| Voting Board | VOTING BOARD: Chairperson Neil Faiman; members Bob Spear & Jim Tuttle; alternate members Joanna Eckstrom & Ron Hanisch. |
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| Clerk | Diane Nilsson |
| Agenda | Request for rehearing: Jon’s Cycle Barn |
Mr. Faiman called the meeting to order at 7:10 p.m. and explained that the board had received a request for a rehearing of the Jon’s Cycle Barn case from the Wilton Main Street Association.
On September 18, 2001, Jon’s Cycle Barn was granted a variance to erect an internally illuminated sign for a Kawasaki motorcycle dealership on Lot F-145, 454 Isaac Frye Highway. In March, 2001, the Town of Wilton passed a sign ordinance prohibiting internally illuminated signs in all districts of Wilton.
Mr. Faiman said that the board must decide whether there are sufficient grounds to grant a rehearing such as new evidence, or simply that the board made a decision that was unsound. But the first question that had to be answered was whether the Wilton Main Street Association could legally request a rehearing. Mr. Faiman consulted the town attorney prior to the hearing, and his feeling was that because the Wilton Main Street Association was not the selectmen, a party to the action or proceeding, nor a party directly affected by the decision, they would not have standing.
Mr. Faiman said that if the Main Street Association did have standing that he might vote to grant a rehearing because there really wasn’t an adequate hardship in this case. Mr. Hanisch also felt that the hardship was weak. Mr. Spear felt that granting the variance was the appropriate decision because Mr. Glines claimed that Mr. Sargent had been in negotiations with Kawasaki before the sign ordinance was voted in by the town. He also said that this decision would not set a precedence for granting similar variances in the future because the sign ordinance would have been in place long before any future requests would come before the board.
| Motion | Mr. Hanisch made a motion to deny the request for a rehearing on the grounds that the Wilton Main Street Association is neither a party to the action or proceedings nor a person directly affected by the decision, and therefore does not have standing to request a rehearing. The motion was seconded by Ms. Eckstrom and all were in favor. |
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Since there was no further work before the board, a motion was made and seconded to adjourn the meeting. All were in favor and the meeting was adjourned at 7: 35 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Diane Nilsson, Clerk