Commission on the City Plan

COMMISSION ON THE CITY PLAN Tuesday, December 13, 2022, 7:00 PM Hybrid Meeting 23 Union Street – Lower Level Conference Room - NORWICH, CT CALL TO ORDER: Chairman Frank Manfredi called the meeting to order at 7:00 PM. ROLL CALL AND SEATING OF ALTERNATES: Present: Chairman Frank Manfredi, Ella Myles (Zoom), and Kathy Warzecha. Absent: Michael Lahan Staff Present: Director of Planning and Neighborhood Services Deanna Rhodes and City Planner Dan Daniska. APPROVAL OF MINUTES: November 15, 2022 On a motion by Ella Myles, seconded by Kathy Warzecha, the CCP approved the minutes. NEW BUSINESS: PUBLIC HEARING AND POTENTIAL ACTION ON THE FOLLOWING APPLICATION: A. SP#22-04/CAM #22-02: 23 Thermos Avenue. (Note Special Permit Number Correction) Request for a Special Permit for a proposed high rise multi-family development consisting of two (2) four-story buildings with twenty six (26) units each including lower level parking garages, a community center with meeting rooms, pool and attached garages, and other site improvements including drainage, parking lots, sidewalks, landscaping and lighting. Application of CLA Engineers, Inc. Property of Riverheights Development, Inc. Assessor’s Map 125, Block 1, Lot 1. Zone MF/CAM Overlay A motion by Kathy Warzecha, seconded by Ella Myles, was made to open the public hearing. Tom Cummings from CLA Engineering and Michael Franklin from Riverheights Development, Inc. were there to present for the applicant. City Planner Dan Daniska began by sharing that they did not receive any additional boards from CLA that they were going to present that night previous to the meeting, and that he would be unable to show them on the Zoom broadcast. Mr. Daniska asked that the applicant and their representatives hold them up to the camera so that the public and commission members attending online could see. Tom Cummings from CLA presented a board depicting SDP #989, which was the prior approval on the site from 2009. It shows the existing row of six (6) units that were constructed, with four (4) now occupied, with the other two (2) being renovated for occupancy. Then there is a series of concrete foundations behind. He then pointed to the middle of the board and said “the other four rows up here were never constructed. The land in that area can be characterized as disturbed, vegetation has been removed, and material has been deposited and removed. The land that contains the existing condominiums next door has been separated through a lot-line revision a number of months ago. Board 2: The site is being done in 2 phases, the first phase is the middle building and the community center. The upper building is part of phase 2. Deanna Rhodes brought up that CLA was not clear about how many apartments are in each building and there has been confusion regarding existing and proposed units. The legal notice had to be corrected regarding the number of units. The commission only received one set of building plans that don't show the difference between what the units are. On the plans it looks like the buildings are the same, but they are not and the commission has not received a second set of plans for the floor plan. The commission needs a building plan for each building. Frank Manfredi stated that the commission needs to see what they may or may not approve. Tom Cummings from CLA explained they are identical in size but not floor plans. The existing condos are not included in the calculations, but the new community center area is. Discussion ensued regarding the number of units and floor plans, Dan Daniska stated that the commission needs better identification of buildings and full floor plan sets for each building from the CLA, which was missing from their application. A description of the project was not given. The comments from staff were that they wanted to hear their presentation although there are things that have not been met. Deanna Rhodes stated that staff wanted to open the public hearing because notification had been made to abutters, and they have the opportunity to make comments this evening, but the application is not complete at this time and the Commission should not make a decision until the materials are submitted. The Commission allowed the applicant to continue their presentation, but the discussion will continue until January because of the missing information. Tom Cummings from CLA discussed parking requirements, planned parking, and the widening of driveways are being widened for safety and sightlines. There are two entrances from Laurel Hill Avenue. Mr. Cummings spoke about the drainage and how an environmental study was done and there was no contamination. Mr. Cummings spoke of the Erosion and Sedimentation Controls, including the sedimentation depression that will remain post construction. An environmental study determined that there is no contamination present on the site. Mr. Cummings discussed the landscaping plan as well as lighting. Michael Franklin discussed the elevation plans and floor plans of the buildings, the lower level parking, and the views to the river from the buildings. All of the buildings are fully handicapped accessible. Discussion ensued regarding the mix of units in each building. The Community Center building was then discussed, including amenities, and elevation views. There was discussion of pros and cons of the new buildings. Some owners near the site were happy that their property value would rise. Betty Lutz, 403 & 407 Laurel Hill Ave., lost her views when the last buildings were put in, she was worried about the increase in traffic, especially with there being a school, senior housing and other condos already on the hill. She was also concerned that there are only two exits and entrances which will not be enough for the traffic. Hector Ricafranca, 11 Thermos Ave., has lived there for 45 years and was also concerned about the large increase of traffic especially with how narrow their street is. Robert Blakeley 24 & 34 Thermos Ave., likes the idea of new housing there but agrees that traffic on that road is so narrow that they don’t believe a fire truck could go down this road. He disliked how his view has been blocked. Kathy Warzecha asked if a Traffic Report had been created regarding the project. Discussion ensued regarding the traffic report from the previous approval. Kathy Warzecha asked to have the traffic report updated for the evolved project. Kathy Warzecha made a motion to continue the public hearing until the January 17, 2023 CCP meeting, the motion was seconded by Ella Myles. All members voted in favor. B. Referral from the Norwich City Council AN ORDINANCE RELATIVE TO THE ABATEMENT OF TAXES AND REDUCTION OF BUILDING PERMIT FEES FOR SOUTH MILL AT PONEMAH (AKA 555 AND 575 NORWICH AVENUE) Deanna Rhodes shared that this is regarding the southern mill building with apartment units and a new restaurant in the building along Norwich Ave. The Commission approved this project in the recent past. They are seeking an abatement of taxes through the mill enhancement and they are asking for a reduction in the building permit fees. The building fees were waived completely for the north mill so they have negotiated on this and have come to a building fee of $100,000 to the city. The Planning Department is hiring a part time inspector at the cost of $52,000 to inspect there for the length of construction. They are hiring their own plan reviewer so we don't have to review all the plans for the building officials. They'll also have to provide technical assistance regarding code compliance. Plan reviews are very expensive and so instead of the city paying, they are. The plan reviewer must be approved by the city. We have a temporary building official, Earl Dean that has been training our building compliance tech to get them ready to become official building officials, To support this and send a favorable recommendation, I recommend that you look at our economic development. We support the redevelopment of the existing mills, and also preservation of historic structures, as assets to the community, capitalizing on the historic assets. On a motion by Kathy Warzecha, seconded by Ella Myles the commission will send a favorable recommendation on the ordinance to the city council. COMMUNICATIONS: None presented. OLD BUSINESS: None presented. BOND REDUCTION/RELEASE REQUESTS: Westledge & Sheltering Arms. 2 Westledge Bond Release: The project is pretty much done, the city is holding an LOC for $113,380, and 3 checks totaling $35,380 combined the checks total $148,960. The Engineer and ZEO recommend that they release the bonds. On a motion from Ella Myles, seconded by Kathy Warzecha the Commission voted unanimously to release the Westledge bond. 165 McKinley Avenue Extension: Sheltering arms redid their parking lot, did some landscaping, and some drainage upgrades. The city engineer and zoning are both satisfied and recommended they release that bond as well. On a motion from Kathy Warzecha, seconded by Ella Myles, the Commission voted unanimously to release the bond for sheltering arms. POCD UPDATE: The survey ends at the end of the month, staff has received two data decks, they went over the first data deck of different sections of the POCD and its demographic information and discussed at the last POCD meeting, and they sent them the second data deck which Dan and Deana have not looked through together. Some things they need information from other people on. The data deck are the tools needed to create the POCD. They will meet with different departments about the second deck. It's due by August of 2023. STAFF REPORT: None ADJOURNMENT: On a motion by Kathy Warzecha, seconded by Ella Myles, the CCP unanimously adjourned at 8:30 p.m. Respectfully submitted, Ivery R. Stakley