741 Colonel Ledyard Highway

Ledyard, Connecticut 06339

TOWN OF LEDYARD

Economic Development Commission

Meeting Minutes

Chairman

John Vincent

Tuesday, January 3, 2023

6:00 PM

Town Hall Annex - Hybrid Format

CALL TO ORDER

Chairman Vincent called the meeting to order at 6:00 p.m. in the Conference Room of the Town Hall

Annex Building. Chairman Vincent welcomed all to the Hybrid Meeting.

II.

III.

ROLL CALL

Present: Juliet Hodge, Director of Planning & Development, Mayor Allyn

Absent: Gary Paul (Town Council Liaison)

APPROVAL OF MINUTES

Draft EDC Meeting Minutes December 6, 2022

MOTION to approve the Regular EDC Meeting Minutes of December 6, 2022. Motion Passed by

the following vote.

MOVER:

SECONDER:

AYE:

Dick Tashea

Jessica Buhle

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

APPROVED AND SO DECLARED

RESULT:

IV.

CITIZENS COMMENTS

Present - Naomi Rodriguez (Town Council), Eric Treaster, Paul Maugle (6:20pm)

Eric Treaster asked about the status of the Founders Preserve (96 acres located at 332 Colonel Ledyard

Hwy). The town voted in 2020 to give that land to Avalonia. He noted that there had been no

conveyance yet, and that the burden was on Avalonia to carve out a lot for the house that is located on

the lot. He suggested that if Avalonia was in default that the town should consider giving Avalonia just

the historical parts of the property and the town keep the developable part and use it for something

beneficial to the town directly. Mayor Allyn stated that Avalonia has submitted a couple of proposals for

carving out the parcel for the house from the lot. He also noted that the house north of it is foreclosure

for tax default so the town is likely to end up owning that property as well. That will allow the town to

reconfigure 332 Colonel Ledyard Hwy to include the 2-car garage from the other property so that it

could then be sold as a functioning house with a 2-car garage. Then the piece immediately north of that

property would become the access to the rest of the Founders Preserve.

MAYOR'S REPORT

Made two stop-ins at businesses. Puerta Lima which reports that business is ok for them. Also stopped at

Lucille’s Café for 1.5 hours and saw a good flow of traffic there.

Dollar General is probably not more than a couple of weeks away from opening.

Ledyard Discount Liquors, which is moving into the former Gales Ferry Animal Hospital building, is

probably pretty close as well

He noted in reference to Dollar General and Ledyard Discount Liquors that the town doesn’t regulate

“who”, they regulate “what”. He has received some complaints about the liquor store but that is actually

regulated by the Dept. of Consumer Protection through the State of Connecticut. The State’s formula is a

maximum of one package store per 2,500 residents which gives Ledyard up to 6 licenses.

Schneider noted that they had done a nice job on the building. The Mayor concurred, noting that

Advanced Improvements did a nice job of converting it into a decent looking building.

Barkin’ Barley seems to be moving along. The entry way is done but the building seems to be at a

standstill. Schneider said that they were waiting for something electrical which should be there in

March. Hodge noted that it’s a metal building which is not the kind of inspection that the town’s

building officials typically do.

Nothing new on the former Dow site. They’re still meeting with residents for the environmental justice

aspect of the project. Hodge said that they had received notice that Gales Ferry Intermodal would not be

pursing the dredging part of the project at this time due to something that happened in the DEP permit

process. The Mayor said that was slowed because of the length of time that the DEP permit process

would take, up to 2 years. So they’re looking at other avenues to get that underutilized site up to speed.

VI.

PLANNER'S REPORT

2 Certificate of Trade Names came in, both Photography businesses.

Met with Sal Monarca about moving on to the next phase for the 16 1-bedroom apartments at the former

Ledyard Center School property. He’s trying to move forward with that to get some of those units in that

he had proposed before. Vincent asked if he is waiting for the septic extension. Hodge said that it wasn’t

clear at this time what his plan is.

Coastal Mudworks pottery studio is doing well. Hodge also stopped in at Puerta Lima. Everyone agreed

that their food was very good.

VII. OLD BUSINESS

Development of Strategic Plan (ALL)

Dreimiller has put together a list of all town parcels zoned non-residential - everything except R20, R40,

and R60 zones. He just needs some clarification from Hodge on a couple of questions he has before he

calculates the numbers that he wants to include in the Strategic Plan.

CONTINUE

RESULT:

Route 12 Corridor Study

Mayor Allyn said that we are once again short-handed in Land Use department. As of Jan. 1st we don’t

have a zoning enforcement official again (he chose to retire). So the Rt. 12 Corridor Study is temporarily

on hold due to staff shortage.

CONTINUE

RESULT:

Business Directory - Update

Hary has done some updates, adding URLs and some new categories. Dreimiller will give Hary access to

the list of businesses that he generated as part of his Strategic Plan research. Buhle suggested using a

Google Form for new listing submissions. That would ensure that all the required information is

provided by the business. By March it should be ready. Something will be included in the next Events

magazine about new Business Directory.

CONTINUE

RESULT:

Video Update

Hary had emailed the script for the video to the commissioners. Commissioners will give their feedback

to him and he’ll pass them on to the production company. No update from Gary Paul due to illness

regarding drone footage from Brian Reubelt. Hary and Buhle will put together a post for the Ledyard

Community Resource page on Facebook requesting photos of the town for use in the video. Hary and

Mayor Allyn will meet with the production company to produce a promotional video that will be shown

to potential advertisers.

CONTINUE

RESULT:

Yale/Harvard Regatta Festival 2023 - EDC Advanced Planning

Buhle is still trying to find a quote for a laser light show.

CONTINUE

RESULT:

Business Cards/Badges Update

Badges for some commissioners were distributed. The rest will get them at our next meeting. Hodge

suggested that we not use our personal contact info on the new business cards.

This was Continue.to the Economic Development Commission due back on 2/7/2023

CONTINUE

RESULT:

VIII. NEW BUSINESS

Acceptance of Commissioner Tashea as the Vice Chair of the Ledyard EDC.

Tashea, who was absent at last month’s meeting due to illness, was re-elected in absentia to continue as

Vice Chairman. He accepted the position of Vice Chairman.

Ribbon Cutting for " My Pet's World" - Date & time TBD

Vincent will suggest Friday January 27th which would leave time to get it into the March issue of

Events magazine.

Article submission for Ledyard magazine, deadline Jan 23rd.

Submissions for the Business Directory and possibly the My Pet’s World ribbon cutting.

IX.

MARKETING AND ACTIVITIES REPORT

Buhle gave a recap of the daily small business promotion giveaways that she ran on the Ledyard

Community Resource Facebook page during the month of December. Total value of the 31 prizes was at

least $1,000. The participating businesses were pleased with the attention the promotion provided.

AVAILABLE PROPERTIES

Dreimiller gave a list of properties, buildings, and office spaces that he thinks are For Sale, For Rent, or

For Lease and asked if Vincent could verify the list.

XI.

ADJOURNMENT

A motion was made by Commissioner Tashea, seconded by Commissioner Buhle, to adjourn at

6:42pm. The motion carried by the following vote:

MOVER:

SECONDER:

AYE:

Richard Tashea

Jessica Buhle

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