The Board of Selectmen has authorized Town Planning Director George Benson to request a Borough of Newtown zoning change that would expand the variety of potential tenants that could utilize office rental space opening up in the coming weeks at Edmond Town Hall.

Ahead of a brief presentation on the proposal at a regular meeting December 16, Mr Rosenthal said the town has been working with the Edmond Town Hall Board of Managers to maximize revenue generating activities and opportunities at the public building on Main Street that conform with various use requirements and are appropriate for the facility.

“I think the push from everybody has been to be creative, and to try to... leave no stone unturned in terms of how we approach managing that building,” the First Selectman said.

While the Board of Managers and staff have been creative in working to bring new revenue opportunities to the Town Hall, Mr Rosenthal said challenges with current zoning restrictions have limited facility operators somewhat.

Technically, the town would apply to the Borough for a zoning change and would see that request proceed through the normal process for such action through borough channels, including its zoning commission, which is separate from that of the rest of the town.

“I feel we formally have to ask them [for the change], and this is the first step,” Mr Rosenthal said.

Mr Benson said the town considered incorporating the Town Hall building into a business zone but decided the facility — which is already designated as a Historic Building under federal guidelines — is better suited for “landmark building” status. That would allow for setting specific uses for the facility that could be more restrictive than if the building simply was sited in a business zone.

The proposal lays out the framework around what a landmark building is, “and makes the permitted uses very specific about what can and can’t go there,” Mr Benson explained.

The document for selectmen consideration also included the actual application, which outlined three specific uses proposed. Mr Benson said he anticipates those uses might be amended by borough zoners, but it provided a good starting point from which to move forward toward the end goal of expanding tenancy options.

“I think it’s comprehensive enough,” Mr Benson said, noting it takes into account enterprises like a criminal attorney’s practice that could draw undesirable clients to the property. “It’s not like we’re opening this up to the public and allowing them to do anything they want.”

The town planner said the Board of Managers still would possess the ultimate power to grant tenancy to a proposed lessee.

“I think this really limits what they can do there while providing the best option for [ETH managers],” Mr Benson said. “The big change is allowing for profit, as well as nonprofits, to be tenants there.”

The proposal also formalizes the managers to rent out the Alexandria Room’s new commercial kitchen for temporary clients. Mr Benson said if a new appropriate business use is proposed, the regulation could always be amended in the future.

“Maybe we want to turn around and take some stuff out, but I think it’s pretty comprehensive. It’s really a draft report, but I really want to get the conversation going,” Mr Benson told selectmen. He said the request might be approved in as little “as a meeting or two, or they could scrap the whole thing. We’ve been talking about this for four years now.”

Mr Rosenthal said he supports the proposal and the request to allow the Landmark Building approach to helping ETH managers expand opportunities for tenants. Mr Benson said that in the eventuality that either the Newtown Middle School or the Hawley School are vacated or closed, they could also be regulated under a Landmark Building designation.

He added that Town Hall South would likely not qualify under the guidelines.

Selectman Jeff Capeci said he found nothing to object to in the proposal.

“This has been used successfully [elsewhere] to preserve historic buildings,” Mr Benson said. Under the motion from Selectman Maureen Crick Owen, the measure passed unanimously.

In a separate matter not involving the board, Mr Rosenthal told The Newtown Bee following the meeting that he is working with State Rep Mitch Bolinsky to amend state law regarding liquor service in a nonprofit theater operation located within a municipal building.

“I’m hoping we can add the ‘municipal building’ language to the law,” Mr Rosenthal said.

In other business, Mr Rosenthal announced that Canine Advocates, a local animal care organization, has closed and turned over $55,000 to the town to assist residents with catastrophic surgical or care expenses for qualified pets. The fund will be administered by the local Animal Control Board, Mr Rosenthal told fellow selectmen.

The selectmen also directed Mr Rosenthal to send a memo to the Board of Education indicating there was no support for the town acquiring a residential home and property abutting Hawley School at 27 Church Hill Road.