741 Colonel Ledyard Highway

Ledyard, Connecticut 06339

TOWN OF LEDYARD

Economic Development Commission

Meeting Minutes - Final

Chairman

John Vincent

Regular Meeting

Tuesday, January 7, 2025

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 Town Hall Annex and on

Zoom.

II.

ROLL CALL

Commissioner Carol Ann Schneider

Secretary Michael Dreimiller

Chairman John Vincent

Present

Vice Chair Peter Hary

Commissioner Michael Cherry

Commissioner Richard Tashea

Absent

Also absent was Mayor Allyn

In addition, the following were present:

Director of Land Use & Planning, Elizabeth Burdick

Town Council EDC Liaison, Jessica Buhle (VIA ZOOM)

Vincent noted that there is $212 remaining in the EDC budget.

Vincent moved that the agenda be modified to add Bylaw Update as VIII.B New Business and

moved Justin LaFountain of Goman & York’s Update of GF Corridor Study from section VII.A

Old Business section IV.A Presentations/Informational Items item A. Cherry seconded that

suggestion.

APPROVED AND SO DECLARED

John Vincent

RESULT:

MOVER:

Michael Cherry

SECONDER:

Schneider Dreimiller Vincent Hary Cherry

Tashea

AYE

ABSENT

III.

RESIDENTS & PROPERTY OWNERS COMMENTS

Naomi Rodriguez, Jennifer Zeronsa (Zoom), Deborah Edwards (Zoom). No comments from

anyone.

IV.

PRESENTATIONS / INFORMATIONAL ITEMS

A. Correspondence

An email was received from Deborah Edwards (30 Bluff Road West, Gales Ferry) regarding the

granting of a bid waiver for Goman & York to provide a comprehensive study of the Route 12

corridor. She attached a copy of the Impact Study that Goman & York did for the Gales Ferry

Intermodal Site that she annotated with her comments. This has been shared with all

Commissioners.

B. Justin LaFountain of Goman+York: Update of GF Corridor Study

Justin LaFountain introduced himself as the Senior Vice President of Planning & Economic

Development for Goman+York. They’ve been in business since 2011. They have three different

types of clients - municipalities, institutional, and private clients. He described his background

which includes previously working for the Southeastern Council of Governments for 5 years as a

regional planner. He went over the timeline for the Gales Ferry corridor study. They are looking

at current opportunities and barriers, infrastructure, and assets in that corridor. They want to get

public engagement so that they develop a plan that is good for both the town and the people.

Solli Engineering will be working as a subcontractor on the engineering related portions - traffic,

crash data, cost estimates, etc. They are just getting starting so they don’t have a lot to present

yet, but he expects he’ll have some actual data to share. They have the previous Rt. 12 studies

that have been done. They are doing data gathering using Placer AI to identify traffic patterns.

They are looking at the zoning regulations. They are working with the Solli engineer the physical

conditions of the area - dangerous areas, places that could use sidewalks, landscaping,

streetscaping, etc. They’ll be finalizing all of that research around mid-March. Stakeholder

engagement will follow. Then they’ll have a public outreach session where they’ll present the

data that they’ve found so far, and get input from the residents. They’ll also meet with focus

groups of the business owners in town. Those will probably happen in mid-to-late March.

Cherry asked LaFountain to clarify the bounds of the study, whether or not it was restricted to

just Rt. 12 or if it included any of Hurlbutt Rd or Military Hwy and whether it would extend all

the way to the Preston border. LaFountain stated that they would be including up to 500 ft off of

Rt. 12 in those areas and all the way to Preston.

Dreimiller asked if the timeline that he showed during his presentation could be shared with the

commission and LaFountain said that he had shared it with Burdick who said she’d send it to

everyone.

REPORTS

Mayor’s Report

Not present.

Planner’s Report

The application for GFI LLC public hearings closed on Dec. 19, Jan 23rd at special mtg, no

decision expected. Weekly or bi-weekly meetings may be required until decision is reached. Feb.

21st is the due date for a decision.

Received an application from Habitat for Humanity for 27 homes both single family and

duplexes on Colby Dr. off of Fairway Dr. Colby Dr will be completed by the applicant as part of

the project. It’s on the agenda of the Inland Wetlands tonight but will be tabled as they are still

waiting for some wetlands reports and plan changes. Vincent asked if those homes will have

access to the new sewer extension and Burdick confirmed that and noted that those homes would

also be on public water.

Small application before commission on Thursday for Lorenz Industrial Pkwy. A subdivision lot

created in 2022 or 2023. Owner of the front lot sold the building in the back. She’s not sure who

it is but they’ll need to come in for a Change of Use permit.

There has been some activity at the former Lou’s Garage. She’s not sure what’s going on so

she’s trying to contact Mr. Ceravolo to make sure that they get in touch with her.

VI.

APPROVAL OF MINUTES

MOTION to approve EDC Regular Meeting Minutes of December 3, 2024

APPROVED AND SO DECLARED

Michael Cherry

RESULT:

MOVER:

Peter Hary

SECONDER:

Schneider Dreimiller Vincent Hary Cherry

Tashea

AYE

ABSENT

VII. OLD BUSINESS

Justin LaFoutain of Goman & York: Update of GF Corridor Study

Moved to section IV.A PRESENTATIONS / INFORMATIONAL ITEMS

Corridor Study Update

Covered in section IV.A PRESENTATIONS / INFORMATIONAL ITEMS

Business Directory Update

Vincent stated that Twisted Sugar Bakery will have a ribbon cutting on Feb. 14th 3pm Friday put

on by the Eastern CT Chamber of Commerce.

He also mentioned that Blueprint Thrifts status is unknown. He heard from another tenant in that

building that they won’t be renewing their lease.

Burdick confirmed that Circle Motors at Rt.12/Long Cove Rd. is in business.

Dreimiller mentioned that Town Councilor Buehle had forwarded an email from the Ledyard

Rotary asking if the Business Directory was available in Microsoft Excel spreadsheet format.

Dreimiller told Buehle that it wasn’t. Buhle said she’d let them know.

Business Directional Signage

Put off until we’ve received the Rt. 12 Corridor Study report. Burdick will follow up with

Griswold to find out if they have business directional signage and, if so, how it works.

CT Main Street town visit

Mr. Rosso, the field service director for Connecticut Main Street, joined Mayor Allyn, Town

Planner Burdick, EDC Chairman Vincent, and Angela Adams from Greater Norwich Area

Chamber of Commerce, for a driving tour of Ledyard and Gales Ferry. Connecticut Main Street

will generate a report on how to improve the streetscape, funded by Eversource. We should get

the report before our next meeting.

VIII. NEW BUSINESS

Election of Officers

Commissioner Cherry nominated Deirmiller for Secretary. Dreimiller accepted.

APPROVED AND SO DECLARED

Michael Cherry

RESULT:

MOVER:

Peter Hary

SECONDER:

Schneider Dreimiller Vincent Hary Cherry

Tashea

AYE

ABSENT

Chairman Vincent moved that Commissioner Hary be Vice Chairman.

APPROVED AND SO DECLARED

John Vincent

RESULT:

MOVER:

Michael Cherry

SECONDER:

Schneider Dreimiller Vincent Hary Cherry

Tashea

AYE

ABSENT

Commissioner Hary moved that Vincent be Chairman. Vincent accepted.

APPROVED AND SO DECLARED

Peter Hary

RESULT:

MOVER:

Michael Cherry

SECONDER:

Schneider Dreimiller Vincent Hary Cherry

Tashea

AYE

ABSENT

EDC Bylaw Update

- Change all references to Ordinance Number 55 to Ordinance 300-020

- Delete 2.2 referencing a business development loan fund

- Change Article III Section 2 to remove signing of minutes from the Duties of the Secretary and

add that to the Duties of the Chair.

- Correct type in Article VI Section 1.J by changing “Notice or all regular…” to “Notice of all

regular…”.

- Change Article VI Section 4 Order of Business so that the agenda listed there matches the

current agenda with the addition of “Additions to or Changes to Agenda” following “Roll Call”,

and “Correspondence” following “Residents Property Owners Comments”.

- Change adoption date on the last page of the Bylaws.

Dreimiller will convert the PDF of the current Bylaws to Microsoft Word format for Burdick

who will make the above changes.

IX.

ADJOURNMENT

Our next meeting will be on February 4th at 6:00pm in the Town Hall Annex.

A motion was made by Commissioner Dreimiller, seconded by Commissioner Schneider, to

adjourn at 6:47pm. The motion carried by the following vote:

RESULT:

MOVER:

APPROVED AND SO DECLARED

Dreimiller

SECONDER: Schneider

AYE:

ABSENT:

5 Cherry, Dreimiller, Hary, Schneider, Tashea, and Vincent

Tashea

Respectively Submitted,

_______________________________

John Vincent, Chairman

Economic Development Commission

DISCLAIMER: Although we try to be timely and accurate these are not official records of the

Town.