Enfield PZC to hold public hearing on development plan

Susan Danseyar, Journal Inquirer, Manchester, Conn.
·2 min read

Mar. 17—ENFIELD — The Planning and Zoning Commission will hold a public hearing at 6 p.m. Thursday on the final draft of the Plan of Conservation and Development.

A special meeting will be held a week later to discuss the plan.

The 90-page comprehensive plan, which state statute requires all Connecticut municipalities to update every 10 years, will establish policies and goals for development of town land and set priorities for its conservation.

During a public hearing held by the Town Council on Feb. 13, over 20 residents commented on the plan. Director of Planning Laurie Whitten wrote a memo to the PZC a week later, outlining a summary that staff members prepared on topics the speakers raised.

At the hearing, residents questioned questioned the need for public hearings before the PZC for special-use permiets. Consultant Donald Poland, managing director and senior vice president of urban planning at Goman & York, said the review and approval process is based on conformance with the existing zoning regulations and not testimony of the general public.

Regardless of public opinion, if the application complies, it must be approved by the PZC, he said. "Most important, regarding economic development and attracting investment, special uses are — and should be — the uses a community wants to encourage (retail in retail zones, offices in office zones, industrial in industrial zones), since investment flows in the path of greatest certainty and least resistance."

The proposal for special-use permits is to consider some uses to require only a zoning permit or site plan review.

"This is considered streamlining to make simple changes occur with less time and red tape," Whitten said. "There is no intent to eliminate special permits and public hearings."

Whitten said some residents were concerned with the targeted investment areas near the prison and Lego. The targeted investment areas are an updated version of a map carried over from a plan approved in 2011, Whitten said.

During the March 9 meeting of the PZC, Chairman Lewis Fiore said one of the issues about the development plan that keeps coming up is that Poland compared Enfield to towns such as Somers, Longmeadow, and Suffield.

"The towns we should look at are ones similar to us, like Manchester, Wallingford, and Southington," he said.

Fiore also said there is no moratorium on condos for people over age 55. "That conception is false," he said.

Poland and staff are addressing the need to clarify definitions for acronyms used throughout the plan, Whitten said. They also said, before hearing from residents, that maps need to be larger and clearer.

Whitten said a map book would be created as an addendum to the plan with larger graphics.

The full list of clarifications is posted on the town website, under 2023 Plan of Conservation and Development staff comments on the Planning Department's page.

For more coverage of Somers and Enfield, follow Susan Danseyar on Twitter: @susandanseyar, Facebook: Susan Danseyar, reporter.