741 Colonel Ledyard Highway

Ledyard, Connecticut 06339

TOWN OF LEDYARD

Economic Development Commission

Meeting Minutes

Chairman

John Vincent

Regular Meeting

Tuesday, February 7, 2023

6:00 PM

Town Hall Annex - Hybrid Format

CALL TO ORDER

Chairman Vincent called the meeting to order at 6:00 p.m. at the Council Chambers, Town Hall

Annex Building.

Chairman Vincent welcomed all to the Hybrid Meeting. He stated for the members of the Public

who were participating via video conference that remote meeting information was available on

the Agenda that was posted on the Town’s Website.

II.

ROLL CALL

Present:

Commissioners Vincent, Tashea, Hary, Buhle, Dreimiller and Schneider

Also present were Juliet Hodge (Director of Planning & Development), Mayor Fred Allyn III, and Gary

Paul (Town Council Liaison.)

II(a) AMENDMENT TO THE AGENDA

MOTION made by Commissioner Tashea, and seconded by Commissioner Schneider to amend

the agenda to add " Item C Business Funding for New Businesses" under New Business.

APPROVED AND SO DECLARED

Richard Tashea

RESULT:

MOVER:

Carol Ann Schneider

SECONDER:

APPROVAL OF MINUTES

MOTION to approve the Economic Development Commission Minutes of January 23, 2023

APPROVED AND SO DECLARED

Richard Tashea

RESULT:

MOVER:

Peter Hary

SECONDER:

IV.

CITIZENS COMMENTS

Present - Naomi Rodriguez, Paul Maugle: No comments.

MAYOR'S REPORT

- State did an update on the growth of all 169 municipalities. Ledyard has the fastest growing

population in NL County at 2.4% growth rate which is 2.5 times faster than State average of

0.9%. With the increase in population should come more commercial growth.

-Mayor Allyn met with Dave Holdridge regarding 15 Stoddards Wharf Rd, a parcel of about 35

acres located behind Holdridges. They are interested in a mixed-use development. They'll be

working with consultants to come up with a conceptual plan.

-Action expected in the near future at the old Dow Chemical site. Working on old Allyn house

up front. They will be bringing that house back into shape. Dow had used it as a community

room.

-Some favorable early reviews on the new Dollar General.

-He was asked to present the Business of the Year award from the Greater Norwich Chamber of

Commerce last Thursday night at the Mashantucket Pequot Museum to AA Lock & Key which

is owned by Dave and Debbie Vessels. They made substantial charitable donations every month

for 10 months to celebrate their 35th anniversary year.

VI.

PLANNER'S REPORT

-She received more Certificate of Trade Name submissions than normal - 6 this past month.

-Bark n' Barley has a little setback due to a contractor issue. Hiring someone else to get them

back on track.

-Ledyard Wine and Spirits waiting for Certificate of Occupancy from the State. Should be

opening soon.

-Some inquiries regarding lots near Colby Dr.

-Sal Monarca is coming in with a site plan modification at the old Ledyard Center School for 13

units.

-Grants moving along.

-Still battling staffing issues.

-GIS map updates coming along.

-Two industrial parcels should be rezoned. Owned by Pfzier and Avalonia.

VIII. OLD BUSINESS

Final Strategic Plan

Dreimiller will recalculate numbers based on a more accurate number for the size of Ledyard

from the POCD and then share the final update with the Commission.

CONTINUE

RESULT:

Business Directory - Update

Hary says that it's about 90% done. There are about 24 businesses that he still needs to add to it.

It should be done by next meeting. Dreimiller will look into creating a form that businesses can

use to request to be added.

CONTINUE

RESULT:

Video Update

Hary says that the script update has been submitted. He has a meeting next Tuesday to get a

schedule update. Not much will happen between now and June.

Town Councilor Paul, who had contacted Brian Reubelt last year regarding this project while he

was still on EDC, reached out to Reubelt again regarding the use of his drone footage. Reubelt

does not have all of the original footage, but he does have what is in the video that he posted on

YouTube which could be cut up and used. Reubelt asked if we were interested in licensing the

footage. Paul does not know what kind of fee he's looking for. Paul invited Reubelt to join this

meeting via Zoom to discuss this, but he is not in attendance. Peter Hary will follow up with

him.

CONTINUE

RESULT:

Badges and Business Cards

Buhle still needs to let Hodge know what contact info to put on her business card. Continued to

the 3/7/2023 meeting.

CONTINUE

RESULT:

IX.

NEW BUSINESS

Update on the Founders Preserve ( 96 acres located at 332 Colonel Ledyard Hwy) Property.-

Mayor

Vincent asked the Mayor for an update on the Founders Preserve. Mayor Allyn stated that the

town already owned 332 Colonel Ledyard Hwy. The Town has put blight liens on 334 Colonel

Ledyard Hwy for about 5 years in a row. This year the owner of that property gave the property

to the Town instead of paying the liens. The plan is to reconfigure those two lots to return 332 to

its original layout which included the garage currently on the 334 lot. Once that's done the Town

will sell 332 Colonel Ledyard Hwy and then convey 334 Colonel Ledyard Hwy to Avalonia who

will likely take down the house and use that property for a gravel lot and access to the 96 acre

Founder Preserve behind it.

Plan developed to have the Ledyard Events magazine printed and mail to each ledyard brick and

mortar businesses. - John / Mayor

Vincent asked Mayor Allyn what it would cost to have the Ledyard events magazine delivered to

all businesses in town. It currently is delivered to all households in Ledyard, but not businesses.

Some businesses in town have owners who live outside of Ledyard who therefore don't get the

magazine. Mayor Allyn explained that businesses weren't included as part of the agreement with

Events magazine. Mayor has reached out to Events magazine to find out what it would cost per

issue to get an additional 50 to 100 issues and have them sent to businesses directly from Events

magazine. Hodge asked why we should do this. Vincent said that it should bring more

advertising when those businesses see other businesses advertising in it, and that would in turn

increase the number of pages in the magazine making room for more content.

Funding for New Businesses

Vincent was approached by a restaurant asking about a loan program. They’re interested in buying new

equipment. Hodge said that seCTer does do loans via their Lend a Hand program and that Vincent

should direct the restaurant owner to contact them. Mayor Allyn mentioned that the EDC ordinance used

to include a statement about making loans to businesses but that was removed from the ordinance a few

years ago.

MARKETING ACTIVITIES AND REPORT