozinger’s point about notifying the abutting neighbors. Mr. Landry said that every time that he had gone before P&Z that they had required that he sent notices to the abutting neighbors, which we have done.

Mr. Bliss said on the applicable standards, as far as he was concerned, on an 8-24, you can apply the zoning regulations. He said you could turn it down because it does not comply with building height, set-backs etc. Mr. Saltzman said no they have no authority to do that. He said their authority stops at a recommendation to the Board of Selectmen.

Mr. Bliss said that he believed they were incorrect on that. He said they can turn things down because in their opinion too high a building is not in the best interest of the Town of Weston. Mr. Gilbert said the commission did not have the authority to do what they had suggested. Mr. Saltzman said that there was only one question to be answered and that was is this project appropriate for the use of municipal land. Mr. Bliss said he had a conversation with Town counsel on the subject and was told that the commission could say that was not proper use of Town property and that would be accepted. Mr. Saltzman said that would be not binding. Mr. Bliss said it would then have to go to a Town Meeting.

(Note: Subsequent to the Board of Selectmen’s meeting, Mr. Bliss again checked with Pat Sullivan, Associate Town Council, and was again told that the vague standard allowed for any reason, such as “not in compliance with zoning regulations,” for the Planning and Zoning Commission to give a negative 8-24 report.)

Mr. Landry said that the 8-24 for the cell tower was approved by the P&Z Commission with conditions. He said if the Town did not agree to the conditions that it would have to go to a Town Meeting. Mr. Major said he could think of reasons why this process was going to tie hands than us finding reasons why this process is better not the process we have now. He said if he had to go before P&Z with the cell tower they could not have required that that be 300 feet away from a property line. They would have had to allow it to be 100 feet from a property line. There was much discussion and debate about this.

Mr. Major said he felt that there were wonderful checks and balances in place and he was having a hard time getting over what he felt would skew the checks and balances. He said he thought this gave the P&Z Commission powers that the only recourse then was a lawsuit. He said the only process that they have to overturn a decision that P&Z makes is to go to court. It is very difficult to turn over a P&Z decision.

Mr. Grozinger said that the Town Meeting could change the regulation. He said their purpose was not for P&Z to take additional power. Their purpose was to provide some protection to that aggrieved neighbor.

Mr. Miller said he would like to suggest that if the changes were made we might not have Morehouse Farm Park at this time. It may still be in litigation. Mr. Heifetz said if it was contrary to the regulation then it would.

Mr. Gilbert said that this was their best effort and they were not coming back. Mr. Bliss said that we have a process in place, so tell me where the problems are in that process and then we will set about fixing those problems. He said they said the whole issue appeared to him to be “a solution looking for a problem.”

Mr. Major said the P &Z regulations do not address, firehouses, playing fields, cell towers. He said the types of projects that the Town is going to bring before you are not within the zoning regulations so you can not apply the zoning regulations to them.

Mr. Landry said in reality the people have a voice and it is not through the Planning and Zoning Commission and it is not through the Board of Selectmen. It is direct. It is at a Town Meeting. He said in every 8-24 that he made application to the Planning and Zoning Commission on behalf of the Board of Selectmen, the Board of Selectmen proposed, the Planning and Zoning Commission concurred and Town Meeting adopted. He said if we had a the proposed process changes, where Board of Selectmen proposed and Planning and Zoning Commission did not concur, in essence Town Meeting would not have the opportunity to approve or disapprove the application. If you take away that direct voice that Town Meeting now has in the existing process, you will lose the voice of the people, not increase it as was suggested.

Mr. Saltzman said there is a proposal in front of the Selectmen and they would respectfully request some kind of an answer. Mr. Miller suggested that they look at their proposals and meet publicly, discuss them and make changes. Mr. Major said that he felt the appropriate thing would be for the Board of Selectmen to digest what has been presented to them tonight give them the opportunity to look into the 8-24 process and understand if they are able to add additional conditions to that process, which in essence would solve some of P&Z concerns, while preserving some of the Board of Selectmen’s concerns. If needed, the Selectmen could put this back on the agenda at a later date.

Mr. Heifetz asked that with their decision that both P&Z and the Town of Weston get a clear articulation of what the concerns might be in the event they can determine to deny the P&Z request. Mr. Major said “I think you have heard them tonight”. He said he gave them a clear list of concerns. He said a clear concern that he had already given to Planning and Zoning was that there regulations were written for residential only. There are no office building regulations. He said he objected to him saying that they had not stated very clearing what some of there concerns were. . Mr. Heifetz said that he did not believe that the Board of Selectmen had.

Discussion/decision regarding a date for the Board of Selectmen and the Parks and Recreation Commission to tour the various playing fields. After some discussion it was decided they would tour the fields on October 14^th at 8:00am at Morehouse Farm Park. (Note: after checking the schedules of the Parks and Recreation Commission, the date was changed to October 28^th at 8:00am.)

Request for property tax refund for Honda Lease Trust for $274.94. Mr. Bliss had previously approved this because the lease was ending and it had been paid twice. Mr. Major made a motion that they ratify the actions of the First Selectman for the property tax refund for Honda Lease Trust in the amount of $274.94. Mr. Miller seconded and the motion passed unanimously.

Mr. Major made a motion to approve property tax refunds for Pasquale J. Sacchetta, Chase Auto Finance, Chase Auto Finance, Daimler Chrysler Financial Services, GMAC, Gelco Corp., Saab Leasing Co., Russell Dekker, Nissan Motor Acceptance, Andrew Arlo, Robert E. Randell, Jerry Goodwin for a total of $8,729.53. Mr. Miller seconded and the motion passed unanimously.

Discussion/approval of the Board of Selectmen’s minutes of September 7, 2006 and the Public Hearing of September 7, 2006. Mr. Miller made a motion to approve the public hearing minutes of September 7^th as submitted. Mr. Bliss seconded and the vote was Mr. Miller, Mr. Bliss yes Mr. Major abstained. Mr. Major made a motion to above the minutes of September 7^th as submitted. Mr. Miller seconded and the motion passed unanimously.

ATTENDANCE: The meeting was convened at 9:10pm in the First Selectman’s office by Chairman Bliss to receive a status report regarding an ongoing land acquisition proposal. In attendance were First Selectman Bliss, Selectmen, Miller and Major, and Town Administrator Landry. No votes were taken.