Planning & Zoning Commission

CITY OF TORRINGTON PLANNING AND ZONING COMMISSION MEETING MINUTES December 11, 2024 Present: Greg Mele – Chairman Greg Perosino – Vice Chair Jim Bobinski – Member Donovan Riley - Member Donna Greco – Member Diane Carroll – Alternate Tom Telman – Alternate Starley Arias – Alternate Also Present: Jeremy Leifert - City Planner, Christine Altman – Recording Secretary and applicants 1. Call to Order: Chairman Mele called the meeting to order at 7:00 p.m. Attendance is by Zoom or in-person at City Hall Auditorium, Room 218, 140 Main Street, Torrington, CT. 2. Attendance/Announcement: Chairman Mele opened the meeting at 7:00 pm and announced present and serving this evening in person are Members Donna Greco, Jim Bobinski, Donovan Riley seated alternate Diane Carroll, and Chairmen Greg Mele. Serving remotely are Vice Chair Greg Perosino, seated Alternates Tom Telman and Starley Arias. Also present in the auditorium is City Planner Jeremy Leifert, Recording Secretary Christine Altman as well as applicants. a Election of Commission Officers MOTION by Commissioner Telman to nominate all the current officers to stay in the position they currently hold. Motion seconded by Commissioner Starley. Motion passed unanimously. 3. Minutes for Approval: a. October 9, 2024 Meeting MOTION by Commissioner Donovan to approve the minutes of October 9, 2024 as presented. Motion seconded by Commissioner Greco. Motion passed unanimously Torrington Planning and Zoning Commission Meeting Minutes – November 13, 2024 Page 1 of 7  b. November 13, 2024 Special Meeting MOTION by Commissioner Carroll to approve the minutes of November 13, 2024 as presented. Motion seconded by Commissioner Greco. Motion passed unanimously. 4. Public Hearings: Public Hearing beginning at 7:04 p.m., September 11, 2024, City Hall Auditorium, Room 218, 140 Main Street, Torrington, CT a. Proposed Zoning Regulation Amendment Applicant: Bruce Worley Proposal: Amend Section 3.1, Subsection 4.60 – Gymnasiums and Physical Fitness Centers to permit by site plan in the IP-Industrial Park zone. Chair Mele opened the public hearing at 7:02 and announced present and serving this evening in person are Members Donna Greco, Jim Bobinski, Donovan Riley seated alternate Diane Carroll, and Chairmen Greg Mele. Serving remotely are Vice Chair Greg Perosino, seated Alternates Tom Telman and Starley Arias. Also present in the auditorium is City Planner Jeremy Leifert, Recording Secretary Christine Altman as well as applicants and members of the public . Commissioner Greco read the legal notice into the record. Bruce Worley appeared remotely and proposed his desire to move Nautilus Plus Fitness from the Winsted Road where it has operated for many years to the North End of Torrington because there is a congestion of fitness facilities in town. His idea is to move his facility to the outskirts to draw business from surrounding towns but keep the business itself in Torrington. The proposed location is well suited for the use and there has already been incredible interest from surrounding towns because there is nothing near them. Commissioner Telman asked which building Mr. Worley was looking to occupy. Mr. Worley answered 230 Ella T. Grasso Ave. Where Daly Moving and Storage is. Mr. Liefert read his memo into the record. Chairman Mele noted that square footage doesn’t matter. Mr. Leifert confirmed, stating that for site plans it is more about parking where the building is located, set backs and access. Comments were opened to the public. No one from the public choose to comment The public hearing was closed at 7:11 p.m. Torrington Planning and Zoning Commission Meeting Minutes – November 13, 2024 Page 2 of 7  MOTION by Commissioner Greco to APPROVE. Motion seconded by Commissioner Perosino. Motion passed unanimously. 5. Old Business: There is no old business. 6. New Business: a. Referral from City Council under CGS 8-24 – 216 Bogue Road, Harwinton Land exchange between the City of Torrington and B&R Corporation (Aka Supreme Industries) in Harwinton, CT. 83,379 sf of City-owned land transferred to B&R Corporation and 70,622 sf from B&R to the City of Torrington along the Naugatuck River. Paul Kundzins, Deputy Director of Public Works and City Engineer, presented the land exchange. Supreme Industries approached the City of Torrington offering to buy City-owned property in Harwinton to expand their operations. Mr. Kundzins explained that after reviewing the request, there was a portion of Supreme-owned land adjacent that the City has a trail easement through along the Naugatuck River. If we did a land exchange the City would acquire almost 500 ft of trail in exchange for the green area shown on the site plan that is of no current use to the City. The benefit to the City of Torrington is that we will have control over the entire trail from Toro Field to the WPCA. Chairman Mele asked how the plan works and is there any impact to acquiring a part of the waterway. Mr. Kundzins answered that the City owns several areas of the Naugatuck River thoughout its entire length that borders the City and we currently see no issues. It could benefit the City in terms of potential future plans of WPCA to reroute sanitary sewer through the trail instead of under the river. This gives us flexibility on future sanitary sewer development. Mr. Leifert read his memo into the minutes MOTION by Commissioner Greco to make a POSITIVE RECOMMENDATION. Motion seconded by Commissioner Perosino. Motion passed unanimously. b. Referral from City Council under CGS 8-24 – Plain Street Abandonment Discontinue Plain Street, including a sale of a parcel of City land at the end of Plain Street, approximately two acres, in favor of O&G Industries. Michael Magistrali, Corporation Counsel representing the City of Torrington, presented the proposal to convey a parcel of land at the end of Plain Street to O&G Industries. The Torrington Planning and Zoning Commission Meeting Minutes – November 13, 2024 Page 3 of 7  proposal has been in the works for a while and is a two-pronged approach. There is a band of land that follows the Naugatuck River that runs from St. John’s Place to Wall Street and beyond owned by the City for flood control. The triangular piece the City wants to convey to O&G is not necessary for flood control and the City has no use for it. It will be merged with 28 Plain Street as a condition of the sale. The second part of the proposal is the abandonment of Plain Street, which for all intents and purposes acts as a driveway for O&G. The only use is for members of the public to go into O&G masonry yard. Since O&G owns everything on Plain Street North and South and Common Law in the abandonment of a Street is that abutting property owners own to the center of the Street. There is a benefit to the City because the property will be back on the tax rolls and will not have to plow or maintain the road and will not be responsible for claims resulting from defects in the roadway. The City will sell it for $1000. Mr. Leifert noted that the City will retain access to the river through an easement. The City will still retain the sanitary sewer down the center of the street as well. Chairman Mele asked if O&G had to do any modifications for this proposal. Mr. Leifert noted there are crossing requirements. Mr Kundzins, City Engineer, answered that he has asked that they extend the sidewalk across the entrance to make it look like a driveway cut instead of an intersection to indicate that the strip is a driveway and not a street. Mr. Leifert noted that the once the street is no longer a City street, 28 Plain becomes an interior lot. To make that compliant, O&G will have to merge it with one of their other lots, so it has street frontage. Mr. Perosino asked if there was any signage on Plain Street for the mason yard. Mr. Telman asked if there was a sign on the fence saying “O&G Mason Yard”. Mr. Kundzins responded that he believed there was. Mr. Perosino said that a sign on the fence makes it clear that the strip is driveway and not a street. Mr. Leifert asked if it would become a private street. Mr. Kundzins responded that the City’s Street sign would come down and what O&G decides they want to do for signage is up to them. Chairman Mele asked if there was any means of reporting so that the street doesn’t show up on GPS searches. Mr. Kundzins says that don’t generally update Google, although they can. Since the adjacent properties have Wall Street addresses instead of Plain Street addresses the abandonment of Plain Street will not affect O&G in regard to mail or 911. Chairman Mele recalled when the City closed off Arthur Street, truckers were coming in and couldn’t travel through. Mr. Kundzins said we can suggest making their signage more prominent. 28 Plain Street will become merged with one of the other Wall Street addresses. Chairman Perosino is in favor of notifying Google of the change from 19 Plain Street to Torrington Planning and Zoning Commission Meeting Minutes – November 13, 2024 Page 4 of 7  Wall Street address. Mr. Kundzins said he could do that. Mr. Leifert read his memo into the record. MOTION by Commissioner Greco to MAKE A FAVORABLE REPORT. Seconded by Commissioner Perosino. Motion passed unanimously. c. Architectural Review Committee Appointments: i. John Sullivan, fill open regular slot to expire 12/31/26 (current alternate) ii. Austin Walker, Alternate Member (New), Fill vacancy through 12/31/26 iii. Diane Carroll, Alternate Member, reappointment to expire 12/31/27 iv. Jeremy Leifert, Regular Member, City Planner – reappointment to expire 12/31/27 v. Paul Kundzins, Regular Member, City Engineer – reappointment to expire 12/31/27 MOTION by Commissioner Perosino to APPROVE. Motion seconded by Commissioner Greco. Motion passed unanimously. 7. Correspondence: a. Zoning and Blight Violation update Nate Nardi-Cyrus, Assistant City Planner presented his 6-month report. He gave a summary of active cases since 12/13/23. There were 72 active enforcement cases with two new enforcement cases this month. This is up two from last year. There are six cases with Corporation Counsel for legal action, up from three last year. Judge Magistralli is more aggressively pursuing legal action against some of our offenders, which is helpful to the enforcement officers. There are 17 cases under active Cease and Desist orders, same as last year. Half have come into compliance since last year. Four cases have come into compliance since the last report, but that should pick up now that the office secretary position has been filled. Mr. Cyrus gave an update on the Pig case. It took five years to bring the violation into compliance. All the pigs are gone except for one indoor Pot-Bellied therapy pig. As soon as Judge Magistralli brought a motion to superior court to take custody of the pigs and send them to Plymouth Meats for processing, the rescues and sanctuaries stepped in to rehome the pigs. There is still a good amount of junk and debris the owners are in process of breaking down, but after a blight notice and citation was sent out, they began to take mitigation seriously. Wetlands violations associated with this case as well as they were storing pig manure in the wetlands. However, they got a permit and removed the pile. This was a great success Another case was 441 Oak Avenue, which went to Cease and Desist. There was a ZBA appeal from the applicant regarding illegally occupying a commercial garage space. The Torrington Planning and Zoning Commission Meeting Minutes – November 13, 2024 Page 5 of 7  applicant never followed through with Superior Court and the applicant went to prison. We are at the point of issuing citations and will work to get him into compliance once he’s out of Prison Commissioner Perosino inquired about the Red Oak Hill blight case. Mr. Nardi-Cyrus discussed the possibility of a Clean and Lien, but if that doesn’t go through there will be a court order or foreclosure on the property to bring it into compliance. Commissioner Carroll briefly discussed a property on lower Charles Street as it is overgrown. She then requested a status report on Mountain Top. Mr. Nardi-Cyrus explained that the Wetlands had been mis-mapped. A soil scientist is re-mapping the wetlands and presented the new information to IWC. Both IWC and staff are satisfied and agree with the new wetland boundaries. The entire property is scheduled to have new wetlands delineations in January. Once the new mapping goes through Wetlands, they will acquire an engineer to submit their plan to P&Z for materials processing. Mr. Nardi-Cyrus said that with the old mapping the it was the largest area of wetlands violation in the City, but with the mapping corrections we now know it is not the concern we once thought. Incidental discussion ensued. b. Discussion – Solar Project, West Hill Road Commissioner James Bobinski recused himself. Mr. Leifert asked the Commission if they want to submit comments on this project. He has not received calls from the public on this project yet. Commissioner Perosino said that he would like to comment on advanced screening. Mr. Mr. Liefert noted that Mr. Kundzins and he met with the company. Paul had voiced concerns on the connection for the stormwater. The company asked what we would normally require if this was a local approval which would be as much screening as possible next to the North end retention basin. Commissioner Perosino asked about decommissioning. Mr. Leifert responded that statutes have changed for the better in that all below-ground supports must be removed. Mr. Bobinski answered questions regarding the plan. The area of clearing is less than a subdivision. The property is being subdivided into two lots, with the solar project using the 23-acre lot. The panels will be 600 feet from West Hill Road. Mr. Leifer noted that they are retaining the original tree line on the East side of the property, but the West side needs additional buffering. Mr. Bobinski also suggested they do screen on the West Side. Commissioner Carroll asked what it would look like from West Hill. Mr. Bobinski Torrington Planning and Zoning Commission Meeting Minutes – November 13, 2024 Page 6 of 7  responded that it would look like a driveway for a house. Commissioner Greco asked if solar farms make noise. Chairman Mele responded that they make no noise. Mr. Bobinski noted that he is currently paying $185 in taxes for the entire 40-acre property because it is under a PA 490. The solar farm would be paying the City over forty thousand dollars a year in taxes, making the project a benefit for the City of Torrington. Mr. Leifert noted that solar projects align with the goals of our Plan of Conservation and Development. Chairman Mele asked if the Utility tie-in was at the end of the driveway. Mr. Bobinski said yes. Decommissioning was discussed by various members. The Commission suggested Mr. Leifert begin drafting comments for the project. c. 2025 Meeting Schedule Mr. Leifert noted the dates for the 2025 meetings, with 2 meetings scheduled for February and June. The standard 3rd Wednesday will apply to all other months. 8. Adjournment: MOTION by Commissioner Perosino to adjourn the meeting at 8:02 PM. Motion seconded by Commissioner Carroll. Motion passed unanimously. Torrington Planning and Zoning Commission Meeting Minutes – November 13, 2024 Page 7 of 7