Category Archives: Op-Eds

Op-Ed: HROD Benefits Community, Promotes Sustainable Future for Old Lyme—Helps Prevent Real Threats to OL’s Character, Future

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Editor’s Note: This op-ed was sent to us by Old Lyme resident Elaine Stiles.

As an Old Lyme resident who cares deeply about sustainable growth and housing access, I am writing to express strong support for the proposed Halls Road Overlay District (HROD) and the development and planning principles that inform it. Old Lyme is a small town, but it is located near two interstate highways, a rail corridor that may soon be significantly expanded, and major employers that draw national and international work forces to the region.

Growth will continue to come to our community, and planning for the future is imperative. I support the Halls Road Overlay District because it offers controls and guidance for future development that will:

  • Offer community residents (present and future) much-needed housing alternatives to single-family detached units. Young single people, young households and families, and elders who want to downsize have few to no rental or ownership options in Old Lyme other than single-family, detached housing and its associated tax burden, maintenance burdens, and isolated settings. Thoughtfully arranged apartment or condominium units and walkable mixed-use development supports aging in place, attracts creative capital and future residents, and provides spaces for diverse household sizes and stages.
  • Reuse existing developed land to meet community housing needs. In the wake of a housing shortage (about 4.5 million units nationwide; in CT, less than 4,000 houses available on the market vs. more than 15,000 pre-pandemic), many communities also face a shortage of developable land. Reusing existing developed spaces to incorporate housing is a smart and environmentally sustainable move to address these critical shortages.
  • Create walkable commercial and community-oriented retail spaces. All communities, regardless of size, can benefit socially and economically from a denser commercial and retail core. The town decided in the 1960s (more than two generations ago) to move that density to the Halls Road area, which changed the character of Old Lyme from its historic land use patterns. It’s now time to retrofit that space for the next several generations with new spaces for a 21st century walkable retail and commercial district gives the town’s residents of all ages another destination where they can connect.
  • Offer better traffic planning, safer multimodal transportation options, and greater community connectivity. Walkable, bikeable spaces would be a boon to our young people, especially nearby middle and high school students, and better connect the cultural and commercial districts of Old Lyme. While maintaining parking supply, the HROD also gets people out of their vehicles and makes more allowances for non-car travel.
  • Encourage creative retrofitting of our existing tired, poorly planned strip mall retail spaces. All over the country, planners are discussing “retrofitting suburbia.” (See June Williamson and Ellen Dunham-Jones’ award-winning book, Retrofitting Suburbia.) The Halls Road Overlay District embraces these smart planning and design principles to remake Old Lyme’s designated commercial and retail space to be automobile accessible, but not dependent; incorporate mixed uses; and increase retail and service options here in town.

Change is coming, and Old Lyme needs to be ready for it. As the Halls Road Improvement Committee has stated, doing nothing is also a choice, and doing nothing has consequences. I am concerned about the fate of the Halls Road area without the HROD, its provisions, and its review procedures in place. Much of the development opponents erroneously fear the HROD will bring will indeed come, but not because of the HROD. Why not incentivize better development patterns than what zoning currently allows as a countermeasure to highly-profitable, but community impoverishing highway-oriented development?

In closing, I want to acknowledge the concerns of small business owners who currently occupy space in the existing strip mall developments on Halls Road regarding rent increases and displacement. No one wants to see businesses displaced, but it is unclear how the HROD, rather than property owners and developers, would be responsible for this outcome. If these parcels sell, there is no guarantee that new owners would not redevelop with the same result. However, I think the community would benefit from understanding if or how the HROD review board or another town entity might be empowered to negotiate rent stabilization considerations for existing businesses in new development under the overlay.

The HROD benefits our community and promotes a sustainable future for Old Lyme and helps prevent the as-of-right services outdated zoning and planning principles currently allow on Halls Road. These are the real threat to our community’s character and future.

Op-Ed: Halls Road Overlay District—A Personal Perspective, Recommendation and Suggestion

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Editor’s Note: This op-ed was submitted by Nancy Hutchinson of Old Lyme. She is the Chair (U-Republican-endorsed) of Old Lyme’s Zoning Board of Appeals but writes here as a private citizen.

The decision being considered by the Old Lyme community and Zoning Commission (ZC) is not simply a binary choice between approving a Halls Road Overlay District or denying one.   

What is being decided is:

  • whether the current Halls Road Overlay District (HROD) proposal is the best for Old Lyme and whether it can deliver on the stated objectives of the Halls Road Improvement Committee (HRIC) Master Plan. As a reminder, these latter are creating a safe, walkable, bike-able, mixed-use town center along Halls Road that provides a stronger future environment for local businesses and easing the shortage of smaller-scale housing types in Old Lyme (Ref. 1.)

    and/or 
  • how the proposed HROD can be improved, and who should take the lead in improving it?

As stated in the 11-18-2024 HRIC presentation (Ref. 2), there are two distinct workflows involved in implementing the objectives of the HRIC Master Plan, and I thank the HRIC for all their efforts towards both. 

One workflow, the ‘Sidewalk Project’ (the original charge of the HRIC), is focused on public improvements to Halls Road, to enhance safety, walkability, bike-ability, green spaces, and connectivity to the historic and cultural heart of Old Lyme.  Components of the ‘Sidewalk Project’ include Crosswalks, Bike Paths, Landscaping, Lighting, Open Space, Walking Bridge and Trails. 

The second workflow, ‘Overlay Zoning’, is focused on private improvements to Halls Road, by proposing a HROD and ‘Design Guidelines’.  Importantly, the benefits of the HRIC’s ‘Sidewalk Project’ and ‘Design Guidelines’ can be realized/leveraged without approval of the current HROD proposal – it is not an ‘All or Nothing’ decision.

A primary focus of the HRIC’s current HROD proposal is the creation of a new, street-facing commercial ‘Shopping Street’.  The HRIC hopes this can be brought to fruition by proposing changes to the Old Lyme Zoning Regulations that are intended to incentivize individual private developers to, piece by piece, create a cohesive ‘Shopping Street’ over time. 

However, there is no guarantee that a cohesive ‘Shopping Street’ will be the ultimate outcome, and, if implemented in an undesired piecemeal manner, cannot be easily undone.

The current HROD proposal seeks to incentivize individual developers to construct pieces of the desired ‘Shopping Street’ by requiring they construct a “Qualified Project” (QP), with customer-facing commercial businesses that serve walk-in trade on the first-floor facing Halls Road, in order to take advantage of new, optional overlay district zoning regulations that would allow mixed use and small-scale residential units to be established in the existing C-30 district.  

Importantly, as the HROD is currently written, NO QP means NO mixed use or small-scale residential development—period.  Thus, one concern is that a QP requirement could disincentivize the establishment of mixed-use and small-scale residential development along Halls Road. 

To make the construction of street-facing QPs more attractive to private developers, the HROD proposal would allow QPs to be up to 200 ft. in length, with a footprint of up to 20,000 sq. ft., with a maximum of three (3) stories and a maximum height of 35 ft., all within 0-15 ft. of the Halls Rd. right-of-way (per HROD Section 5.14.4.3). 

Many in the community feel this is too large and does not reflect the character of Old Lyme. Of note, in response to questions raised at the Jan 15 Zoning Commission Special Meeting as to whether the maximum size of the QP should be reduced, the HRIC attorney explained that the larger size was needed to make building QPs commercially attractive to private developers.  

If QPs need to be so large to be commercially attractive, perhaps forcing their construction in order to allow any mixed-use and small-scale residential development along Halls Rd. is not a good idea. Would large QPs attract the desired type of small local businesses?  Would large QPs be a visual improvement over existing green spaces with mature trees along Halls Road?      

One claimed benefit to businesses of creating a new QP-driven ‘Shopping Street’ with street-facing store fronts along Halls Rd. is that customers will have the convenience of ‘on-street’ parking in front of their store, which would be allowed per the current HROD (Section 5.14.8 – Parking Requirements).  However, Halls Rd. is also US Rte. 1, and there are some inherent drawbacks with trying to establish on-street parking along this section of US Rte. 1.  

First, as depicted in the Halls Road Master Plan Booklet (Ref. 3, page 9), after the installation of bike lanes and sidewalks adjacent to the existing traffic and turning lanes on US Rte.1 (Part 1), the Master Plan proposes the addition of parking along both sides of Halls Rd. once the desired QPs are constructed and a new ‘Shopping Street’ is established (Part 2).

However, unlike Lyme Street, which has parking on both sides of the street, US Rte. 1 is a more heavily traveled road, with traffic from I-95 often flowing onto it, especially in the summer season. On-street parking would necessitate customers backing up onto heavily trafficked US Rte. 1, which seems inherently unsafe and may further hinder traffic flow. 

Also, as depicted in the Halls Road Master Plan Booklet, is the fact that the east side of the current 90 Halls Rd. (BigY-Bowerbird) shopping center parking lot is several feet lower than US Rte. 1, making access to the new QP street-facing business entrances less convenient for customers who park in the ‘rear’ parking lot, which would be the only option if on-street parking on US Rte. 1 is deemed unsafe. 

Thus, some of the purported parking benefits of establishing the aspirational street-facing ‘Shopping Street’ along Halls Road seem questionable.  

A final concern relates to the inherent site constraints within the Halls Rd. C-30 district (septic limitations due to soil types, wetlands, flood zones, current development, etc.) and the potentially unrealistic expectation of the extent of new development that can be supported within the HROD as envisioned in the Halls Road Master Plan without significant infrastructure investments (e.g,. sewers). 

As my comments on this topic are already captured in a 2.5-page document posted on the Zoning Commission Meeting Materials website (Ref. 4), I will only summarize one key recommendation here: since development capacity is limited, switch the priority of the HROD from creating a new commercial ‘Shopping Street’, to creating mixed-use and small-scale housing—to meet the greater need.  

I believe, in combination, the above concerns are sufficient to justify denial of the current HROD proposal.  I recommend the generation of a revised HROD proposal that defines how limited mixed-use and small-scale residential development can be achieved at a scale that fits Old Lyme’s rural character and is feasible within the inherent site constraints of the Halls Rd. C-30 district.  

When combined with the HRIC’s ‘Sidewalk Project’ and proposed development ‘Design Guidelines’, a reprioritized, revised HROD can go a long way towards helping to establish Halls Road as a safe, walkable, bike-able, livable mixed-use town center that would both help to meet an important local housing need and to enhance local foot traffic and the commercial environment for our local businesses.   

I suggest that a reprioritized, revised HROD proposal be drafted in conjunction with the Old Lyme Zoning Commission’s on-going efforts to re-write the town-wide zoning regulations, which will enable the revised HROD proposal to be developed in context with the broader town-wide development needs and opportunities.    

References:

  1. HRIC Halls Road Proposals:  https://www.oldlyme-ct.gov/DocumentCenter/View/2616 and https://www.oldlyme-ct.gov/DocumentCenter/View/2895 
  2. HRIC 11-18-24 presentation on HROD Zoning:  https://ct-oldlyme.civicplus.com/DocumentCenter/View/2548/11-18-24-Presentation-HROD-Zoning
  3. Halls Road Master Plan Booklet: https://www.oldlyme-ct.gov/DocumentCenter/View/336/Halls-Road-Master-Plan-Booklet-PDF 
  4. Hutchinson Comments submitted Jan 9 2025:  https://www.oldlyme-ct.gov/DocumentCenter/View/2702

Op-Ed: Support HROD—Inevitable Halls Rd. Will Change, Optional Overlay Positions Old Lyme to Better Manage Its Future: Other Choice is Leave it to Chance

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Editor’s Note: This op-ed is a response by Howard Margules to the op-ed by Jill and Russell Todd, which we published Feb. 5, 2025 on LymeLine.com. Margules is an Old Lyme resident and member of the Halls Road Improvements Committee.

Thank you for your interest in the Halls Road Overlay District (HROD) zoning proposal—I would like to address your concerns:

Developers Overstepping

You indicated that developers will take advantage of the HROD. The opposite is true. The HROD was designed to incorporate strict guidelines that currently do not exist. Large parcels of Halls Road are up for sale and we are likely to see new construction, especially on the very dated Hideaway side of the road. Developers will have to comply with the current zoning regulations, but they will still have significant leeway, and they easily focus on the needs of the highway travelers rather than on the needs of our residents. Halls Road could wind up looking like the sprawl similar to the four corners of East Lyme. The HROD guards against this. Our goal is to ensure new construction will be consistent with the architecture of Lyme Street. The HROD provides strict guidelines and offers an additional layer of protection that currently is absent in our regulations.

Design Review Board

You indicated there is no guard rail for the Design Review Board. The Design Review Board actually is a guard rail. It will consist of professional architects, whose task is to ensure that new construction is consistent with the architecture on Lyme Street, and not some typical cookie-cutter project. Its sole purpose is to provide oversight, and it exists only when the HROD exists. But it only acts in an advisory role to the Zoning Commission. Zoning has the ultimate authority and is the ultimate guard rail.

Zoning Rubber Stamp

The Zoning Commission has been anything but a rubber stamp. The initial HROD application was rejected, and It has now been revised in order to address their multiple concerns. Zoning Commission members have taken their job very seriously and spent a tremendous amount of time and effort delving into the complexities of the HROD. All of the members of the commission are both very experienced and extremely knowledgeable about zoning issues. The HROD has also been scrutinized and approved by the Old Lyme (OL) Board of Selectmen and the OL Planning Commission (who also originally rejected it), as well as receiving the endorsement from the OL Economic Development Commission.

Septic Systems

You are correct that new septic systems might eventually have much greater capacity. But for the foreseeable future, redevelopment will be confined to the larger parcels. Most of the lots fronting Halls Road are only one or two acres and that makes them less attractive to develop. Keep in mind Halls Road is less than a mile in length.

Parking

Parking continues to be a significant restraint to over-development, and I would assert that parking is a major expense. So yes, the HROD does allow free-standing parking garages, provided they are built at least 120′ from the lot’s frontage. They are under the same size limitations as any other building: three (3) stories, 35 ft. max., 20,000 SF footprint max. They are also under the same Design Review Board scrutiny, and must be designed creatively to pass muster. The size is small for a parking garage. It might be profitable in a major city, but it is unlikely to be built in Old Lyme. The cost per space is very, very high at this small scale. Cost considerations can change over time (even car sizes, as some of us know), so garages are permitted, even if currently unlikely. 

Exaggerated Renderings

The renderings you saw at the Open House were used as the basis for creating the overlay zone. We provided Zoning with additional detailed drawings in order to assist them in picturing the actual dimensions. The longest buildings on both Lyme Street and Halls Road range from 147 ft. to 488 ft. Hence a 200-ft. building is in line with the proportions of existing buildings in town.

The Open House renderings were derived from scaled AutoCAD files and generated to envision what a town center could look like, not actual proposals. All new construction will have to conform to the HROD guidelines. The Architectural Review Board will make recommendations and Zoning will make the final decision. We realize there are renderings circulating that depict large “cookie-cutter” buildings. These are not what we are proposing.

Our Future

Halls Road is going to change since large parcels are up for sale. Our choice is to leave it to chance, allowing commercial developers to build projects that serve highway travelers or to provide incentives for future development that meet the commercial and cultural needs of our community, including alternative housing options especially for seniors looking to downsize and young people who cannot afford single family homes.

Introducing the optional overlay will position our town to better manage its future. The HROD proposal contains specific features that the residents told us they desire including: a vibrant, walkable and attractive town center, alternative housing options, a bike trail, safe streets, and a sustainable commercial center focused on the local community.

My guess is we both have the same goals in mind. But feel free to contact me if you still have any questions or concerns.

Op-Ed: Reject HROD—Don’t Compromise Old Lyme’s Identity: “Thoughtful, Transparent Planning” Needed

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Editor’s Note: This op-ed was submitted by Old Lyme residents Jill and Russell Todd.

We write to express our deep concern regarding the Halls Road Overlay District (HROD) proposal recently presented to the [Old Lyme] Zoning Commission and the lack of public scrutiny and acceptance surrounding this plan.   

What was sold to the community as a charming, village-like vision has revealed itself to be a high-density urban blueprint that would fundamentally alter Old Lyme, replacing its historic rural character with the kind of overdevelopment seen along I-95. 

This is not just an interpretation; it is a direct reflection of the allowances in the proposal. A development of 40 units per acre, 200ft frontage buildings with even larger non-frontage buildings, and three-story  parking garages represents a significant shift towards a higher-density model that typically defines urban suburban areas.  

During the last Zoning Commission meeting, the Halls Road Improvement Committee (HRIC) justified these building parameters by claiming this level of density and scale is necessary to attract developers.  However, this change raises serious questions about the long-term vision for our town.  

When challenged by members of the Zoning Commission, the justification changed. Suddenly, the HRIC and their lawyer reassured us that “safeguards” were in place to prevent the very type of overdevelopment that the regulations explicitly permit. This assurance feels contradictory and alarming.  

These are our concerns about the safeguards mentioned: 

1. Zoning Approval will be a rubber stamp – Although zoning approval is necessary for individual  projects under the overlay, what real power will the Zoning Commission realistically hold if the regulations permit high-density residential developments, large-scale retail buildings, and parking garages? If the overlay is approved, developers will undoubtedly seek to take full advantage of its provisions, making it very challenging for the Zoning Commission to deny proposals that meet these criteria. 

2. Design Committee lacks credible oversight – The proposal calls for a pre-application process and establishes a three-person design committee to oversee design guidelines. However, the  committee’s composition, scope of authority, and accountability are unclear, leaving its role ambiguous. 

3. Septic Limitations are temporary – Traditional septic systems can create density constraints.  However, advancements in above-ground alternatives and continuously improving technology could increase septic capacity, thereby reducing this constraint. 

4. Parking Restrictions are gone – Parking, which used to be a significant limiting factor for development, has essentially been removed as a safeguard. Developers can now depend on parking garages to meet parking requirements.

None of these measures provide adequate safeguards against determined developers and their experienced legal teams, which could make high-density urban development in the primary artery of rural Old Lyme a reality. 

We attended many of the HRIC’s “open houses” over the years and came away with the impression that the verbal assurances and visual illustrations presented during those forums aligned with a vision of a  “village feel.” However, the current regulations outlined in the application bear little resemblance to that vision. With over 700 signatures (and counting) on a recent petition opposing this overlay, it’s clear we are not alone in our concerns. 

While we support the idea of responsible development along Halls Road, such development must align with the community’s shared vision and the character of Old Lyme. To ensure this alignment, we recommend the following:  

1. Comprehensive Review: A professional assessment should define appropriate size, scale, and density dimensions driven by the town’s needs, rather than developer imposed. Considerations  should include traffic flow, accessibility, septic system requirements, water usage, water runoff,  environmental impacts, and the overall aesthetics of the town as examples. 

2. Visual Confirmation: Create professional scaled plans and elevation renderings to clearly illustrate the potential impact of the proposed regulations across the entire overlay zone at maximum capacity. 

3. Community Engagement: At a minimum, a town-wide presentation should be held prior to any zoning changes, providing an opportunity for public questions and answers. Ideally, a zoning  change of this magnitude would be put to a vote and decided by the citizens.  

This is not about opposing progress; instead, it is about ensuring that any progress aligns with the community’s collective aspiration for a village-like community in keeping with Old Lyme. 

We urge the Board of Selectmen, Zoning Commission and all town leaders to listen to the growing concerns of Old Lyme residents and businesses and request the Zoning Commission reject the HROD proposal in its current form. The proposed overlay and the associated process need to be reevaluated to ensure they meet the community’s needs and values. Thoughtful, transparent planning and meaningful public engagement will facilitate development that enhances Halls Road without compromising Old Lyme’s identity.

Op-Ed: It’s ‘Time to Show Who We Are, as Residents of a Diverse, Welcoming State,’ so ‘Light Up the Night for IRIS’ … and for CT

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Editor’s Note: This op-ed was submitted by the Rev. Steven R. Jungkeit, Ph.D., who serves as Senior Minister at the First Congregational Church of Old Lyme. All are welcome to attend the vigil tomorrow evening. The First Congregational Church of Old Lyme is located at 2 Ferry Rd., Old Lyme, CT 06371.

In the congregation I serve (The First Congregational Church of Old Lyme), I’ve been sharing since the November election that we are in a position similar to that of the biblical character Miriam in the second chapter of Exodus.  Faced with a terrible catastrophe (a threat against all Hebrew male children, including her baby brother, soon to be named Moses), Miriam “watches from a distance” as a small basket carrying her brother bobs up and down along the Nile River.  Since November, we too have been forced to watch and to wait in the bulrushes with Miriam, as if from a distance, using the time to gain perspective and to gather our wits as the current of history swirls around us.  In the Exodus story, Miriam watched and waited for the opportune moment to act, and when it arrived, she seized it.

People of faith and conscience will need to be continually vigilant in this new political environment.  We’ll need to seize opportune moments whenever we can to stand with the most vulnerable around us.  

Now is the first of those moments.  Now is the time to emerge from the bulrushes, as Miriam eventually did.

In these early days of the new administration, federal funding for a host of worthy agencies has been suspended, eliminated, and then, (maybe?) partially reinstated.  Few who depend upon that funding believe that the threat has gone away.  Meanwhile, livelihoods and support services throughout the country hang in the balance.

Among the many worthy agencies affected across Connecticut, IRIS (Integrated Refugee and Immigration Services) in New Haven has experienced tremendous whiplash.  Depending on which order is being considered, and when, it appears that IRIS stands to lose millions of dollars in funding, preventing them not only from helping to resettle refugees, but also hindering their ability to assist people in need all across the state.  Losing that funding would place thousands of people in jeopardy.

The First Congregational Church of Old Lyme, together with two other churches in town (St. Ann’s and Christ the King) as well as many other residents of no particular faith, have partnered with IRIS for the past decade, ever since the beginning of the Syrian refugee crisis in 2015.  Indeed, our community was the first in the state to reach out to IRIS during that crisis, though many others soon did the same.  Before long, a Syrian family arrived in Old Lyme and has remained here ever since, just the way Syrians arrived in communities all across Connecticut.  Since that time, we have helped resettle five additional families in our area from many different parts of the world, a pattern that has unfolded all up and down the Connecticut Shoreline, and throughout the entirety of the state.

IRIS is one of the crown jewels of Connecticut, helping to make us the welcoming, hospitable, and culturally rich state that we are.  Our communities have been improved by welcoming refugees, and supporting immigrants, which IRIS has facilitated.

If this is an opening salvo from a hostile new administration, then the time is right for Connecticut residents who continue to believe in the sanctity of hospitality to come together, and to push back the night.  

With that in mind, the First Congregational Church of Old Lyme invites friends and supporters of IRIS to join us for a candlelight vigil on Wednesday evening, February 5th, at 6:00 PM.  We’ll sing, we’ll offer words of prayer, and we’ll light up the night.  But we also have a goal: to raise $100,000 as a gesture of goodwill and support for IRIS.  That won’t be enough.  But if similar events took place around the state, it would go a long way.

IRIS has given our communities so much.  They have offered support and protection to so many, and they have enriched our lives for the relationships they helped to create.  It’s time to give a little back.

But more to the point, it’s now time, like Miriam, to emerge from the bulrushes, and to push back against the Pharaohs that continue to afflict the vulnerable.

It’s time to show who we are as residents of a diverse and welcoming state, one that we can all be proud to live in.