Hearing on proposed new P&Z regs next Tuesday

WINSTED — The Planning and Zoning Commission will be holding a public hearing on proposed new zoning regulations on Tuesday, Sept. 20.

The hearing willbe held at the music room in Pearson Middle School.

The proposed regulations have been in the works since May 2015, when the commission chose to hire Graydon Land Use Strategies of Cincinnati, Ohio, to consult with the town in analyzing and rewriting zoning regulations.

In August 2015, the commission voted to form a subcommittee to review the proposed revisions to the regulations.

The subcommittee was made up of members of the Planning and Zoning Commission and Zoning Board of Appeals: Commission Chairman Craig Sanden and member George Closson, along with Zoning Board of Appeals Chairman David Villa and Town Planner Steven Sadlowski.

At a meeting in June whenhe presented the revised regulations, Villa said that the proposed regulations went through 11 drafts.

Proposed changes

The zones listed in the proposed regulations are divided into two districts: Town Districts and Rural and Lake Districts.

In the proposed new zoning regulations the existing 26 zones throughout town have been reduced to six and a half zones.

The zones listed in the district are: Town Single Family, Town Center Residential, Town Center, Town Gateway, Production and Innovation, Rural Residential and the Highland Lake District.

Issues with

proposed regulations

At the commission’s regular meeting on Monday, Sept. 12, Sadlowski told the board that details in the proposed regulations still needed to be ironed out before they take effect.

“These are all things that just came up in the last week or so,” Sadlowski said. “We can’t change the proposed regulations that are going to the public hearing. All of these issues can be discussed at the hearing itself.”

Sadlowski said one of the issues with the proposed regulations concerns allowing assisted living in the Rural Residential Zone.

“[They could be allowed] if public works services were available,” Sadlowski said. “In a lot of ways they are better than regular subdivisions because a lot of times they are one building and there is much more open space. They all have employees, including nurses. There are some in the downtown zones but there really isn’t much land for it in those zones.”

Sadlowski said that the town’s regulations currently have a prevision for sheds.

“Only if it’s in the back setback can it be within four feet of the property line,” Sadlowski said. “Which is good. But I propose to add language which would allow one limited in size to a 300 square feet floor area and less than 10 feet in height.”

Sadlowski said that another potential issue is site yards in the Rural Residential Zone. 

“It’s 50 feet the way you have it set up, but most Rural Residential Zones have it at 35 feet,” Sadlowski said. “I’m not sure if you want to keep it at 50 feet or 35 feet.”

Finally, Sadlowski said that he has been getting feedback from residents concerning the “Staff Approved Non-Conforming Structure Expansion Allowance” section of the proposed regulation.

“A lot of folks would like the ability to do more than one addition if they wanted to do it over time,” Sadlowski said. “Or, if they already did one years ago that they could obtain a variance to do another one.”

Because the commission already voted to send the proposed new regulations to a public hearing back in late July, the commission could not act upon Sadlowski’s suggestions.

Sadlowski said that, after the proposed regulations are adopted, it looks like the commission will change them.

“I almost guarantee that after we adopt them, six months later we will be doing a couple of tweaks,” he said. 

“It’s to be expected,” commission member Barbara Wilkes said. 

In an interview after the meeting, Sadlowski said that he hopes residents turn out for the public hearing.

“These regulations affect everybody in town,” he said. “The stated goal of the new regulations is to make the town more friendly to development. Any suggestions where we can make it better and make it more fair, the commission is all ears. They want to hear it.”

For the proposed regulations to go into effect they would need to be approved by the commission.

It is not known when the commission will schedule a meeting to review and discuss approval of the proposed regulations.

The proposed regulations are available online at https://www.townofwinchester.org/sites/winchesterct/files/file/file/winzo....