BOARD OF SELECTMEN MEETING MINUTES TUESDAY, JANUARY 2, :30 A.M. GUILFORD TOWN HALL

Transcription

1 BOARD OF SELECTMEN MEETING MINUTES TUESDAY, JANUARY 2, :30 A.M. GUILFORD TOWN HALL First Selectman Matthew Hoey called the meeting to order at 8:30 a.m. Present: Board Members: Matthew Hoey, Charles Havrda, Susan Renner, Louis Federici and Sandy Ruoff Town Officials: Others: Media: Town Planner George Kral, Economic Development Coordinator Brian McGlone and Clerk Traci Brinkman Steve Mazzacane from the Guilford Atticus and Mike Graziano, taping for GCTV 1. Pledge of Allegiance Mr. Havrda led the pledge. 2. Public Forum (limited to 3 minute regarding agenda items) 3. Approve minutes of: 3.1 December 18, 2017 Regular Meeting Ms. Renner said they voted twice to not following the bidding procedures and she felt the minutes should explicitly state the reasons. The price on the police vehicles is below the state bid amount and with the second case it was from a single supplier. Mr. Federici noted a clarification under item 5.2 regarding funding for the Energy Performance Contracting. The total is $9 million and it states the Town s portion is $1.7 million. It should also state that the remaining balance is the Board of Education s portion. Mr. Federici said with regard to his question on the oil spill clean-up. He did receive an answer from Mr. Portley that it was the oil company s fault and he would be contacting them for reimbursement to the town. 1

2 Upon a motion made by Mr. Havrda and seconded by Ms. Renner, the board voted unanimously to approve the minutes of the December 18, 2017 Regular Meeting as amended. 3.2 December 20, 2017 Special Workshop Meeting Ms. Renner noted at the end of the minutes that in the motion to adjourn the meeting Ms. Wallace s name needs to be replaced with her name. Upon a motion made by Mr. Havrda and seconded by Ms. Renner, the board voted unanimously to approve the minutes of the December 20, 2017 Special Workshop Meeting as amended. 4. Economic Development Coordinator (Brian McGlone) and Town Planner (George Kral): 4.1 Presentation and update on development opportunities related to Town Center South and Pages Lane. Mr. Kral went over the history of the Pages Lane property which was purchased by the town in the 1970s for the purposes of a sewage treatment plant. In 2007 the Town Center South Plan (TCSP) was written and later adopted, which also suggested the property might be used as a sewage disposal system to provide capacity to adjacent and nearby property to encourage redevelopment of those properties in a manner consistent with the objectives of the TCSP. In 2013 the Town engaged engineering services to assess the capacity of the Pages Lane property for a large scale sewage disposal system and the study confirmed there is substantial potential of the property for that purpose. The Town then went forward with an RFQ/RFP process and received two respondents. Petra wanted to develop the property for residential use and Horton/Navtec was interested in sewage disposal system development with capacity provided for the Arrow Paving and Navtec/Lumar sites, both envisioned as residential developments. The advisory committee established by the BOS expressed an interest for the Horton concept. Both parties were invited to submit final proposals, but neither did. Although the Horton group has still expressed interest in the property. 2

3 Mr. Kral said in total there are four interested parties in this property. Horton/Navtec, Arrow Paving, the Guilford Yacht Club and the Shoreline Arts Alliance who hopes the develop the property into an arts/performance facility with a possible 150,000 square foot development. Mr. McGlone said when the committee had its first discussions they were lukewarm about the development of the property other than what was defined in the plan such as a ball field or the sewage disposal, etc. When the Shoreline Arts Alliance group came in the group was more amendable to that idea because they felt it fit Guilford. He added, however, that there is a lot of work that would need to be done with their proposal because of environmental issues/wetlands, etc. Mr. Federici asked how many buildable acres were on the property. Mr. McGlone said there are about buildable acres. Mr. Kral added that Oceanco is a new plyer as well. They have leased a substantial portion of Navtec Lumar. Oceanco is a growing business and is looking to expand and grow. It was noted that if a sewage disposal system was put in, there is a capacity for bedrooms, which would be about dwelling units. Mr. Kral said they are looking for some direction from the board on where they should go now. Mr. Havrda said it seems with regard to the property they are looking to have a developer come in and do it, whether it is a development or septic. He questioned why the Town doesn t just hire an appraiser and sell it. Planning and Zoning and Inland Wetlands would then regulate what goes onto the property. Mr. Kral said he has spoken to in-house counsel about doing that. He added that it might be hard to quantify the value of the property. Mr. Kral suggested they could redo the RFQ/RFP process and maybe not require as much in the way of design and site planning documentation initially. The board agreed that it might be beneficial to redo the process since there are more interested parties. Mr. Havrda explained that they need to keep residents in the neighborhood as well as the Town informed going forward. 5. Consider and take possible action on Second Amendment to the Town of Guilford and the Guilford Savings Bank Parking Agreement. Mr. Hoey explained that the town entered into the initial agreement in June 1997 related to providing the bank with parking spaces due to the fact that during the bank expansion 3

4 some of its parking spaces were eliminated. It was written as an open ended agreement. The bank had been paying for the electric for the Town Hall South facility when it occupied the building during the construction phase of its facility. Mr. Hoey added that they continued to do so after as well. To clean up all of this the previous board negotiated with the bank that it would absolve the town of any liability from the electric bills and would agree to extend the agreement with an annual payment of $7,000 per year for plowing and maintenance of the lot. Mr. Havrda and Ms. Ruoff recused themselves from voting on this matter. Upon a motion made by Ms. Renner and seconded by Mr. Federici, the board approved the Second Amendment to the Town of Guilford and the Guilford Savings Bank Parking Agreement. Vote: In Favor: Renner, Hoey and Federici 6. Discussion of Eversource s Stepstone to Green Hill Upgrade Project. Mr. Hoey said this would be an upgrade to Eversource s capacity and would affect the transmission lines between their substation on Stepstone and the one in Madison on Green Hill Road. They will be adding in a high speed data connection for better management of power. They are also replacing all the poles along the line. He added that it is a significant project. Eversource has said that every homeowner with property that will be impacted has been contacted at least once. They will be doing significant outreach. There will be some brush cutting and tree trimming and the new line will be brought in by helicopter. The project is in the final stages of approval by the Siting Council and they expect to be approved by the end of January. Mr. Hoey suggested they have Eversource come back with a presentation and have a public hearing on it at some point in particular for the affected property owners. It will affect about properties. 7. Consider and take possible action on proclamation declaring the month of January as Mentoring Month in the Town of Guilford. Upon a motion made by Mr. Havrda and seconded by Ms. Renner, the board voted unanimously to approve the proclamation declaring the month of January as Mentoring Month in the Town of Guilford. 8. Appointments and Resignations: 8.1 Act on resignation received from Walter Corbiere from the Planning 4

5 and Zoning Commission. Upon a motion made by Ms. Renner and seconded by Ms. Ruoff, the board voted unanimously to accept with regret and appreciation the resignation from Walter Corbiere from the Planning and Zoning Commission. 8.2 Act on resignation received from Greg Seaman from the Pension Committee. Upon a motion made by Ms. Ruoff and seconded by Mr. Havrda, the board voted unanimously to accept with regret and appreciation the resignation received from Greg Seaman from the Pension Committee. 9. Correspondence Mr. Hoey said the board received in their mail today a letter from Nicholas Cusano asking to be appointed to the Kathy Mitchell s seat on the Board of Assessment Appeals. His wife is currently on that board and he sought an opinion from the Board of Ethics and the board stated there is no conflict. 10. Committee Reports 11. Old Business 12. New Business 13. Public Forum (Limited to 3 minutes regarding any issue) Upon a motion made by Ms. Renner and seconded by Mr. Federici, the board voted unanimously to adjourn the meeting at 9:33 a.m. 5

6 Respectfully submitted, Traci K. Brinkman Clerk Board of Selectmen 6