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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1995-04-20 r TOWN OF GROTON PLANNING BOARD Thursday, 20 April 1995 Board Members (*present) Others Present *George Totman, Chairman Fred & Susan Portzline *Monica Carey George Senter, Sr. , CEO Sheldon Clark Joan E. Fitch , Recording Secretary *Jeff Lewis *Verl Rankin *George VanSlyke *Cecil Twigg The meeting was called to order at 8 : 15 p.m. by Chairman Totman. G. Totman: Let's start the meeting. We'll forego approving the minutes as long a Fred is here to discuss his subdivision. He wants to break up the remaining part of the farm that he had and sell the lots off to cut down on his tax dollars that he has to pay; but I think his real goal is to make more money. But, anyway, the lots he's asking to sell all meet the requirements of the subdivision . The only problem I see here is, by the number of lots, if you take them all as one subdivision, we would being doing a disservice to him, I believe, if we let him subdivide it this way because it would be getting into a situation he doesn't want to get into -- or that I wouldn't want to put him into unless they know ahead of time what they're getting into because it becomes a realty subdivision. This means that every lot, as I understand it, has to go through the Health Department approval before we can approve it, we have to hold a major public hearing, and then the power company has to put all the power lines underground at the cost of the owner -- the person selling the lots . Where if you keep it five or under then you don't have that problem. So what I 'm looking for is the thoughts of the Planning Board. My suggestion would be to look it over and see if we can't figure out a way we can do it and accomplish his goal, still falling within them realms of our subdivision rules and regulations. By doing that, I would suggest we have him make out two applications instead of one . Our normal procedure over the years has always been that the road divides the land up. So we don't consider the land on one side of the road the same as on the other side of the road, so when they're doing the subdivision they don't add to it because the road divides it just as though it were a different tax map number. M. Carey: Now are these all one tax map number? G. Totman: Right now it's all one number, but there's a road in-between them . So if we use the four lots on the one side of the road, then call the other two lots - - the little small one that's on the east side of the road and the large lot, which actually goes on both sides of the road, call that on the east side of the road, that makes three lots on one side of the road and four lots on the other side of the road ; you could do it in two, then, instead of one . I believe it would still be legal ; but think about it for a minute and see what you think about it. Pass it around the table . F. Portzline: What about the taxes when we get this subdivided? When do these taxes start taking over? G. Totman: We don't have anything to do with taxes. What I 'm saying is, Fred, we have absolutely nothing to do with taxes, but once you get this divided up and you file it -- it doesn't become legal until you get it surveyed and file the survey. You can sell it until you get it surveyed anyway. But once surveyed and file in the County Clerk's Office , they change your tax assessment to farm property unimproved lots, your taxes will go up and not down until you sell the lots. Co Twigg: He can do that. J. Lewis: Right. F. Portzline: Even before they are sold. Groton Town Planning Board Meeting April 20, 1995 G. Totman: Sure . See , now you 're paying tax on the whole farm which is much less than a per lot tax. If you divide one lot into six lots, you're going to be paying the tax on each lot which is greater than on a farm lot. C. Twigg: Considerably. G. Totman: So what I 'm saying to you is -- if you go ahead and pass it here , you 've got awhile to wait. You advertise them for sale. You can't really sell one until you bring the plat in and have it signed by the Planning Board -- if it gets passed tonight, or next week, or whatever. You could advertise them for sale and then, if you get a buyer for one , you would have to bring that map in and have it signed . Then the three left over on that part of the subdivision would then go in there . But you'd have enough money from the sale of that lot to cover that. Hopefully, you could sell the next two or three lots within the year. If you do it now, it won't take effect as far as the tax assessment is concerned, until next March . So that gives you time in-between to sell the lots to make up the difference . F. Portzline : It gives me a year. G. Totman: Yes, G. Senter: But if you have a cash flow problem, Fred , you could sell one lot off that without making a subdivision. Then you 'd have some money. Then you come in and get the rest of them subdivided. F. Portzline: That sounds like a better idea. G. Senter: Is that right, George? G. Totman: Uh-huh . But, in the same token , we can approve a four-lot and a three-lot subdivision tonight, but they aren't really officially approved until you bring the mylar of the survey and have it signed. So if you get a sale of a lot in-between times, you could sell it because they haven't been officially approved . And then, the next one you sell, you've got to bring it in and have it signed . So without expending money up front, you could sell that first lot first. And you have a year; otherwise , you 've got to come back in and do it all over again . G. VanSlyke : How are you figuring he 's going to get four and three out of this? How can you take that big lot and put it on the other side of the road? C. Twigg: What triggers it -- five or six? G. Totman: Five , G. VanSlyke : Tell me how you're going to get this to be a part of this . G. Totman: Right now - - this is that parcel -- it's all of this and all of this in here . G. VanSlyke : Wait a minute . That isn't what we 're seeing here. G. Totman: Yes it is. You've got a copy of this. J. Lewis: Here's 38 right here . G. VanSlyke : Okay. But this doesn't show that this is all connected together. G. Totman: Yes it does. See that little arrow right there? M. Carey: You've got an arrow? I don't have any arrow. J. Lewis: Want my contacts? 2 Groton Town Planning Board Meeting April 20, 1995 G. VanSlyke : I should have brought my glasses, I didn't know I was going to have to read these things. I thought that was just "north. " Why does that say "N"? G. Totman: Where do you see an "N"? G. VanSlyke : Right there . It says "N" and there's an arrow going across. G. Totman: It's the same area, George , that's right here. That's connecting -- it means it's the same tax map number. M. Carey: Now why would it be the same tax parcel if they're on different sides of the road? J. Lewis: Because it's a farm parcel. M. Carey: Oh , it's farm parcel . G. Totman: Even if it wasn't farm parcel, if you bought across the road -- they are all like that. Let me do it this way, George . G. VanSlyke : It says one, two, three four right to this point, right? You're messing up their map. G. Totman: Here's your four lots right here , right? Now they want to put one right here . What I 'm saying is this . . . . G. VanSlyke : I didn't realize this map goes both sides of the road. G. Totman: This lot here covers both sides of the road . Because this lot here is the same as this lot here , I'm saying one , two, three, four lots here -- call this lot and this one a separate subdivision . G. VanSlyke : Wait a minute here. So you 've got a two-lot subdivision? You don't have three parcels. G. Totman: Well, I said three -- it should be four and two. G. VanSlyke : So it's four and two. G. Senter: I don't know if you can do it that way, but you 've been around this longer than I have, George . You're taking four lots out of the one side of the road and you still maintain that you have one lot on both sides of the road . G. Totman: This is a judgment call. J. Lewis: Why can't we do it this way -- G. VanSlyke : (At same time J. Lewis is speaking) Why can't you do just one side of the road for now? J. Lewis: . . . . four, five . G. Totman: Well, he wants to do the whole thing. V. Rankin: It's going to cost him a lot of money to do that. M. Carey: Why not just drop off one lot here? G. Totman: (At same time as MC is speaking) . . .That's why I said make one lot two separate ones. . . . V. Rankin: Why don't he just sell the whole works and tell him to heck with it? F. Portzline: That's what I 'm trying to do. I tried to sell it to him. J. Lewis: And he 'd have sold it if you hadn't jumped in. 3 Groton Town Planning Board Meeting April 20, 1995 C. Twim Well, if you think it's legal to do. . . . M. Carey: You're the one that would know. V. Rankin: You're the one that's going to get your --- in a sling, not us. C. Twigg: I like the idea, if you could do it. F. Portzline: Do you want to wait a couple of days and find out? G. Totman: No. Because if you don't it tonight, we won't meet again until the third Thursday in May. I guess what I was saying earlier is we have set a precedent that the road divides the lots up . As long as we've done that over the years, we aren't doing anything special for one person . I think we're safe in doing that. and creating two separate subdivisions. I don't know how else we could do it without putting it into two subdivisions. And being that all the lots are over the requirements -- we'd still end up with the same thing that's being presented now -- that's the way I look at it. Correct me if I'm wrong. Maybe I don't see something. M. Carey: Will we consider this a rural subdivision? G. Totman: No. It would be a minor. V. Rankin: Why can 't he just get a subdivision for these four lots and then get a subdivision for the one across the road? G. Totman: This was my thought, Verl. That's why I was including, . 0 . , see, when you take these four out and call it a minor subdivision , the one across the road -- the little small one across the road and that larger big piece of land there, that could be the number two subdivision. V. Rankin : Well, this is a subdivision and that is a subdivision . C. Twigg: But you've still got five lots in that one across the road , there . G. Totman: No you don't. Seriously, come here, George . V. Rankin: Fred -- do you own all the land to the railroad tracks? F. Portzline : Yes. (G . Totman explains the subdividing to G. Senter while everyone else converses in the background. Unable to transcribe or take notes. JFJ G. Totman: The whole thing right now -- listen just a minute , please . Right now, before Fred came in here, it's the way it is on that map right there . It's on both sides of the road. So if we take those four lots out for a subdivision , then it's up to us to decide the remaining part of that land as to whether we want to call it on the east or west side of the road. If you look at what's being presented , A. B , C . and D are on one side of the road -- four lots. E and F are on the other side of the road - - two lots. F also includes the land that's left over on the other side of the road . So if you count this into this, then what are you going to do with this over here because it's still the same tax. number. G. Senter: Okay. Is he going to sell these six? G. Totman: Well, he's going to put them up for sale. And he's going to keep this one here. G. Senter: Okay, Okay, G. Totman: George, would you please do the SEQRs? G. VanSlyke : I've got to do two? 4 Groton Town Planning Board Meeting April 20, 1995 G. Totman: Yes. Read them please. G. VanSlyke : We can do both of them at the same time . CO Twigg: George, do you want a pair of glasses? G. VanSlyke : No . George VanSlyke then reads aloud Part II of the Short Environmental Assessment Form. Negative responses were obtained to all questions and, upon completion, it was determined by the Planning Board that the proposed action would not result in any significant adverse environmental impact, resulting in a negative declaration. G. Totman: George, was that for the four-lot or the three-lot or two-lot? G. VanSlyke : I don't know which one I 'm doing -- this is subdivision for four lots . G. Totman: Monica will shoot me on this one, but the four-lot subdivision is all of the same parcel, originally, that the two-lot subdivision is being taken from. So I would move that as long as we've done the SEAR on that particular parcel of land , there's no object in doing another SEQR on the same parcel. So we will fill the other one out accordingly because they are all the same piece of land (TM #31 - 1 -7 . 2) Everyone agree to that? (All indicated agreement. ) Now we 've got both applications filled out. Take the parcel of land that's on the west side of the road -- both applications are the same , so we've got to distinguish here which one is the four-lot and which one is the two-lot. Someone down the road might want to know if this was an approved subdivision, and a lawyer might call up and ask George or Carol if he can see if that was an approved subdivision . If one of these doesn 't distinguish which one it is, it would never stand up in court. You've got to distinguish which ones they are, otherwise they don't mean anything . J. Lewis: The four lots, Fred , is the field that's south of your house, right? F. Portzline: Yes. It's on the same side of the road as the house . G. Totman: Does anyone else have any questions on this subdivision? Do you want to set a public hearing date? Or do you want to go through Form 340, Section 340, and waive the public hearing? V. Rankin: I so move we waive it. M. Carey: Second it. G. Totman: All in favor? (All were in favor. ) Next question? M. Carey: I'll make a motion to approve the minor four-lot subdivision on the west side of Route 38. C. Twigg: I 'll second that. G. Totman: All in favor? (All were in favor. ) G. VanSlyke : I 'll make a motion to approve the subdivision on the east side of the road . J. Lewis: I'll second that. G. Totman: And on the east side of the road, we're talking about Lots E and F. And on the other side of the road, it's A, B , C, D . All in favor? (All were in favor. ) Now, Fred , for your information , I want to make sure that you understand what we've done here tonight. You 've got two separate subdivisions which means that you 've got to come into the office sometime in the near future and pay them for two subdivisions, not one. It would be a lot cheaper for you that way than the way you were looking. And you can advertise them for sale without filing them or coming back in . The final approval is when you bring that map in and have the Chairman of the Planning Board sign it. You'll have that when you get 5 Groton Town Planning Board Meeting April 20, 1995 it surveyed. Nobody's going to buy that unless it's surveyed -- they might have it surveyed and be part of the cost of buying it -- whoever buys it is going to have a surveyor come in - - whoever you might get. When he surveys it, he'll make a mylar copy of that. A, B , C, and D has got to be one map; and then E and F, F being on both sides of the road, has to be a separate map. C. Twigg: Really, he hasn't got anything to do until he sells a lot, except he's got to come in and pay the Clerk for the two subdivisions. Then you just sit on it until you sell a lot. Then you've got to call George. . . . G. Totman: There is a time limit. I think he better call me because we've got to look it up -- there is a time limit on how long you can leave it without doing anything with it. C. Twigg: It's a year, isn't it? G. Totman: You've got to know for sure -- I think we should tell him before he leaves. M. Carey: In the new Ordinance , if it gets approved , - - conditional approval of plats shall expire 180 days after the date of the resolution granting such approval. But the Planning Board may extend the time , but not for more than two additional periods of 90 days each . G. Totman: What page is that on? M. Carey: It's in the new Ordinance, but I don't think we changed the time on it. G. Senter: You can extend it two additional periods of 90 days each -- G. Totman: What we 're saying is this, Fred . You have to do nothing after you leave here except come in and pay the fees. If you don't sell anything, you don't have to do anything. But if you want to keep this approval on either one of the lots, within 180 days you 've got to have it surveyed and filed . At the end of the 180 days, and you don't want to do anything, you could come in and ask for an extension, the way this book reads. C. Twigg: And then you only have three months and you've got to come in and do it again. G. Totman: You can do it twice for 90 days as 1 read it. M. Carey: That's how I read it. G. Totman: But if you 've got any questions. . . . F. Portzline: Do I have to keep track of the 90 days myself, or. . . . G. Totman: They don't do it here . It's you . Just mark it on your calendar. C. Twigg: It's 180 for the first one -- six months. Then two 90-day periods, which would give you a year. G. Totman: Otherwise, you 're all done . C. lwia, You've got to come back in six months if you haven 't done anything . You get an extension. Then you 've got 90 days -- three months later, to get another extension . But that's all you can get. V. Rankin : He's already been told that twice. Co Twigg: You want to go through it again for him, Verl? V. Rankin: No . 6 Groton Town Planning Board Meeting April 20, 1995 G. Totman: This young lady came from New York City and she says this isn't the way they operate down there. C. Twigg: If it gets the job done , that's what counts. G. Totman: Okay. That's it. Thank you very much . J. Lewis: I've got a question. When we do that SEAR -- if we've got questions about the road -- okay, where he's going to put those four lots, where it comes out on to 38 on the west side of the road the way that road comes through there, it's kind of a drop . There's a knoll there and if you 're coming towards Groton it goes down . My question is, if when we do the SEAR we feel that it's for traffic safety or whatever, is that where we bring that question up? G. Totman: Very good question. In a case like that where you have a question , that's the time to bring it up . It might not be enough of a point factor to throw it out, but have the SEAR questions show there was some concern there . It might not have been enough to stop having the subdivision there , because you've got to have a big concern to say that somebody can't sell a lot - - but recognize the fact that you saw a potential danger or something so if somebody wanted to come in later on and question why you did this or did that, we 've recognized it, but it wasn't of big enough significance to do that. J. Lewis: I was trying to think how that land is -- down lower I think the land is lower than the road. I think the closer you get to Fred's house you would be able to . see traffic coming. (Everyone talking at same time . Not transcribable from tape or notes. JF) G. Totman: It's a good point. And one of the reasons in years gone by why we sent the minutes out days in advance was so the Planning Board members could get a chance to go out and look over the properties before the meeting . That really was the reason for doing that. We should do it more than we do. J. Lewis: Which one is the problem? There 's two lots there , right? G. Senter: Yes. The one up top of the hill -- at VanAlmelo's I was backing out and couldn't see what was coming up the road -- so I just whipped out across the other side of the road until I could see Spring Street. . . . . G. Totman: Okay. Let's move on. The minutes of the last meeting. V. Rankin: I can't say nothing about them . I've tried to read them. I 've read some of them and what a mess and I 've never got done yet. M. Carey: Our public hearing, you mean? G. Totman: Were you here? V. Rankin: No, I wasn't here, but I was reading the minutes. Co Twigg: The minutes of our last regular meeting? M. Carey: We didn't have a last regular meeting. G. Totman: The February meeting. . . . . M. Carey: Our last meeting was a public hearing meeting . G. Totman: And we haven 't had a meeting since , so we 've got to approve the minutes of that meeting. C. Twigg, Of which one? 7 Groton Town Planning Board Meeting April 20, 1995 G. Totman: The last meeting that we had. M. Carey: February 19th or 20th or 30th . C. Twigg: Not the public hearing? J. Lewis: No . G. Totman: Normally, at the beginning of each meeting we approve the minutes of the last meeting. That's what I 'm trying to get done . J. Fitch: The last regular Planning Board meeting was the 16th of February. J. Lewis: Thank you . . J. Fitch: The March meeting was the joint public hearing with the Town Board , J. Lewis: I make a motion that we approve the minutes of the February 16th meeting as presented. G. Totman: All in favor of passing the minutes? (All were in favor. ) Other business? M. Carey: Let's talk about those public hearing notices in the paper. What's the Town doing there? G. VanSlyke: What do you mean, what are they doing there? M. Carey: There were two public hearing notices. G. Totman: We had our public hearing in March . And after the public hearing I was asked to come over to the Town office to a meeting to go over details of the zoning map change and whatever. My question was is "Why are we having a meeting?" I don't think I really got a good answer why we had to have another meeting, because once you have a public hearing, and it's a joint public hearing, as I understand the law - - and apparently there are people who think I don't understand the law - - why we need to have other meetings of minds afterwards. But the lawyer seemed to think we did , so we had a meeting and just more or less everybody agreed with what we were asking the Town Board to pass. We couldn't change anything at that meeting because , if you did, you 'd have to have another public hearing. So that was my question-- why? We went through that meeting and , to my knowledge , there was nothing substantial changed except some grammar things and they are not considered changes . There was some question with the attorney because the attorney told me he wasn't going to let the Town Board vote on it until they had a full Board to vote . He didn't think it was right that the Town voted on something like that when they didn't have a full Board . My only thought was, and still is and I think I can be quite strong about my feelings, that State law says you have to have a majority of the full Board to vote on something like that. And if you 've got five members on the Board and three members show up - - you have to have three to have a quorum -- then you've got a majority of the full Board . And it shouldn't hold up the works . A lot of people have put a lot of effort into a lot of things -- but this happens all year long and you can't hold up votes on boards just because you've got a board member missing who's in Florida someplace . First of all, I didn't think it was up to the attorney to decide whether they could vote on it or not, but he finally agreed it was the Board's decision. But, nevertheless, he brought up the question about doing the SEAR which he is technically right, but I thought when I left the meeting they were going to do a short form SEQR that night and do it that way. But when they had the Town Board meeting, as I understand what happened -- I wasn't there -- and George can correct me if I'm wrong because he was at both those meetings -- was that the Town Attorney advised the Town Board that they had to hold another public hearing for the SEAR, they had to hold a public hearing to pass the Local Law for the Ordinance, and they had to send copies of the old ordinance and the new ordinance to all adjacent towns, counties, and municipal bodies. I 'm not saying he was right or wrong, but my only thought was is that if that is true, and I 'm assuming it is, I felt it was a stalling tactic , very honestly, my own opinion, and the Board might not agree with me. We had our joint meeting with the Town Board in December, and when we left the December meeting, the only question we had was how it was going to be written up legally so that the things George has normally been sending to the ZBA he could send to the 8 Groton Town Planning Board Meeting April 20, 1995 courts. And the attorney was going to re-write that so it would be in better language and get it to Tracey so she could get it back so the Board could have it for their January meeting. If that had happened, we could have held that public hearing in January instead of March . But it didn't happen. They didn't get all that stuff in until their February meeting . I guess my thought is -- I just don' t understand why the attorney didn't think about all those things we had to do in January, February, and March -- why he had to wait until the April meeting to tell them they had to hold the extra hearings and do all these extra things when we could have been doing them a month or two earlier. We did our job. We spent two years doing it. Presented it to them in January. The Town Board agreed to everything. It wasn't the Town Board ; I think it was actions in-between . I 'm sorry I feel that way, but I really think we got circumvented by natural sources . You had a question, Monica? M. Carey: I was just wondering -- if they did a short form like you recommended to them, would they need to hold a public hearing? Why are they going the long form and holding a public hearing? G. Totman: I wasn't at the meeting, Monica, and I 'm not the attorney. M. Carey: Okay. George, how come? G. Senter: Fran seemed to think it requires a long form. M. Carey: You 're going to ask these Town Board members -- I mean , I don't know if they are going to have much participation from the public, but has the Town Board ever done a SEAR:? G. Senter: Aren't you going to be there? G. Totman: Let me make another comment then, now that you 're asking that question . I feel a little slighted also because we 've spent a lot of time on this and we 've had a lot of conversation about this, a lot of meetings about this and never once was I or, that I know of , a member of the Planning Board contacted after the Town Board meeting to tell us what they did . Period . I don't think it's right. M. Carey: That's what my question is. If we're going long form public hearing, the Town Board 's going to sit there and answer questions? Maybe they've read their book. I hope they have . C. Twigg: If they read it, they read it just this week. The last time Teresa had anything to say about the Ordinance, the new Ordinance , she knew absolutely nothing about what was in there . She was asking questions just like the public was. G. Senter: The Town Board is the lead agency, and I think Frank will probably be the spokesman of the SEQR G. VanSlyke : Both of those open meetings are going to be the same night? M. Carey: Yes. G. VanSlyke : Are they going to succeed one another? G. Totman: One's at 8 and one's at 8:30, M. Carey: And then they'll take a vote on it? G. Senter: Yes. And they have to also pass a Local Law or Ordinance for the Zoning Map, too. M. Carey: Why would they have to have a special hearing for a Zoning Map? Didn't we approve the Zoning Map at the public hearing we had? G. Totman: I assumed we did. G. Senter: But I think it's a regulation that you have to have a Local Law or Ordinance . . . . . M. Carey: Was a change made on the Zoning Map? 9 Groton Town Planning Board Meeting April 20, 1995 G. Senter: Certainly, you made a change . . . . . M. Carey: Yes. And we approved it at that public hearing. But I guess I don't understand why. . . . . G. Senter: It can't be changed without making a Local Law or Ordinance . It has to be made official . G. Totman: Look at it this way. We could sit here and talk like this all night long. M. Carey: I'm just confused . . . G. Totman: So am I . But like I say, . . . . M. Carey: I 've had people at work asking me about this because people are interested in property in Groton. And when that public hearing notice came out, I had two or three people ask me yesterday what's this all about? And I 'm like -- don't ask me why. Well, I thought you were on the Town Planning Board -- and I said yes I am, but I have no idea what this is about. G. Senter: Look at it this way, Monica. You guys are an appointed Board. And what you've done is come up with a comprehensive plan for zoning. You can't enforce it: you can't approve it. You can't make a Local Law. It's not your decision to do that. It's the Town Board's decision . So what you 're saying is why do they have to have a hearing or an ordinance on the map because you 've already approved it -- it doesn't hold water. And I 'm not trying to throw rocks at you -- but they have to have a Local Law or Ordinance to approve it. J. Lewis: Didn't the Town Board approve it? We had the public meeting together. I thought that was the reason why we had it together. G. VanSlyke : I don't think there was any approval implied , was there? J. Lewis: Well, how do you make this official, I guess, is what I 'm asking? G. Senter: Pass a Local Law. You changed the zoning, Jeff, and you have to have a Local Law to change the zoning. J. Lewis: Right. But how. . . . G. Senter: The Town Board accepts it and then it's cast in concrete. J. Lewis: So in other words, when they have their meeting and they vote on it and the votes all come yea they want to pass it, then it's a Local Law, G. Totman: They could have done that at the last meeting. G. VanSlyke : But they didn't do it. They didn't approve it. G. Senter: That's what makes it official. J. Lewis: I guess what bothers me out of this whole thing is I 'm getting the feeling now that they don't want to pass it. When we had our public hearing, I had the feeling that everybody was all set to go. G. Senter: I didn't get that feeling. J. Lewis: I hope not. G. Totman: I tell you what. You're not one of us. You're not one of us. And you spend two or three years working on something because you were asked to by the Board, and then five months go by after you present it. . . 10 Groton Town Planning Board Meeting April 20, 1995 G. Senter: I understand. . . . G. Totman: And you 're still getting all kinds of reasons why you should hold it up . I think it's about time that the elected officials run this Town. Let's get on to other business. At our February meeting, we talked about talking to the Town Board and the Village Board about seeing what their thoughts would be on setting up an Economic Development Committee between the Village and the Town to look into whatever an Economic Development Committee does to further the development of the Town of Groton to enhance the tax base and bring more jobs in, or whatever. This Board asked me to ask the Village about it. I think it's a great idea, and I think it was Jeff that was the one that expounded on it more than anything. I went to the Village and talked to them about it; I got a very positive response out of the Village . I didn't get a vote ; I didn't ask for a vote. But I talked to them about it and had no negative response at all. They seemed to be very interested . But I asked them not to vote on it because I didn't want it to look like I wanted to come in and --- I prefaced it with "I don't want you to vote on this tonight, but think about it and then vote on it, or if you've got any questions, get back with me ." I got a positive reaction out of the whole Village Board. They thought it was a good idea. So now we've got to take it to the Groton Town Board. I hope that some of our members will go to the May meeting on the 8th . I 've got three public hearings that night; it's my job . And I really think we should show an interest and be there . I don't mean to be confrontational or anything, but it will do no good at this point to go there and be confrontational . You could trigger the lawyer to say he didn 't think of something else and hold it up for another month . I'm serious ; that's what he's doing. George doesn't agree with me, but I know that's what he 's doing. In fact he told me that in January. He told me that when I called him. But I 'm going to ask if Jeff would present that idea to the Town Board that night. J. Lewis: I'd be more than happy to. G. Totman: And with the fact that I 've gone to the Village Board and maybe we could go over the presentation so it will be the same as what I presented to them. If we could get the right committee working on it -- perhaps one or two members from each Planning Board, Village and Town, and one or two members from the Town and Village Boards. But that would be up to them to decide whether they wanted to do that or not. And maybe one member from the Village community and one from the Town community at large . And have that group of people sit down and try to work on what can be done . It's not an uncommon thing; a lot of communities are doing that. We could gain a lot. Okay. The meeting is closed -- Monica moved to adjourn and Jeff seconded it. The meeting was adjourned at 9*26 p.m. Respectfully submitted, Joan E. Fitch Recording Secretary 11