Groton Town votes to abolish zoning board

Planning Commission will assume matters beginning in 2019

Groton — The Town Council voted Tuesday to abolish the Zoning Commission and designate the Planning Commission as the body to handle planning and zoning matters effective Jan. 1, 2019.

Councilors had wanted to make the change sooner, but the Zoning Commission is rewriting the town’s zoning regulations and is 18 months into that process. Staff asked the council to wait until July 1, 2019, to give them enough time to complete the work. Councilors said that was too much of a delay.

“I think any kind of change is going to be difficult and it’s going to be time-consuming, but I have to tell you, I think July 1, 2019, is too long a wait,” Councilor Diane Barber said.

Both the changes — rewriting the town’s zoning regulations and combining the two commissions — are an effort to streamline the development process to encourage growth. The town is anxious to take advantage of the heightened demand for housing, retail shops and other services as Electric Boat expands.

The defense contractor expects to hire 2,000 new employees before the year’s end, increasing its workforce from 14,500 employees to well over 15,000. Though EB also has a facility in Rhode Island, most of its employees work in Connecticut.

The company plans to grow to 18,000 employees by 2030.

“People are going to continue to come into the town,” Mayor Bruce Flax said. “And I think our goal is to make sure that these regulations beat out people trying to come in and develop, especially with the job growth at EB. We want to make it easier for people.”

Planning Commission members told Flax they would stay in their posts if the Zoning Commission were

abolished and they received its duties, Flax said. Planning Commission Chairman Jeffrey Pritchard had warned earlier the change could prompt commissioners to resign due to the heavier workload if the Planning Commission had to rewrite zoning regulations also.

The combined Planning and Zoning Commission would have seven regular members and three alternates, all of whom would serve five-year terms.

The existing Planning Commission would become the new board, with any new members appointed by the Town Council.

The council approved the change during its Committee of the Whole meeting on Tuesday and still must vote on the ordinance at its next regular meeting.

The ordinance would become effective 45 days after the council’s vote unless vetoed by Representative Town Meeting.