By the time the dust settled at Thursday’s Board of Aldermen meeting, one thing was clear: No public hearings had been scheduled to discuss any of the five properties the city is looking to sell.
But the procedural tango continued.
The lengthy land-sale process could be compared to an awkward dance: Sometimes the various city committees involved step in different directions, sometimes in the same directions — and sometimes on each other’s toes.
Thursday’s meeting added yet another wrinkle, when Alderman John Papa announced he was going to present a new map of the property at 279 Soundview Ave. to the Parks and Recreation Commission for further review, stepping backward in the process almost two steps.
But let’s start at the beginning.
Background
To sell city land, the Board of Alderman must follow a strict, lengthy process that brings in opinions from several different stakeholders. Parks and Recreation, Conservation Commission and Planning and Zoning all get to weigh in on whether they think selling the property is a good idea.
After collecting these opinions, the Board of Aldermen can seek an appraisal on the property, and send the idea to a public hearing to find out what citizens think.
Then it’s ultimately up to the Board of Aldermen, after weighing all the information collected, to vote on whether to sell the land.
Now, multiply that process by five — the number of properties the city is looking at right now — and it the process gets confusing.
Confusing, but still manageable.
Now, add politics, personalities, Robert’s Rules of Order and official indecisiveness to the mix and you’re up to speed with where Shelton stands on its process.
Here’s a scorecard of the five properties, where they’ve been, and where they’re at:
279 Soundview Ave.
The city is looking at whether to sell about an acre of the roughly 14 acres of open space at 279 Soundview Ave.
The portion up for discussion has a single-family home and garage. The Conservation and Parks and Recreation commissions have said they want to keep the property.
The Board of Aldermen tabled discussion on the item at its August meeting, pending a review of the Planning and Zoning minutes from August, where the planning and zoning commission had said it was against selling the property.
But before the Aldermen could meet again, the Planning and Zoning Commission reversed its opinion at its September meeting, saying it now WANTED to move forward.
Some people called into question whether the reversal was legitimate under Robert’s Rules of Order, and others questioned whether the reversal could be considered part of the land-sale procedure, because it wasn’t directly requested (again) by the Board of Aldermen.
To get past all the confusion, Board of Aldermen president John Anglace Thursday suggested aldermen simply take action on the Planning and Zoning’s August referral (to NOT sell the property).
If the Board of Aldermen still wanted to move forward, it could override that opinion with a two-thirds vote.
Anglace suggested waiting until the October meeting, when all aldermen would be present. Two members of the board — Kenneth Olin and Lynn Farrel — were not at last Thursday’s meeting.
Then, as mentioned earlier, Papa said he was taking the subject back to Parks and Recreation Commission for further discussion, although that commission has already weighed in. Papa also sits on the Parks and Recreation Commission.
Papa said the parks and recreation commission was given a simple map when it first reviewed the land, and wasn’t aware that the town would still have access to the open space behind the house even if the house was sold.
Now he has a more detailed map, Papa said, and wanted to let the commission see it too.
470 Howe Ave.
After voting to not move forward with any sale on the historical building downtown, the Board of Aldermen in August revoked its vote and then voted to push the property forward in the process.
Planning and Zoning gave the town the thumbs up to move forward with the process, and Thursday aldermen considered whether to get an appraisal on the building.
With two members absent, though, they didn’t get enough votes to have a simple majority of the board to move forward.
Aldermen Anthony Simonetti and John “Jack” Finn voted to stop the process there.
“This makes no sense at all,” Mayor Mark A. Lauretti said during the discussion on the parcel. “The building has become nothing but an economic liability for us. I just don’t understand why you want to sit there and do nothing with it.”
After the vote, Lauretii muttered under his breath, “This is dumb.”
58 Perry Hill Road
This property has about 1.4 acres of land and a house next to the old intermediate school.
In August, the Board of Aldermen tabled any movement on this property until it reviewed the minutes of the Planning and Zoning Commission meeting, where that commission said it did not want to sell the property.
Thursday, the board didn’t vote on whether to seek an appraisal on the land.
The aldermen had a momentary shuffle over this property at its August meeting — first stopping the sale process with a tie vote, and then starting it up again during the same meeting, with Anglace acting as a tie-breaker in the place of Lauretti.
Middle Avenue
This is a ‘paper-road’ that has been abandoned by the city. The Board of Alderman voted unanimously to proceed with the process of selling this parcel on July 9.
In August, the Planning and Zoning Commission agreed, and the Board of Aldermen voted to seek an appraisal on the land. The aldermen haven’t made any decision on this property.
Access Road
This road is where the former Crabtree car dealership sits, which is the proposed site for a new retail development.
Questions over what the city is doing with the road led the Planning and Zoning Commission to reject Monty Blakeman’s proposal for the development.
Read the Valley Independent Sentinel coverage of that meeting here.
The Board of Aldermen unanimously voted to continue the process of potentially selling this land in July, and in August the Planning and
Zoning Commission agreed.
At its August meeting, the Board of Aldermen voted to seek an appraisal on the land, and didn’t make any further votes on it Thursday.
Attorney Dominick Thomas Thursday continued his appeal to let the state handle any sale of the property.
Thomas represents the developer and has attended every Shelton meeting where Access Road comes up to urge the city to abandon it and let Blakeman get started on his project there.
