By Brandon T. Bisceglia
The Milford Planning & Zoning Board at its Nov. 1 meeting rejected a proposed change to its regulations that a local attorney suggested would streamline the city’s site plan review process.
Kevin Curseaden often appears before the Milford P&Z representing clients with development proposals. The process of getting their site plans approved, he said, was too slow.
“The problem that needs to be solved is the fact that the way that the current regulation reads – the Milford zoning regulation – doesn’t comply with the statutory timeframes for action on a site plan, which needs to be heard within 65 days of filing,” he told the board.
When an application is submitted to the city planner’s office, Curseaden contended, it can then bounce around between that office and other departments for some time before the plan actually makes it onto the P&Z agenda.
Curseaden’s proposal would have taken the review process out of the sole purview of the city planner, allowing the Director of Permitting and Land Use to potentially delegate a different reviewer.
“When there’s only one person reviewing the plans, that person’s not available or they don’t have time due to staffing issues, then the plans don’t get heard in a timely manner,” he said.
Members of the P&Z, however, were skeptical that the change was necessary. Vice Chair C. Robert Satti noted that Curseaden had offered during the September P&Z meeting to find other people frustrated with Milford’s process.
“Do you have anybody who now wants to come forward and say that this process that you’re asking us to change is not working?” Satti asked.
Curseaden said he had spoken to people who were frustrated, but they didn’t want to come forward for fear of repercussions.
Director of Permitting and Land Use Joe Griffith commented that he saw some merit to the regulation change.
“The concern here is that at no point does the clock officially start,” he said. “The application comes in, it’s getting reviewed based on our workload, frankly. We’re sometimes able to get to things quickly, sometimes not.”
City Planner David Sulkis, on the other hand, said he had checked with the city attorney and been assured that the current process was legally sound. He also noted that site plan applications often have to go through multiple city departments for approvals, which necessarily takes time.
“We don’t deliberately delay anything,” Sulkis said. “It’s a collaborative effort to get things done.”
Sulkis pointed out that under the current process, applications don’t come before the P&Z Board until they are already vetted and largely complete, which allows the board to act on them quickly. Under the proposed change, applicants might come before the board multiple times with incomplete applications.
“You’re shuffling around some times, but if the goal is to make the process faster for the applicant, that’s not going to be accomplished by these proposed changes,” he said.
“When you’re dealing with regulations and statutes, you have to be careful,” said board member Etan Hirsch. “If you don’t have to do something, don’t do it. I don’t think we have to do it.”
The proposal went down to defeat 7-2, with Chair Jim Quish and board member Nancy Austin voted to approve it.
Why improve things when you can keep a draconian system in place? Even if it violates the State Statute. According to the Planner, their regulations follow the “spirit of the law.” I wonder if he will follow that policy when a resident comes in with something that does not comply, but “follows the spirit of the law?”