PZC

Planning and Zoning Commission

May 19, 2020 – 7:30 PM

Meeting Minutes

Please Note: This meeting was held online

Members Present:

Walter Parsell

Bob Shabot 

Laurie Semprebon

Doug Roberts

Andrew Marco

Joe Hall

Members Absent:

Joe Lucia

Also present:

Michael D’Amato – Zoning Agent

Ashley Stephens- Assistant Land Use Agent

W. Parsell opened the meeting at 7:30 pm.

W. Parsell opened the Public Hearing for

Z-20-30 Special Permit for Home Occupation: Section 11.01.02: 54 Baxter Rd,

Owner/Applicant: Allison Laprad

A. LaPrad stated she needs the special permit for the Home Occupation because the van she will be using states her business name and logo on it. According to the regulations, this does not meet regular requirements for a Home Occupation so she’s asking for a special permit to allow her van to displaying her business name and logo, while not actually having her home occupation out of her house.  

There was discussion with the Commission about the section from the Home Occupation from section 11 in the regulations and why A. LaPrad was seeking a special Home Occupation permit.

R. Tulis made a public comment on Home Occupations. He stated his HO is invisible because it’s in an office in his basement, no clients come there, and he goes to them. He had to register with the town for zoning requirements. A. LaPrad doesn’t do work in her home, she only has to have a vehicle with her name on it. There are other people in town who drive a company truck who don’t have to have a HO permit, so why is this different? He stated that maybe the Commission can consider changing the regulations for HO permits if they only have to have a vehicle in their driveway.

M. D’Amato stated that some towns create criteria for external parts of businesses. If you have certain vehicles, then you don’t need a permit. This is like for people that need a vehicle nearby, like tow trucks who need to be out quickly, etc.

M. D’Amato stated that we did also create the abutters notification from the office and the sign was on her property.

W. Parsell made a motion to close the public hearing for

Z-20-30 Special Permit for Home Occupation: Section 11.01.02: 54 Baxter Rd,

Owner/Applicant: Allison Laprad

B. Shabot seconded motion. All in favor.

W. Parsell opened the public hearing for

      PZ-20-1 Special Permit for Retail Trade: Section 5.04.01.02.19: 11 Phelps Way

Owner: BTV Realty of Willington, Applicant: Katie Marek

M. Bonanno the attorney for applicant K. Marek is a part of Lots & More that is the proposed store for the plaza at 11 & 15 Phelps Way, which is a single parcel. They are here for a special permit for retail trade under Section 5.04.01.02.19 in the DC zone in a shopping plaza.
 

The documents that were submitted as part of the application were brought up on the screen and shown so everyone could see them. M. Bonanno discussed the background about Lots & More and that the store offers discount products at great prices, with a focus on garden supplies, bagged mulch, and rental equipment. There is a sketch for the layout for the interior floor layout. There will be a lot of cleaning up of the property from the deterioration from the lack of care over the years. The signs were installed for this public hearing and the staff notified the abutters. The applicant would like to bring it back to a successful shopping plaza and there is a need for this store.

W. Parsell stated he has concerns about parking. Is there enough space to handle that along with other businesses?

M. Bonanno stated one of the improvements to the site is to connect the upper and lower level parking lots with stairs, and you can see on the site map that there is adequate parking.

B. Shabot asked why there was equipment for rent on the property and where will be the placement for rental equipment?

M. Bonanno stated the rental equipment has decals of Lots & More and they were parked there for future use. It was not for advertisement at this time. They are parked there for future work.

D. Roberts asked how many total parking spaces will there be after the work is done?

M. Bonanno stated there will be no additional parking spaces or elimination any, but there are 158 spaces.

M. D’Amato stated you can see the tenant spaces that are vacant on the site plan, they are still included in the count. We look at them as they are occupied so when tenants are filled, they are still opened so they don’t run into any future issues.

A.Marco asked if the applicant could expand on outside storage. Where do you envision that being placed?

M. Bonanno stated the location is circled in grey on the site plan, to be use for outside garden supplies. The South Windsor store has it so that you can view products, go inside to pay, and then go to the outdoor location to pick them up. Existing Building B will remain vacant for the time being. It may become corporate offices.

W. Parsell asked if there will be any sales of bird seed that rodents can get into.

M. Bonanno said no, not at the moment.

Public Comment:

R. Tulis asked several questions relating to the property to which M. Bonanno responded.

T. Waldo stated on behalf of the Willington station next door, they think it’s positive to put more business in there and add to the property.

W. Parsell made a motion to close the public hearing for

 PZ-20-1 Special Permit for Retail Trade: Section 5.04.01.02.19: 11 Phelps Way

       Owner: BTV Realty of Willington, Applicant: Katie Marek

D. Roberts seconded the motion. All in favor.

New business:

Z-20-30 Special Permit for Home Occupation: Section 11.01.02: 54 Baxter Rd,

Owner/Applicant: Allison Laprad

W. Parsell made a motion to approve this special permit. D. Roberts seconded. All in favor. Permit approved.

M. D’Amato stated some conditions he thought appropriate for the second application. The Commission then decided to create conditions for this application during the call. See below.

A.Marco made motion to approve

PZ-20-1 Special Permit for Retail Trade: Section 5.04.01.02.19: 11 Phelps Way

     Owner: BTV Realty of Willington, Applicant: Katie Marek

With the following conditions:

Outdoor storage of garden supplies shall be limited to the area specifically depicted on the submitted site plan.

There shall be no repair or maintenance of equipment on site.

Any lighting modifications shall be Dark Skies compliant or require separate approval from the Commission.

All new signage shall be in harmony with the existing on-site signage.

Equipment rental storage/display shall be limited to the area designated as outside storage or the grassed area immediately to the south of #15 Phelps Way.

L. Semprebon seconded the motion. All in favor. Permit approved.

Unfinished Business:

None

Minutes:

L. Semprebon stated she would like two small corrections for the May 5, 2020 minutes: on page 10 it should say ‘Loves for a quarry removal’ and ‘5 days is reasonable to consider’.

L. Semprebon motion to approve minutes with small changes. W. Parsell seconded. All in favor. Minutes approved.

Correspondence

None

Public Comment:

The Commission will hear brief comments at this time from anyone wishing to speak. No business can be conducted here nor can any comments be made about any items on the agenda.

None

Staff Report/Discussion:

M. D’Amato stated that the BOF looks like they will move forward with a 0% budget. We have a GIS online for the town, we are working on taking the LaserFische system which is the land records system and we will now project those through the GIS system. You will get a link of the documents and be able to see them in a PDF.

 Adjournment    

W. Parsell adjourned meeting at 8:52 pm.

Respectfully submitted,

 Ashley Stephens