741 Colonel Ledyard Highway

Ledyard, Connecticut 06339

TOWN OF LEDYARD

Economic Development Commission

Meeting Minutes - Final

Chairman

John Vincent

Regular Meeting

Tuesday, April 7, 2026

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.

ROLL CALL

Chairman Carol Ann Schneider

Recording Secretary Michael Dreimiller

Chairperson John Vincent

Chairman Michael Cherry

Chairman Peter Hary

Present

Chairman Richard Tashea

Chairman Kevin Aherne

Excused

In addition, the following were present:

Director of Land Use & Planning, Elizabeth Burdick

Town Council Liason, Jessica Buhle

Also absent: Mayor Fred Allyn III

III.

ADDITIONS OR CHANGES TO THE ORDER OF THE AGENDA

None.

IV.

PRESENTATIONS / INFORMATIONAL ITEMS

Presentation regarding the establishment of Design Districts and Village Districts in Gales

Ferry/Ledyard, Gales Ferry Outreach Group (10 mins)

Dave Schroeder made a presentation regarding the drafting of a zoning update to add a Village

District as an overlay zone that would cover the Gales Ferry Historic Districts and some

additional surrounding areas. He closed his remarks by asking that the EDC endorse this effort.

His presentation is available as a separate file named “v0.3 GalesFerryVillageDistrict - EDC

PPP Appended.pptx”.

CORRESPONDENCE

Letter from Twisted Sugar Cake Design (redirected to Mayor)

The Agricultural Commission sent an invitation to their regular meeting on April 21, 2026

during which they will hold a joint discussion with other Ledyard commissions regarding their

short- and long-term goals with the hope of coordinating them towards a common goal.

Agricultural Commission Joint Meeting Request

A letter was received from Twisted Sugar Cake Design regarding their interactions with town

staff during their efforts to open their business. This has been forwarded to the Mayor.

VI.

RESIDENTS & PROPERTY OWNER COMMENTS

Karen Parkinson, Chair of Historic District Commission. A Ledyard resident for more than 50

years. There are 62 historic homes in town built between 1698 and 1799. The oldest one is the

Avery homestead. She spoke about the Historic District Commission’s support for the efforts of

the Gales Ferry Citizens group to create a Village District. Her complete comments are available

in a separate file “Karen Parkinson - April 7 2026.pdf”. Cherry asked Parkinson if the charter for

the Historic District Commission could be amended to add oversight for the historic homes in

Gales Ferry Village the next time the town charter is opened for amendment.

Anne Roberts Pearson, Member of the Historic District Commission. She thanked the

commissioners and the members of the public for participating in the democratic process. She

also supports the Village District proposal and hopes that the EDC supports it.

Lee Anne Berry read something that resident Kim Millar sent to her about the history of Gales

Ferry village and the Yale/Harvard regatta and how the improvements to their facilities have

been done to make sure that the buildings would continue to fit into the village.

Dave Schroeder spoke again about the Village District proposal and requesting the EDC’s

support for it and that they hold a public hearing to consider how village districts can affect

economic development so that we can have a discussion on these issues.

Joan Thompson, owner of Twisted Sugar Cake Design. She spoke about the difficulties that she

experienced when opening her business. She said that the process needs to be made easier. She

mentioned that the paperwork that she submitted was lost and she not only had to resubmit it but

that she also had to pay the fee for that a second time.

VII. MEMBER COMMENTS

Cherry said that according to the Wetlands agenda there’s finally a development coming between

Bestway and Grimms Furry Tails. Planning & Zoning is working on the development behind the

former Ledyard Center school. These will bring a lot of new residents into town. So we should

look into what services will they need from a commercial view point.

VIII. REPORTS

Mayor’s Report

Not present.

Planner’s Report

The Planning & Zoning subcommittee is finishing up their application to update zoning

regulations for parking to support parking changes in PA25-1 and House Bill 8002.

36 lot multi-family development proposed behind the former Ledyard Center School. A separate

building accessible off of Fairway Dr. and serviced by public water and public sewer.

72 unit multi-family townhouse development between Bestway and Grimms Furry Tails will be

submitted to Wetlands tonight and probably to Planning & Zoning in about a month.

23 lot open space subdivision off of 84 Silas Deane Rd.

Cherry asked about the EDC’s request for funding through the budget process to update

paperwork in the land use area. Burdick stated that she made a capital request for the EDC for

the engineering work on the Rt. 12 Corridor study project. She also made a request for .$150,000

split over 2 years for updating land use documents, including zoning regulations and the POCD.

The town received some funding from a foreclosure sale that was moved into that account so

funding won’t be a tax burden.

IX.

APPROVAL OF MINUTES

EDC Regular Meeting Minutes of March 3, 2026

MOTION to approve the EDC Regular Meeting Minutes of March 3, 2026.

APPROVED AND SO DECLARED

Michael Cherry

RESULT:

MOVER:

Peter Hary

SECONDER:

Schneider Dreimiller Vincent Cherry Hary Tashea

Aherne

AYE

EXCUSED

OLD BUSINESS

Business Directory Update

Vincent asked everyone to drop off a copy of the Events magazine to businesses that they visit.

He also suggested that if they visit a business that advertises in the magazine that they ask if they

already had a copy hand-delivered to them, which is supposed to be done for advertising

businesses.

Online business directory is up-to-date except for the four requests that are pending approval by

Burdick. Dreimiller noted that a new town website is being developed and it will include a new

version of the online directory. That new version will be able to automatically generate the PDF

version that Hary has been manually generating.

Dreimiller noted that the Connecticut Business Registry includes info if a business is

woman-owned, veteran-owned, minority-owned, disabled-owned, an/or LGBTQ-owned. He

asked if we should add that info to the new directory. Vincent suggested that we table that topic

until our next meeting.

Dreimiller asked if anyone knew where the new Ledyard Life podcast studio was located.

Nobody knew the answer.

Business Directory Email Progam

A final draft of Issue #2 is ready. Cherry asked if it was possible to add each newsletter linked in

the EDC section of the website. Dreimiller will follow up on that.

MOTION to approve the draft of the email newsletter.

APPROVED AND SO DECLARED

Michael Cherry

RESULT:

MOVER:

Peter Hary

SECONDER:

Schneider Dreimiller Vincent Cherry Hary Tashea

Aherne

AYE

EXCUSED

Puerto Lima-Business Rate Award

Not discussed.

RT-12 Streetscape Action Plan

Discussed earlier. Vincent asked when the money for this engineering would be available.

Cherry will try to find an answer.

CEDAS CERTIFICATION/ Membership - Update

Dreimiller found the information about group membership. Burdick contacted them and asked

them to send her an invoice.

Dreimiller put the Ledyard Commercial Property Inventory online and shared it with the Mayor

for his review. Once he says that it looks good he’ll share it with Vincent as well. Dreimiller

asked if there was any update regarding the online permitting process. Burdick said no.

Hary volunteered to work on something else for CEDAS certification. Dreimiller will send him

information about item #10 which is a town Sell Sheet.

Resident and Business Surveys (2022) updating and re-running in 2026.

Vincent suggested that this be tabled and that we may need a workshop for this.

XI.

NEW BUSINESS

Review of EDC’s Reference Guide for Businesses in Ledyard & Gales ferry

Vincent asked if there was anything in this that needs updating. Burdick will review it.

Dreimiller suggested that this should be tied in with the flowchart that we are going to create for

the CEDAS certification. Burdick agreed.

XII. ADJOURNMENT

A motion was made by Commissioner Hary seconded by Commissioner Tashea to adjourn at

6:58 p.m. The motion carried by the following vote:

RESULT:

MOVER:

APPROVED AND SO DECLARED

Hary