The Register Citizen (Torrington, CT)
WHAT’S THE PLAN?
PZC wants residents in on conservation and development talks
“The POCD is something we all ought to be thinking about; I think we’ve spent a tremendous amount of time on it. It’s a pretty solid document, and we need to get the word out. That’s the most important thing.” George Closson Planning and Zoning Commission chairman
WINSTED — What’s a POCD, and why should anyone care about it?
Planning and Zoning Commission members are trying to figure that out, ahead of a public hearing to approve the updated document.
The Plan of Conservation and Development is updated every 10 years, and is used by towns and cities to monitor growth, update and amend zoning regulations, find funding for improvement projects, and provide an overall snapshot of the municipality and its assets.
It inventories the town, reviews its regulations and makes changes as needed.
Not everyone may know what it does or how it helps their hometown unless they are directly affected by it — such as a need to change zoning on their property or business. The Planning and Zoning Commission recently finished making some changes to it, and have scheduled an Aug. 23 public hearing to discuss it with residents.
In Winsted’s POCD, the commission set goals for itself, which are part of the update process, including promoting Smart Growth principles, maintaining long-term financial viability, providing a range of housing, and supporting open space preservation, protecting state assets and encouraging residents to further those goals in their own land management practices.
In developing the 2011 POCD, the commission took a natural resources inventory in 2009, and conducted a corridor study, a watershed protection study and a traffic study. PZC Chairman George Closson said the commission has spent many months reviewing each area of the
plan during the last year, to determine if changes were needed.
“It’s pretty close to what we did a little more than 10 years ago, but there have been some changes,” said Closson. “The Board of Selectmen has all the information and the draft ... Mayor Candy Perez is sending it for discussion at the board’s next meeting in August.”
Selectmen likely will be asked to approve the draft in advance of the public hearing. That approval is advisory, Closson said. Changes to some zoning regulations are included in the latest iteration.
Closson recently asked the commission for input on what type of presentation they wanted to give to the public at that hearing.
“It’s up to the commission to get people energized about it,” he said. “The POCD is something we all ought to be thinking about; I think we’ve spent a tremendous amount of time on it. It’s a pretty solid document, and we need to get the word out. That’s the most important thing.”
Closson pointed out that funding for road repairs, renovating old buildings into usable office or retail spaces in Winsted’s old mill buildings, upgrades for safety and traffic and upgrading roadways, often supported by grants or other state or federal funding, is a result of the POCD. “It helps us get grants — it helps the town,” he said. “We can look at how we compare with other towns and what they’re doing.
“We’ve got a small city, and we’ve taken advantage of supporting it with this document,” the chairman said.
To prepare their presentation for Aug. 23, Closson and several other commission members walked Main Street 0n Tuesday morning and photographed buildings and streets downtown.
The commission also is attending the Northwest Hills Council of Governments’ Fifth Thursday event, which gives members of boards and commissions a forum to discuss changes in land use, zoning and state regulations. This week the Fifth Thursday forums are likely to include a discussion on land use regulations involving the state, and the recentlypassed law that makes marijuana legal in Connecticut. “All of those things come together in importance, in this planning document,” Closson said.
Even so, he admitted, “It’s pretty dry stuff.”
“We’re trying to make it interesting, to show how we use it and why we spend so much time on it,” he said.
Residents can find the updated POCD online at www.townofwinchester.org.