P&Z postpones action on rezone.
The public hearing is over and the P&Z has decided to postpone action on the proposed zoning changes for adult establishments until their next regular meeting at earliest to allow for further research.
Many people turned out and all told I have about 3 hours of video to sort through so more will come later.
The message was clear tonight. Not in my town. Not in my backyard. The P&Z will continue investigating alternatives but it looks like it will be our town and our back yards.
Reminder! Strip club hearing is tonight!
Agenda is HERE.
If you live in North Meadows or the Prestige Park area you need to be there.
The topic of discussion will be the zoning changes to allow strip clubs in the North Meadows and Prestige Park sections of town.
Government On Demand – Joint Council P&Z Meeting
If you weren’t aware the Town Council and P&Z Commission met in a joint meeting last night at 6:30 to discuss needed regulatory and zoning changes to bring the city into compliance with constitutional tests the courts are likely to apply regarding the restrictions of first amendment rights applied to adult establishments.
The town retained the firm Harrall-Michalowski Associates Inc. to do a study of our current zoning and regulations concerning adult establishments and the zoning and regulations of other areas that have faced this issue previously. They presented some suggested regulatory changes to the council and zoning changes to the P&Z. Changes suggested include allowing adult establishments in the areas known as Prestige Park and the Meadows.
The topic of the night was secondary effects. Secondary effects are important, as explained by Kim Coleman (legal council for Masters Club LLC.), because a way the town can restrict the free speech rights of an adult establishment (or any other group) is by demonstrating secondary effects sufficiently harmful to warrant a restriction.
For his part Mr. Dayton, the town planner, presented a considerable compilation of police reports and incidents to councilors and commissioners demonstrating the secondary effects of the existing adult establishments. Was it enough to make the case? Kim Coleman says no.
In my discussion with Coleman after the meeting she conveyed that although secondary effects can be a valid reason for limiting free speech rights the argument doesn’t work here because the town has made a mistake in the areas they chose to recommend for adult establishment use because as the maps distributed by the town’s consultant show the two designated areas have a considerably greater residential concentration and therefore greater likelihood of secondary effects than the currently disputed site on Robert’s Street.
In reviewing the maps I can’t help but to agree with her on that point. While Prestige Park has a benefit in that the club would be somewhat cordoned off inside the industrial park it has a large negative in that it’s positioning provides for no direct highway access and worse it’s central location in proximity to surrounding highways guarantees that visitors would come from every direction and would have to use residential neighborhoods and streets throughout town as their route to the club which would likely translate into a lot more intoxicated persons driving in the surrounding residential areas day and night.
While the Meadows location does have some of the benefits that the Roberts Street location has, such as almost direct highway access from Rt 2, I-84 and I-91 as well as relative isolation, it’s a very mixed area with about a quarter of the properties being residential. The location of the residential properties makes it unlikely that any of them would be able to escape exposure to adult establishments located in that area.
To add insult to injury the largest vacant lots to be developed are located directly adjacent to residential properties.
With the shortcomings of these areas in mind it must be considered that more than just Masters Club LLC is on the table here. The town is required to make it possible for future developers to have the opportunity to come to town and this isn’t a town with a lot of real estate to consider which wouldn’t have a close proximity to undesirable properties such as houses, schools and churches. In that thread these areas may not be better than the Robert’s Street location but they may be the best we can get and still allow for future development as required.
So what happens now? Well have to wait and see. The lawsuit filed by Masters Club is at least temporarily halted in trade for the town paying their legal fees to date totaling over $13,000 and as my conversation with Coleman suggests temporarily is the key word so long as the town fails to provide a zone with ample development potential which would suffer less secondary effects than the Robert’s Street location.
On Wednesday the 30th at 7PM there will be a public hearing on the proposed zoning changes at town hall in the council chamber. I strongly encourage anyone who can to attend and bring talking points. Especially if you live around prestige park or in or around the meadows area.
Video and documents are below.
Video of Joint Meeting of Town Council and P&Z
[googlevideo=http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-5783303058047656075&hl=en]
Video of Interview with Kim Coleman
[googlevideo=http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=1159489258476165436&hl=en]
Adult regulations from other communities.
Adult Establishment Regulations – Seattle, Washington
Adult Establishment Regulations – Freetown, Massachusetts
Adult Establishment Regulations – Burlington, Iowa
Adult Establishment Regulations – Delaware County, Ohio
Maps of recommended adult zones.
Adult Establishment Map
School and Church Location Map
Proposed Prestige Park Zone
Prestige Park Land Use Map
Proposed North Meadows Zone
North Meadows Land Use Map
Masters Club Update
I received an update email from Kim Coleman who is the legal counsel for Masters Club LLC.
Hi Jon-
Just a quick update as to what has occurred in the lawsuit.
The Town of East Hartford is again amending their zoning regulations. They are changing several zones. A portion of North Meadows (including water) is being converted from B-3 to B-3A. A portion of Prestige Park is being converted from I-3 to I-3A. Both will allow adult entertainment establishments.
On April 23, 2008 there is a joint meeting between the Town Council & P&Z.
The P&Z meeting to adopt the zone changes is on April 30, 2008.
We came to a temporary resolution with the town recently. The paid for my client’s attorney fees and we agreed to no press forward on the suit until after the zoning changes are in effect.
Our concerns regarding these changes are that they are still in residential areas and no parking is required; what will the impact be on traffic in these residential areas; lack of notice to the residents and business owners in the areas.
Kim Coleman
Law Offices of Norman A. Pattis, LLC
I had a feeling this was the case when I saw that the council voted to pay the attorney fees. I take it this means the town has finally come to terms that a new strip club is coming to town (potentially more than one) and and has decided to move towards managing it rather than preventing it.
Does Kim Coleman have a point on club location?
Kim’s interview got me thinking a bit. I decided to make up a quick google interactive map to test Kim’s assertion that a prestige park site would likely generate considerably more residential secondary effects than a Roberts street location. I know she showed a map as large as a whale at the P&Z but unfortunately I didn’t get a clear look at it.
Red lines mark the likely routes out of towners would take to a prestige park club. Yellow marks the route to a Roberts street club. Both club sites are marked blue with a 2000FT cyan radius to let you easily see residential neighborhoods that are well within “secondary effects” range.
Based on this map if I had to choose between the I-2 zoned Roberts street location and the I-3 zoned prestige park location I’d want it in the I-2 Roberts street location. How about you?
As promised. Your government on demand.
As promised I have finally uploaded the full P&Z special hearing for your review.
Here’s a quick and dirty break down of what can be found where:
00:00:00-00:00:54 Pre-Meeting
00:00:55-00:05:50 Agenda, Procedure
00:05:50-00:31:20 Presentation of information on secondary
effects of Adult Establishments.
00:31:20-00:46:04 Questions from members of the commission
regarding the information previously presented.
00:46:04-00:59:11 Public comment in favor of one or both
amendments. Comment by Councilman Eric Thompson,
Mary Alice Dwyer Hughes, Reginald Diebold?
(Correction Needed), Patrick Sanzo, and Jon Searles.
00:59:11-01:12:00 Public comment against one or more
amendments. Comment by Kim Coleman council for Masters
Club LLC.
01:12:00-01:15:30 Commission vote on amendment #1.
(Moratorium)
01:15:30-01:18:20 Commission vote on amendment #2.
(Removal of requirements)
01:18:20-01:20:10 Commission vote on bond reduction item.
01:20:10-01:31:00 Mini press conference with Masters Club
LLC legal counsel. Questions by Ben Rubin of the Journal Inquirer.
(Video is not edited. Questions were started before I left the chamber.)
Just for the record, the left side council chamber speaker was not functioning this evening which caused the poor sound.
[googlevideo=http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=3226007533253161776]
Masters Club speaks out. Is it time to listen?
Attorney Kim Coleman gave me an exclusive 20 minute interview to explain the situation relating to Masters Club to the residents of East Hartford.
As she said during the P&Z meeting many people are worried about a long expensive legal battle that EH will ultimately lose. It looks like those people may be justified.
The full video is below, but here is a summary of the points made:
1.) There will be clubs somewhere because the constitutions says so.
2.) The Roberts Street location has the least impact on residential areas of all the available sites.
3.) The P&Z actions may be a 2nd violation of the constitution.
4.) Masters Club is willing to share plans with the public to ensure the design is tasteful.
[googlevideo=http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-1203510291079085686]
