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07/07/2020 04:00 PMA subcommittee of the Planning and Zoning Commission has recommended that the full commission once again consider taking action to examine the regulations that cover contractor storage yards in Clinton.
At a PZC regulations subcommittee meeting held virtually on July 1, the attendees spent a portion of the meeting discussing what should be done about the regulations that cover contractor storage yards. The storage yards became a hot button issue in 2019 after a court overturned new contractor storage yard regulations that the PZC passed in 2016. However, as the town consultant planner John Guszkowski noted at the July 1 meeting, the court overturned the amendments on the procedure the PZC had followed in passing those regulations, not on the substance of the amendments themselves.
By virtue of the court overturning the amendments, PZC member Adam Moore said the town was left with regulations governing the lots that many felt were not adequate. PZC member Alan Kravitz said the PZC should follow a two-pronged approach. Kravitz’s solution was to discuss the storage yard regulations with the PZC as a whole and see how the commission feels about making adjustments to the regulations. Any new application would require a public hearing.
Kravitz also suggested possibly recommending that the Town Council enact an ordinance that requires annual inspections of the yards to make sure they are complying with the standards.
In regard to any proposed ordinance, Kravitz said, “The proposed ordinance would apply to a variety of non-residential uses and focus upon changes in outdoor activities.”
This is not the first time the PZC has had to deal with this issue. In 2016, the PZC voted to pass proposed amendments to the zoning regulations that relaxed some of the requirements on contractor businesses and storage yards. The regulations were controversial to some members of the community who felt that some storage yards were kept in bad shape and already did not comply with agreed upon standards.
However, the Clinton Taxpayers Association (CTA) sued the PZC over former PZC member Carl Neri’s failure to properly recuse himself during a public hearing at which the amendments were discussed. Neri was the president and owner of Neri Construction, and thus could have benefited from the passed amendments.
In May 2019, a judge in Middletown agreed with the CTA, and ended nearly three years of litigation when he struck down the amendments to the zoning regulations. The PZC then formed the subcommittee to consider once again resubmitting amendments to the zoning regulations. In 2019 the subcommittee lamented that at that time the town did not have a Zoning Enforcement Officer, which made any proposals dealing with enforcement issues difficult to carry out. The town has since filled the position.