OLD LYME — On Dec. 8, Edie Twining, Chair of the Halls Rd. Improvement Committee (HRIC), sent an email to ‘interested parties ‘Friends of the HRIC’ explaining, “We have asked that the public hearing of the Halls Road Overlay District (HROD) be postponed from Monday, December 12, 2022 to the next meeting of the Old Lyme Zoning Commission on Monday, January 9, 2023.”
She noted that the attorney for the Zoning Commission, Matt Willis, is “Only now in the process of reviewing the HROD documents,” adding that, ” He finds the basic approach permissible, but has some suggestions that we think should be reflected in the final documents.”
Twining emphasized, “It is important for him to finish his review and for us to respond to his concerns before the public presentation.”
She apologized on behalf of the HRIC “For any inconvenience this schedule change may have created,” and also thanked recipients of the email for their, “Continued support of the HROD and a better future for Old Lyme.”
Along with his teammates, senior Nick Cox raises his helmet in celebration of Valley/Old Lyme Warriors’ quarter-final victory
DEEP RIVER — Sixth-seeded Valley/Old Lyme emerged victorious in a thrilling 26-14 victory over No. 7 seeds Gilbert-Northwestern-Housatonic (GNH) Sunday afternoon in a CIAC Class SS semifinal. The game, played at the Valley Regional High School (VRHS) field, drew a huge crowd of vocal supporters.
Senior Nick Cox, who made some key plays for the Warriors in Sunday’s game, told LymeLine.exclusively by text after the game that he felt, “Amazing after the win.” He added that he was also, “Very proud of our team.” Cox now attends VRHS but previously was a student at Lyme-Old Lyme High School.
Asked why he thought the Warriors had been able to pull off the win, Cox responded that he felt the team was successful primarily, “Because we were well prepared.”
Looking ahead to Saturday’s final, Cox commented, “I’m hoping we’ll be just as prepared [as we were for the semifinal]” but, recognizing all the challenges that accompany a state final, he added realistically, “We know it’ll be the toughest test all year.”
Joel Barlow High School, seeded fifth, defeated top-seeded Cromwell 40-35 in the other semifinal and will face Valley/Old Lyme in the final on Saturday, Dec. 10, at a place and time to be determined.
Old Lyme First Selectman Tim Griswold and his predecessor in that position Bonnie Reemsnyder join forces to cut the ribbon at Monday’s celebration of the completion of the Community Connectivity Grant project.
OLD LYME — Monday’s cold and blustery weather did not deter a hardy group of distinguished guests and local residents from turning out to celebrate the completion of the Town of Old Lyme (OL) and the Connecticut (CT) Department of Transportation (DOT) Community Connectivity Grant project.
Gathered at the new bus shelter in front of the Old Lyme Police Station on Rte.156, Mary Jo Nosal, who is both a former Old Lyme Selectwoman and Chairwoman of the Community Connectivity Grant Committee (CCGC), noted in her remarks at the event that the project was, “Designed to establish safe connectivity to the beach, businesses and residences for pedestrians and bicyclists, locals, and visitors.”
She pointed out that the multi-year project has successfully, “Culminated with this pocket park for the community and safe bus access for riders of the 9-Town Transit system.”
Old Lyme Selectwoman Martha Shoemaker proudly shows off the new bus shelter and park bench.
The CCGC began meeting in April 2019 and, in a notable display of loyalty, several of the original committee volunteers have continued to serve through the entire project. Nosal named those members as Bonnie Reemsnyder, Frank Pappalardo, Jim Lampos, and Erick Olsen and then thanked them wholeheartedly for, “Their time, commitment, vision, and support.”
Nosal, who has led the committee throughout its existence, is herself also one of its original appointees. In addition, Old Lyme First Selectman Tim Griswold has served as a longtime ex-officio member of the committee.
Listening to the remarks at the ceremony are, from left to right, Jim Lampos-Community Connectivity Grant Committee (CCGC) member, Old Lyme Selectwoman Martha Shoemaker, Frank Pappalardo-CCGC member and Sound View Commission Chair, Paul Orzel-Sound View Commission and Old Lyme Zoning Commission Chair.
In her remarks, Nosal explained that the Community Connectivity Grant was developed to aid small towns with streetscape improvement plans to provide safer access to their towns for bicyclists and pedestrians.
Noting that the grant program was competitive, she pointed out that it was designed by the state to allow for local control of the project and does not require matching funds from the Town.
Commenting that, “This is often a stumbling block for small towns to come up with these funds, she added, “RiverCOG (the Lower Connecticut River Valley Council of Governments) was the first to see the value in this grant for the Town of Old Lyme,” and notified then Old Lyme First Selectwoman Reemsnyder accordingly.
In 2018, Reemsnyder and Pappalardo attended a meeting with the CT DOT on the new grant opportunity and subsequently applied for the grant.
In February 2019, Old Lyme was awarded up to $400,000 in construction grant funds, which was the maximum allotted at the time, and the Town thus became part of the freshman class for this program.
Gathered for this photo are Erik Olsen, CCGC, Craig Babowicz-CT DOT, Olsen’s sons, and Katie Klose-CT DOT and local resident
Nosal stated that, “Through community outreach including a web forum, bimonthly-monthly meetings, careful budgeting, and the generosity of the Town of Old Lyme, the project has now provided the following safety improvements and assets to Old Lyme:
> about 2300 ft. of new, standard 5 ft. ADA sidewalks so that people and baby carriages no longer have to walk along the street to reach the beach > new walkways and street signs > new curbing and mailboxes > new grass > bicycle-lane marking. > the new transportation hub and pocket park in what was previously an empty lot and eyesore.
Former Old Lyme First Selectwoman Bonnie Reemsnyder and Rob Haramut of RiverCOG celebrate the CCGC project’s completion.
She concluded by expressing the wish that, “These safety improvements to the Sound View Gateway,” help increase focus on the important economic benefits that result from, “Safe access to Sound View businesses and residences, to our gem of a beach, and to Sound View recreational opportunities.” Nosal stressed that these benefits should, in turn, increase the vitality of the Town of Old Lyme.
Mary Jo Nosal (right) gives remarks while, from left to right, Tim Griswold, Rob Newton, Rob Haramut, Bonnie Reemsnyder, Jim Lampos, Martha Shoemaker. Frank Pappalardo, Paul Orzel, and Erik Olsen listen attentively.
In her remarks, Nosal also thanked:
The State of CTDOT represented by Craig Babowicz, CTDOT Transportation Supervising Planner and Katie Klose of the DOT and Old Lyme resident.
Project Design Engineering Firm, BSC Group, represented by Kurt Prochorena and Rob Newton, PE
The construction firm of Martin-Laviero represented by owner Dan Levesque
Town of Old Lyme Commission Chairs and their members, who were present (Paul Orzel and Frank Pappalardo)
Old Lyme Town Hall staff
Old Lyme Town Attorney Michael Carey of Suisman Shapiro for work on numerous agreements and easements
The RiverCOG, the planning organization for the lower Connecticut River Valley, represented by Rob Haramut, Senior Transportation Manager
9-Town-Transit Executive Director Joe Comerford — 9-Town-Transit is the transit system for a segment of the Connecticut shore and valley, which provided the bus shelter
Old Lyme Public Works, especially Ed Adanti and his team, for their assistance. They installed the bus shelter and lovely park bench
Old Lyme Police Department for providing traffic control and use of their water to assist the new trees
Old Lyme Fire Marshal Dave Roberge for his help on providing watering assistance for the new sod
The Sound View homeowners and business owners for their input and support for the project.
Her husband Roger Nosal for their ‘date nights’ spent watering the new sod
The elected officials present at the ceremony: Tim Griswold (OL First Selectman) and Martha Shoemaker (OL Selectwoman) for their presence and support of Sound View
State Senator Paul Formica (R-20th) and State Representative Devin Carney.(R-23rd)
HRIC Chair Commits to Resolve Planning, Zoning Issues Prior to Meeting
OLD LYME — The Halls Road Improvements Committee (HRIC) was planning to present its application to create a Halls Rd. Overlay District (HROD) to the Old Lyme (OL) Zoning Commission Monday evening, Nov. 14. The agenda included a presentation by the HRIC to support the application, which was being made officially by the Town of Old Lyme.
However, at 4:10 p.m. that day, Edie Twining, HRIC Chair sent an email saying, “Due to concerns from the new zoning enforcement officer (ZEO), Eric Knapp, HRIC has decided to postpone our presentation of the Halls Road Overlay District (HROD) until the next regular meeting of the Zoning Commission, December 12th 2022.”
She continued, “Unfortunately, we only learned this morning that the ZEO had concerns, and we think it is important to resolve these issues before proceeding.”
We caught up by phone with Twining Tuesday afternoon and asked her for more details on what had happened to cause postponement of the HRIC application. She explained that two things occurred on Monday, which ultimately caused her to delay submission of the proposal to Zoning.
The first was a number of questions that Old Lyme Zoning Enforcement Officer Eric Knapp raised that morning about the proposal and, in particular, the legal status of the Overlay District and the second was that she became aware the Planning Commission had given a ‘negative referral ‘ to the proposal at their Nov. 10 meeting.
Twining determined that rather than trying to rush and answer all the questions before the meeting that same evening, it was a preferential route to “Put the brakes on it [proceeding with the application at Zoning.] She added positively, “We’ll take the time to make it [the application] better and better.”
Twining said she would work with Knapp and the respective lawyers for Zoning and the HRIC to hopefully resolve Knapp’s questions before the December Zoning Commission meeting.
She also said she had contacted the chair of the Planning Commission Harold Thompson to discuss the issues that commission had raised.
The Minutes of the Planning Commission’s Nov. 10 meeting note, “The general sense was that, while the idea of this zone [HROD] had merit, many of the specifics were problematic and would not result in the desired outcome. As a result, the Commission discussed how best to relate its concerns to the Zoning Commission. The Commission members’ consensus was that giving a negative referral would obligate the Zoning Commission to see that these comments were addressed.”
The Minutes continue, “As drafted, it was unclear how the new overlay zone affected future development along Halls Road, and whether future developers would be obligated to use the HROD or could continue to use the C-30S requirements.
Related to this, it was unclear what the unifying architectural theme was supposed to be. Given that implementation of the new zoning requirements would be piecemeal, it would be difficult to create the consistency required by the draft regulation, and the combination of old and new uses would not be an improvement to the existing conditions.
Further, many of the obligations created by the new regulations would be cost-prohibitive or unfeasible, therefore the Commission urged the Zoning Commission to consider whether any of the “shalls” included in the draft regulation could be changed to “may” without altering the impact of the regulation.”
Twining noted that she hoped to work with the Planning Commission to resolve all their issues and consequently Thompson agreed to place the HRIC application back on the agenda for the commission’s Dec. 8 meeting. Twining said she has committed to attend that meeting, “and answer all their [the Commission’s] questions.”
Despite this most recent setback, Twining said she remains optimistic about the onward progress and ultimate success of the Halls Rd. project.
HRIC Hopes for Strong Public Support for its Overlay Proposal at Meeting
OLD LYME —UPDATED Nov. 14, 5pm: The Halls Road Improvements Committee (HRIC) was planning to present its application to create a Halls Rd. Overlay District (HROD) to the Old Lyme (OL) Zoning Commission Monday evening, Nov. 14. The agenda included a presentation by the HRIC to support the application, which was being made officially by the Town of Old Lyme.
However, at 4:10 p.m. that day, Edie Twining, HRIC Chair sent an email saying, “Due to concerns from the new zoning enforcement officer (ZEO), Eric Knapp, HRIC has decided to postpone our presentation of the Halls Road Overlay District (HROD) until the next regular meeting of the Zoning Commission, December 12th 2022.”
She continued, “Unfortunately, we only learned this morning that the ZEO had concerns, and we think it is important to resolve these issues before proceeding.
The second is a Public Hearing for a “Petition for Application [ to create the Halls Road Overlay District Proposal (HROC).”
After the hearings are either continued or closed, the Commission members will then consider both items in their regular meeting.
Commission during that segment of the meeting.
The HRIC Chair Edie Twining tells LymeLine by email that she is hoping for, “… strong public support for its proposal at the meeting.”
In its most recent update to the community, the HRIC reported that in July 2022, it was awarded funding for the formal survey and design work required for the bridge and trails, through the Community Initiatives Grant, a part of the town-administered American Rescue Plan.
Requests for Proposals have been posted to design firms to produce design documentation for the pedestrian bridge and associated trails. Once these drawings are created they will be used for grant applications for the implementation of the design.
The HRIC will be working with two experienced grant-writer volunteers to seek grants and create the proposals to fund this project. The design documentation will also show the location of the pedestrian bridge and identify any easements needed for the town to secure.
The BSC Group has put together the town’s application for the Local Transportation Capital Improvement Program (LOTCIP) grant, which was submitted in September 2022. This state-run grant is the first opportunity for the town to present its planned roadway improvements to the CT DOT for their formal approval.
The application covers the planned improvements to sidewalks, bike lanes, landscaping, lighting, and crosswalks along Halls Road. The LOTCIP grant could provide a substantial part of the construction costs of these right-of-way improvements. It is not expected to cover the costs of the new pedestrian- and cyclist-bridge across the Lieutenant River, or the trails leading to and from it.
New zoning for a mixed-use overlay district was submitted to the OL Zoning Commission and recognized as received at the commissions Oct. 11, meeting.
The Halls Rd. Overlay District will allow property owners the option to create mixed-use (commercial and residential) development and bring retail up to Halls Rd. The overlay district provides an incentive for owners to create the walkable, browse-able new town center envisioned in the Master Plan, while leaving the legacy C30-S zoning unchanged.
