Groton Open Space Association

Planning Endorses Buildable Land Concept, Rejects GOSA Proposal

GROTON — The Planning Commission on April 24, 2007, rejected GOSA’s specific proposal for a buildable land definition, but it said that a satisfactory definition is a high priority and should be produced in a timely manner.

In an advisory opinion to the Zoning Commission, the Planning Commission said that GOSA failed to provide justification for the specific form of its definition and that the impact of GOSA’s proposal on the full range of the town’s Zoning Regulations wasn’t known.

However, the five-member panel drew up its own motion on the GOSA suggestions, rejecting a harshly critical motion offered by Michael J. Murphy, director of the Office of Planning and Development Services, and Matthew J. Davis, manager of planning services. The commission’s motion, which it approved by a 5-0 vote, said that the need to address buildable land, as proposed by the 2002 Plan of Conservation and Development, is a high priority, as are several companion POCD recommendations.

Mr. Murphy and Mr. Davis had urged the panel to vote on the motion that Staff had prepared, rather than drafting their own. At one point in a sometimes heated discussion, Mr. Davis asked Chairman James Sherrard about Mr. Sherrard’s statement that he wanted a buildable land definition though he wasn’t satisfied with GOSA’s definition.

Mr. Davis asked, “What does that mean? Your job is to make a recommendation.” Mr. Davis said Mr. Sherrard’s statement amounted to an endorsement of “warm and fuzzy feel-good things.”

Mr. Sherrard responded that the Planning Commission in fact frequently responds to referrals from other agencies without giving a “definitive yes or no.”

Both Mr. Sherrard and Commission Member Peter Roper expressed disappointment that the OPDS staff had not reacted to GOSA’s proposals in a more constructive manner.

Mr. Roper said that “we’re seeing more and more [development] proposals on worse and worse land” and that the town needs tools to control this.

The Zoning Commission, which has the final say on GOSA’s proposed amendments to the zoning regulations, is scheduled to consider the proposed changes at its May 2 meeting.

GOSA also had proposed a moratorium on Active Senior Housing, but the Planning Commission recommended against this measure.

Regarding buildable land, Mr. Murphy and Mr. Davis said that the OPDS is ready to hire a consultant to overhaul a town land-use regulations and that a definition should await this overhaul. Mr. Murphy said that under this scenario, a definition would be a year away. The wording of the Commission’s referral recommendation showed dissatisfaction with that timetable.

GOSA Attorney Frank Cochran offered to work with the OPDS over coming weeks to fine-tune GOSA’s proposal, which he said had been purposely aggressive in order to stimulate debate, but staff said no satisfactory overhaul would be possible in two to four weeks. Mr. Cochran said GOSA was surprised by the OPDS’s “hostility” to its proposals. Mr. Davis and Mr. Murphy contended that besides being aggressive and broad, the proposed GOSA buildable land definition was not integrated with existing Zoning Regulations.

“This is a citizens’ group that is trying to put the Plan of Conservation and Development into effect. We’d be happy to work with you.”

The POCD’s recommendation for a buildable land definition is accompanied by several others, all on Page 79 of the POCD report. The others, which the Planning Commission endorsed April 24 as high priorities, are:

–using a density regulation to regulate development yield.

–requiring a specific percentage of a parcel be preserved as open space.

–providing flexibility in minimum lot size requirements within acceptable health code standards.