PLANNING AN= D ZONING COMMISSION
SPECIAL MEE= TING
The Watertown Planning and Zoning Commission held a sp=
ecial
meeting on
=
1. =
Call Meeting to Order.
Chairman David E. Minnich called the special meeting to
order at
=
2. =
Roll Call.
Regular Members Present:
Mr. David E. Minnich, Chairman; Ms. Judith Wick, Vice-Chairman; Messrs. Ronald Russ; Carl Mancini and Gary Martin.
Regular Members Absent: Messrs. Michael E. Masayda, Secret= ary; and Jeff Franson.
Alternate Members Present: Messrs. James Lukasavage and Duane George.
Alternate Member Absent: Mr. Ray Rondeau.
Also Present:&= nbsp; Ms. Ruth Mulcahy, Administrator of Land Use/Zoning Enforcement Offic= er.
Mr. Masayda asked Mr. George to sit in for Mr. Masayda= and Mr. Lukasavage to sit in for Mr. Franson.
(A portion of=
the tape
did not record properly.)
=
3. =
Meeting Minutes.
=
a. =
Continuation of Public Hearing
=
b. =
Regular Meeting,
=
c. =
Special Meeting,
=
d. =
Continuation of Public Hearing,
=
e. =
Special Meeting,
=
f. =
&nb=
sp;
Special Meeting,
=
g. =
Motion Sheet Public Hearing
=
h. =
Motion Sheet Public Hearing,
=
i. =
&nb=
sp;
Motion Sheet, Public Hearing,
=
j. =
&nb=
sp;
Motion Sheet, Public Hearing,
=
k. =
Regular Meeting
A motion was made by Mr. Russ and seconde= d by Mr. George to approve the Meeting Minutes, Items 3-a through 3-k.
&nbs= p; &= nbsp; &nbs= p; …By voice vote the motion was passed unanimously…
=
4. =
Articles on Agenda.
A-1. Applicant:
Joe DiCarlo, Kaestle Boos Associates – Special Permit #205 =
211;
Modification to approved site plan, Natural Turf Athletic Fields Change to
Synthetic Turf at
(Lapse in tap=
e at
this point – The motion
concerning the
A motion was made by Mr. Mancini and seconde= d by Mr. George to approve the motion read by Mr. Minnich:
Mr. Minnich said that he is thinking those words shoul= d not be there as they then cannot later on say before the money comes here, he is not now going to give you the money and we haven’t made a condition of approval of the open space, = so therefore, that is the loophole they get through, so he agrees with your in= tent that we can’t do this with this regard, make this an issue at the time, prior to their offeri= ng it, but once they offered it, he is thinking, he is hoping with this, he is thinking that we = then want to make it a condition after they have offered it.
Ms. Mulcahy said that she definitely follows what he is saying, he did take these words from his motion. Ms. Wick said, but that was differ= ent because they weren’t given as fees in lieu of. Ms. Mulcahy said that = they were giving both, they gave us 5% fee in lieu of. Mr. Minnich said, but they didn’t have to. Ms. Mulcahy said, their open space= was as unacceptable as this. Ms. = Wick said that she thinks there was a difference. She thinks that we have the ri= ght to say, and just put it in terms of the applicant has agreed to pay a front-to-front fee in lieu of. Ms. Mulcahy said, then take this line out and also just for clarification, the Statutes don’t allow conditions of approval for approval of a subdivi= sion, they only allow modifications and that is another reason why she thinks he may have = put that in there, it is not a condition, this is just a modification. Mr. Minn= ich said that they made the mistake of loosely using the interchange of those words, “condition and modification”. Ms. Mulcahy said, that is = why it is clear that this is not a condition.&= nbsp; They can take it right out.
Mr.Minnich said that it is his suggestion that for purchasing open space and the words “fee” is not condition for subdivision approval. He knows it probably sounds very obvious but througho= ut that whole conversation, that whole section, it talks about what they have offered and then about where we are going to put the money but the words that he thinks that it l= acks that needs to be said is that the Commission accepts this offer, so he thin= ks if they at that section after the dwelling, a new sentence that says that t= he Commission accepts this offer.
Mr. Minnich said that he does have a few others. These= are all pretty much the same category but they are going to go quick.
At the last sentence of No. 11, Item 12, Item 13 and I= tem 15, are all repetitive and he is suggesting that they don’t need to h= ave all of those there.They certainly need to have the substance of what is bei= ng talked about but they repeat it several times. He is thinking to take out I= tems 12, 13 and 15. Ms. Mulcahy said that she put all the options in because the last time he had asked her for the language that he had proposed back for t= he subdivisions that were approved back on November 1st and so she = put all the different language that was in those on here for your option and you just then mark off the ones y= ou don’t want and she thinks that was a good suggestion, so, take out 12= , 13 and 15. Mr. Minnich said,that= is his suggestion. Ms. Mulcahy s= aid, she agrees.
Mr. Minnich asked if anybody else has anything other t= han what Ms. Wick is diligently writing for us. Ms. Wick said that actually, she t= hinks they can put it into No. 4 – a bond shall be posted for all public improvements in accordance with the bond policy adopted by the Commission, = soil erosion and sediment control, public improvements, the common driveway, drainage and site stabilization.
Mr. Minnich commented, on that driveway, they specific=
ally
have to approve the common driveway, is that an action they are required to
take? Ms. Wick said that she does not think so. Ms. Mulcahy said that she talked to
Attorney Pilicy today to ask him any questions about the common driveway an=
d he
is drafting a common driveway agreement and she asked him, “Is there
anything else we need to include in the motion?” and he said,
“No.” Mr. Minnich=
said,
that is fine. Ms. Mulcahy sai=
d that
was the legal advice. Mr. Min=
nich
asked Ms. Mulcahy to show him, the rest of the Commission, as well, he lost
track of where this driveway is, it has been such a long time. Ms. Wick said
that they are requiring that to be 20 feet, that common driveway? It was 20
feet and part of it – Ms. Mulcahy answered that it looks as though it=
is
30 feet – the easement shows 15 and 15 then the right-of-way. Ms. Wick
said, that is all right but the paved part. They want to be sure it is wide enough =
for
two cars to pass because if it is a common driveway, it is not just three
houses. Mr. Minnich asked if =
anyone
wanted to specify or leave it alone?
Mr. Martin said that he thinks 20 should be plenty. Ms. Mulcahy said, the width of the
entire thing as being 30 and then here is the width of the pavement. Mr. Ru=
ss
said that he thinks they figured it was 20 feet for the pavement. Ms. Wick
thinks that is what they had said.
Mr. Russ asked there was something with stone on each side. Ms. Mulcahy said, that is correct,=
they
are putting “Proposed 15 feet wide paved driveway serving 2 homes with
one and one half width of stone on either side.” Ms. Wick asked, so
Ms. Mulcahy said that when they were on the site walk,= they walked up and crossed over.
a. =
Applicant:
Stefano Tancredi –Agent:
Andrew Quirk Kratzert & Jones, Re: Proposed 3 lot subdivision
Whereas t= he Town of Watertown Planning and Zoning Commission received a subdivision applicat= ion for a 3 lot residential subdivision titled “Rosa’s Estates̶= 1; Middlebury Road, Watertown,CT on 26 acres of land located on the east side = of Middlebury Road with an access way from Stone Wall Drive in the Town of Middlebury, CT owned by Sefano A. Tancredi, Lucia Desmone and Anthony Desmo= ne, P.O. Box 332, Milldale, CT 06467-0332 that included Sheets 1-ll, with the following cover sheet with location map dated 1/19/07 with revision date of 6/14/07, Record Subdivision map Sheets 3 & 4 dated 1/19/07 with a revision date of 6/14/07 Site Development, Grading and Construction Plan Dated 1/19/07 with a revision da= ted 6/14/07, Erosion and Sedimentation Control Plan dated 1/19/07, Test Pit Data Sheet dated 1/19/07 with a revision date of 6/14/07,Erosion and Sedimentati= on Control Notes Sheets 8 & 9 dated 1/19/07 with a revision date if 6/14/0= 6, Site Construction Details Sheet dated 1.19/07 with a revision date of 6/14/= 07 and Approved Details Sheets dated 1/19/07 with a Revision Date of 6/14/07;<= /p>
Whereas, = the Torrington Area Health District and the Watertown Conservation Commission I= nland Wetlands Agency granted approval for this subdivision subject to certain conditions;
Whereas, =
the
Commission convened a public hearing and site walk and received testimony a=
nd
written reports from the public on
It is Therefo= re Resolved that the Watertown Planning and Zoning Commission approves the subdivision application for a 3 lot residential subdivision with one shared driveway in an R-70 zone titled “Rosa’s Estates, Watertown, CT” prepared by Kratzert, Jones & Assoc., Inc., P.O. Box 337, 1755 Meriden-Waterbury Road, Milldale, CT with the following modifications:
= 1. = A standard Conservation Easement document shall be recorded on the Land Records along with the signed subdivision mylars. All inland wetlands and the 50 feet upland review areas on Lots 1 and 2 are restricted conservation easement areas. Owners of these two subdivision lots shall have standard conservation easement deed restrictions on their lots t= o be recorded on the Land Records. These restrictions are applicable to owners filing the deeds and to all future owners of these lots.
= 2. = The Conservation Easement Areas shall be marked with Conservation Easement tags at intervals required by the Land Use Office bef= ore site work is begun.
=
3. =
The following is a list of required Easements, Deed=
s,
Agreements and Documents to be provided to the Town of
=
a. =
Conservation
Area easements to the Town of
= b. Common Driveway agreement.
=
c. =
Proposed
Driveway easements for
= d. Proposed passway Rights to James and Jacqueline M. Post.
=
e. =
Proposed
Right to Flow in favor of
= 4. = A bond shall be posted for all public improvements = in accordance with the bond policy adopted by the Commission, soil erosion and sediment control, public improvements, the common driveway, drainage and si= te stabilization. An estimate of all improvements prepared by the applicant’s engineer must be submitted to the Town Engineer for review and approval. This estimate can be e-mailed directly to Charles Berger, at = berger @ watertownct.org. and Ruth Mulcahy at mulcahy@watertownct.org. According to town bond policy, the bond provided by the developer will be a Letter of Credit and/or a Cash Bond to be reviewed and approved by the Land= Use Attorney.
=
5. =
The applicant has agreed to pay Fee in Lieu of Open
Space of ten percent (10%) of the fair market value of the land in the
subdivision, as based upon the sale price of the land of $212,000 on the
following date
= 6. = All lot pins shall be placed before issuance of a zoning permit.
= 7. = All utilities shall be underground.
= 8. = There shall be no sidewalks.
= 9. = Prior to Town officials signing mylars, final plans shall be submitted for approval and accepted for approval by the Town Engineer and the Administrator of Land Use/ Zoning Enforcement Officer and are subject to review and approval by t= he Commission at the discretion of the Chairman or Commission.
=
10. =
All maps shall meet the requirements of Section 4 of
the Town of
=
11. =
A preconstruction meeting is required to be held wi=
th
Town Staff, the Subdivider, the on-site Contractor, and the site design
engineer prior to any onsite activity. The Developer/Subdivider will comple=
te
all tax conveyance forms to the Town of
A motion was made by Mr. George and seconded by Mr. Mancini to approve the foregoing:
Mr. Minnich asked for discussion. There was no discuss= ion.
Mr. Minnich asked Ms. Allen to call the roll for the p= urpose of recording the votes:
David Minnich, aye
Judy Wick, aye
Ron Russ, aye
Gary Martin, aye
Carl Mancini, aye
Duane George, aye
Jim Lukasavage, aye
…by voice vote of 7 = in favor and 0 against, the motion is approved…
4. Articles on Agenda.
(Discussio=
n on
this subject follows, as well as the motion which was read into the record.=
)
a-1 J=
oe
DiCarlo re: &nbs=
p; Kaestle
Boos Associates, Special Permit #205 Modifications to approved site plan
– Natural Turf Athletic Fields Change to Synthetic Turf at
Mr. Joseph DiCarlo addressed the Commission. He is Licensed Landscape Architect with = Kaestle Boos Associated of New Britain, CT, they are representing the Board of Education in their application for modification to their site plan approval. The intent is to install synthetic turf athletic fields in lieu of the natu= ral grass that was originally proposed. He has something to remind those members of what it would look like. It will contain the athlet= ic capabilities for soccer, football, field hockey, lacrosse, baseball and softball containing about 86,500 sq. ft.&n= bsp; The system has an under-system which has been scrupulously designed<= span style=3D'mso-spacerun:yes'> and reviewed by the Town Engineer.= The provisions of the field will also contain a containment curbing of concrete, some fairway netting to contain over-kicked or overthrown balls. There is a provision for empty conduit so that if at any time in the future the Board = of Education wished to come back before this Commission and request lighting a= nd if it were approved, there would be less excavation and less cost to the To= wn to install it. At this time t= here is no provisions for lighting as part of this project. The one downside of = this was that there will be a loss of 126 special event overflow parking spaces which would have been permitted on the natural grass fields and since it wo= uld void warranty and potentially damage synthetic grass, those would not be available if this goes ahead. They have been before the Police Department and the Fire Department, both of whom said that they did not see this as representing a problem and in addition, = the Board of Education has submitted, he believes, a letter indicating how they intended to handle those occa= sions when there would be a special= event where more parking may be necessary and he believes it has been submitted to the Planning= Board.
Mr. Minnich said that there are three issues with this particular special permit which has been discussed with Staff and with a number of people, the Public Buildings Committee and,etc. and the Ch= airman and the Superintendent of Schools. The one issue has to do with parking and what has been acceptable to the School is the arrangement whereby if it is a school event, and it is more than 150 people that are going to be attending that after the academic day, then the School will be required to contact the Watertown Chief of Police to arrange and plan for how parking is going to be arranged at that event and the Police Department has by our condition here,= the final say with regards to the parking arrangements.
Ms. Wick asked, where do they park? Mr. Minnich answered that they are= going to have to bus them – whatever school event that occurs for graduatio= n he understands there is close to 1,000 people that attend it at the high school – he doubts you will get that many at Swift, so they are going to hav= e to arrange that but the Commission recognizes that the 130 spaces which were on the grass field at part of th= is original application, won’t be available because they will have the artific= ial turf and so those spaces which are part of the condition of our original approval, this is an arrangement that is an alternative in how they work ou= t in the School and Police Department on each issue. With regards to the events = at the school after the academic day and this includes both the outdoor activities as well as the indoor activit= ies, if there is more than 150 people who are planned to attend that event or events, then the School will not allow events that are going to exceed 150 people for non-school events. What their process would be in doing it as they know, maybe they don’t, the school gets a request form that they have developed that indicates how many people will be attending the event for whatever group that wishes to be and they basically in the past, have looked to see if the facility is available= and that has been about their real scrutiny of it. Now, they will have to keep = tabs for that particular hours of he event if there is going to be a conflict of others and if it is, if it exceeds 150, they just won’t give the perm= it to allow that. That is all worked out by the Superintendent of Schools etc., and the practical compromise to a situation which has come about through th= is turf field. Mr. DiCarlo said = that all this information is provided in a letter which - Ms. Wick said that the Commission hasn’t seen it yet. Mr. Minnich said that it is all in the motion to approve – Ms. Wick point= ed out that the letter isn’t in the motion. The letter about how the school is= going to take care of it – Mr. Minnich said that he hasn’t seen that letter, either – all of this discussion has been worked out through several meetings.
Ms. Wick said that what she would like to know is, the= y are talking about 130 potential spaces that we are losing , how many spaces are there that are available at Swift? Mr. DiCarlo said that in accordance with the approval and the reques= t of the Commission previously, there are 137 paved parking spaces and 50 overfl= ow parking spaces. Ms. Wick asked if those still exist. She was advised that they do. Ms. = Wick said that her concern is, supposing you have a game with another school and= a lot of people come to see the game, do we&= nbsp; have enough spaces, she thinks we probably do, so that was her conce= rn at that point, because no one could tell you how many people are going to s= how up but if you have 180 spaces or something, that is probably going to be sufficient.
Mr. Martin asked, is that the reason for the 150 peopl= e, it is not usually – 150 people, they usually consider 2 people per car. =
Mr. Minnich said that given the discussions that have occurred, everybody has agreed to 150.&nbs= p; Mr. Russ said that he thinks somebody else has spoken about the over= flow parking lot. Mr. Minnich said= that is what started it being a longer conversation and his position was that th= is is under the control of the Park and Recreation Commission and the Town Council, on-street parking which as also discussed is under the auspices of= the Police Commission, that gets involved in that internal way of discussing wh= ere they can go, it is probably b= est left up to the Police Department who has approve of this and in the end, the real issue here not to the owner, we aren’t at all, the real issue he= re is fact that the practicality that there isn’t any parking and so they will have to have that plan made out when they have the event with the Poli= ce Department about shuttling, is one of the solutions that he has heard, what= ever that is, he is not suggesting that the Commission are involved in it. It was stated that the Police Chie= f can – Ms. Wick said that they are indicating that really, it is only graduation is the only time they see it as a problem.
Mr. Russ said that the only question he has is with th= e turf field, is there going to be any dugouts for those ball fields? Mr. DiCarlo = said that there is a protective screening in front of the team benches, 8 ft. hi= gh chain link fence.
Mr. Minnich said that the second discussion which he w= as not really involved with but this gentleman spent a lot of time with, as well as Roy Cavanaugh was, the issues relating to the drainage and as of this afternoon, all of those have = been satisfied, the concerns have been satisfied by Mr. Cavanaugh and he suggests two conditions that are placed in this&nbs= p; motion of approval, No, 2 and 3. Those are the overall issues. Mr. Minnich asked if there is any other discussion before he reads the motion?<= /p>
A question was asked about the drainage,what can they = do to get it approved? Is it still 15? Mr. Minnich said that this is correct. Before they were questioning the 15 feet, the 15 feet is okay? Mr. Minnich said that it is.
A motion was made by Mr. Mancini and seco= nded by Mr. George that
Whereas, =
the Town of
= 1. = Synthetic Turf
= 2. = PVC conduit pipe for eventual field lights
= 3. = Concrete Bleacher Pads
= 4. = Additional chain link fence
= 5. = Field Netting
= 6. = Additional segment block wall
Whereas, Commission heard presentations=
by
the applicant on
Now therefore= after consideration of its regulations, the modification to Special Permit = #205 made by this application is APPROVED, with the following conditions:
= 1. = Drainage and site work must be approved by the Dire= ctor of Public Works and the Water= town Public Buildings Committee.
= 2. = The system installed must be the Multi-Flow drainage system manufactured by Varicore Technologies, Inc, Any substitutions or variations to= the reviewed submittal must be reviewed and approved by the Director of Public Works prior to installation and is subject to review and approval by the Commission at the discretion of the Commission.
= 3. = The groundwater level monitoring wells must be surv= eyed once a week during the next season high groundwater table level to verify d= epth to water.
= 4. = Light poles and light fixtures shall NOT be installed for lighting the synthetic turf field. Underground PVC conduit for electr= icity for future field lights is approved. Future field lighting required approval by the Planning and Zoning Commission
= 5. = The field as previously approved by the Commission = was grassed and provides 130 parking spaces complying with the Commission parki= ng regulations. A synthetic turf field, subject to this modification to Special Permit #205 application replaces the grassed field. The synthetic turf field can not accommodate parking.
= a. = For events held on Swift School grounds or inside Swift School buildings after = the academic day which are sponsored by the Watertown Public Schools:
=
1. =
The School shall in advance of the event(s) arrange=
for
and provide alternative parking off
= b. For events not sponsored by the Watertown Public Schools:
1. =
The School shall not approve or cause events to occ=
ur
after the academic day that in total for all events on
Ms. Mulcahy had one comment. This is not special permit to modification to that permit
Mr. Minnich asked, with those modification, he asked f= or a motion.
A motion was made by Mr. Mancini and seconde= d by Mr. George to approve the application.
Ms. Wick, in commenting, said that she would like to d= iscuss specifically, the question of future field lighting requires approval by the Planning and Zoning Commission. She just wants to make it clear for the rec= ord that that doesn’t mean it will automatically be approved. She thinks certainly, if it comes to proposed lighting there, that this Commission wou= ld have a public hearing on any future modifications so the people who live in= the area would be able to comment on it and they don’t need to change the way that this is stated, but s= he thinks just to have it on the record, it is her feeling that she would not = want the Board of Education to think that it would be automatic that it would be approved.
Mr. Minnich asked for further discussion. There was no= ne.
Mr. Minnich asked Ms. Allen to call the roll for the p= urpose of recording the votes:
Ms. Allen called the roll as follows:
David Minnich, aye
Judy Wick, aye
Ron Russ, aye
Gary Martin, aye
Carl Mancini, aye
Duane George, aye
Jim Lukasavage aye
Mr. Minnich announced that by a vote of 7 in favor and= none against, the motion is approved.
= c. = Discuss Windmills Zoning Regulations.
Mr. Minnich stated that he would like to suggest that = the Commission invite those that = are present on this particular item – some of the members that are here h= ave spent a long time going through their process and obviously there are some points to be made and he thinks that others that have helped with the presentation before the Commission in terms of information about other text languages, that might be helpful – This is not a customary practice, but he asked the Commiss= ion to allow people in the audience to participate.
Ms. Wick said that she would like to make one statement
first and she has a serious problem with discussing this issue now and the
reason she does is, she would like to refer to the minutes of the regular
meeting of Wednesday, May 2, 2007, when there was a request to put on the
agenda the public hearing concerning a change in the regulations for the sm=
all
propane tanks and they never got to that, the motion to put on the agenda w=
as
defeated and if she can read from the minutes – “Mr. Minnich sa=
id
that the motion is defeated, it takes 2/3 vote of the Commission to add an =
item
to the agenda. Mr. Franson asked Mr.Minnich what his issue is and Mr. Minni=
ch
said that his motion to his viewpoint, the most important item in front of =
this
Commission is this Plan of Development and that discussion is coming up real
soon. When they get past their next discussions of the Plan of Development,=
he
is open to this and other things
they talked about lighting, etc. on the agenda, but he has watched t=
his
too much. Mr. Franson said that they will keep that in mind in their future
discussions they are going to=
have
tonight.” Basically, th=
is
discussion of wind mills is going to be considerably more time consuming
Mr. Minnich said that the issue of the propane tanks a= s he also said, they would being in early July and that still is the plan. At the time those comments were made and the motion was made to add that to the agenda, they have not yet established a public hearing for the Plan of Developmen= t, they weren’t even clear as to where they were going with the Plan of Development and in fact, he does not believe if his memory is correct, they even had the draft before them, the April draft before them for the Plan of Development, now that all of that is before the Commission, they have the scheduled date of July 18th which probably need to be more than = one meeting, public hearing and also that they had a discussion at their last meeting that this Commission, he asked to be corrected if he is wrong, unanimously issued a third, that they wanted to discuss these regulations, = they didn’t discuss a time – he sees in his own mind an issue that h= as been a lawsuit that has been taken out because of some action, there have b= een statements throughout the discussions that 8 were present at the ZBA meeting which repeatedly, let’s get those regulations, so whether after this discussion we still decide we want to have regulations or what we want to d= o, this all still has to be decided but there is a time in this, getting somet= hing in place and all concur that at least they would begin that process.
Mr. George commented that they did. Ms. Wick said they= voted at a Planning and Zoning Meeting to put on the agenda, months before the discussion of the propane tanks and Mr. Chairman,you unilaterally took it off and so she still makes her point that we need to have a commitment to put this on our = next agenda. Mr. Minnich said that= he has already said that they would have it on their July Regular Meeting whic= h is our next meeting, that is what he said some time ago and a couple of weeks = ago in July they would do it – Ms. Wick referred to the minutes. Mr. Minnich asked that they move o= n and he asked if there is no objection of the Commission as to inviting others to come in?
Mr. Minnich asked Ms. Mulcahy if she can present what = she has given the Commission in terms of the handout? Ms. Mulcahy said that the gentleman wh= o put it all together probably will make a presentation better than she could bec= ause she has not had a chance to read through all these. He has read through all of the information and he has a summary of something. There is a concern in most towns i= s that it be for household use, not commercial wind mills and it would have some s= ort of setback and there are mini= mum lot sizes and those vary from town to town minimum lot sizes for the wind mills. Those are some of the = more salient points working it into what this Town wants. She thinks they can pi= ck and choose from there and the gentleman who asks information from different states is here. He has studied these and is familiar with regulations.
Mr. Minnich asked if the gentleman wanted to make a presentation.
Mr. Kurt Karpavich of
Mr. Minnich asked if any member of the ZBA want to spe= ak? Mr. Minnich asked for any thoughts as to what we need?
Mr. George said that he has some questions. No. 1, it says, sound nearest dwel=
ling,
“None”, is that achievable, that was in MA. Mr. Karpavich said =
that
A question was asked&=
nbsp;
on the level of the wind mill that they are proposing, is that 45
decibels – it was stated that 45 decibels is extremely low. Ms. Wick
asked if this is at the ground? It
was stated that it is at tower level.
The base is 30 feet away, that is how they would measure that. It was
stated that 45 decibels is extremely low, what Mr. Karpavich found here is =
that
anywhere from 60 decibels to 50 decibels, 45 decibels is an extremely high =
unit
because even research right now to make turbines even quieter than that.
Ms. Wick said, there aren’t many instances when = she thinks that the perfect solution for this is ZBA, but this is an instance w= here she thinks the perfect solution is ZBA where this Commission doesn’t = have to re-invent the wheel. If someone comes in as Mr. Karpavich did and wants = to go above 35 feet, he has to g= o to ZBA. ZBA has he job of looking at the particular property, where it is goin= g to be, what the impact is going to be on a case-by-case basis. Isn’t that better than making a general rule for the whole Town? Mr. George commented that he does = not think so. He thinks that the Board needs to set a standard. Ms. Wick asked,= he is not a Libertarian, he thinks we should have all these rules – he thinks he is not liking rules. Mr. George answered, “Say what she wants.” Ms. Wick said, she said it, she thought he didn’t like rules. Mr. George said that he thinks this is the time you need some rules = out of the Board rather than the ZBA.
Mr. Rick Sarandrea, Chairman of the ZBA – he sai= d that this is one time he is in agreement with Ms. Wick. They took a walk, they took a site visit, as he said, this is a new frontier and they have to start somewhere = seeing that they didn’t have any regulations or anything, you could take for instance say someone is sitting on top of a mountain, they might just need = the thing to be 30 feet tall, some lower like in a valley like this, they may n= eed it 50 feet tall and they would out there, do a site walk, see if it conforms with the neighborhood or it is going to be a detrimental thing to the rest of the neighbors and to the res= t of the neighborhood, he thinks the ZBA should, if you put a regulation on it a= t 50 feet or 100 feet, like he was just reading now, it said, 140 feet, that is = like a commercial wind mill – he thinks most of the ones we are going to g= et are probably going to be households looking to put up a wind mill and the t= ower probably be better served if there wasn’t a regulation on height so t= hat they would have to come before us and we would have to take a look at it case-by-case. Simple, letR= 17;s not make a circus out of it.
Mr. Minnich said that one of the functions that you fo= lks do so often and so well is to determine, based on a particular application for= a particular site, whether the regulation that is in place should be varied a= nd you vote accordingly you need four votes to arrive at that. The issue that is here is that the determination of what regulation you are over-riding, there isn’t any; therefore, as one board goes from one to the next, they make that determination. The issue= of any regulation is to establish a standard and they always have a right and will = have a right even when these regulations are done on their particular site, to sti= ll come before ZBA and after that process is what we know is happening now but the = long discussion that you folks had in his review, from where he stood is a real struggle as to what should be there – a lot of time was spent on the green issue, etc and he can appreciate that but our main function as zoning folks is not that, that is important, but our function is obviously on the zoning and to protect what should be in a particular zone when people buy t= heir homes, etc. and there is as all have heard, there is a difference of opinion as to what is accepta= ble in “my neighborhood” or the neighborhood that people live and to s= ay that their shouldn’t be anything, he thinks is one extreme to say that this should be so onerous that there is going to be no wind mills, is the other extreme but wo= uld think they would be best served as the function they have to do and the community would be best serve= d to determine, here is our standard and then when they come to you, the ZBA, you have that criteria and the standard which applies on that particular site to make a determination. To say for example that and the problems that you obviously do not and you are not able by law to make your decisions based on past precedent and that is clear in that discussion or in the State Law but= it is none the less a discussion that you have in terms of, I don’t feel comfortable with this because we did this before, he thinks it becomes much easier and much fairer to administer if you knew what the standard is and t= hat is the purpose of all of us trying to come to that and then= when things come to you and you want to have something different, you can make t= he determination as to how that should compare.
Mr. Minnich said that in summary, he thinks there shou= ld be regulations but he is not at all, and he does not think anybody is suggesti= ng that those regulations be such to prohibit wind mills. It is a question of regulating the= m and being cognizant of some of the issues that they no doubt have heard and he = does not think that there was a comfort level for some of the things that were s= aid there – there are some fact face issues that were involved but he thi= nks there was a comfort level that they had. He thinks that they are going to f= ind that if there are no regulations, the kind of lengthy meetings that they ha= ve had before obviously, won’t be that long but they will be back starti= ng from scratch again, starting from discussions of each individual one, where= as, if they are just standard, that is what you ought to be starting from.
Mr. Sarandrea said that he does not think even Ms. Wick’s thinking and even himself, they technically do have a regulati= on for 35 feet, so this gentleman could have put that wind mill up – actually, they brought him in and considered his application as a structure= . It is actually an appliance, so they brought him in and made him put in an application as a structure and all structures have to be 35 feet, so they g= ave him a variance beyond the 35 feet, so technically, they do have a regulatio= n in place if they consider it a structure.&nbs= p; He could have put the American flag pole up with lights, all night a= nd that, he thinks would be more detrimental to a neighbor than this wind mill= in the dark, you probably wouldn’t see it.
Mr. Minnich asked to be helpful and a little more clea= r to the things he said at this point, to his mind. As they know in this particular in= stance that is before us, it doesn’t generate all the power necessary for th= at home; therefore, it has only been to part of it, he understands it is part = way through the home, he understands it is half way- Mr. Sarandrea said it is n= ot throughout the home. Mr. Minnich continued by saying that therefore, the lo= gic then becomes, if he wants to do that, why not, does he put up two and then = the neighbor that is right next door wants to do the same thing and now there a= re four. So, to get to the goal that this green issue is all about, which is to reduce our dependence upon other gas and oil and using the wind, you can ca= rry this to the point that to get rid of all of that, you would want to be able= to have these wind mills and when you start to look at the multiplicity of how that can be in a particular neighborhood, there is little doubt in his mind, you change the character of the neighborhood. He said that he can’t at all begin to fathom that one wind mill is going to change it but once you apply the fact in terms of fairness in terms of what others may do, you are going to have all these up here which they were bought as homes, they were not bought as wind mill far= ms like out west, etc. and it does change the character of the neighborhood, s= o; therefore, he thinks one of the issues that he wanted to discuss at some po= int is, how many can be on a particular site of the property. Mr. Sarandrea said that there again,you have to go by the fall zone. He thinks they probably could only= put one, about being able to put one on his lot.
Ms. Wick said in addition, each one would have to get a variance. Mr. Sarandrea said, and they take a look at that. For instance if= you had say 10 acres on a farm and you are out there by yourself out in the country, maybe you could get away with 2 of 3 or 4, there again, they would have to go out there, take lo= ok, there would have to be 6 or 8 fall zone is 75 feet considering where their = location is, say their fall zone is 100 feet and their lot is 400 feet wide, there y= ou go, you probably could put two up.
Mr. Minnich stated that he is applying this terminolog= y fall zone to wind mills and where in our regulations does the fall zone specific= ally talk about wind mills, it doesn’t.&n= bsp; Ms. Wick said that ZBA is allowed to put conditions on. Mr. Minnich = is suggesting that the conditions be regulated as to what they put on. He understands the point and he is just repeating, he does not agree. Mr. Sarandrea said, as far as regulations, what are you going to regulate? Let them say somebody came before = them and they have a lot 50 x 60 in Oakville, do they think they are going to al= low them to put up a wind mill? H= e does not think so. He said that he= is just using that as an example. We all have common sense, we all go out, he thinks they all do a pretty good j= ob, they are going to go out and look and see where these wind mills are going = to be placed and if they are on a little paper lot, it is not going to happen.=
Mr. Russ asked, do they think they need a regulation a= s to the size of the lot? Mr. Geor= ge said, that is what they are talking about. Mr. Russ thinks they have the 35 foot regulation for buildings, so they have the height, they have the lot s= ize, having somewhere to start.
Ms. Mulcahy said, on the height issue, when they do gr=
ant a
variance, they did have additional setback requirements – in the curr=
ent
regulations it says in any district, in any portion of building or any
structure which portion exceeds 35 feet height, shall be set back from any
street line, property line or residential district boundary line by two
additional feet for each foot or fraction thereof, by which portion exceeds=
35
feet in height, so what happe=
ns is
his flyers say, two feet for each additional foot that he is granted in ter=
ms
of setback. Mr. George said t=
hat
she is talking about structure. Ms.
Mulcahy said she is just reminding them.&n=
bsp;
Mr. George said that t=
hey
may refer to this as structure. Mr. Sarandrea said, if he came in as an
appliance, he could have put that thing up if it is below 35 feet and nobody
could say anything about it. =
That
is why he came in because the ZBA considered it a structure, not we, he is
saying, when he came in for his permit, they considered it a structure.The
thing is, if you started putting in lot sizes and regulations as far as lot
sizes and things like that, let us say for instance, you put in there that =
it
is 1 ½ acres, so now, Mr. Byrnes could come in, he is on an acre and=
one
half, he could put up a wind mill and we don’t see him, nobody sees h=
im,
so now how do we know if this wind mill is going to fall to the right or to=
the
left, if it is saying the way it is right now, no structure can be more tha=
n 35
feet, that would mean that anyone that was going to put up a wind mill would
have to come before them. Mr.
George said,but he still has to have a permit. Mr. Sarandrea said, right, he
still has to have a permit, but it would be just like building a house. If =
he
has 1 ½ acres, so you put in the regulations 1 ½ you could ha=
ve a
wind mill. Mr. George said, with a permit. Mr. Sarandrea said, with a permi=
t,
how are they going to know exactly where this wind mill is going or what is
happening with it? Mr. Minnic=
h said
that you can’t do it just when all of these are combined, the setback=
and
the lot size. Mr. Sarandrea a=
sked,
how are they going to know that his is too tall for where his 1 ½ ac=
res
is or where it is going to fall?
What are you going to do, leave this up to the Building Inspector?
Mr. Minnich said that he thinks what they are saying i= s and he wants to be clear on this but what he is hearing what these folks are sa= ying is that not one of these are isolated amongst themselves.All of what they are discussing is all pa= rt of it, you just can’t take the acreage and stop there,you just can’= ;t take the 35 feet and stop there, but it is all put together and that is what all of it is. Mr. George commented is absolutely is what they are talking about.
Ms. Wick stated that they are creating a problem where= she does not see a problem exists.
Mr. Karpavich said that this wind mill is going to be considered a structure or an appliance – it is not a structure, it is= not an appliance, it is a wind mill, let’s set the regulations for a wind mill specifically a wind mill, not call it a structure, not call it an appliance and have the regulations where everybody is treated the same, tha= t is what he is saying. Ms. Wick s= aid, but you can’t treat everybody the same in this instance because she thinks what Mr. Sarandrea brought out is that different properties allow th= em, tend to different things and that is why it seem to her that this is one instance and she does not think it is part of it.
Mr. (unidentified)&nb= sp; said that he will give an example, he lives in Oakville and has &fra= c34; of an acre, he has more than 11miles an hour of wind, he h= as a beautiful view, can see all the way up to Highgate, he has ¾ of an a= cre, there is a point though,you come down to his house, he could put up 150 foot wind mill and you would never know that.&n= bsp; So now, if he goes and they tell him he can’t put one on &frac= 34; of an acre, that is not fair but if you left the regulation at 35 feet and = he came here and he said, “I want to put up a wind mill”, you have= to the ZBA, he goes to ZBA and they said they are going to do a site visit, th= ey are going to come over and they are going to see his lot and they are going= to say, “Holy smokes, you are like you are in VT – this thing couldn’t hit anything.” But yet, when you go across the street to his neighbor, he wouldn’t be= able to put up a wind mill 8 feet tall, it would hit something. If you meet all the requirements, = you are eligible for it.
Mr. Minnich asked to suggest that they obviously need = to come to some conclusion which they did last time informally and probably do= it more formally now as to whether this Commission wants and he thinks it is important to have regulations for wind mills and if they decide that they d= o, then they can continue the conversation and that is to resolve in terms of = at least developing regulations, when it is all done and decided in terms of w= hat is before it, they may decide they are going to change it or not do it but = at least for their purpose here of defining and determining regulations, let h= im them suggest if he may, ̵= 1; he asked to do it by a motion then that this Commission desires to develop regulations for wind mills.
A motion was made by Mr. George and seconded= by Mr. Mancini to develop regulations for wind mills.
Mr. Minnich asked for discussion.
Mr. Martin said that his question is, if this becomes a
zoning regulation, who polices location, height, who makes sure that these
things fall into our regulations – where will this happen, our office,
the zoning office? Mr.Minnich
answered, the Zoning Enforcement Officer. Mr. Martin said that he is assumi=
ng
that anybody who comes in with a wind mill, will have to go with the plan, =
the
detailed location on the lot, height, all that stuff, is this correct? That will all be provided ahead of=
time
and approved – he Commission does a site visit – Mr. Minnich sa=
id,
we don’t – Mr. Martin said, the Zoning Officer – he/she g=
oes
out and makes an inspection and verifies that that is the location, that
everything else works, is there any building department involved in this?
Mr. Minnich said, what it certainly says is that it de= fines the criteria by having the regulation to which 4 of the 5 members of that Commission need to agree to vary from the regulations for giving the varian= ce and what it does do as is the case for almost everything that goes before t= hem is, the regulation is defined and their determining a variance for that bas= ed on what the regulation says. = Mr. Sarandrea said if they are re= ally going to do this, put all this time into about regulations for wind mill farm because he is sure = it is going to come up.
Mr. Lukasavage commented that if somebody is looking a= t raw land, it will give them some idea of what they can put in there.
Mr. Sarandrea said that he has another member of his B= oard that wants to say something.
The gentleman said that he just wants to share somethi= ng – they have had hours of meetings in the last few months, he thinks w= hat he would like to stay with, get everybody to stay with is what they are tal= king about here is, he likes he word “appliance” he thinks it really fits the mental image, this is not a commercial operation, we are not headi= ng off to a wind farm, this is in his mind, an accessory use to a primary use = and so it doesn’t go on until 4 o’clock, 6 o’clock and you are generating extra electricity, you are selling it back, thinks they can draw= the line – what they are talking about here is accessory use to a residen= tial use or it could be an accessory use to a commercial use but it is part of t= he approved use of the lot and he would like to keep it at that because if you go = that line you are going to have a = very thick regulation – lots of details and complicated. For this to work = and –he brought it up, the price and everything and if we make it so complicated it will cost more for paperwork as it does for the wind mill, we are not going to gain energy independence in this nature and here is what he wants to share, they heard of every possible thing to be brought up about t= hese wind mills, right now, if you wanted to air condition your house,you could = go to the Building Department and pull plumbing permit and pu= t in a whole house, outdoor heat pump type air conditioner on a concrete pad, he d= oes not believe you would have to be more than 6 inches from your neighbor̵= 7;s property and generally speaking, that would make 50% more noise than this gentleman’s wind mill. It could be 30 feet from your neighbor’s bedroom window and you could run it 24 hours a day and this has been going = on and this happens every day and he does not think anybody is breaking down y= our doors complaining about this and that is sort of his point, this is too muc= h to do about not that much, this wind mill that he is proposing is not that big= a deal. They have heard lots of people trying to make arguments and the only argument is for aesthetics – he didn’t see any safety arguments that weren’t covered by a setback of equal distance or height. It see= med to him that literally was the only safety argument to put in there, other t= han standard building practices.
Mr.Minnich said that thinks in fairness to the whole i= ssue from what he has heard in the hearings that came before them, there is a significant concern amongst some of the people that are affected about the = wind mill, so what he is only commenting about here is the statement that was ma= de just a few minutes ago with regards to this isn’t a big deal, he think for some it is a big deal and he thinks in fairness to the lengthy discussi= ons they had and the passions people came, it is a big deal to them -
It was said by the gentleman that he tried to put it in
perspective of what happens every day, you drive in your car into your gara=
ge
probably makes more noise than this wind mill, he is trying to put it in as=
a
relationship because it is easy to envision this – our regulations sa=
y 35
feet but he believes they say something to the effect that antennas, chimne=
ys,
satellite dishes can go another 15 feet, so that gives us another base numb=
er
of 50 feet, so he personally would like to see something as simple as adding
the word “wind mill” – they gave a section accessory uses
– Ms. Wick said, they don’t come under the 35 feet, they
don’t count under the 35 feet.
The gentleman said that he would almost like to have them head off t=
he
part about minimum acreage and things like that. He doesn’t like the physics,=
it
doesn’t really match up that concept of fall zone, he thinks the word
“set back” is just a better word but as simple as a set back of
100% to tower height and/or use the regulation which you already have, as s=
oon
as you exceed the 35 feet it is 2 to 1, that will provide it – there =
is
no way you could not be protected – if someone was approved for a 50 footer, he thinks it would be about 65 fee=
t up
from the nearest property line.
There is quite a bit of separation protection just in that one aspect of it. He just =
said,
keep it simple. He is asking =
everybody
to be a little more tolerant because this is something that is worthwhile.<=
span
style=3D'mso-spacerun:yes'> If every single person in
Ms. Wick asked to comment. The point that she heard at= this meeting is, yes, people were upset about it but what upset them was they didn’t want it in their neighborhood. If you are going to pass a regulation tha= t is going to allow in their neighborhood they still are not going to be happy – the point is, a regulation allowing someone to have 60 feet or something like that is not going to make those people happier – when = she was listening to them it was very clear to her, they didn’t think it belonged in their neighborhood period.
She thinks that having ZBA look at it on a case-by-case basis is a better way to do it even to satisfy the neighbors than setting a regulation which automatically says everybody is allowed to do it under the= se circumstances.
Mr. Minnich asked for further discussion?
Mr. Minnich said that the motion before the Commission= is that the Commission will consider regulations for wind mills.
Mr. Minnich asked Ms. Allen to call the roll for the p= urpose of recording the votes.
Ms. Allen called the roll as follows:
David Minnich, yes.
Judy Wick, no.
Ron Russ, yes.
Gary Martin, abstained.
Carl Mancini, yes.
Duane George, yes.
Jim Lukasavage, yes.
Mr. Minnich said that= by a vote of 5 in favor, one against, one abstention, the motion is approved and the Commission will consider wind mill regulations.
Mr. Minnich asked for further discussions.
Mr. Dave Dadd= ona, 48 Farm Circle, Watertown,CT: He is the next door neighbor and they are saying it is no big deal and they donR= 17;t care about the aesthetics, there is the noise and there is also the aesthet= ics because you are not supposed to change the characteristics of the neighborh= oods and that is one of their concerns having this 20 feet above anybody else’s house and he keeps referring to it as a pin wheel on a small p= ole but it is 12 foot with the cone pipe, 13 feet in diameter and it is going t= o be moving and there will be a flickering and maybe interference on cable and r= adio so if you are going to do your regulations and you do want to go before ZBA, just make the regulation at 35 so it is at the roof height and maybe a 2 ac= re lot – now if needs to go before the ZBA because he only has 1 ½ acres. Don’t set the regulation so small that everybody could do it,set it a little bit, well, we want it higher, well now you need to go before ZBA or your lot should be 2 acres of 3, he does not know what the acreage should be but maybe it should= be larger with a larger setback so if an applicant wants to come in and say, “Well, my lot is smaller”, now the ZBA has to go out and look a= t it but to just say one acre is good or one acre and one half is good, he does = not know where the line would be but he thinks= they should make it more strict so that then both sides win because = now they have to go in front of ZBA and get a variance on something that is a smaller setback and smaller lot. Maybe they should do a site walk, maybe be= fore they make any decisions, they should come look and get a feel for this is. = Come into our yards and look from his yard, 50 feet away from where this is goin= g to be, maybe look at it before you make your final decision.
Mr. Minnich said that our practice here obviously in developing the regulation, you still have to go to public hearing, so there= is some time and he suggests that they go out and see it at that point.
Mr. Eric Weih= rauch , 360 Straits Turnpike, Watertown, CT:&n= bsp; At this point he sees what (inaudible) a lot of times experienced discussion which we perhaps can avoid by looking at some of the regulations – he would definitely be against the 1 ½ acre minimum size rul= e, he has over 1 ½ acres but he has no neighbors – his nearest neighbor is 3 or 400 feet away and with a height he would say they could make it more simply with 15 o= r 20 feet above the surrounding tree lines.This would give you the maximum wind for the maximum e= nergy and as they have seen in the Waterbury paper it included us, Watertown, as a EID (Energy Independent District) and he believes we must be part of this n= ew economic boom and if we can get energy through natural ways, water, wind, solar, he thinks we should encourage it because we have grant money in the State and at Federal level and he believes we have to do what we have to do – in the subdivision regulation, they should allow it or not, if it is not in there, perhaps in the future when a developer comes who does more th= an one lot, we could have a check-off, “Yes, wind mill”, or “= ;Not wind mill” This is part of their restriction – perhaps we can develop it that way but for the regulation, he would recommend himself, like the Westport, MA regulation, they have done all their homework for us here. He thinks it is a good = idea to spend time to re-study this –leave the height restriction at 35 fe= et we have for buildings but for wind mills he thinks 20 feet above the tree l= ine would be great for the purpose of maximizing with minimal cost to get as mu= ch maximum energy out of the wind physic system.
Ms. Wick said, there is another issue that was brought= up, the issue of aesthetics and the issue of deed restrictions. When sub-dividers come in they set restrictions in their subdivisions, you can’t have a clothes line, you can’t have animals, some, you can’t use vinyl siding but those = are aesthetic restrictions that we cannot enforce it in a subdivision and we don’t have the legal right to put it in our regulations either, we can’t tell people from that perspective from an aesthetic perspective what they can and can’t do. The other thing that concerns her if R= 11; Mr. Minnich said on that point, they cannot create a binding deed restricti= on that is in violation-of the existing zoning, you can’t have a deed restrictio= n to say that you can have a factory. The deed restriction which she just referr= ed to must be in compliance with the zoning regulation. Ms. Wick said that the zoning regulation doesn’t speak to it, we don’t have any zoning= regulation that talks about clotheslines or vinyl siding or things like that but those= are in developer’s restrictions.
Mr. Minnich said the issue before the Commission is the issue of the wind mills.
Ms. Wick said that you could require that the plan can require that you can’t have a two story house even though we allow a = two story house so she think a developer could prohibit wind mills, even if we allowed them. Her other conce= rn is that a lot of our lots, even our larger size lots gave minimum street front= age, 150 feet street frontage so you can have an R-90 Lot and have the same 150 feet as you do in an R-70 because a developer has come in and he wants to get the most lots that he can on a st= reet so he is going to have minimum frontage and the acreage is going to be in t= he depth, so you have to consider if you are going this path, that it is not necessarily the size of the lot but has to be, what is your frontage and she thinks you are opening up a can of worms.
Mr. Lukasavage asked about possibly allowing open space area. Ms. Wick asked, who would own it?&nb= sp; That is a whole different issue, you are talking now about the issue that people are talking about here is on residential lots – Mr. Martin said it is commercial that he is looking at, right? Mr. Lukasavage said, no, it is open space for that development if somebody wanted to put a wind mill in there. = Ms. Wick said, it depends on who owns the open space.
Mr. Sarandrea had a comment to Mr. Daddona. One of the considerations they took on approving this application was aesthetics and quality of life, as he said, he could have put that wind mill on a 33 feet = and he could be looking right at the wind mill and they did their site walk because of the way= his property slopes off, that was more of their consideration to put it up as h= igh as they allowed him to put it so now this gentleman is going to be looking = at a 6 inch pole – he knows they already voted but keeping it simple, they went out and looked at it and that was one of the considerations was that i= f he kept it at the height he wanted, even at 35 feet, he would be looking at th= ose blades all the time – now he is looking at a pole and he probably won’t even see that pole.
Mr. Minnich asked if this is part of what they do. For= this Commission to, we don’t have regulations that you can gave pools just= in the back yard, this is where people have to come to you with regards to get= ting a variance and he would imagine if they aren’t in compliance with whatever we are here to establish, that they going to come to you folks and= get a variance for the very same thing that they are suggesting which then that they are going to make the determination. Mr. Sarandrea said that he think = what they are trying to say is they are making it more complicated. Mr. Minnich said, that issue is off the table. Mr. Minnich said that they have to move on. Mr. Sarandrea said that = he thinks they are going to gave a lot of lawsuits. Mr. Sarandrea said that he has bee= n on the ZBA since 1989 and if he was here to discuss it and he is here discussi= ng it and what happens is for instance, this cluster housing that you put up behind Carvel, we have people coming in with, they want to put swimming poo= ls in, their house is as big as the lot so we have to design a swimming pool f= or it, now we are pool designers, so now we are going to be wind mill designers.
Mr. Minnich said that they decided they want to have regulations, and they will move on and see where that all ends up.
Mr. Minnich asked for other comments. In discussion, they talked about t= he 35 feet where they want to be with this. It was stated that Ms. Wick was rig= ht when she said that you can have a 4 or 5 acre property with 150 foot line, = so if they have a regulation, they have to have a fall zone or whatever, they = know the most you can have is 75 foot fall zone so if it is 35, 20 feet more wou= ld give you 40 feet, so you have to gave 75 feet so that would actually fit in= the center of that lot if you want to go to 60 or 70 feet you have to have a regulation that says, acreage, fall zone, set backs, you have that all as o= ne, not just a half acre lot or one acre lot, it would have to be combined with= the acreage and the set back and the fall zone. If all these requirements are m= et, it is a go.
Mr. Russ thinks what they need now is what other towns= and states allow and what regulation the State has and give some kind of general basis of what we want to do to make regulations.
Mr. Russ asked to make a motion to table this for now.= Mr. Martin said that previously he= had abstained and he wishes he hadn’t because there are some things being said here that make a lot of sense. One being, he likes the thought process= of somebody going out to the site beforehand and saying, not just giving a bro= ad gauge, maybe you can do it, but to take into consideration the lay of the l= and, the neighbors houses, to be able to actually place thing in the best possib= le place – What this gentleman is saying has some merit to it, it puts somebody out on the site before anything is done saying, this is our recomm= endation. This is where you should be putting it, it fits everything in your neighbor= hood and keeps it unobtrusive as possible.
Ms. Mulcahy said that she did contact someone and aske= d for wind mill regulations in the State – Warren, MA is set up pretty simi= lar, they have definitions and as has been said, there are a lot of materials he= re and a lot of different things they may want to look at and consider, look at different properties and see what they would like to do, maybe add some par= ts to the regulation - Whether t= hey just want to add it onto structures and then have a little addendum or you = can make it as large as these whole shared wind energy facilities
how far do they want to go with regulations – th= at would be key to constructing a regulation.=
Ms. Wick said that she certainly does not have a probl= em with, if there are places in our industrial area where you could have a wind farm, she thinks it is a great idea, she wouldn’t want it in a residential area, but she certainly thinks if you are talking a wind farm y= ou need regulations and you need to restrict it to where you would want it to be. Mr. Minnich think Ms. Wic= k is absolutely right, he wouldn’t want it in an industrial area as a wind farm because that is not going to give you the value of that property in te= rms of tax dollars and other things.
Ms. Wick said that we gave apparently the wood to ener= gy plant that is going in that is going to be a very high value, so she does n= ot know, she has no idea of what the tax value of a wind farm would be.
Mr. Lukasavage will talk to someone about the resource people – the State is not good with resource maps, there are only some certain sites that are exceptional – CT, had conversations and commer= cial entities as far as commercial wind in CT, they don’t see this happeni= ng at all.
Mr. Minnich said that this will be brought up at a mee= ting in the future. Ms. Mulcahy wi= ll have some sort of draft for non-commercial dwellings
Mr. George Ho=
yt of
Mr. Minnich asked for further comments. There were non= e.
Mr. Russ withdrew his motion to table action on the discussion. The second to the motion was also withdrawn.
=
6. =
Adjournment.
A motion was made by Mr. Mancini and seconde=
d
by Mr. George to adjourn the meeting at
Mr. Minnich asked for discussion. There was no discuss= ion.
&nbs= p; &= nbsp; &nbs= p; …By voice vote the motion was passed unanimously…
&nbs= p; &= nbsp; &nbs= p; &= nbsp; &nbs= p; &= nbsp; Respectfully submitted,
&nbs= p; &= nbsp; &nbs= p; &= nbsp; &nbs= p; &= nbsp; David E. Minnich, Chairman
&nbs= p; &= nbsp; &nbs= p; &= nbsp; &nbs= p; &= nbsp; Planning and Zoning Commission
Approved:_____________________
Planning and Zoning Commission
Special Meeting,
Page No. 26