Citing political fallout and misinformation, the Planning and Zoning Commission unanimously voted Thursday to terminate a $50,000 state grant that was going to pay for an affordable housing study.
The motion to terminate the grant was presented by commissioner Peter Bunzl Ed Hellauer and seconded by Peter Bunzl, who said the affordable housing study has become “political.”
Commission members blamed Selectman Augie Palmer and others in town for twisting the study’s purpose for political gain, making it is impossible to give the issue proper consideration.
“Due to this resistance and complaining, the study should be canceled,” Bunzl said.
The commission members said Palmer wrote letters to local papers in an attempt to “scare” residents by connecting affordable housing to public housing and Section 8 housing.
Palmer could not be reached for comment.
The commission held a public information hearing in June to explain the study’s purpose. Public turnout was low.
That information would have provided the commission with background to draft new zoning regulations related to affordable housing.
The town has spent some $268,000 in court fees disputing a denial of an affordable housing application from Green Garden Homes, LLC.
Planning and Zoning Chairman Vinny Vizzo said Palmer has brought forth negative press against the study.
“The selectman has nothing to do with this,” he said. “This is a commission issue and he can’t tell us what to do.”
Commissioner Ed Hellauer called the misinformation “hoo-ha” and said the commission intends to revisit the affordable housing study after the election. However, the study money would have to come from the town instead of a state grant.
“We understand we are putting the burden back on the taxpayer, but we would be unable to effectively deliberate and have proper public input due to this misinformation,” Hellauer said.
On the heels of that decision, three Republican members of the commission — passed over by the Republican Town Committee nominating committee — announced their intentions to run as independent candidates in November.
Hellauer announced that he, along with Vizzo and commissioner Eric Tichy submitted petitions to run as independent candidates for planning and zoning to the town clerk’s office earlier this week.
Vizzo and Hellauer have been members of the commission for 14 years, while Eric Tichy has been on the commission for 6 years.
Vizzo and Hellauer said they were interviewed by the RTC nominating committee but were not invited to be on the party’s November slate.
Tichy was originally on the slate, but was pushed off by Palmer, who got onto the slate after a paper ballot vote at the Republican caucus last month.
At the time, Palmer said that if elected his goal would be to “eliminate affordable housing.”
“We don’t want to see Palmer turn this board into a political circus,” he said, “It won’t be fair to the residents.”
The P & Z Commission has 7 members, the majority of which are Republican. The Republican members bluntly stated it is their own party putting forward misinformation about this topic. Palmer, Haversat, and Rasberry (with his fake website) are all liars and care nothing about the public and feeding them misinformation, all in an attempt to get back into office. They are an embarrassment to the party and if other Republicans really cared about making progress in Oxford, we would get rid of these three embarrassments and start fresh. As they say, out with the old and in with the new!
I fail to understand how “Rasberry” got into this conversation. He has nothing to do with the Zoning Board. He does however feel that MAD-R and her obligations to supporters of her campaign is driving Oxford into divisiveness. The web site, http://www.oxford-ct.com that is mentioned is actually a thorn in the side for MAD-R. Her administration and supporters don’t like the truth being told from the other side of her fence.
It ain’t over til it’s over…
An excerpt from Planning & Zoning Regular Meeting 8/6/09 Minutes
He (Ed Hellauer) commented that people have twisted it for their own political gain and the commission should drop it for now and when hopefully the things calm down they can give this the proper consideration that it deserves.
What does Ed mean by “drop it for now”, “things calm down” and “give this… consideration”? Ed, do you mean it’s not dead, pick it up again after the election?
Who is Joe Rasberry, what is Oxford-CT.com, and why is it important to link them? Joe Rasberry is on the Republican Town Committee, he runs the RTC’s website, the RTC website and Oxford-ct.com have virtually the same information and design, Joe Rasberry tries to intimidate public officials with his camera, his actions, and his words. He lies to the public through his website and tries to make it appear like it is an official town website by copying town documents, he was supposedly removed from the town’s website committee because of his partisan actions, he cares nothing about the public or Oxford and only cares about getting Palmer and his cronies back in office. So who is Joe Rasberry…he is the poster child of the Oxford Republican Town Committee…those who will do anything to remove a First Selectman whom is doing a fine job! Dave Haversat is a good person; it is too bad he has people like Rasberry and Palmer that are hurting his image!
OxfordResident is 100% right. It is people like Palmer and Rasberry that are hurting the Republicans in Oxford. It is because of people like these two that the three Republican P & Z members are now going to run as Independants in November. The P & Z person who Palmer supposedly beat at the Caucus even claims that it was an orchestrated event by Palmer. Palmer is once again up to his antics and this is why the Republicans in Oxford have a bad image. Haversat should do what is best for himself and his chances in November and tell the RTC to disassociate itself from Palmer and Rasberry or risk losing again. Palmer is simply a grumpy old man and Rasberry is a nobody who thinks he is helping, but is actually hurting other Republicans.
This article about the Planning and Zoning Board to “terminate a $50,000 state grant”, is absolutely not true. The board voted to postpone the study. Approximately $42,000 of the grant money is already spent on the study. It was paid to the company who conducted the study for low income housing. Ed Hellauer and Peter Bunzl (pawns of the Drayton-Rogers Administration) are misinforming the public.
The issue of Low Income Housing is not dead. Read the minutes at http://www.oxford-ct.gov/lib/site/data/meeting_documents/e9ff8a764d6aad0fae6212e30be2f0ed/Planning_And_Zoning.PDF (Planning and Zoning Minutes from 08/06/09). On page 10 Ed Hellauer states “the commission should drop it for now and when hopefully the things calm down they can give this the proper consideration that it deserves.” It’s a postponement, not a dead issue!
Keep an eye on these members, they are pawns of this current administration and will purposely tell you what you want to hear.
To the OxfordResident and interested readers:
OxfordResident mentioned the First Selectman (MAD-R) is doing a “fine job” That’s an empty statement. What exactly did this administration do for us? There is too much controversy over any initiatives with MAD-R and her envisions on what she thinks is good for the economic growth for Oxford. We need a First Selectman with experience and who did a Great Job when in office as Selectman with the economic growth in Oxford. The very growth that MAD-R is harvesting the fruits of since she has been in office. Help make Oxford’s Greatest Winning Team “Haversat and Yish” a reality! Visit http://www.OxfordRepublicans.com to see how you can help.