Zoning Commission Meeting July 17, 2017 Public Hearing Trailer Camp Text Amendment

Zoning Commission Meeting July 17, 2017 Public Hearing Trailer Camp Text Amendment

I would like to give a historical prospective of the land called the Simsbury Meadows on Iron Horse Boulevard.

The Town purchased the land from Mike Girard for $1.8 million for a soccer field and town use..

The Hartford Symphony was looking for a new home in Simsbury. To accommodate them the Town built a Band Shell on the Simsbury Meadows.

The Recreation Department could no longer with town staff accommodate the time needed for events

The town instituted a Performing Arts Board to accommodate and oversee the logistics needed for the Hartford Symphony patrons and collection of revenues from the events.

Septemberfest started out as a family function with no alcohol and morphed into the sale of alcoholic beverages to raise money from the event. Now the SPAC has charged people to enter the town events with all money going to the SPAC.

A 501 c (3), Simsbury Performing Arts Center (SPAC) was developed as an event planner alleviating town staff from time-consuming events.

The town now has a contract with the SPAC whereby the SPAC leases the land for $2500 a year for all events. All monies collected from all events goes to the SPAC. Noted in the SPAC 990 tax form they have assets of $73,028. None of this is shared with the Town of Simsbury and the residents are prohibited from using the property before and during the concerts.

Mosquito spraying is conducted before all events with residue on the playground where children can ingest the residue, The Dog Park is affected with the spraying. Why are they allowed to continue with this activity?

A Gathering Permit is required for all events to regulate the events on compatibility with town policies and regulations.

As time went on the SPAC has morphed into concerts and events with all money going to the SPAC where Dave Ryan is the President and Tom Vincent is getting a percent of the profits through his company, Vincent Promotions..

The concerts under SPAC direction has morphed into tailgating on all parking areas in town taking business away from businesses parking leaving them with no consumers for their goods. This is an unregulated activity that cannot be enforced, straining the Police Department resources. . Brian Devoe, owner of Fitzgerald supermarket in an email to First Selectman Lisa Heavner stated, “I just need to know that the organizers care about the businesses, they so negatively effect.” This is not economic development.

There are many events during the year under the SPAC direction such as road races, bicycle riding events and other activities that are brought into town. There are golf tournaments and soccer events and other recreational activities that bring people into town. The Simsbury Women’s Club has an Arts and Crafts show that brings many people to town. The Airport fly-in brings people into town. These events give Simsbury exposure with people from other towns that do not have the negative activities that concerts bring to town. There is tailgating, excessive alcohol consumption and pot smoking with concerts..

Now the SPAC is sub-leasing the property to event planners for tags sales etc. losing control of the events. Many Town organizations will not go against any of the SPAC activities due to retribution by Dave Ryan and Tom Vincent since the fee schedule for their events is arbitrary. What they say privately is not the same as their public face. They are caught between a rock and a hard place.

This property had lost its mission for playing fields, town events and family fun for the residents of Simsbury. At this point the residents cannot use the property under the management of SPAC and are inconvenienced with noise, alcohol consumption and drugs. Pot smoking has become the norm at concerts. The SPAC is asking for the Town to go down a slippery slope with a Trailer Park having unattended negative consequences.

Now the Zoning Commission is being asked to change the character of Simsbury forever with a Trailer Park in the town’s Simsbury Meadows. There is a reason for the Zoning regulations to omit having a Trailer Park. It has a negative effect on the community.

I am concerned that both Dave Ryan and Tom Vincent tried to deceive the SPAC board without telling them about the camping with RV’s , Tents and campfires for three days when they already signed a contract with the promoter. They also did not share this information on the permit for a gathering permit. Dave Ryan and Tom Vincent advertised the Trailer Park along with the advertisement for the Blues Festival in violation of the Zoning Regulations that the Chairman, Dave Ryan is supposed to enforce. The Planning Commission has forwarded their negative referral follow their lead.

The Farmington Valley Health District has stipulated that since there was no running water the SPAC would be required to have portable sinks for the campers including other stipulations related to the health and safety of the community. Who will enforce those stipulations?

There is concern that the RV’s and tents will be staged in the wetlands field behind the garage. Nobody will be able to monitor what is brought into the RV’s and tents leaving the community at risk.

The SPAC has continually not regulated or enforced the activities of their concert patrons. There has been excessive drinking while tailgating and pot smoking at the concerts without any enforcement. The Police Department does not enough officers to enforce the laws when thousands of patrons are participating in illegal activities and the SPAC is completely inept to enforce their policies. Before you now are another escalation of the events with a Dave Ryan text amendment for a Trailer Park that will be a detriment to the community and business for three days. Having out of town concert patrons with uncontrolled activities is not economic development but changing Simsbury to a Woodstock event. The people of Simsbury who paid for a $1.8 million field never envisioned having a Trailer Park in the center of town for the express benefit of making money for the SPAC.

For many years the Boy Scouts have used a town park for one day overnight activity. The Boy Scouts are Simsbury residents under adult supervision. The SPAC and their patrons are not Boy Scouts. This is not the same as concert patrons bringing in whatever to the community. The Boy Scouts will be able to continue their activities since their activities are considered grandfathered activities. Nobody should equate the Boy Scouts to unregulated concert patrons. The Boy Scouts are not asking for a text amendment. Both Dave Ryan, Chairman of Zoning Commission and Tom Vincent, Vincent Promotions have been deceptive throughout the process knowing that a Trailer Park is not allowed in Simsbury. Deception should not be condoned.

At the last Board of Selectmen meeting the discussion of having a Trailer Park at the Simsbury Meadows did not get a good reception.

On Thursday, June 29, 2017, Dave Ryan met with First Selectman Lisa Heavner and Tom Cooke. They had about a 10 minute meeting in the Selectman’s Office. Several minutes after Dave Ryan left the building the Town Attorney met with First Selectman Lisa Heavner. After the meeting the text amendment was brought to the Planning Department to include it in the July 17 zoning meeting agenda.

There appears to be an excessive amount of political pressure to expedite a text amendment that should never see the light of day.

I urge the Zoning Commission to deny adding the text amendment in the Town’s Zoning Regulations.

Did any Zoning Commissioners have any conversation either written of oral with Dave Ryan during the text amendment process? Please state individually whether you did or did not. The Zoning Commission should not consider whether they will offend Dave Ryan by denying this text amendment. The Zoning Regulations are written to protect the health and safety of the community. Do your job and deny the request.