According to the Hartford Courant:

Saying they felt obligated to listen to the voices of the people, members of the planning and zoning commission voted 4-3 Wednesday night to shoot down proposed new regulations that would have allowed strip clubs to operate in two largely residential neighborhoods.

Commission members decided to maintain the town’s current regulations, which allow for such establishments in various industrial pockets throughout town. The vote was met with applause from several residents in the audience at town hall, including a group of residents who live in one of the neighborhoods where the new rules would have allowed adult-entertainment establishments.

As expected Kim Coleman, legal counsel for Mark Chu and Masters Club LLC, intends to refile a lawsuit challenging the existing regulations according to the Courant.

The town council through the ordinance committee is simultaneously working to reform the adult establishment regulations. The committee met on the 19th to review draft ordinances governing adult establishments. Among these according to the meeting minutes are licensing of employees which would involve a criminal background check, fingerprinting and recording of social security and drivers license information. Also the club would have to maintain a monthly list of employees and information on management. I expect that such a list, being submitted to the town, would be public information meaning anybody could see just who in a given month is working at an adult establishment.

I guess that means no more stripping your way through college on the sly.

14.     ZONE CHANGE APPLICATION: To re-zone a portion of Business III (B-3) to Business (B-3A) comprised of 132 parcels, also know as a portion of the “North Meadows Area” behind the car dealerships on Connecticut Boulevard, located adjacent to the Connecticut River, easterly along the existing railroad track, southerly along the rear property line of land fronting on Thomas Street, westerly along the rear property line of land fronting on Governor Street, northerly along the center line of Village Street, and is comprised of 86.72 acres of land & a portion of Industrial III (I-3) to Industrial (I-3A)  comprised of 17 parcels, also know as a portion of “Prestige Park”, located along the existing railroad tracks, northerly to the center line of School Street, easterly to the center line of Prestige Park Road, southerly along the railroad spur line, westerly along the exiting railroad tracks, and is comprised of 64.27 acres of land.

Applicant:  Town of East Hartford Planning and Zoning Commission

(Action Postponed from April 30, 2008)

I expect there to be a public presence and I encourage you to come out. As usual there is a public hearing preceding the regular session tonight however the zone changes are not on the agenda for the hearing.

If you attend please do report back the result. I won’t be able to attend as tonight is my anniversary.

The results of this new poll so far have been quite interesting.

The TPZ will not take action on the proposed Adult Entertainment zoning regulation changes during their next meeting on May 14th.

It appears to me that the TPZ was listening and heard the residents speak.

Now for the video…
Feel free to comment if I didn’t get a name right or I have no name for you.

Start of the public hearing
[googlevideo=http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=8783132151741655230&hl=en]

Mike Dayton’s Testimony
[googlevideo=http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=5481561988366872831&hl=en]

Hugo Benettieri’s Testimony
[googlevideo=http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=7168885925202950493&hl=en]

Phil Michalowski’s Testimony
[googlevideo=http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=1116742656490555714&hl=en]

Mike Dayton’s Testimony 2
[googlevideo=http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-3104869214782383952&hl=en]

Public Testimony

Patrick Sanzo
[googlevideo=http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-7410122125864069805&hl=en]

Reginald (?)
[googlevideo=http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=204646853598248022&hl=en]

Catherine Stevens
[googlevideo=http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=6230271538889375564&hl=en]

Barbara Austin
[googlevideo=http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-777909045368453571&hl=en]

Susan Kniep
[googlevideo=http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-4826426773938044965&hl=en]

Michael Sylvestor
[googlevideo=http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=3241042285851883611&hl=en]

Susan Kniep 2
[googlevideo=http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-3377900106958277293&hl=en]

Irene (?)
[googlevideo=http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-4295272501323942452&hl=en]

George Franek
[googlevideo=http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=5534731641515391930&hl=en]

Peter Santoro
[googlevideo=http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-6441809549551636232&hl=en]

Jonathan Keller
[googlevideo=http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-1147219206541810618&hl=en]

Mike DeGregario
[googlevideo=http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=4368769788736833410&hl=en]

Kim Coleman
[googlevideo=http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-8158289272832326139&hl=en]

Kathy Lombardo
[googlevideo=http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=8506726968021155175&hl=en]

Janet Rice
[googlevideo=http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=591673795680000163&hl=en]

Greg Foran
[googlevideo=http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-3174224560640911351&hl=en]

Unknown
[googlevideo=http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=4068385231981160109&hl=en]

Karen Howe
[googlevideo=http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-7901084634896906148&hl=en]

Unknown
[googlevideo=http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=2372174106279897271&hl=en]

Michael Sylvestor Jr.
[googlevideo=http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-1418919514888430617&hl=en]

Steve Livingston
[googlevideo=http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-5908961909187717257&hl=en]

Salvatore Ingallinero
[googlevideo=http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=9070715958164534125&hl=en]

Clara Pierceton
[googlevideo=http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-7953983522359120584&hl=en]

Unknown
[googlevideo=http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=3752488304026996785&hl=en]

Anita Morrison
[googlevideo=http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-5793757251265910872&hl=en]

Peter Santoro 2
[googlevideo=http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-8863953660385219123&hl=en]

Greg Foran 2
[googlevideo=http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=8737490786104865995&hl=en]

Susan Kniep 3
[googlevideo=http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-3433246283750096253&hl=en]

Patrick Sanzo 2
[googlevideo=http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=1293747739701479833&hl=en]

Don Pitkin
[googlevideo=http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=4017878779288567697&hl=en]

Kim Coleman 2
[googlevideo=http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-8728496470612585029&hl=en]

Reginald ? 2
[googlevideo=http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-8122080886508593396&hl=en]

Marc Weinberg
[googlevideo=http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=3570124340051417617&hl=en]

End of hearing and P&Z action
[googlevideo=http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-8906421080912648961&hl=en]

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.

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.

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

Just for reference the standard fee for a copy of any standard document not fortunate enough to be featured on the town website or unfortunate enough to have aged off the site is 50 cents per page. In the case of a double sided document that is 50 cents per side.

For a bit of reference the last P&Z meeting I attended had an information packet about 96 pages in length not including over-sized drawings and the minutes of previous meetings. For the math impaired that translates into a fee of greater than $48 for the average citizen to  have access to the same information as the P&Z members. Granted the information is available for review in the Town Council office (I believe) and on site at the meeting, but it’s hardly practical for one person to review 96 pages plus drawings and minutes prior to a meeting or while sitting in the council office. It’s not expected that commission or council members should have to do so and it should not be expected for citizens to do so.

I took this a step further and investigated just how much money the town takes in through copy fees. According to data from the finance department since July 1st 2007 the town has taken in just $1,200 across all departments in copy fees. Weigh that sum against the capital expenditures in the budget that many called discretionary to say the least and it demonstrated just how minuscule that amount really is. There is clearly no risk of loss of a substantial revenue stream by making documents freely available.

Here’s what I’d like to see happen. I’d like to see every committee, commission and council document made available either online at the town website or for free at the council office.
I’d like to see the town website archive all electronic documents in perpetuity. There is no excuse for the events of last year to fall off the site eliminating the simplest way for residents to know what has happened in the past.

I’d like to see all EHCTV broadcasts made available on the town website and archived.

I realize all this takes time and money, but the technology is here and there is no excuse for it to cost the residents of East Hartford anything to exercise their right to be informed citizens.

There is nothing more vital to healthy government than an informed citizenry. Without transparency everything else is just a show.

That’s what I think. What do you think?

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]