(July 6, 2017) Members of the Berlin Planning Commission and residents who attended a commission meeting last month did not have favorable reviews of a discussion on the potential annexation of a parcel of land at the corner of Route 346 and Route 50 owned by Ernie Gerardi under M&G Properties.
Berlin Councilman Zack Tyndall was an outspoken opponent of annexation – both in that instance and in general – and posted a call to action on Facebook that many of the meeting attendees cited as their reason for being present.
Planning Director Dave Engelhart, however, noted during the meeting the item should not have been on the agenda and said he simply wanted to let the planning commission members know what was happening – or could happen – well ahead of time.
Town Administrator Laura Allen expressed a similar viewpoint during an interview last Thursday.
“I think it was unfortunate the way it unfolded, because there really wasn’t a lot of information. It was really intended to be just a simple heads-up from staff to the planning commission, but it got presented on the agenda in such a way that led some folks to think there was actually action being proposed and some sort of official decision to be made,” she said.
Allen said the process of annexation was lengthy, especially for a property like Gerardi’s that is not in the town’s growth area.
“The first step is you request to be in the growth area. That’s really where we are right now – we’ve got that request,” she said. “I think it’s unfortunate that, at that step in the process, there’s really no definition of what is going to be developed. But, I think that’s not really the issue.”
The real issue, she said, was one of local control.
“Does the town want to be able to have more of a say in what goes on in that property, or does it want to have less of a say?” she said. “If it’s not annexed in our growth area and it sits in the county’s growth area, then we will have less of a say. My position is, it would make more sense for us to put it in our growth area and look to annex it, because that gives us more control over what’s going to happen there.”
The town held a series of strategic planning meetings in 2015, gauging public interest on a number of issues, including growth and annexation. Allen said the town would probably hold more of those kinds of meetings – at some point.
“I think the community is really looking for that,” she said. “The takeaway, from my perspective having been to those meetings, is there’s an interest in having more conversations around growth.”
She said the town is required by state law to update its comprehensive plan by 2020.
“We looked at maybe putting some money [to update the plan] in the budget cycle for this coming fiscal year and decided not to,” she said. “We’ll probably start putting a plan together to get some more community input on that comp plan in the next couple of years, but there’s no immediate plan for formal engagement or structured discussion.”
Berlin Councilman Zack Tyndall was an outspoken opponent of annexation – both in that instance and in general – and posted a call to action on Facebook that many of the meeting attendees cited as their reason for being present.
Planning Director Dave Engelhart, however, noted during the meeting the item should not have been on the agenda and said he simply wanted to let the planning commission members know what was happening – or could happen – well ahead of time.
Town Administrator Laura Allen expressed a similar viewpoint during an interview last Thursday.
“I think it was unfortunate the way it unfolded, because there really wasn’t a lot of information. It was really intended to be just a simple heads-up from staff to the planning commission, but it got presented on the agenda in such a way that led some folks to think there was actually action being proposed and some sort of official decision to be made,” she said.
Allen said the process of annexation was lengthy, especially for a property like Gerardi’s that is not in the town’s growth area.
“The first step is you request to be in the growth area. That’s really where we are right now – we’ve got that request,” she said. “I think it’s unfortunate that, at that step in the process, there’s really no definition of what is going to be developed. But, I think that’s not really the issue.”
The real issue, she said, was one of local control.
“Does the town want to be able to have more of a say in what goes on in that property, or does it want to have less of a say?” she said. “If it’s not annexed in our growth area and it sits in the county’s growth area, then we will have less of a say. My position is, it would make more sense for us to put it in our growth area and look to annex it, because that gives us more control over what’s going to happen there.”
The town held a series of strategic planning meetings in 2015, gauging public interest on a number of issues, including growth and annexation. Allen said the town would probably hold more of those kinds of meetings – at some point.
“I think the community is really looking for that,” she said. “The takeaway, from my perspective having been to those meetings, is there’s an interest in having more conversations around growth.”
She said the town is required by state law to update its comprehensive plan by 2020.
“We looked at maybe putting some money [to update the plan] in the budget cycle for this coming fiscal year and decided not to,” she said. “We’ll probably start putting a plan together to get some more community input on that comp plan in the next couple of years, but there’s no immediate plan for formal engagement or structured discussion.”