#MIDDLEBURY #TAXABATEMENT #PILOTSEASONINGS
By TERRENCE S. MCAULIFFE
The Middlebury Economic and Industrial Development Commission (EIDC) at its Nov. 22 meeting unanimously recommended a tax abatement for a Waterbury company relocating to Middlebury. It also discussed a survey letter to be sent to local businesses and refined a draft of architectural guidelines.
A Tax Incentive Program application by Pilot Seasonings, relocating to Middlebury from Falls Avenue in Waterbury, was unanimously voted. The vote is a recommendation to the Board of Selectmen (BoS) that the application conforms and complies with the town’s tax incentive requirements. The BoS now can schedule a special town meeting to vote on the incentive, return the application to the EIDC for more information or take no action.
The company, which also operates under the name Amodio’s, has been in business for 35 years and currently employs six full-time and six part-time workers. Production consist of mixing seasonings rather than manufacturing them. In her application, owner Mary Volpe described plans to lease a 16,000-square-foot building at 125 North Benson Road and renovate it with $110,000 of improvements for the spice-mixing operations. She estimated about $250,000 of machinery and equipment subject to personal property taxes, and estimated one full-time and two part-time hires in the next two years.
Middlebury Assessor Chris Kelsey told EIDC Chairman Terry McAuliffe the taxable personal property and site improvements appeared sufficient to qualify for a three-year tax abatement of 35 percent the first year, declining 10 percent per year over the next two years.
In other matters, members reviewed a draft survey to be sent to local businesses in early 2017. The three-page survey asks business owners on the first page to rate the importance of two dozen factors in doing business in Middlebury, ranging from the rural nature and appearance of the town to tax rates, safety, utilities and services, and the school system. The second and third pages are open-ended questions asking owners to tell the commission what should be done to promote a better business climate. They ask about difficulties starting the business and keeping it profitable.
McAuliffe said the survey was constructed from the best ideas used by neighboring towns in their surveys and was designed for mailing. Commissioner Ted Mannello suggested eliminating all “check boxes” in the survey to provide for broader input, and Commissioner Armando Paolino suggested not asking for positive and negatives, but instead simply asking owners to describe their experience.
Mannello suggested the survey go only to businesses where customers can actually walk in, eliminating “spare bedroom LLCs” and leasing companies. Members were given lists so they could cross out the names of such businesses, culling about 200 businesses from a database of 635 provided by Kelsey. McAuliffe said the survey will begin with a cover letter promising that all responses will be read by humans, not computers, and will include a self-addressed stamped return envelope to improve the response yield.
Members also reviewed a second draft of architectural guidelines for the EIDC to use in future reviews. The document provides general guidelines for the exterior design of commercial buildings and treatment of facades and takes into account Middlebury’s seven distinct commercial areas. Paolino questioned lighting standards and agreed to find information on standards for intensity and hue. Paolino also suggested asking the Naugatuck Valley Council of Governments for a map of the seven business districts.
The next regular EIDC meeting will be Tuesday, Dec. 27, at 6:30 p.m. in the Town Hall Conference Room.
