At its last meeting in mid-July, the Essex Board of Selectmen (BOS) discussed a preliminary plan to combine the town’s Planning Commission with its Zoning Commission. The reasoning behind the proposal stems from a shift in workload for Planning Commission members.

Planning and zoning commissions perform different but related functions, according to the State of Connecticut, which grants the commissions authority to operate. Planning involves preparing and revising the Town Plan of Conservation and Development, and regulating developers’ subdivision of undeveloped parcels. Zoning controls how property owners can use their land by establishing categories of land uses and the districts in which those uses are allowed.

“As I’ve said a number of times before, it’s kind of a perfect storm, in terms of the town is almost fully developed,” said Needleman. “There is not a lot of subdivision activity that could change regardless of what happens demographically and the demographics have shifted away from two-acre subdivision kind of proposals.”

“So, I don’t think that we’re ever going to see the heyday of the ‘70s, ‘80s, ‘90s, and early 2000s and the work is really the occasional subdivision approval, the occasional referral and then every 10 years, a [Plan of Conservation and Development or POCD],” he added.

Needleman indicated that he had been in discussions with Essex Town Counsel David Royston regarding the drafting of a town ordinance that would lay out how to organize the new commission.

Chester, Deep River, and Clinton operate with a combined planning and zoning commission while Old Saybrook and Westbrook maintain separate commissions.

One of the options in Essex includes membership of “seven regulars, three alternates for the big commission. You have a standing committee of not less than three members and then, if they meet, they would have to have a quorum of at least two, which is why I think a standing committee maybe should be a little big larger. But the business of the P & Z Commission would be a minimum of four people to vote; the quorum would be four,” said Needleman.

Although there are several members that are up for reappointment in December, the selectmen would reach out to each of the members, estimated at about 15 or 16 now, to discuss serving on the new, combined commission. Once those discussions take place, the selectmen would appoint members to a new planning and zoning commission.

“It’s a big move for a town like this,” said Needleman. “I think we’re certainly looking to make things more efficient. It’s finding the balance between incentivizing volunteers and making sure we have enough volunteers to do the work and not burdening them with too much work.”

“The collateral benefit here from a planning point of view is there has always been this dynamic tension between planning and zoning and planning comes up with these plans and then zoning doesn’t enact them, at least there will be planning representation on the combined” planning and zoning commission, he added.

At the July 15 meeting, the selectmen heard from Ralph Monaco, a long serving member on the town’s Planning Commission.

Monaco discussed his experiences as a volunteer on the commission, which “allowed me to be able to serve my community in a small way,” he said.

Although he acknowledged that a combined commission could potentially mean more work for those serving, he said, “I leave that up to you to decide if those negatives outweigh the positives that you may gain by having the groups talking, [which] certainly has been a challenge over the years, but also having a more effective way of implementing the plans that the planning commission conceives of.”

In response, Needleman thanked Monaco, and said, “I can’t say it’s a slam dunk, one way or another there is a rationale for both, but it is kind of a perfect storm. If I thought there was a lot of developable land going forward, I would say keep ‘em separate.

“I think the town is almost a fully developed town now—it’s amazing to think about that—but between the land trust and two-acre zoning, there is just not a lot you can do anymore,” he added.

The selectmen will review and discuss a more finalized version of an ordinance to combine the Planning Commission with the Zoning Commission at the next regular meeting of the BOS on Wednesday, Aug. 19.

A tentative timeline for final approval of the ordinance includes a public hearing and town meeting in the fall, with a final vote being taken in early October.