PZC Candidates Talk Policy

The rapidly approaching election for Planning & Zoning Commissioners will be somewhat akin to a game of musical chairs. Four candidates are running for three positions, and when the music stops on November 7^th, one won’t have a seat as a voting member. Three Republicans and one Democrat have been selected by their respective party caucuses, and the top three vote-getters will be seated. The Democrats will already occupy one minority seat on the commission, as one Democratic commissioner has 2 more years on her term and is not up for re-election, this year.

The Goshen News reached out to all four candidates.  Three of them participated in individual interviews: Democrat Lu-Ann Zbinden and Republicans Shilo Garceau and Jon Carroll. Republican candidate James Withstandley responded to our initial interview request with an email stating he was out of town but did not further respond to our numerous requests for a phone interview.

The candidates each responded to the same 6 questions, and their responses, edited for length, are reported herein.

1. What do you see as the most important challenges and opportunities facing PZC in the next few years?

Carroll: “First thing that comes to mind is the Plan of Conservation and Development (POCD). It’s the most important thing that the Commission sees coming up, in the next couple of years.”

Reasons why that’s important: The POCD “affects how our town is developed, how the land is preserved…and it sets the parameters for the future planning, zoning and development of Goshen”.

Garceau: “Well, I think that when I hear the word ‘priorities’, I think about the POCD… because the POCD paves the way for our future, the next 10 years. It’s really important to make sure that we’re encompassing everybody’s values and desires for our town, which is challenging because we work with all our regulations on a daily/weekly/monthly [basis] when we go to our meetings, [but] I think [we also] need to hear from the people in town and see where they wanna’ go…It’s challenging to get all those thoughts into a plan that supports what the people of Goshen do want.”

Zbinden: “I think making the Commission a stronger commission, and maybe more balance between the ZEO (Zoning Enforcement Officer) and the Commission. Right now it seems a little bit that the ZEO or Town Planner seems to have a lot more to say, the balance is kind of tipped in his direction. I think that there should be more collaboration…”

“Maybe having a little more input before an application comes before the Commission, and some of my ideas are possibly, commissioners actually accompanying the Town Planner on site visits, and discussion on things that maybe the Commission wants. From experience I’ve had some examples where an application comes before the board, the applicant has seen the ZEO, and in one case I feel that the applicant was told by the ZEO ‘Write an email and waive the open space’. Now if I was aware of this ahead of time and had some input, I probably would have said ‘Please see the Goshen Land Trust about the 15% open space’ and once you get into the meeting it’s very hard. The applicant has been advised on certain things and it’s hard if you want something different. In that respect I think the commissioners and the Town Planner are not on the same page. It’s like the Town Planner is waiving the regulations for subdivisions which allow for 15% of that subdivision to be either deeded for preservation with The Land Trust…or you could donate it to the Conservation Commission…(The regulations do say that if you don’t want to cut off 15% for open space, there’s a fee that you can pay that goes into the Title 67 fund.)

I know another case where some of the environmental low impact measures that we put in the regulations weren’t even being addressed at all, (for one) of the applicants… If we had maybe been a little bit more of a team before that meeting we could have addressed some of those issues.”

2.  A. Do you believe there is currently an adequate plan for building in Goshen?

Carroll: “I think it can be improved upon, since it is 8 years old, at this point.”

Garceau: “Well I don’t want to speak to ‘exactly’ because, I tell you, I think I have the POCD memorized so I have read every word, I think it depends on what we’re looking for. I’ve heard some people say: ‘Well what about elderly housing?’ I know that people say that young families can’t afford to live here…I can’t tell you right this very moment [that] our POCD encompasses all of that, right?”

Zbinden: “We really don’t have, I think, a specific plan, but I think it might be a good idea for the Commission to start reviewing the regulations and looking for that. And also the POCD, which will be due in 2026, but in 2024, you’ve got 2 years, I think we need to take a hard look at that and see if we do have an adequate plan.”

        B. What do you think might endanger Goshen’s ability to maintain its rural look and feel?

Carroll: “I don’t know of anything as yet in the future that could impact that, but how the plan is written is the guideline for any development, whether it is residential or commercial. Any development at all would be based on that plan. The plan is what we, as commissioners, and even the Zoning Enforcement Officer, would rely upon to make the correct decisions based on each individual proposal that gets brought in front of the commission.”

Garceau: “I’m not sure I would use the word ‘endanger’ but I’m sure there could be things that would maybe alter a little bit, here or there... If we put a Wal-Mart in the center of town, yes, that certainly wouldn’t feel like Goshen, the Goshen that we love, but… I don’t think I can say that there’s any one thing pressing right now that would endanger our rural atmosphere.”

Zbinden: “I’m running on ‘I want to keep Goshen small and rural’.

3. In recent years the PZC has eliminated or waived a number of regulations for the town’s planning and building. One was eliminating the 4-acre lot to qualify for accessory apartments on the lot. Another has been the systematic waiver of the State’s regulation requiring set aside land for recreation and open space in building plot developments. What do you think about this, and what, if anything, would you do differently?

Carroll: “I have attended all the meetings for over a year, now, either in person or Zoom. I think I missed one and I reviewed it afterwards… so I know exactly what you’re talking about, and I believe that each one of those cases should be looked at very specifically… and that’s something we need to make sure occurs with each individual proposal… making sure that we as a commission do our due diligence, to make sure we’re doing what the townspeople want. That’s gonna’ affect the future of Goshen.”

Garceau: “I’m not sure, I know about waivers in general, I did hear one in August come through… In order to comment on a specific waiver I’d have to know what it was. It’s hard to answer that question without knowing what those waivers were, like ‘Did they make sense?’”

“I believe that we have a commission for a reason. I believe that the commission should be the people making a decision, and they should not be swayed in one way or another by anybody, and that we have rules and regulations to ensure that Goshen moves forward…in the most respectful and responsible way…”

Zbinden: “Open space, and additionally there have been some applications where they are waiving the environmentally low impact strategies also.  (For) one of the applications… there was no real notice to the Town at all. They were gonna’ put up a pavilion at Camp Coch.  I asked, instead of having like a concrete walkway or a concrete platform, I asked if it would be the environmentally… friendly material…  When Laura made the motion,  it was incorporated into the motion, that they would have to use these… low environmental impact materials, that’s part of that impervious surface.  I know that there’s another business in town where that was not even incorporated into the application and then that business went on to have an extension for expansion, and nothing was incorporated there, either.”

“What I would do differently… there should be more cooperation between Commission members and the Town planner ahead of these applications coming to us for approval… But maybe just communicating with the Town Planner, if I communicate ‘I know this application is coming up, I’d like to see open space’, that it would be incorporated into that application, that it wouldn’t just be left out.”

“Then you’re told ‘Make a decision tonight’… What I should have done on the Holmes Road subdivision… (I asked the applicant if he had spoken to the Land Trust or the Conservation Commission. No, he didn’t, he said, because he didn’t have to.) Now who told him he didn’t have to? But what I should have said was ‘I don’t feel comfortable voting on that tonight. What I would like to see for the next meeting, I would like to see the applicant get a response from the Goshen Land Trust or the Conservation Commission on the open space.’ I think I should have said that. Maybe, in a nutshell, I think commissioners need to be a little stronger, too, in not being pushed or coerced. Maybe we should slow down a little bit and start thinking, ‘Why do we have to approve everything at the same meeting that it first gets introduced?’

4. During the current Chairman’s tenure, the Public Comment/Input part of PZC meetings has been eliminated. What is your opinion on this? Would you be in favor of reinstating this part of each PZC meeting?

Carroll: “I strongly believe that the townspeople’s voices have to be heard and they have to have an opportunity to speak. Currently, there is not that opportunity because of the lack of public input… so I would add that back on the agenda for the monthly meetings.”

Garceau: “Absolutely. 110%.”

Zbinden: “Yes, if I am re-elected I would like to make a motion that we add to the agenda an item for public comment at regular P&Z meetings. I think having public input is good. You need ideas from the people, to know what the people are thinking. You’ve got people from one end of town to the other. You don’t know what everybody’s thinking, and just 5 commissioners, you don’t know everything either, so it’s good to hear other ideas…”

5. There has been discussion of the role played by Town Staff (i.e., the Zoning Enforcement  Officer). Do you think that Town Staff has too much influence and control over PZC meetings? If so, how would you change that? (readers please note that the Enforcement Officer for PZC is also Enforcement Officer for ZBA and is Town Planner.)

Carroll: “I think the commission itself needs to operate as independent and have the ability to make decisions on their own, and not have any outside influence. But I do believe it is very important to have the Zoning Enforcement Officer or somebody, when there are regulations or statutes that need to be clarified, that the commission might not know exactly what… the regulation is. We need people to provide that information when they are requested of it. Thus there is a certain role that that individual, whoever it may be, needs to play, and not overstep that role…”

Garceau: “I think the members of the commission are the ones who should be running the meeting and making the decisions, and if they have questions, that the Town planner should be available to answer those questions. The Commission is …volunteers who do this because they love their town, and it’s our responsibility to hear the people and make decisions based on… the wants of the town.”

Zbinden: “What’s been happening is the Commission goes and the applicant comes before you, but the applicant has already discussed this with the Town Planner and… he is the one who makes these recommendations. But I feel the Commission should have more of a say in what gets waived, and maybe more of a say up front, before that applicant comes before the Commission.”

6. According to FOIA regulations, contact information for all elected officials must be provided to townspeople upon request, which would enable people to communicate directly with their officials. The 1^st Selectman has asked board and commission members to set up free Gmail accounts to use strictly for Town business, instead of using their personal emails. Would you plan to comply with that request?

Carroll: “Yes, I do think that an individual that is a volunteer… needs to have dedicated email for whatever board or commission they are serving. I support that idea fully and it is something that I would want to do. You have to figure out what the legalities of it are and what needs to be done… but I think that is something that should definitely happen.”

Garceau: “Yes, absolutely. If I am on the Planning and Zoning Commission, I do want to hear what people are thinking and what they’re feeling and their vision for the future. So yes, people should be able to communicate with elected officials. The only other piece of that is that I think people need to understand that it’s a way for elected officials to hear, but maybe not be able to give their opinions and give their comments on what they’re hearing. I would love to be able to have a way to hear everybody’s thoughts, their desires, their wishes for our town, but I’m not then going to reply to ‘Yes, I think that’s a good idea’.”

“…I have an email for the Fire Co., so all of my Fire Dept. business goes through my Fire Dept. email, so yes, I already do that. When Covid hit, I actually set up our Fire Co. with a non-profit Google account…so that we opened up our lines of communication… As someone who does serve with the Fire Co. it’s so much easier for me to sort through – these are my Fire Dept. business and these are my personal business. It’s so much easier to sort through it that way…”

Zbinden: “Yes. I am in favor of that… I can probably just do one and I can just access it on my PC… I’d like an @GoshenCT.gov account… I’d rather have that than a personal email for Town business.”