1990/10/10I 35
The regular meeting of October 10, 17~0 was called to order by
Chairman J. Suranna at ?:00 p.m. in Room ? of the Berlin Town Hall.
Commissioners in attendance: H. Russak, K. Kearns, R. Baumann,
P. Corrigan, S. Messina, and P. Query. Commissioner M. Meigs was
absent. Also in attendance were To~n Planner W. Voelker 'and Zoning
Inspector R. Gaudio.
The minutes of the September ~&, 1770 meeting were revie~ and a
motion to accept them was made by Commissioner Russak, seconded by
Commissioner Kearns, and carried unanimously.
Consensus of the Commission was to move the report of ZBA cases given
by the Zoning Inspector to Item #~ on the agenda. Zoning Inspector
Gaudio then revie,ed the decisions of the September meeting and the
applications for the October meeting.
Town Planner Voelker read a letter from Town Counsel E. Timothy
Sullivan includi~g a proposal to amer~d the Zoning Regulations with
new section 11.~3.03 regarding Publi~ Service signs. The date of
public hearing ~ill be November
Town Planner Voelker read a letter from Attorney Jeffrey Cugno
concerning the petition of Fox Hill I_and Company to change the zone
of Lots 3, 3A, 3B, 30, 3D, 3-1, A, AA, qB, and 5, Block 1~1, Spruce
Brook Road from Residential q3 (R-q3) to Residential ~1 (R-~I). The
public hearing for this item will be November ~8, 1770. The original
application included a note wi)ich stated the application included a
Notice of Intent to apply under, a~)d pursuant to~ Public Act 87-311
(Affordable Housing Developments). TI)e letter read into the record
stated the petition will not irtclude application under P.A. 8~-311,
stating affordable housing on this site as the requested R-~I density
could not be reasonably offered. The rest of the application remains
as submitted.
Chairman Suranna stated a communication had been received from Mayor
Peters requesting each Board and Commission add to the agenda an item
shown as "Audience of Citizens" ~hich ~ould allow citizens the time
to address the board or commission on any matter. Chairman Suranna
began the discussion by stating his belief that after a public
hearing had been held, it would be illegal for the Zoning..Commi~:sig?
to consider any comments or communication concerning tha~-~u~'~e~. '"~
Commissioner Corrigan agreed that tills might jeopordize a'~ .:~i!:.i: ~) .... :~
application. Commissioner Query stated to do this would nO:t:'gi~ i].i
both sides the opportunity to respond. Commissioner Messinai st~edll
he did not like to see the public denied the opportunit~,~b::ispeak o~
an issue because proper procedure or protocol was not k~o~f';'; ::~i ?
Commissioner Query stated his agreement with the spiriti&~ the c,U i::
Mayor's suggestion and with Commissioner Messina's comme~%s.~' cn ~:.~
Commissioner Corrigan stated adding the item to the agenda could"'only
be helpful, as long as the statutory limitations were made clear.
Commissioner Kear~s agreed with Commissioner Corrigan's statement and
also stated adding the item would be a positive step for all boards
and commissions and suggested a press release to inform residents
this item would be added to the agenda. Commissioner Query added
that the press release might include mention that there is a public
hearing on each application to the Zoning Commission and the
importance of the public's attendance might be stressed.
A motion to accept the request as an agenda item Audience of Citizen
and comment on any general topic excluding those limited by state
statute, i.e., topics related to current applications. The motion
was seconded by Commissioner Baumann and carried unanimously. Voting
commissioners were: Kearns, Corrigan, Query, Russak, Baumann,
Messina, and Suranna.
The Commission then set the agenda items as:
I
II
III
IV
V
Revie~ of minutes
Old Business
Applications and Commu~ications
ZBA Applications
Audience of Citizens
The next item discussed was the petition of Economic Devel6pment~ ',:'
Director Charles Karno to amend the Zoning Regulations to~Increas~
the permitted area of free standing signs for shopping centers in the
PS-~ (planned Shopping ~} zone. (The Public Hearing was held on
September 2~, 1~0.)
Town Planner Voelker read a letter from Cynthia Wilcox, Chairman of
~he Planning Commission~ ~hich stated the commission had voted A to 1
to recommend approval of this petition and the reason for this
recommendation is that the Commission is satisfied that the increased
signage is proportionate to the scale of shopping centers having more
than five retail outlets.
Oommissioner Messina stated his opi~ion that the additional three
feet would not make ~ significant difference to driveby traffic.
Commissioner Kearns stated her opinion that the petition ~as a
solution to the developer's mistake of not requesting appropriate
signage for this site. Commissioner Query stated his view 'that the
oversight of proper signage rests ~ith the developer of the property
and his belief that the present busi[~esses would not benefit from
additional signage. Commissioner Query stated his concern with the
need to control signage in Berlin and his opinion that granting this
petition would not accomplish anything but meet the misplaced
expectations of a few individuals. Commissioner Baumann stated his
hope that the Zoning Commission never consider a zone change based
upon an economic benefit to an individual property owner.
Commissioner Corrigan stated the problem to be with the property
managers and is not a problem which was created by Berlin's zoning
regulations. At the request of Chairman Suranna~ Town Planner
Voelker stated staff had opposed this proposed amendment. Planner
Voelker summarized that his comments to the Planning Commission
included the following points:
1. ~he Zoning Commission had spent a lot of time developing
regulations for large, play, ned shopping centers and had seen
no recognition in professional commentary to allow larger
signage.
~he present regulations are adequate and more than generous.
3. Although staff is sympathetic to the retailers'problem,
better signage should have been negotiated during development
of the site.
Commissioner Baumann made a motion that the petition of Economic
Development Director Karno to amend Section ?.0~.1~ of the zoning
Regulations 'to increase the permitted area of free standing signs for
shopping centers in the PS-A (Planned Shopping ~) zone be denied.
The motion was seconded by Commissioner Corrigan and carried
unanimously. Voting commissioners ~ere: Kearns~ Corrigan, Query,
Baumann, and Suranna.
A motion was then made to adjourn the meeting. The motion made by
Commissioner Query was seconded by Commissioner Russak and carried
unanimously. ~he meeting adjourned at 8:30 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Robert Baumann, Secretary