Basic Training Agenda

8:30 a.m.	Sign-in and Coffee
9:00-10:45	Legal Requirements in Land Use Decision-making Workshop Focus - to provide a basic understanding of legal principals and procedures that must be adhered to so that legal challenges to decisions or other actions are minimized. Zoning Commission amendments to maps and regulations ZBA appeal types and procedures Inland Wetland and Watercourses procedures and factors to be considered in decision making Planning Commission issues to consider in review of subdivision applications Freedom of Information Act Procedures for running a meeting and making a decision Public hearing requirements and timeframes to act Ex parte communications Case examples Instructors: Richard Roberts, Halloran & Sage, LLP, Connecticut Bar Association About Richard Roberts Partner, Halloran & Sage, LLP Member, Planning and Zoning Law Section of the Connecticut Bar Association roberts@halloran-sage.com 860-297-4695 Richard Roberts represents municipalities in the full range of their legal needs. He provides legal counsel to them in real estate acquisitions and sales, land use, charter revisions, drafting and review of ordinances, and property tax issues. He also provides legal counsel to individuals, partnerships, limited-liability companies and corporations in real estate acquisitions and sales, financing transactions, general business affairs and contracts and agreements. He represents lending institutions and borrowers in secured, unsecured, asset-based and non-traditional financing transactions as well as in various state and federal regulatory matters, including securities, banking and land use and zoning matters. Mr. Roberts regularly presents seminars to attorneys, bankers, accountants and other professionals on topics that include commercial lending, limited liability companies and other forms of business entities, real estate and land title law. He is a member of the Connecticut Association of Municipal Attorneys. He has served as Republican Town Chairman in Wethersfield since 1995 and has been a member of the Wethersfield Planning and Zoning Commission since 1991.
10:45-11:00	Break
11:00-12:30	Welcome Roles & Responsibilities of Land Use Commissions Workshop Focu s- to give land use commissioners an overview of the source of their authority, their role in relation to other land use commissions, current land use issues they should consider, and their responsibility to be fair and unbiased in their decision making. The group exercise encourages interactive group decision making. Review the legal basis for a local commission's land use regulatory authority Review the roles of each of the land use commissions Review of topics of concern facing local commissions such as riparian buffers, conservation subdivisions, affordable housing, low impact development, etc. Discuss responsibilities with respect of conflicts of interest, bias and predetermination Discuss responsibility to future generations as well as current residents and businesses Group review and discussion of hypothetical meeting and decision making Instructor: Bruce Hyde, UConn CLEAR, Land Use Academy Director About Bruce Hyde University of Connecticut, Land Use Academy Director, Land Use Educator bruce.hyde@uconn.edu 860-345-5229 Bruce Hyde is an AICP certified planner who has worked in the planning field for over 30 years. He has served in a wide variety of positions including city planner, regional planner, private sector consultant and local planning commissioner.
12:30-1:15	Lunch
1:15-3:00	Map Reading and Low Impact Development Workshop Focus - assist commissioners to develop basic plan reading skills through a review of plans actually submitted to a local commission. Municipal staff planners have told us that one of the biggest challenges facing their commissioners is figuring out hydrology of a site. For this workshop we use understanding hydrology and low impact development as way of developing basic plan reading skills. This workshop goes beyond the basics in a way that is understandable and relevant. Review of stormwater management issues Discussion of low impact development techniques Review of basic map reading techniques-legends, scale, topography, water flow, maps vs. plans, etc. Hands on plan review exercise: Find the LID practice, follow the rain (where does the water go), review of answers and discussion. Instructor: Michael Dietz and Bruce Hyde, UConn CLEAR About Michael Dietz Michael Dietz, CT NEMO Program Director michael.dietz@uconn.edu Telephone: (860) 345-5225 Mike is a water resources educator, with primary responsibilities for running the CT NEMO Program. Mike’s position is jointly held between the Center for Land Use Education and Research (CLEAR) and the Connecticut Sea Grant College Program at the Avery Point campus. In addition to assuming the leadership of the NEMO Program, Mike will contribute to Sea Grant’s sustainable coastal community development program. He received both his Masters and Ph.D. from the University of Connecticut, focusing on stormwater and low impact development (LID) techniques. Upon his graduation, he worked with the Connecticut NEMO program from 2005 to 2007 on projects related to LID. He left Connecticut in 2007 to take a position at Utah State University as an assistant professor and extension specialist in sustainable living, where he continued to work on stormwater monitoring and LID, in addition to green building, energy conservation, and water harvesting. He was director of Utah House, a demonstration house for green building techniques.
3:00	End