The Farmington Mercury is brought to you by Farmington Storage, 155 Scott Swamp Road — the only storage facility in Connecticut with Museum air. At Monday's meeting, a sign that can't be lit, a tree that can't survive its own berm, and a commission that ran out of members before it ran out of agenda. At least the arborvitae got a fresh start. Not everything on Scott Swamp Road gets that kind of second chance. 📦 farmingtonstorage.com | 860.777.4001
The Farmington Planning and Zoning Commission convened on Monday evening with four of its nine members. Chair Liz Sanford was absent. Secretary David St. Germain was absent. Josh Davidson, Peter Zarella, and Taylor Pogson were absent. Town Planner Shannon Rutherford called the roll, noted the absences, and moved directly to the question of who would run the meeting.
The bylaws require a regular member as Chair Pro Tem. That left Robert Canto or Phil Cordero. Rob Ingridsson nominated Canto. The motion was seconded. Canto was elected unanimously — by four people. He then appointed Cordero as Secretary Pro Tem. Rutherford began to explain that the appointment was unilateral and didn't require a vote. Canto waved it off. "No, I'll leave the little hammer over there," he said, declining the gavel he'd just been given.
It set the tone for the evening: efficient, collegial, and done early.
The Fastest $14.3 Million in TPZ History
Sam Kilpatrick, the director of school facilities for Farmington Public Schools, walked in with schematics for four elementary schools, eight rooftop units, three courtyard condensers, and a $14.3 million price tag. He explained the whole thing in under ten minutes. Dedicated outdoor air systems and variable refrigerant flow air conditioning at Noah Wallace, Union, East Farms, and West District — one school per year, starting with West District next summer.
Canto asked if voters would decide school by school. They will not. "It'll be one question, but each school will have its own line," Kilpatrick said. "It won't be a yes or no per school."
The commission voted unanimously to send a positive referral to Town Council. Kilpatrick was thanked and released back into the evening. The Mercury covered the HVAC bonding proposal in March, when it was still one item on a very long list of capital needs. It has now been what Kilpatrick called "probably the fifth year" of proposals. By Farmington standards, that's practically a sprint.
A Man, a Sign, and a Regulation He Can't Quite Believe
Mark DeTulio, vice president of SIGNLite Inc. in North Haven, appeared remotely to present fabricated aluminum letters for Progressive Insurance at 30 Batterson Park Road. He wanted them halo-lit — a warm white LED glow behind each character. He had done this before. In Farmington, in fact. Three times. "Four or five, six months ago," he said.
The problem: those approvals were based on what Rutherford now acknowledges was an error in her interpretation of the regulation. The commission has not drafted an amendment. The sign was approved unanimously — without illumination.
DeTulio handled it with the patience of a man who has installed a lot of signs in a lot of towns. Progressive's letters will go up wired for future illumination — low-voltage behind each character, conduit through the ceiling — but the electrician will not connect power until the regulation changes. If it changes.
"I guess I'll leave myself a reminder at some point to reach out before I retire to see if we're going to get this sign lit or not," DeTulio said.
Rutherford offered an alternative: external illumination, a light bar mounted above the sign. DeTulio noted his client probably wouldn't want to spend that money twice. Nobody pressed the point.
The Arborvitae, Twenty Years Later
At 1451 New Britain Avenue, 114 arborvitae planted on berms in 2006 are mostly dead. They were a screening condition for tractor trailer storage — planted at three-foot spacing on two-to-four-foot berms that shed water faster than the roots could absorb it. Twenty years of crowding and poor drainage finished them off.
"I drive by it every day and anything will help it, I can tell you that," Ingridsson said.
The property owner — a woman named Karen, who was on the phone for the entire discussion but let Rutherford and the commissioners do the talking — proposes removing the berms and replanting 55 Spring Grove arborvitae at roughly double the original spacing. Canto gave her credit for the approach. "I'll actually give her a little bit of credit for understanding that it's going to cost and hey, I can't do it right now, give me a minute," he said.
Ingridsson and Fagan agreed. Cordero agreed. Rutherford said it could proceed under staff direction, and the commission let it go without a formal site plan modification.
The arborvitae, in other words, are getting a fresh start — wider spacing, no berm, and an owner willing to pay for the upgrade on her own timeline. It's the most optimistic item on the agenda, and nobody had to vote on it.
The Rest of the Evening
Tushar Patel of Signarama presented a 15-square-foot non-illuminated sign for Active Health at the Farmington Exchange complex on Farmington Avenue. He asked to shift the location from near the UConn Health Pharmacy sign to near the Sunrise Cafe sign. Rutherford confirmed there was plenty of sign area remaining. Approved unanimously. That was the whole conversation.
The commission scheduled a public hearing for May 11 on an expanded home at 27 Oakland Avenue.
Rutherford reported that the Plan of Conservation and Development RFP was posted April 1, with consultant questions due April 17 and proposals due May 1. The selection committee is expected to be set at the April 27 meeting.
Canto asked about the Five Corners gas station, where a chain link fence is being reinstalled to secure the property. Additional remediation is required before construction can proceed. The project has been at a standstill for roughly a year.
The commission approved the March 23 minutes and adjourned. Four commissioners, six unanimous votes, and one sign guy who might retire before his letters get lit.
— Jack Beckett has been to enough TPZ meetings to know that a four-member quorum and a five-item agenda is the Farmington equivalent of a speed round. He finished his coffee before they finished the meeting. That almost never happens. ☕
The Farmington Mercury covers the meetings nobody else covers — the four-person quorum that still moved a $14.3 million referral, the sign that went up dark, the arborvitae that got a second life after twenty years on a berm. We publish slowly, deliberately, and without apology. Find us at farmingtonmercury.com and tell your neighbors. #WeAreFarmington 📰