North Center School Project In Jeopardy After Planning Commission Sets Restrictions

This version corrects the vote, which was passed along party lines. Zaya Oshana voted against the motion, not for it.

The North Center School project has hit a wall after the Planning and Zoning Commission passed a motion that heavily restricts the departments that would be allowed to move from Southington Town Hall.

The commission voted 4-3 Tuesday evening to approve a special exception allowing the former school to be used as office space, but only if specific departments would not be allowed to move. The decision was made despite strong objections from Town Attorney Mark Sciota, who said the board did not have the authority to impose such a restriction, and against the advice of Town Manager Garrison Brumback.

Under the stipulations approved, the town can't move the Parks and Recreation Department, Economic Development Department, Tax Department, Assessor Department, Town Manager, Town Attorney, Town Clerk, Health Department, Building Department, Planning and Zoning or Engineering to the North Center School.

The contentious motion, which was presented by Paul Chaplinsky Jr., initially failed by a vote of 4-3, but Kelly DelDebbio changed her vote when Chaplinsky presented the motion a second time. The vote passed along party lines, with Zaya Oshana, James Sinclair and Lisa Conroy opposed.

Brumback said that with the restrictions he could not recommend moving forward and the decision could effectively bring the project to a halt.

“This drastically underutilizes a significant investment for the town,” Brumback said. “There are other ways, better ways, to spend that money … we are now paralyzing this with analysis. We have bids that are aging daily and are already above what would be considered reasonable and normal.”

The commission rejected motions to table the matter and to approve the special exception with a stipulation requiring the town conduct studies that would minimize any impact to local businesses – the primary concern presented by Chaplinsky.

Over the last several months, town boards have worked to present a proposal that would allow the town to sell the North Center School to Borghesi Building and Engineering of Torrington, lease it back with Borghesi responsible for renovating the property, then have the option to buy back the property after eight years.

Under the direction of the Town Council, a facility use committee last month voted 5-2 to recommend that the departments restricted by Tuesday’s stipulations be relocated to maximize space. The council approved the recommendation Feb. 28.

Chaplinsky, a member of the facility committee, said such a move would take a large amount of pedestrian traffic away from the downtown commercial district. He said it would be detrimental to businesses and counterproductive to downtown revitalization efforts over the past decade, adversely affecting property values.

During facility use committee discussions, Chaplinsky presented two articles from the Planning Commissioners Journal citing the importance of using Town Hall to anchor downtown development and a letter correspondence with the editor of the journal recommending no move be made without proper studies. He once again presented the documents on Tuesday.

“There is no data available. I requested a study a month ago so that when we this came before [Planning and Zoning] we would have that data but my request was ignored,” Chaplinsky said.

Kalkowski, who also served on the facility use committee, and Oshana each echoed Chapinsky’s concerns.

Chaplinsky said simply wanted to see further data before permitting the restricted departments to move but also voted against a different motion that would have required further study. Both he and Kalkowski said a requirement for further study “holds no teeth at this point.”

“There is nothing binding there,” Chaplinsky said despite promises from Sciota that he would see to it the studies were done in an expedited but efficient manner.

“I would have no problem with a motion requiring the town incorporate a study into the development plan to make sure the downtown area isn’t affected and abandoned by those using it now,” Sciota said.

Sciota called the stipulation approved “crippling” and said he has never seen a requirement like this for a special exception before. He told the commission such a motion surpasses the commission’s charge of determining only whether municipal offices were a conforming use for the property.

Under state law and local charter, Sciota said, the commission could determine only whether offices were allowed, not determine which offices. The restriction also circumvents the authority of the Town Council, he said.

“It is outside this board’s jurisdiction,” Sciota said. “It’s overstepping bounds here. The question is: does municipal offices meet the requirements of a special permit under section 8? To say some would and some won’t is a decision that says municipal offices are allowed.”

Several residents in attendance said they would be filing a complaint with the state in an effort to overturn the vote because it violated state law.

“This will make it difficult to move forward,” Sciota said. “The movement of the departments [now restricted] is something that the town administration feels very strongly about and something the Town Council feels very strongly about.”