March 6, 2006
Members of the Continuing Legislative Committee on
State Planning and Development:
The Honorable Eric D. Coleman
The Honorable Lewis J. Wallace, Jr.
The Honorable Jonathan A. Harris
The Honorable Leonard Fasano
The Honorable Craig A. Miner
The Honorable Bill Finch
The Honorable Joseph J. Crisco, Jr.
The Honorable Antonio (Tony) Guerrera
The Honorable Jack Malone
The Honorable Richard Roy
Dear Senators and Representatives:
In accordance with Section 16a-32(b) of the Connecticut General Statutes and Sections 16a-24b-1-8 of the Regulations of Connecticut State Agencies, the Office of Policy and Management (OPM) hereby submits its Findings and Recommendations on the Pistol Creek Associates, LLC application for an interim change to the Conservation and Development Policies Plan for Connecticut 2005-2010 (C&D Plan). The applicant owns approximately 100 acres of property in the eastern section of the Town of Berlin. Pistol Creek Associates is requesting a change to the C&D Plan's Locational Guide Map designations for the subject property from Rural Land and Conservation Area to Growth Area, so that sewer service can be expanded to accommodate future development on the site.
My staff provided each member of the Continuing Committee with a copy of the Pistol Creek Associates application on January 4, 2006. Subsequent to that, Berlin Mayor Adam Salina requested a public hearing on the proposed interim change, in accordance with State Regulations. On February 22, 2006, the Continuing Committee and OPM conducted a joint public hearing on the proposed interim change at Berlin Town Hall. Each Committee member should have received a set of written testimony submitted at the hearing, as well as supplemental comments submitted by Shipman & Goodwin, LLP on behalf of the applicant dated March 1, 2006. In addition, there is an audio tape recording available for members who were not able to attend the public hearing.
Unlike the previous two interim change applications brought before this Committee, the message and input from Berlin officials was not lacking or silent. In particular, Mayor Salina stressed the importance of home rule autonomy in managing local conservation and development priorities, especially with regard to their potential impacts on municipal government finances and services. It was also noted at the public hearing that the Berlin plan of conservation and development was recently updated in 2003, prior to Pistol Creek Associates' acquisition of the subject property in 2005.
It is OPM's duty, as the staff agency to your Committee, not only to interpret the C&D Plan policies when assessing their consistency with proposed state actions, but to also ensure that the intergovernmental planning processes set forth in state statutes are upheld. In this particular instance, the town has fully complied with state planning statutes.
To summarize the attached Findings and Recommendations:
• The Town of Berlin adopted its municipal Plan of Conservation and Development in 2003.
• The Town of Berlin provided input to OPM during the State C&D Plan revision process.
• There was no ambiguity about the subject property's classification when the current owner purchased it.
• The State C&D Plan accurately reflects the Town of Berlin's desires that the subject property remain as Rural Land and Conservation Area on the Locational Guide Map.
Under State statutes, the Continuing Committee has thirty (30) days from receipt of OPM's recommendation to act on the proposed interim change application. My staff and I are available to meet with you at your convenience during this period, if you should have any questions.
Sincerely,
W. David LeVasseur, Undersecretary
Intergovernmental Policy Division
Attachments
Cc: Secretary Robert L. Genuario, OPM
Mayor Adam P. Salina, Town of Berlin
Senator Donald J. DeFronzo, 6th District
Representative Joe Aresimowicz, 30th District
Carl Stephani, Executive Director, Central Connecticut Regional Planning Agency
Herman Middlebrooks, Jr., Town Manager - Berlin
Hellyn Riggins, Director of Development Services - Berlin
Monica Holloway, Zoning Enforcement Officer - Berlin
Jack Ross, Manager, Berlin Water Control Commission Department
Vincent McDermott, Milone & MacBroom
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Findings and Recommendations
Pistol Creek Associates, LLC
Request for an Interim Change to the Locational Guide Map
Conservation and Development Policies Plan for Connecticut, 2005-2010
In accordance with Section 16a-32(b) of the Connecticut General Statutes, Pistol Creek Associates, LLC requests an interim change to the Locational Guide Map of the State's Conservation and Development Policies Plan (C&D Plan). The request is to change the land designations for three parcels owned by the applicant located in the eastern section of Berlin from Rural Land and Conservation Area to Growth Area. Pistol Creek Associates purchased the property in early 2005 after the privately owned Pistol Creek Golf Course ceased operations in 2004. The applicant requests the interim change to enable the modification of the existing sewer and possible expansion of sewer service into the subject property.
Background
Parcel 1 comprises 63 acres located north of Spruce Brook Road and west of Savage Hill Road. Parcel 2 comprises 29.5 acres located south of Spruce Brook Road and west of Atkins Street. Parcel 3 comprises 5 acres located on the southeast corner of the Savage Hill Road and Spruce Brook Road intersection.
Each of the three parcels is currently classified as a mix of Rural Land and Conservation Area on the 2005-2010 C&D Plan Locational Guide Map. The Conservation Area criteria for these parcels reflect the presence of prime and important agricultural soils. Parcel 1 is also bisected by a wetlands system that is classified as a Preservation Area.
As noted in the Pistol Creek Associates application, the 1998-2003 C&D Plan Locational Guide Map depicted Parcel 1 as predominantly a Growth Area with a swath of Preservation Area (wetlands). This Growth Area classification was due in large part to the parcel's proximity to sewers and the R-21 zone designation. It should be noted that Parcels 2 and 3 remain unchanged from their 1998-2003 designations, and they are both still zoned R-43.
State C&D Plan Revision Process
In the spring 2002, OPM contacted each of the State's 15 Regional Planning Organizations (RPOs) and 169 municipalities for copies of their latest plans of conservation and development and local zoning regulations. Between June 2002 and April 2003, OPM solicited RPOs and municipalities on two separate occasions for their input into the legislatively-required 2004-2009 C&D Plan revision. The first solicitation in the summer 2002 included a copy of the 1998-2003 Locational Guide Map for their comments, and the second solicitation in the fall 2002/winter 2003 included a preliminary draft of the 2004-2009 map.
In December 2002, OPM received a request from the Town of Berlin to make a number of changes to the preliminary draft 2004-2009 map. Included in these comments was a request to remove the Growth Area designation on the area shown as Parcel 1 on the Pistol Creek Associates application.
In July 2003, the Town of Berlin adopted its municipal plan of conservation and development in accordance with Section 8-23 of the Connecticut General Statutes. The municipal plan includes the following statement under the section concerning consistency with the State C&D Plan:
“A new private golf course has been established in the southeast area of Town, off Savage Hill Road. Part of this area is designated as growth area in the State Plan. The Town Plan designates the area as semi-public. The Town has requested that the future State Plan should show the golf course as a combination of rural and conservation areas.”
OPM submitted the Draft 2004-2009 C&D Plan to the Continuing Committee in December 2003. The associated Draft Locational Guide Map reflected the Town of Berlin's comments. OPM conducted a series of public hearings across the State between January and February 2004, and kept open the public comment period until March 2004 when it submitted the Recommended 2004-2009 C&D Plan.
The Continuing Committee held a public hearing on the Recommended Plan in April 2004, and convened later that month to endorse the Recommended Plan with various modifications. A resolution was prepared for debate on the House floor, but the General Assembly chose not to act on the Plan during the 2004 session. Note: Some legislators had expressed concern that particular municipalities had not actively participated in, or commented on, the process through which the State C&D Plan was crafted. Berlin was one community which was actively engaged in the process and provided input.
In accordance with Public Act No. 04-248 (Section 2), OPM submitted the Recommended 2004-2009 C&D Plan to the Continuing Committee prior to December 1, 2004. The submitted document was unchanged from the version that the Continuing Committee endorsed during the 2004 session. Another public hearing was held by the Continuing Committee in February 2005. OPM staff made certain modifications as directed by the Continuing Committee, prior to their endorsement of the Recommended Plan in March 2005. The General Assembly ultimately adopted the 2005-2010 C&D Plan in June 2005 (Public Act No. 05-205).
Summary
The process outlined above reflects OPM's best efforts to instill a bottom-up planning process that promotes a high degree of consistency between municipal, regional, and State plans, as required by Sections 8-23, 8-35a, and 16a-24-33 of the Connecticut General Statutes. In fact, the C&D Plan's Growth Management Principle #6 is to “promote integrated planning across all levels of government to address issues on a statewide, regional, and local basis.”
The following paragraph is excerpted from the 2005-2010 C&D Plan under Growth Management Principle #6:
“In the development of this plan and guide map there was an attempt to achieve as much consistency as possible among: 1) a set of goals that have achieved a high degree of consensus over the years, 2) the land use policies of regional planning organizations and of municipal government as expresses in municipal planning and zoning documents, 3) infrastructure planning at the state and local level, and 4) the natural environment of the state. Every attempt was made to gather approved water supply plans of public and private water utilities and to gather the most recent information on sewer service and to update the state's geographic information system. However, infrastructure planning has not always been based upon the prevailing land use policies. For example, many town-wide sewer facility plans were developed years ago by engineering consultants and the plans only reflect a potential engineering approach to providing sewer facilities throughout the town. Costs, conformity to environmental carrying capacity, and conformity to local policies for growth were not considered when defining the service areas… To better achieve a community's vision of its future, infrastructure plans should conform spatially to the town's plan.”
Note: The map depicting Berlin's proposed limits to utility service delivery areas was based on the town's request for 3.3 million gallons per day of reserve treatment capacity at the Mattabassett District Water Pollution Control Facility. Town officials indicate that this request was made between 1983 and 1985.
Recommendation
OPM recommends that the Continuing Committee not approve the Pistol Creek Associates request for an interim change for the reasons cited in the above Summary.
This interim change request is opposed by the Town of Berlin and the Central Connecticut Regional Planning Agency. In addition, the City of Middletown and the Midstate Regional Planning Agency have stated their opposition to the proposed interim change. This inter-municipal/inter-regional opposition is relevant since it was noted at the public hearing that Pistol Creek Associates also owns approximately 60 acres of land in Middletown that abuts, or is in close proximity to, the Berlin border. Furthermore, both Berlin and Middletown (along with Cromwell) are members of the Mattabassett District Water Pollution Control Facility.