The Board of Selectmen is moving forward with a plan to revise the town’s Planning and Zoning ordinance to change it from an appointed to an elected commission.
Once an ordinance is drafted, a town meeting will be held, and residents will ultimately decide its fate during a town-wide referendum.
The current commission consists of five bipartisan members and three alternates appointed by the selectmen through nominations made by the Republican and Democratic town committees.
Members serve five-year terms. No more than four members from one party can serve, according to minority representation rules. Alternates serve two years, and by ordinance, no more than two can be from the same party.
First Selectman David Bindelglass said the town attorney will draft an ordinance based on ideas and suggestions from Selectman Kristi Sogofsky and Selectman Nick D’Addario made during the Aug. 1 selectmen meeting. They discussed how to deal with vacancies and alternates, as well as the process for determining when seats would go up for election if voters do approve the new ordinance.
Calls for the change have been considered in the past. The effort took on a renewed interest by those opposed to a special permit the P&Z recently granted to a local cabinet maker to move his business to a new barn-style building on his property. A town resident is challenging the special permit in court.
Town resident, Donald Boyce, gathered more than 60 signatures on a petition calling for a town meeting to make the P&Z an elected commission.
“For months I had heard people saying this should be an elected position, but when nobody did anything for months I put a post on Facebook, and I was surprised to see a lot of people responded,” said Boyce. “If people are elected rather than appointed, they would feel more responsibility to their neighbors. They don’t feel as invincible.”
Town resident Debbie Klein signed the petition. “They are in their position by party choice, not by people’s choice,” said Klein. “I’ve never lived in a town where that particular body wasn’t elected. It’s ridiculous.”
Tom Dollard, the former chairman of the Zoning Board of Appeals, also signed the petition.
“There is a lot of debate in town about development, and I think we could resolve that by having the Planning and Zoning Commission go through an elected process where they are vetted or screened,” said Dollard. “I think we would lose a lot of the infighting, and people would be more calm if the process was democratic, fair and open.”
