Cheshire council gives informal endorsement to draft POCD, schedules Feb. 9 public hearing

The Town of Cheshire Town Council on Jan. 27 gave informal support to the Planning & Zoning Commission'draft Plan of Conservation and Development (POCD), taking an 8'to'1 thumbs-up straw poll that the commission said will serve as the council's advisory recommendation heading into a Feb. 9 public hearing.

Planner Mike Glidden, who presented the draft with consultants from the Taiki team, told the council the POCD is an advisory 10-year roadmap that the town must update under Connecticut law and that failing to adopt a plan by July 1, 2026, would make Cheshire "not eligible for discretionary funding," a consequence Glidden said the town should avoid. "If we don't adopt it, the town is not eligible for discretionary funding," he said.

Why it matters: The POCD organizes town goals and actions across housing, open space, transportation, utilities and economic development and is commonly used in grant applications and as a guiding document for future planning. The draft includes an implementation appendix that assigns responsible parties and suggested timelines for follow-up.

What officials said: Glidden described the draft as the product of roughly a year of outreach and said the plan narrows Cheshire's legislative requests to town-specific items. He noted the plan incorporates the WPCA'adopted sewer map and other statutory elements required in the POCD. On housing, he said a buildout analysis of sewered, vacant residential parcels showed fewer than 1,000 potential units under current zoning and land availability: "We did a build out analysis, and it was less than 1000," he told the council.

Council members used the meeting to press staff on several technical details. Members asked for clarity about sewer capacity and whether WPCA might impose a moratorium if the system reaches full capacity. Glidden and others said WPCA retains authority over capacity and moratorium decisions; council members requested WPCA provide specific capacity figures before future decisions are made.

Environmental and connectivity issues also drew questions. The council discussed wetlands and a potential vernal pool on the Yankee Highlands parcel and whether a seasonally timed ecological assessment (an ERT assessment through the Connecticut Resource Conservation & Development Authority) should be pursued to document breeding-season habitat. Members also asked staff to add considerations around electric-vehicle charging infrastructure and to make the draft easier for residents to find on the town website ahead of the hearing.

Next steps: The Planning & Zoning public hearing on the draft POCD is scheduled for Monday, Feb. 9. The draft is posted on the Town of Cheshire planning department web page and a physical copy is available in the town clerk's office and the library ahead of the hearing. The council's straw poll will be forwarded as its advisory position to the Planning & Zoning Commission for consideration prior to the statutory adoption process.

The meeting adjourned after routine business and the council's informal poll; no final regulatory action on the POCD occurred at the Jan. 27 session.