• P&Z TOWN PLAN UPDATE DONE JULY 2010!  COMPARE TO OUR UNOFFICIAL PLAN -  CLICK HERE.
• How long has the P&Z been preparing for the Town Plan revision?   And now here is the story of how P&Z drew up the new Plan!
• Jim Gibbons of C.L.E.A.R. came to P&Z in May, 2008;   alternative septic system in CT now a go in summer house conversion area.
• Cluster concept (conservation overlay zone - voluntary wording THIS session...)?  HB5641 did not pass.
  
• Elsewhere in Connecticut zoning;  potentially related to Weston (Old Saybrook case).
• Environmental zoning and related natural requirements.
• Some history of large tract.
  

How to start...inside as well as outside (of Weston proper):  check out P.A.05-205;

Historic Presevation:
Georgetown, CT:  a work in progress; elsewhere in New England:

Neighborhood plans/revitalization:

• Special P&Z meeting June 28 approves new Town Plan of C&D 2010 UNANIMOUSLY; official existing land use map, School Road pedestrianization 1994, Fromson-Strassler, across from the "commercial" hub;
• Board of Selectmen meets with P&Z to go over page-by-page review of new Town Plan Monday, June 21, 2010, including long discussion of use of  Town land in the center of town now under the control of the Board of Education. 
  
• The three Boards (Finance, Selectmen and Education) who take the lead on the budget exercise met extra early (June 14), offering comment on scheduling next year's budget process to allow for the eventuality of another Referendum.  Which isn't really part of the Town Plan, but shows how other Boards in town think - not at all like P&Z!
  
• P&Z meets with LWV in May, next...  
• At "Speak Up 2010" in February, the Chair. of P&Z, Stephan Grozinger announced, in response to a League question, the new Town Plan draft should be available in 60 days or so.  Since "Speak Up" there has been a flurry of comparative data collected by the Selectmen's Office - click here for report.

• What land is still vacant? This question is still being mulled over at P&Z;
  
• Our source in this numbers game (we color as "developed" anything that has been subdivided):  the Town Tax Assessor's maps;
  
• And then the corresponding data to review which uses the land is devoted to, in case we have any questions...
  

Weston Woods studios almost predated zoning...1953 was when uniform 2 acre zoning began...

2007 INTERESTS:  ZONING REGULATIONS TOPIC OF WORKSESSION AUGUST 14, 2007

Commissioners "parking" other discussions (their choice of words) of more major matters.  We will try to keep up with this thread--certainly Planning and Zoning changes might make big difference in how the Town of Weston is able to handle future municipal expansion projects.

WHAT'S PROPOSED AS NEW IN THE "WORKING DOCUMENT" AS OF 8-3:
These are some of the ideas and sections proposed for change that we noticed in a quick perusal...copies of Zoning Regulations and proposed additions and deletions available for inspection in CODE ENFORCEMENT OFFICE at Town Hall.
 

ZONING REGS:

• 321.1   Permitted principal uses...delete "i" - farming, nursery gardening and truck gardening subject to section 342, provided that any greenhouse located on such property shall be at least 100' from any property line
• 321.4b  Minimum lot dimensions (more wording describing frontage for "rear" lots--we think this is what this means)
• 321.4c  A shared driveway access to two lots which access shall be...now defined in the Zoning Regulations in this new section "c." (Did this used to be in the Selectmen's Driveway Ordinance?)
• 321.5   Minimum set back requirements (enlarged)
• 321.6   Maximum building coverage (reduced)
• 322.4   Lot dimensions--"contiguous" 2 acres added (anti-split-lot provision)
• 341.6   Riding stables...deleted
• 346      Playing courts set back...screening of mechanical, hvac

 
DEFINITIONS SECTION:
 
• Terraces now structures
• Flag lot - "A lot with no frontage on any road except for a single driveway no wider than 35 feet for a minimum distance of 25 feet (or driveway under 321.4c)"

Reacting to a recent Connecticut Appellate Court ruling that invalidated part of New Haven's zoning law, city leaders are preparing to either formulate new legislation or appeal the court's decision.

On Wednesday, the court ruled in Campion v. Board of Aldermen that planned development districts, special zones used for large building projects, are illegal. The city's leaders must now decide whether to modify New Haven's zoning legislation or appeal the ruling to the Connecticut Supreme Court.

The result may affect Yale directly, particularly since the University is seeking to zone the planned parking structure for Ingalls Rink as a planned development unit, which is similar to a PDD.

New Haven Mayor John DeStefano Jr. said his administration's initial reaction is not to appeal the ruling, though the possibility is still being considered. DeStefano also said he does not think the ruling will have a significant impact on what projects are actually constructed in the city.

"The court ruling doesn't apply to the merits of the project itself," DeStefano said. "It applies to the process by which we zone them. That distinction is important."

Ward 1 Alderman Ben Healey '04, who is chairman of the Board of Aldermen's Legislation Committee -- the committee that will have to approve any proposed changes to the city's zoning regulations -- said he believes the administration and the board should cooperate quickly to formulate new legislation.

"I would recommend we get together and write the new law rather than use up valuable time and money in what I think will be probably a losing case," Healey said. "The main thing that makes me nervous is trying to figure out what happens in the interim, either while the court case is being appealed or while the new law is being written. I think if we don't have a law we're operating in a vacuum."

This uncertainty about ongoing and upcoming projects may affect Yale's parking garage project, though the structure actually may not require special zoning.

"The claim has been made that [the parking structure] didn't actually require a PDU, in which case even if the current PDU plan falls apart under the court ruling, there's an opportunity to move it under regular rules of the zoning code," Healey said.

PDDs and PDUs are used to provide some flexibility with zoning regulations for construction developments with special requirements.

In the decision, the court offered a potential solution by affirming the legality of floating zones, an alternative to PDDs that imposes more stringent limitations on builders. In floating zones, only specific, legislatively preapproved uses are permitted.

Rob Smuts '01, the mayor's deputy chief of staff, said he thought the court's suggestion of floating zones demonstrated an understanding of the need for some flexibility in city planning.

"If the decision stands, I think that the use of floating zones would give us the flexibility that is needed," Smuts said.

Healey said he thinks there are some advantages to implementing a floating zone policy.

REGIONAL PLANNING ORGANIZATIONS:  Better Use of a Hidden Asset
A half-day symposium for Municipal, Regional and State Government stakeholders on issues related to enhancing the roles and functions of Connecticut's Regional Planning Organizations.

Tuesday, November 16, 2004, 8:00-12:45
Holiday Inn
North Haven, CT
Exit 12 - off I-91

Symposium sponsored by the CT Advisory Commission on Intergovernmental Relations:

The scene...
It is a very creative way around the environmental difficulties plaguing that site (very wet, extremely rocky and barely accessible) that encompasses approximately 129 acres in the towns of Weston (83 acres) and Wilton (46 acres).  All development shown is planned in Weston, with access shown only from Weston.  In an extremely confusing table in the application it appears that the Weston-only access will have to take any other future traffic generated from Wilton lots if and when these are developed (if a grand scheme to preserve the land in both Towns is not effected).  Or is there more to all this than we know?

SEEING CLEARLY...What is the definition of a "Cluster Subdivision" - see "Illustrated Book of Development Definitions" below.  Or, check out a bill that did not pass in 2008...HB5641.

Now also "C.L.E.A.R." at UConn, NEMO Co-founders in CT:  Above left is Chet Arnold (when he spoke to the League of Women Voters of Weston in the early 1990's);  at right is a photograph of Jim Gibbons, noted Connecticut Planner and staff at the University of Connecticut, who has been making the rounds of local Planning and Zoning Commissions describing how Conservation Zoning (a close relative of "cluster zoning") can help maintain groundwater supply.  Mr. Gibbons works with NEMO("Non-Point Source Education for Municipal Officials"). 

"...A form of development for single family residential subdivisions that permits a reduction in lot area and bulk requirements, provided there is no increase in the number of lots permitted under a conventional subdivision and the resultant land area is devoted to open space."

Further commentary from the authors of the above noted book:

"The cluster subdivision is an excellent planning concept that has been used successfully in many communities.  Using this concept the number of lots (density) remains the same as in a conventional development but the community gains in the retention of open space and reduced maintenance costs by having shorter streets and utility lines.  The developer also gains in reduced development costs, which may result in less costly housing.  Many communities require the developer to submit two (2) sketch plans before approving a cluster subdivision;  a conventional subdivision plat to establish the number of developable lots possible and a cluster subdivision plat to determine the appropriateness of cluster design for the site."