FREEDOM CORNER: Planning & Zoning Commissioner Training Raises Questions
During the December 19th PZC meeting, a roughly 90-minute training session was held for the commissioners. Training of Land Use Officials is mandated under CGS 8-4c as follows:
“On and after January 1, 2023, each member of a municipal planning commission, combined planning and zoning commission, or zoning board of appeals, except for a member of any such commission or board that is a licensed attorney-at-law of this state with four or more years of experience on any such commission or board, or a land use enforcement officer, shall complete at least four hours of training.”
- Those in office on 1/1/2023 must complete four (4) hours of training by 1/1/2024, and
once every four years thereafter, or once every term for which such member is elected or appointed if such term is longer than four years. - Those taking office after 1/1/2023 must complete four (4) hours of training not later than
one year after taking office, and once every four years thereafter, or once every term for
which such member is elected or appointed if such term is longer than four years.
The statute contains no penalty provision for failure to comply.
Training was conducted by Attorney Stephen Byrne, the sole attorney listed for the CT Federation of Planning & Zoning Agencies, and listed by the State as established in 2010, to which the Town of Goshen pays an annual membership fee. The fee includes a subscription to quarterly bulletins for which Byrne is the sole author. The Town also pays a fee for the training.
This isn’t unusual for such organizations. The question is whether the training delivered by one person can be relied upon to be accurate and unbiased. An example of that concern is the statement made by Attorney Byrne, 3-1/2 minutes into the PZC meeting, that the State mandates 4 hours of training, and “One hour is supposed to be on affordable housing issues.” That’s not an accurate description of the State requirement.
According to OPM: Office of Planning & Management
“Such training shall include at least one hour concerning affordable and fair housing policies…”
“Affordable and Fair Housing Policies Section
Topics can include one or more of the following:
• Zoning Laws and Segregation
• The Fair Housing Act
• Municipal Land Use Planning and Zoning Responsibilities Under the Fair Housing Act
• The Meaning of Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing and How it Applies to Municipalities
• Planning and Zoning to Affirmatively Further Fair Housing
• Zoning Reforms to Promote Diverse Housing Options
• What is Affordable Housing, Who Needs It, and How Has It Evolved Over the Years?
• Addressing Community Affordable Housing Needs with the Public”
The Fair Housing Act, for example, protects people from discrimination when they are renting or buying a home, getting a mortgage, seeking housing assistance, or engaging in other housing-related activities. It’s clearly a different subject than affordable housing, a contentious issue in Goshen. In 2023, the PZC unanimously rejected inclusion of the Goshen Housing Plan in the Town’s Plan of Conservation and Development. The Town Planner was in favor of that inclusion and is the person selecting and organizing the training sessions for PZC commissioners. Shouldn’t the commissioners themselves be choosing among the relevant topics and deciding which they would find most useful?
In many fields there can be concerns that professionals can be influenced by the people who pay them. The Goshen News spoke with Martin Heft, CT Office of Policy and Management (OPM) Undersecretary, who is in charge of the Intergovernmental Policy and Planning Division. When asked whether there was a mandate to teach specific things recommended by OPM, he said “no, there is no mandate. The content and teachers of such training [are] left entirely to the Town Government officials…There is no oversight for this. It's left up to the towns.”
The Goshen News also spoke with State Senator Stephen Harding, representing the 30th District in the State Senate. Harding was elected to his first term in the State Senate in 2022 after four terms serving the people of the 107th House District. “When I was the state Rep., I voted for the bill on the training of Land Use Commissions”, Harding said, “but most legislators, myself included, are not expert in this area of the law.” He continued: “A lot of times, we don’t know how this will be applied in the real world.”
Asked whether there was any oversight on content of training or persons/organizations doing training, he acknowledged that there was not. So should the matter be left completely to town officials who might not know or who might inject their own biases into choosing trainers and programs? “That was a good question,” he said, and then went on to say he “would not have an objection to seeking a body (of government) to do oversight in this matter.”
Why is oversight necessary? In reviewing the training session video, The Goshen News found additional questionable items. Regarding Conflicts of Interest, Byrne said:
"And of course, you recognize, you get a small town like Goshen, people wear many hats. As for really looking for any connection, you're gonna’ have no-one here, ever. We need to get the work done. Hartford - there's more suspicion, there's more people saying 'it's kinda’ curious that, you know, you see the same 3 guys are on everything, they vote the same way. But boards can live in the real world and judges do too, they understand."
Is this to be interpreted as: “If you apply Conflict of Interest laws in Goshen, no one will ever join anything, or qualify to join anything?” And that “judges understand and won’t hold people accountable?”
OPM clearly addresses this matter:
Sec. 8-21. Disqualification of members in matters before planning or zoning commissions or zoning board of appeals. Replacement by alternates. No member of any planning commission and no member of any municipal agency exercising the powers of any planning commission, whether existing under the general statutes or under any special act, shall appear for or represent any person, firm or corporation or other entity in any matter pending before the planning or zoning commission or zoning board of appeals or agency exercising the powers of any such commission or board in the same municipality, whether or not he is a member of the commission hearing such matter.
The practice of appointing people to committees whose work will later be approved by commissions on which those same people sit is, therefore, called into question. While the Trainer, with prompting from the Town Planner, cautioned commissioners against discussing any commission business outside of a commission meeting, as it could lead to claims of “predetermination and bias”, apparently no such concern exists when a PZC Commissioner sits, for example, on an Affordable Housing Plannning Committee for a year, engaging in unlimited discussions of proposals that will eventually come before the commission.
The prohibition on “ex parte” discussions with and among commissioners outside of commission meetings is limited to matters currently before the commission and does not include any communication with constituents or others at any other time. Per the definition on the USDA Community Planning web page: “An ex parte communication occurs when a board member in a quasi-judicial proceeding communicates, directly or indirectly, with any person or party in connection with a matter before the board, absent of notice and opportunity for all parties to participate. The term ex parte literally means ‘one-sided.’”
In fact, the OPM caption to the suggested training topic on Ex Parte, is “What to do if someone approaches you about an application”.
Below are links to State Statutes that can be downloaded for your references:
Planning Zoning Statutes State of CT OPM
Land Use Academy | Center for Land Use Education and Research University of CT
