CONNECTICUT RIVER ESTUARY REGIONAL PLANNING AGENCY

Regular Meeting of September 14, 2009

MINUTES

Attendance:

Sally Murray – Chester

Bruce Edgerton – Deep River

Rob Wylie – Deep River

Robert Laundy – Essex

Pat Smolders – Killingworth

Frank Skwarek – Lyme

Karen Jo Marcolini – Old Saybrook

Dick Tiejen – Old Saybrook

Linda Krause, Torrance Downes – CRERPA Staff

1. The Meeting was called to order in the CRERPA Meeting area at 7:40 pm by Chairman Bruce Edgerton.

2. A motion was made by Sally Murray and seconded by Rob Wylie to approve the minutes of the July meeting. The motion was approved unanimously.

3. Treasurer’s Report/Finances

a. Krause provided a summary of the Agency’s current financial status. CRERPA has received its annual contributions from the member towns. Together with the balance carried over from the previous year, the Agency is solvent. In the State Budget which passed at the end of October, the annual State Grant in Aid from OPM has been cut by 80%. Instead of about 65 Thousand, the Agency will receive about 14K this year. Krause noted that there was also some concern that an effort to combine State DEMHS and Dept. of Public Safety will delay any planning funds from that source. She reported that the September meeting of the LCVSA had included a discussion of CRERPA finances. Area First Selectmen urged Krause to come back to the towns if cutbacks would negatively affect programs and services.

b. Krause reported that the Long Island Sound License Plate Fund has been eliminated and rolled over to the General Fund. It was noted that the Agency had made good use of the program, including preparation and printing of the popular kayak trail maps.

c. The Agency staff has decided to renew its group health insurance policy with Aetna. The cost to the agency will not increase greatly, but the staff will need to pay higher deductibles. Linda reported that she will be eligible for Medicare in December, and that the agency will pay for supplemental insurance.

4. Correspondence

a. Krause observed that she had neglected to send a memo to area selectmen reminding them that each First Selectman or a designee would become a member of the regional planning agency board as of October First, due to legislation passed during the recent Legislative Session (PA09-80)

b. Other legislation relevant to regions and planning and zoning was discussed.

- PA09-165 requires regional planning organizations to establish a process and review criteria for development projects of regional significance. No funding has been provided to support this function.

- PA09-230 delays the revision of the State Plan of C&D until 2012, and eliminates

penalties for municipalities that fail to update their plan prior to that revision.

- PA09-154 requires towns to spend a minimum of 1% of their town aid for roads money for bike and pedestrian access.

5. Staff Report

a. Members reviewed a summary of household hazardous waste and electronics collection data, as distributed. Participation has been up this year. Krause speculated that the doctoral dissertation work of Amy Cabaniss (former CRERPA staff) on environmental education for this project might be one reason for the increase. Linda complimented Janice Ehle-Meyer for her strong stand again extra charges which the disposal contractor Violia wished to impose on collected paint with PCBs. After consulting Attorney Jane Marsh, the Agency staff stood firm in refusing the charge. All waste accepted at the collections is the “property” of the contractor once it has been accepted.

6. Probate Court Consolidation Update – The Plan to reduce the number of courts as voted by the redistricting committee has retained eight of the nine Estuary towns as a district.

The Town of Haddam has been added to the group of eight. Old Lyme requested that they be grouped with other towns to their east and that was approved as well. The area selectmen asked Krause to draft a letter of appreciation to Representative Marilyn Giuliano for her active support of their preferred regional configuration.

a. Old Saybrook has been designated as the site of the regional court. Krause reported that several selectmen suggested that money could be saved in the future by locating the CRERPA office in one of its member’s town halls.

7. Referrals – Torrance Downes reviewed six pending referrals.

a. Clinton referred a proposal to modify zoning standards for adult daycare regulations.

b. Clinton submitted proposed revisions to the incentive Housing Regulations, similar to those recently adopted by Old Saybrook. A small portion of Westbrook abuts the subject property.

c. Old Lyme Zoning Commission has proposed a new procedure for registering existing residences in the beach areas as either “year round” or “seasonal”. This proposal is made in response to a lawsuit filed by residents during a previous effort to register seasonal dwellings.

d. Old Saybrook is proposing a correction to their originally approved Incentive Housing regulations (IHZ) to make the map and regulations consistent with each other.

e. Old Saybrook is proposing a redefinition of height measurement to include situations when the existing grade is excavated to create an exposed first floor. Revisions are also proposed to provide consistency with measurement of tidal datum.

f. Deep River has been requested to remove the veterinary Hospital use from the R-20 designation, and rezone a small piece of property from residential to Commercial Industrial and Turnpike Industrial where vet clinics are allowed.

After discussion of the referrals, it was moved by Laundy and seconded by Skwarek to support the staff recommendation of no significant adverse intermunicipal impact from any of the proposed changes. The motion was approved unanimously.

8. Gateway Commission activities

a. Torrance reported that the Gateway Commission is in the process of redefining its mission, and has established several new committees including finance, public outreach, and rules and regulations. They are reviewing past acquisitions and property status. On Thursday, September 17, Gateway and CRERPA will sponsor a meeting of local land trusts to discuss possible cooperative efforts. Margot Burns has coordinated that effort.

9. Old Business

a. Linda reported that Margot Burns recently completed training through the Coverts program of the Connecticut Cooperative Extension Service. As a result, she has access to forestry and wildlife professionals throughout the state for assistance.

b. Krause reported that she would be busy during the coming week, with meetings of the Connecticut Maritime Commission, the Advisory Committee on Intergovernmental Relations, and a Tidewater Board meeting.

c. The Board’s attention was called to a draft of the new “Integrated Regional Transportation Access Plan 2009”, which had been distributed to the area selectmen at the MPO meeting the previous week. It is a plan focusing on non-motorized intermodal transportation, designed to position the agency for future bike and pedestrian programs. The MPO will hold a hearing in November. Linda suggested that the CRERPA Board discuss the plan at their October meeting.

d. Work continues on the Regional Plan of Conservation and Development. Real progress has been made.

10. New Business

a. Election of a Treasurer to replace Steve Williams

Chairman Edgerton called for volunteers for the position of CRERPA treasurer to fill the vacancy created by Steve William’s resignation. With some urging, Rob Wylie agreed to volunteer after explanation of what the job entailed. Sally Murray moved and Pat Smolders seconded a motion to elect Rob Wylie. The motion was approved unanimously.

11. The meeting was adjourned by consensus at 9:00 pm.

Respectfully submitted,

Linda Krause, acting clerk