Submitted by Peter Berg
To the Editor,
The Board of Selectmen voted unanimously to refer the Central Middle School Municipal Improvement application to the Planning & Zoning Commission on June 20, more than three months ago. Town Counsel now says the CMS MI application must return with a site plan to the Board of Selectmen for a re-vote.
Under our Town Charter, the Board of Selectmen (BoS) has no role in the Municipal Improvement (MI) process. The Charter says Town Departments can send MI applications directly to the Planning & Zoning Commission (P&ZC). MI applications are sent to the Board of Selectmen as a courtesy. The BoS does not approve MI applications; it only refers MI applications to the P&ZC.
The purpose of MI approval is to prevent proposed projects on Town land from proceeding with costly steps until the P&ZC and the Representative Town Meeting (RTM) determines that the project makes sense. MI prevents ill-conceived projects from gaining momentum; it prevents project supporters from saying about an ill-conceived project, in effect, “we can’t stop now, we’ve already spent so much money.”
MI is a planning approval; it is not a zoning approval. The primary test of an MI is to determine consistency (“not inconsistent”) with the goals of our Town’s Plan of Conservation & Development (POCD). Our current POCD was adopted by the RTM in November, 2019 and is, therefore, our Town’s official land use plan. One does not need a site plan to determine consistency with the goals of the POCD.
The CMS MI application is essentially a request to build a new middle school on the same Town-owned site as the existing middle school, where it has been since 1958. No one has suggested a better alternative location for CMS. The existing CMS site is a short distance from Greenwich High School, which is near the population center of Greenwich. CMS is an easy, healthy, walk or bicycle ride home for many students.
Once the P&ZC takes any vote on an MI application, then any property owner in Greenwich can refer the MI decision to the RTM, which gets the final say. Expect someone to refer the CMS MI to the RTM, just to add to the delay. Some people apparently want to delay the CMS project, perhaps in the mistaken belief that delay will hold down our tax mill rate. Further delay instead will only increase the cost of the project.
To avoid further delay, therefore, the BoS, the P&ZC, and the RTM need to approve the CMS MI application as soon as possible.
Peter E. Berg
The writer has been the chair of the RTM Land Use Committee for ten years and a member representing Cos Cob for twenty years. He does not speak for the committee.