DRAFT
Minutes
Charrette Subcommittee of the Board of Selectmen
Main Meeting Room, Simsbury Town Hall
February 4, 2010, 5:30 pm
Attendees:
John Hampton, Board of Selectmen
Robert Hensley, Board of Selectmen
Nick Mason, Board of Finance
Ed Pabich, Zoning Commission
John Loomis, Planning Commission
Peter Stempien, Zoning Board of Appeals
Emil Dahlquist, Design Review Board
Mark Deming, Economic Development Commission
Nancy Haase, Economic Development Commission
Elizabeth Woollacott, Historic District Commission
Hiram Peck, Director of Planning
The Subcommittee meeting was called to order at 5:35 pm.
Hiram Peck served as facilitator for this meeting and asked if any one from the public wished to make any comment. There were no public comments.
Hiram Peck gave a brief presentation on the status update of the Town Center Charrette and Code creation process. He presented the draft Town Center Regulating Plan, the draft Town Center Height Map and the draft Summary of Frontage Requirements. A discussion was held where the draft documents were explained to the attendees. It was explained that these documents were intended for preliminary discussion with the land use boards and commissions at this point. The consultant, Code Studio is looking for feed back from these preliminary discussions so that they can further refine these documents and continue with drafting the Town Center Code.
A general discussion ensued during which the general comments were all positive with regard to the direction that these drafts were headed. Peck asked the members to take a closer look at all these draft documents and get back to him with any comments on them. Any comments received would then be sent back to Code Studio for their consideration before they came back to Simsbury again. Mr. Peck said he expected the two principals of Code Studio, Lee and Colin to be back in Simsbury for meetings in about two weeks.
Mr. Peck then noted that it had been suggested that the group consider adding a person from Main Street and a person from the Chamber of Commerce to this subcommittee. There was general agreement with this suggestion. The matter will have to be considered by the Board of Selectmen in order to become official.
Mr. Peck then briefed the subcommittee on the status of the Incentive Housing Zone Grant work and the Farmington River, Low Impact Development (LID) grant work being done to revise the municipal regulations related to LID practices in the town center. He asked if this group would be interested in continuing on as the required contact group for these studies as well as the charrette work. This was agreed to by the members as well. The Board of Selectmen may need to agree to this modification to the group’s charge.
Mr. Peck then noted that the final piece of work that needs to be added to the Town Center Code referred to as the Simsbury Center Village District Zone is the detailed design guidelines. He noted that he had talked with members of the Code Studio charrette team to get an estimate of the cost of finishing these design guidelines. The total cost is expected to be $40,000. Mr. Peck stated that he is seeking some funding from a variety of sources, but had not yet received any word on this funding. He asked those with suggestions along these lines to contact him.
The meeting was adjourned at 6:45 pm.
Respectfully submitted
Hiram Peck
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