Very good. You turn your mic. You don't wanna do a mic check? Test. Test.
Test. You guys are all good.
Check up. Alright. Good evening. I would like to call this, regular meeting of the city plan commission to order. It's our first meeting in 2024.
Today is Tuesday, January 16. It is 04:49PM, and we will we will call this meeting to order. Let's start with a roll call. We'll go around from Noel.
Noel Sanchez. Will Sherry.
Chayan Mandraka, our DPD staff.
Bob Azzar, staff. Megan DeSanto, counsel.
And Michael Gazzako. Yep. Yep. Oh, okay. Yeah.
Perfect. We have approval of the minutes of the 12/12/2023 meeting as our next order of business. We hope you all have gotten them in advance, had a chance to review them. If no changes or edits, we'd look for a motion to approve as drafted.
I'll make a motion to approve.
We need a second? I'll second. Okay. Let's all do a voice vote. All in favor, say aye.
Aye. Aye. All opposed? Any abstentions? The minutes carry.
Alright. So next up is election of officers.
Okay, mister chair. So this is our annual election of officers. The, we have we have asked, and the existing, three officers have indicated that they would like to continue to serve. That would be Michael Gazdako as chair, Nicole Verdi as vice chair, and Noel Sanchez. So you can, entertain nominations for that slate or for anybody else.
think we'd like to move forward and nominate, Michael Gottesdackville for the chair, Nicole Burdi for the vice chair, and Noel Sanchez for the secretary position. Alright. So we have a motion. Do we have a second? Second.
Alright. We have a second. We'll go around. And, well, actually, we could do a voice vote for this. All in favor, say aye.
Aye. All opposed, say nay. Any abstentions? Alright.
The, the slate carries. Okay. Next is, the administrative officers. Under the, the brand new land development subdivision review regulations, we have the ability to have several different administrative officers who will, carry out these regulations both for projects that come in front of the board and those that get approved administratively. And new this year, with the changes in state law and subsequent changes in our regulations, we also have administrative officers, for what's called the technical review committee, also known as the downtown design review committee.
So our recommendation, is for you to choose myself, Cho Yeon, manager Carr, and Lev Simon as administrative officers for the city plan commission. And then for the downtown design review committee, Christopher Isay, who is a staff member of the department of planning and development. And because of a little quirk in the state law, the chair is also, the chair of the technical review committee also has to be an administrative officer, and that person currently is, Chris Marcella.
So we would wanna move that forward. Someone could just say so moved.
Alright. Do we have a second? Second. Alright. Again, we'll just do, a voice vote.
All in favor, say aye. Aye. All opposed, say nay. Any abstentions? Alright.
That slate carries. Great. Wonderful. Next up, we are on to director's report. Okay.
bit to report. First of all, we're excited that that, we have a brand new zoning ordinance, brand new land development and subdivision regulations, and we're looking forward to seeing how well these work and, to sort of track things that aren't really working. I understand that that there is some activity at the state house with respect to fixing some of the, the problems with the way the law the laws were written. There were some inconsistencies, some improper references, and so forth. So so we we we understand that that there are some changes being proposed there.
I don't think it's gonna really affect us too much. Also at the legislature, there's some discussion about, new legislation with respect to accessory dwelling units. So we're looking forward to seeing that. There is a there is a draft. We had, some minor comments on it, but we'll see we'll see where that goes.
And then, with respect to the comprehensive plan, we are in the process of drafting right now. We've we've got several chapters that have that are, that have been drafted, others that are in progress. What we'd like to do, I think, next month is come to you with what we're calling our growth strategy, which is a sort of big picture, probably two, three maps that that describe in very general terms, how we're looking to grow, how how we think we're going to grow, and where we we wanna be directing growth. Currently, in the comprehensive plan, we have a map called areas of stability and change. This will be like that, but we think it's gonna be enhanced.
We think it's it's probably gonna be, two or three maps. Maybe one that talks specifically about residential growth, one that talks about, business and economic development, and another one that talks about, conservation and and resiliency. And then we're looking looking forward. I know it's ambitious, and I don't want I don't want you to hold me to it, but it's possible that we'll have a draft of the text in March. But stay tuned for that.
Wonderful. All very important and exciting things to discuss. With that, we will roll right into the agenda. We are gonna take the first, item out of order. We're gonna take number two on your agenda first.
It's a minor subdivision, unified development review, public hearing, case number 204UDR, 53 Pomona Avenue.
Okay, Mr. Chair. We have John Garhe on Zoom. John, can you hear us?
I'm I'm here. Can you hear me?
Yes. Okay. I my understanding is that you're requesting a continuance on this.
We are. A brief explanation for it, Bob, that would be helpful to me. As you remember this tree
it at least John John, I'm sorry, John. You're you're you're cutting in and out. I I if you can hear me, John, you're cutting in and out. We're only getting, like, every third word. Okay.
Here here's what I John, I'm gonna try and I'm gonna try and describe this, and and perhaps if you if you agree with me, you can just indicate as such. So if some of you, who were here to review this project, remember, this is a subdivision of one lot into two lots. There was a a large tree on the vacant portion of the land. It was, it was considered a significant tree, which means it's more than 32 inches in diameter. It's protected.
And the city forester would have to give approval for removal of that tree. The city forester at the time denied removal of the tree, and then he, he left that position shortly thereafter. He didn't really include any findings in his letter. And so the applicant has actually appealed that decision to the zoning board. It's due to be heard in February.
It looks like we're probably gonna have a new city forester within the next few days here. And I think Mr. Garrity is gonna ask that person to to reconsider or at least make findings that the other forester didn't make. So there's there's two options here. One is that the the new forester, you know, makes findings and and and then things can advance forward.
Two, the other alternative is that this goes to the zoning board, and then the zoning board acts. In any event, the the applicant is asking for, to come back at the March meeting, which is, March 19. Is that correct, John?
That's that's correct. Can you hear me any better now?
Bob, I I think you gave an accurate description of where we are. It's like I I think that's right. The and the February zoning meeting is after the city planning commission in February. That's why we're asking to go out to March. Hopefully, we can resolve it, as well.
I've also hired a landscape architect to take a look at this and to provide expert testimony with respect to it, so we put some effort behind it. So but I think you've got it exactly right. So long and short of it is we're asking for a continuance till March 19.
And with the applicant asking for the continuance, the time clock has stopped. So at at this time, it looks like we're looking for a motion to continue this matter to, date sensitive 03/19/2024. So moved. Wonderful. Do we have a second?
Second. Alright. We'll go around and, and and do a vote. Noel? Aye.
Will? Aye. Dave? Aye. Charlotte?
