Planning & Zoning Commission

CITY OF TORRINGTON PLANNING AND ZONING COMMISSION MEETING MINUTES February 26, 2025 Present: Greg Mele – Chairman Donovan Riley – Member James Bobinski, Member Donna Greco – Member Diane Carroll – Alternate Starley Arias – Alternate Thomas Telman –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 7:01 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 7:01 pm and announced present and serving this evening in person are Members Donna Greco, Donovan Riley, James Bobinski, Diane Carroll and Chairmen Greg Mele. Serving remotely are Alternates Thomas Telman and Starley Arias. Also present in the auditorium is City Planner Jeremy Leifert, Recording Secretary Christine Altman and applicants. 3. Minutes for Approval: a. February 12, 2025 Meeting MOTION by Commissioner Greco to APPROVE the minutes of February 12, 2025 as presented. Seconded by Commissioner Carroll. Motion passed with Commissioner Telman abstaining. Public Hearings: a. Resubdivision Location: 53 McDermott Avenue Applicant: Scott Olson Proposal: 2 lot Resubdivision of a 2.41-acre property in Local Business Zone Chairman Mele notified the Commissioners this public hearing will be continued. Mr. Torrington Planning and Zoning Commission Meeting Minutes – February 26, 2025 Page 1 of 6 Leifert noted for the record that they are working on a combination of easements and fee in lieu for Conservation. They are waiting on information and materials to come in to get on the Conservation Commissions agenda for review. b. Proposed Zoning Regulation Amendment Applicant: Torrington Planning and Zoning Commission Proposal: Amend Section 5.12–Non-Conforming Uses and Section 6.4– Excavations Chairman Mele opened the public hearing at 7:04 pm. Seated this evening in person are Members Donna Greco. Donovan Riley, James Bobinski, Diane Carroll and Chairmen Greg Mele. Serving remotely are Alternates, Thomas Telman and Starley Arias. Also present is City Planner, Jeremy Leifert. Commissioner Greco read the legal notice into the record. Jeremy Leifert, City Planner, read his memo into the record. Chairman Mele asked Mr. Leifert if there were records of mailings. Mr. Leifert replied that certified letters went out to all adjacent towns and the NWHCOG. Chairman Mele asked if any Commissioners had any questions or comments to which no one did. He then asked if anyone from the public, present or on Zoom, wanted to speak in favor of the application, to which no one spoke. Finally, he asked if anyone from the public, present or on Zoom, wanted to speak in opposition to the application, to which no one spoke. Chairman Mele closed the public hearing at 7:16 pm. MOTION by Commissioner Greco to APPROVE the proposed Zoning Regulation Amendment. Seconded by Commissioner Carroll, carried unanimously. c. Proposed Zoning Regulation Amendment Applicant: Torrington Planning and Zoning Commission Proposal: Amend Section 6.5.4–Multi-Family Housing Conversion Chairman Mele opened the Public Hearing at 7:18 pm. Seated this evening in person are Members Donna Greco. Donovan Riley, James Bobinski, Diane Carroll and Chairmen Greg Mele. Serving remotely are Alternates, Thomas Telman and Starley Arias. Also present is City Planner, Jeremy Leifert. Commissioner Greco read the public notice into the record. Jeremy Leifert, City Planner, read his memo into the record. Chairman Mele asked if any Commissioners had any questions or comments. Commissioner Riley asked for clarification on the meaning of modification in the part of the change saying, Torrington Planning and Zoning Commission Meeting Minutes – February 26, 2025 Page 2 of 6 “building may not be expanded or modified by more than 10%”, does modified mean shrinking or tearing it down? Mr. Leifert said yes, it can be modified more than 10 percent in either direction, but that would require a Special Exception. Chairman Mele then asked if anyone from the public, present or on Zoom, wanted to speak in favor of the application, to which no one spoke. Finally, he asked if anyone from the public, present or on Zoom, wanted to speak in opposition to the application, to which no one spoke. Chairman Mele closed the public hearing at 7:23 pm. MOTION by Commissioner Greco to APPROVE the proposed Zoning Regulation Amendment. Seconded by Commissioner Carroll, carried unanimously 5. Old Business: None Chairman Mele requested a motion to add an application from SLAM Collaborative to the Agenda. MOTION by Commissioner Riley to add SLAM collaborative to the agenda. Seconded by Commissioner Carroll, carried unanimously a. Modification to Site Plan #1402 Applicant: Kemp Morhardt, SLAM Collaborative Location: 50 Major Besse Drive Proposal: modification to athletic fields and addition of restrooms, storage and concession building Mr. Morhardt, Principal of the SLAM Collaborative, presented an overview of the plan to change the athletic field components. He displayed the current plan, previously approved. The project received an additional grant to upgrade the fields to synthetic turf. While the area for athletic fields stays the same, the layout and materials will change. The Varsity Softball field will now have athletic lighting. Also there is now an auxiliary building that would bring two restrooms and a prepacked snack concession plus athletic storage that was going to be in the main building. Mr. Morhardt showed the revised plan for the auxiliary building. Henry Withers, Landscape Architect for SLAM noted that with the new configuration, they eliminate an old retaining wall. This opens up accessibility as now there is a ramp instead of stairs. The concession building is also located on a flat grade, and is an improvement to what was originally proposed. Will Walter, Professional Engineer, discussed the drainage on the site, explaining that they made sure that whatever was flowing through those pipes during peak flow was maintained or reduced in the new plan. Synthetic turf fields inherently drain vertically, not horizontally, and have a 10 inch stone reservoir underneath them that holds rain and water that in heavy rain, Torrington Planning and Zoning Commission Meeting Minutes – February 26, 2025 Page 3 of 6 overflows to a series of collection pipes. The new plans were submitted to the City Engineer. What they are looking for is a conditional approval based on the Engineers review of the drainage report in which any modifications he requests can be added. Chairman Mele asked if the drainage under synthetic turf is better than grass fields. Mr. Walter answered, yes, it is. Chairman Mele asked if there is any pump chamber for water and sanitary. Mr. Walter answered that there is no pump chamber and displayed a plan showing the existing sanitary pipe that runs through the field. They are going to come out of the main building and then drop to the city sewer line, eliminating the need for a pump. Mr. Leifert read his memo into the record. MOTION by Commissioner Greco to APPROVE the application. Seconded by Commissioner Carroll, carried unanimously 6. New Business: a. Nick Cantor, DesegregateCT Legislative Update—Work Live Ride Bill Proposal Nick Cantor, Director of DesegregateCT, presented the proposal for HB 6831, Work, Live, Ride which hopes to deal with Connecticut’s housing shortage. DesegrateCT is a program of the Regional Plan Association. They create regional plans each generation. The 2017 plan dealt heavily with public transportation. This legislation incentivizes trasit-oriented communities. Work is about creating accessible jobs in municipalities. Live is about a variety of affordable homes with economical construction. Ride is about safer streets, stopping sprawl by intensive development in the urban center served by a strong transit system. Mr. Leifert asked how this program ties in with existing Incentive Housing Zones? Mr. Cantor answered that the goal is for towns already doing this that they get credit for it and don’t have to change their zoning. Mr. Leifert then asked if they have been in touch with the legislative liasons from the planners group CCAPA? Mr. Cantor wasn’t sure. Mr. Leifert was happy to put Mr. Cantor in contact with them. Mr. Liefert asked how this ties in with Sustainable CT? Mr. Cantor said they haven’t done an overlay yet, but many environments groups have come out in favor of it because of the post sprawl aspect. We don’t want to encourage development in the green spaces towns want to preserve. They don’t think the subdivision of farms for housing is the best use of that land. Instead they want to build around available transit. Commissioner Riley asked if the creation of the TOC would help in gaining access to state funds to increase our public transportation system here in Torrington. Mr. Cantor said that they did not Torrington Planning and Zoning Commission Meeting Minutes – February 26, 2025 Page 4 of 6 go after funding from DOT this round. More with DOH. The goal is for the Office of Responsible growth to grow more power to build out the State’s planning capacity. b. Sam Valone, Lodestar Energy Solar Project Presentation, West Hill Road Jim Bobinski recused himself. Ms. Vallone presented the preliminary plans for the West Hill Road solar project. It is a 3 Mega Watt array with 19.2 acres of total disturbance including access roads, utility poles, stormwater basins, and panels. They’ve gone through extensive studies over the last year and a half with Eversource and received approval to interconnect to the distribution system. This plan is under the jurisdiction of the Connecticut Siting Council. Lodestar is planning to submit the application on March 10th. She discussed the Siting Council approval process and timeline for permitting and construction. The arrays would all be to the East of a gas line easement that bisects the property and accessed by a gravel drive from West Hill Road that ends with an equipment pad containing transformers and inverters. There are 3 stormwater detention basins. CT DEEP requires that stormwater drainage patterns be improved on the site by lowering peak flows. DEEP has given a preliminary approval contingent to Siting Council Approval. Ms. Vallone presented a series of photo simulations that shows how the project will look five years post installation. These simulations demonstrated that the arrays are not visible from the road or from the nearest property line. Mike Gagnon, Engineer with SLR, discussed the placement of the stormwater management system describing the test pits done to determine that the subsurface conditions are suitable for stormwater following stringent guidelines. All disturbed areas will be planted with a conservation seed mix which only needs to be mowed once or twice a year. Chairman Mele asked if Eversource was changing the poles on West Hill? Ms. Vallone answered no. Chairman Mele asked the rough distance from the road to the fencing. Ms. Vallone answered that it is 550 feet. Chairman Mele asked if the gravel access road the first part of the project so that tracking of mud is avoided on West Hill Road. Ms. Vallone answered that the gravel access road is the first step of construction. Mr. Mele asked about the maintenance protocol for the site. Ms. Vallone said once the site is operational it is inspected 4 times per year for any breakage of the panels and fence. There is a remote monitoring system that allows them to see if a panel in the array or transformer is working properly, they can see it and have it repaired ASAP. The site will be mowed 3 times per year. Mr. Leifert asked if Mr. Gagnon had discussed the stormwater connection with the City Engineer. Mr. Gagnon replied that yes and the plans were submitted and reviewed and the City Engineer accepted what they proposed. Torrington Planning and Zoning Commission Meeting Minutes – February 26, 2025 Page 5 of 6 Chairman Mele asked how this project compared to a subdivision of 11 homes. Mr. Gagnon answered that there was much more infrastructure involved in the subdivision plan. Also stormwater would connect directly to West Hill Road catch basins, whereas the detention basins in the solar plan decrease peak flows. Commissioner Carroll asked what will happen to plantings that die. Ms. Vallone answered that the Siting Council asked them to submit a maintenance plan for the landscaping that requires that they replace any plantings that die. Multiple Commissioners discussed the life of the solar array, and various decommissioning possibilities. Ms. Vallone answered that the maximum length of their contract was 40 years. They have a 20-year contract, which could be renewed, and they expect to own and operate this property for the life of the array. If they go out of business, the business will go to the bank and be bought out by another solar company. There needs to be a program with Eversource they can attach to. The program they are in currently is NRES, Non-Residential Energy Source. That is a 20-year contract, so, while they hope there will be a program after that contract, but there are no guarantees. All the power from this project is spreading out through the grid, but that added electricity is giving a school building in Hartford a 10 percent discount on their power. After the life of the contract, the array could be repowered, but if not, they will submit a decommissioning plan. 7. Correspondence: a. Zoning and Blight Violation update Mr. Leifert reported that citations have started on 910 East Main Street for multiple zoning violations including motor vehicle sales, site plan from 2014 that is not being followed, it’s not ADA compliant, lighting compliant etc. They have not responded to notices Almost finished with Batchy Brew, the only thing left is landscaping in the Spring. There is a Clean and Lien happening at the Rosa property on Red Oak Hill. They have a contract with Mr. Rosa where the Street Department will mitigate any Blight conditions, the cost of which will be added to the leins and citations currently on the property. b. POCD discussion Mr. Leifert explained that there hasn’t been a comprehensive update since 2009. We are using 2000 census data and housing data from 2006. Mr. Leifert put in a budget request for 2026 to hire a consultant. He will keep the Commission updated as it moves forward. 8. Adjournment MOTION by Commissioner Carrol to adjourn at 8:35 pm. Seconded by Commissioner Greco carried unanimously. Torrington Planning and Zoning Commission Meeting Minutes – February 26, 2025 Page 6 of 6