Thomas Breen photo
Tom Talbot (center) at a BZA hearing.
After more than a decade as New Haven’s point person for all things zoning, Tom Talbot is packing up and leaving City Hall.
“I’m at a stage in my life where I think I have one more act left in me,” the 65-year-old deputy director of zoning said during an interview in his office in the City Plan department on the fifth floor of City Hall.
His last day is Jan. 4.
What is that next stage He’s not sure. But after 14 years as the assistant town planner in Wallingford and nearly another dozen as the zoning ordinance expert in New Haven, he said, he’s convinced that one has to pick up stakes and move every so often in order to stay fresh and effective in a field devoted to urban planning and community development.
“My view of this type of work is that, it’s important not to stay in one place too long,” he said in a conversation this week in his City Hall office. “Through experiences in different settings, you acquire perspective and a depth of professional knowledge that is much more difficult to come by in staying in the same place for too long.”
Talbot grew up in Wallingford, Both sides of his family had strong connections to New Haven. His maternal grandfather and great-grandfather worked as furriers in a shop at the corner of Orange Street and Elm Street, just across the block from the municipal office building at 200 Orange.
On his father’s side, Talbot’s grandfather taught science at Hillhouse High School between the two World Wars. Talbot himself earned a bachelor’s degree in geography from Southern Connecticut State University (SCSU), then returned o get a master’s in urban studies.
For anyone who ever attended a Board of Zoning Appeals (BZA), Talbot’s presence is difficult to forget. A shock of white hair and a matching white goatee, Talbot would sit at the BZA staff table behind piles of paper applications, weighing in on restaurant liquor license applications and parking reduction requests and on what exactly qualifies as a variance-worthy “hardship.” His is the trusted voice in the room.
Sometimes gruff, always committed, Talbot has served as an expert bridge between residents looking to modify their homes or developers looking to fit their latest projects into New Haven’s urban fabric, and the convoluted and often anachronistic city zoning regulations. A true civil servant, he has worked hard not to call attention to himself.
“Zoning regulations represent in essence the implementation phase of the whole planning process,” he said. “And I’m a planner. I know how to do more than this.”
Mike Piscitelli, who oversees both the city’s Development Administration and City Plan Department, called Talbot’s impending departure a big loss for local government.
The city has been “well served” by Talbot all these years, Piscitelli said. With the experience he gained working statewide, Talbot “created a whole infrastructure [for dealing with] proper land use and zoning.” Replacing Talbot will “present a challenge,” said Piscitelli, who plans to conduct a “thorough search.”
In 2017, Talbot and then City Plan Director Karyn Gilvarg succeeded in convincing alders to adopt amendments to the city’s zoning ordinance that encouraged mixed-use development, helping the city move away from the mid-century Urban Renewal mindset of strictly segregated residential and commercial development and towards one that promotes greater density, walkability, and street life.
“I think, in terms of the zoning ordinance and the zoning map, I think I was able to help make things better in some ways,” Talbot said, “but there’s still an awful lot of work that needs to be done.”
Oh no! This is a huge loss for those of us who have had Tom explain the sometimes confusing aspects of zoning so we can get a grasp of what is going on. He can take complex applications and reduce them to something understandable - which is a gift to the unschooled, like myself.
Despite the pressures of his work load and office, Tom never once refused to make time for questions or to offer maps or cite sections of the zoning code for further study. He was sometimes cantankerous, but invariably returned to a helpful place.<br /> He is overly modest about his skills in serving both the developers and the public in a fair and transparent way. I personally enjoyed my visits to his office and the opportunity to learn from him.<br /> I know there are zoning changes he would like to see implemented, so I hope he leaves the City a massive memo with his recommendations laid out for future action.<br /> We will miss you, Tom.