Advisory Taskforce on Zoning

Minutes 1.28.15 1. Call to order 2. Roll Call and Introduction of members – Felix, Jim, Rick, Julie, Leigh and Adam gave an overview of their backgrounds and interests in being on the task force. a. John Kydes – announced as potential task force member. Bill Hennesey uncertain. 3. Discuss goals of task force a. Outline next steps. i. Brainstorm session re: issues to consider related to planning and zoning 1. Julie and Leigh focused mostly on environmental issues and residential neighborhood concerns as well as process. 2. Jim concerned mostly with business waterfront and process. 3. Rick happy to streamline things and looking for “low hanging fruit” in addition to changing special permit regs. 4. Felix – interested in TOD 5. Adam – looking to gather concerns, discusss them in an orderly fashion and then refer out to relevant commission/board/agency for action. Not looking to conduct further studies or recommend further studies, simply looking to take information already available to us and try to make suggestions to relevant land use body for change. Not looking to spend time on pie-in-the-ski ideas, just focus on what can be changed. ii. Review of planning documents 1. Discussion of the many planning documents available to the task force through P&Z and Redevelopment etc. and overview of how to locate them online and how, we should incorporate those into our work. iii. Further brainstorming session. 1. Discuss what ideas people have for reform. iv. General plan go zone by zone, neighborhood by neighborhood for big picture goal and then look at best ways to promote/implement big picture goals. Also consider all brainstorming topics as they fit into neighborhood or zone by zone discussions. 1. Discussion to modify this approach and start small scale with a few easy ideas before tackling big issues. 4. Brainstorm session re: issues to consider related to planning and zoning a. Did not deal with this other than above. 5. Assign “homework” for next meeting a. Decision to let people peruse the planning documents at their leisure and set topics for next meeting. 6. Schedule future meetings a. Consensus to have meetings early evening in Norwalk on a fixed schedule. 7. Comments of task force members a. None. 8. Adjourn