Economic Development Commission (EDC)
Regular Meeting § 7:30 PM, October 20, 2008 § Room 1, Salem Town Offices § Salem, Connecticut
1. Call to Order
The meeting was called to order at 7:35 PM.
EDC Members Attending: Frank Sroka, Chair, Dana Abetti, Joe Duncan, George Householder, Dave Kennedy, Sean Reith, Larry Stevens.
Guests: Gloria Fogarty, liaison from the Planning and Zoning Commission (P&Z).
2. Seating of Alternates
Larry Stevens made a motion to seat Dave Kennedy, alternate. Joe Duncan seconded. The motion passed unanimously.
3. Changes to Agenda
None
4. Approval of Minutes from September 15, 2008, Regular Meeting
Larry Stevens moved to pass the minutes as submitted. Joe Duncan seconded. The motion passed unanimously.
5. Communications
§ On Tuesday, November 18, there will be a half-day workshop on Roberts Rules of Order and other information about how to improve the effectiveness of meetings. Let Bob Ross or Frank Sroka know if interested.
§ Bob Ross sent an email indicating he is unable to attend tonight’s meeting. (See the First Selectman’s section of these minutes.)
6. Public Comment
7. Reports
§ First Selectman:
o Report on Southeast Enterprise meeting Nautilus Museum on September 24th, deferred to next meeting
o Frank Sroka read the following report from an email sent on October 20, 2008, by Bob Ross to the members of the EDC:
We had work being done on the broadcast equipment today and will not be able to broadcast the meeting tonight. But, you should still have a productive meeting.
Gloria Fogarty is the new P&Z rep to EDC. I think this will work-out very well because she is so central to P&Z operations and has such a vast knowledge of the Town's history and POC&D priorities.
I've reviewed the business champion model with Joe and Dana. I think it looks good with the changes from our discussions. I think it's important to ensure this is NOT another layer - it's something to expedite the process. Also, we should have Board Chairs be the ones who participate in the process, not delegate it. Having the Chairs sends and message and will preserve fidelity of information in the process.
I spoke with John Markowitz of Southeastern CT Enterprise Region (SECTER). He offered to provide a brief to EDC on what programs are available to small Towns like Salem. Instead of having him come to our meeting, I wondered if the commission would like to visit the SECTER offices to have a brief there, meet members of his staff and learn about SECTER on their turf. Please discuss this tonight. This might be a good opportunity for us to go to New London have a brief meeting and then do something social together. Or, if it is just too difficult to set something like that up, I'll arrange to have SECTER come to one of our EDC meetings.
The new website will be operational on November 14. I've pressed this deadline on Virtual Town Hall due to the fact that I had to shut down our old site. On Wednesday the FOIA Commission meets in Hartford to consider a request for clarification on the website legislation. I may attend that meeting in Hartford to discuss the impact of unfunded mandates on small Towns.
On Friday, November 7th, we will have a ribbon-cutting ceremony at Babe's Deli to open the new post office there. I will be there and use the event to show support for a local business and talk about "more changes to come at Salem four corners." If other members of EDC are available to attend, that would be great.
Finally, we still appear to be on track for a community meeting in late November or early December to roll-out the redesign of four corners. That's when we will want to reach-out to as many business owners as we can to start cultivating stakeholder buy-in. So, it's important that we make progress on the business owners association over the next month or so.
§ Liaison to Planning and Zoning Commission (P&Z): Sean Reith and Gloria Fogarty
o Gloria Fogarty advised the EDC that the next P&Z meeting, on October 28, 2008, will begin with a continuation of the Gardner Lake seasonal/year-round public hearing.
o Mrs. Fogarty also asked if any EDC members have additional concerns about the ARD regulation, other than the impervious surface concern. No additional concerns were voiced. She encouraged the EDC to reread the regulation and let her know if we have other concerns so she can raise them with P&Z.
§ New Town Web Site: Sean Reith
o Sean has reviewed the prototype town website, which contains improvements over the former version.
o The Chairs of the town commissions each received an email with a link to the prototype. The Chairs may have email accounts to which relevant correspondence may be directed.
o The site is on target for deployment on November 14, 2008.
§ Liaison to the Salem Town Center Committee (STC): Dana Abetti
o The STC is submitting their proposed regulations changes that will enable specific types of businesses to open in the Village District, where zoning regulations are now too restrictive. The STC is on target to send the document to P&Z this month.
o Members of the STC went to a technical college to provide guidance to students who have volunteered to produce a rendering of the village center vision. They anticipate delivering the drawings to the STC in January, 2009.
8. Old Business
§ Economic Development Action Plan progress
o Target Commercial Tax Base, Sean Reith: Sean is expanding his comparative analysis to include additional towns.
o EDC Plan Critical Initiatives:
§ Goal 1: Take Care of Local Businesses: Sean Reith, Dave Kennedy;
· Rejuvenate Four Corners: The EDC workshop previously scheduled for today has been cancelled due to Bob’s schedule. He would like to reschedule as soon as possible. Following is a quote from his email referenced above:
“I spoke with DOT today. The DOT design work will be delivered to the DOT Round-About committee at the end of this week. On November 4th, DOT will meet with DEP to consider the wetlands mitigation portion of the plan. I'll be glad to discuss details of this mitigation plan with you when we meet for the rescheduled four corners meeting.”
§ Goal 2: Joe Duncan, Dana Abetti
· Identify ED opportunities that fit within the Salem community
o Draft process to identify and champion new business opportunities. The commission discussed the champion process. Gloria Fogarty suggested amending the name of our term, “cheat sheet” to “tip sheet.” Dana Abetti moved to accept the documents as amended, Sean Reith seconded. The motion passed unanimously.
§ Other old news: Larry said someone told him they confirm that we should have a “locally grown” farmer’s market in town. This is in the EDC plan, but is not one of the two initiatives currently being pursued.
9. New Business
George Householder brought a newspaper article discussing an ARD that the townspeople of Norwich rejected. He was interested in whether the EDC should take any action. The discussion included a recommendation that we do some background research before reaching out directly to the developers. Frank Sroka will discuss next steps with Bob Ross. (See articles in The Day, October 8, 2008, and October 1, 2008).
10. Adjournment
Dana Abetti moved to adjourn the meeting. Sean Reith seconded. The motion passed unanimously. The meeting was adjourned at 9:30 PM.
Frank Sroka, Chair
Dana Abetti § Joe Duncan § George Householder § Dave Kennedy § Sean Reith § Larry Stevens