Cheshire Planning Commission keeps POCD hearing open after wide public comment on environment, sidewalks and traffic

For the Town of Cheshire Planning & Zoning Commission, a months‑long rewrite of the town’s Plan of Conservation and Development (POCD) opened for public comment on Feb. 9 as planners summarized the draft and dozens of residents and advisory-commission members urged changes.

Robin Newton of Tyche Planning and Policy Group opened the presentation, saying the POCD is a statutory, advisory document intended to guide town decisions for the next 10 years after community outreach that included hundreds of survey responses and thousands of website visits. “This is basically a statutory document ... that helps to say what you want to conserve and what you want to develop,” Newton said.

The hearing quickly turned to implementation and substance. Dan Knutson, speaking for the Cheshire Energy Commission, asked the commission to add a comprehensive energy strategy and nine specific measures — from using a low Energy Use Intensity in town procurement to assessing microgrids and EV‑ready permitting. “We should not be expanding fossil‑fuel lines if we want to address climate change,” Knutson said.

Members of the Environment Commission and other residents said they had limited opportunity to shape the conservation elements. Laura Monty said the Environment Commission’s input had been reduced to a three‑question survey and a brief meeting, and asked for more opportunity to contribute. “We were not given the chance,” she said. Town staff responded that a multi‑page memo from the commission had been incorporated and that detailed operational plans are outside the POCD’s high‑level scope.

Speakers pressed for clearer accountability: David Schrum and other commenters urged that each POCD goal include measurable outcomes, a small set of KPIs, and annual reporting so progress could be verified rather than asserted. Residents also raised near‑term concerns such as traffic on Route 10, the timing of trail connections to the high school, and how population projections align with school planning.

Several commenters focused on open‑space stewardship and the unique character of parks like Mixville and Roaring Brook Falls, asking for more specific management language and for wetland and culvert standards that account for fish passage and climate resilience.

Commissioners and staff repeatedly framed the POCD as an advisory, statutory document that should guide — but not supplant — department and board implementation plans. Consultant Newton said she would remove specific multi‑year timeframes from the implementation matrix (which she said had confused some residents) and replace them with priority levels.

After discussion, the commission agreed to keep the public hearing open to March 9 to give staff and the consultant time to incorporate edits and to present a redline showing which public suggestions were added, which were outside the POCD’s scope and which would be referred to appropriate boards.

The commission’s next step is a March meeting where staff will present a revised draft and an implementation matrix that uses priority levels rather than fixed time windows.