While nothing exists on paper as of yet, the purpose and intent of the zone were elaborated upon by Planning & Zoning Chairman David Minnich, who said he initiated the zone boundary change. Mr. Minnich stated that a previous report that he was unaware of this project was untrue.

"At the moment, this is all at a staff level, not at the [P&Z] Commission," said Mr. Minnich. "The work is occurring in three areas."

Mr. Minnich noted that these areas are: A legal review of a zone specific to Taft School, a review of the boundary lines and text that may be used for the proposed zone.

In terms of a schedule as to when the zone may be placed on Watertown's Zoning Regulations, Mr. Minnich stated, "I left it up to staff, with no timing on when it needed to be done. I'll be getting something soon from the Town Attorney."

According to Mr. Minnich, Taft is in a residential zone, as is every school in town.

"This proposal is suggesting to recognize Taft School is unique, that it has students living on campus," said Mr. Minnich. "Everything that Taft does, because it is in a residential zone, it requires a special permit. Given Taft has been here for years and is a wonderful asset to Watertown, they should have an as-of-right to do things without requiring a special permit review."

As-of-right development is something that complies with all applicable zoning regulations and does not require any discretionary action by the Planning & Zoning Commission.

"In the case of Taft School, everything is a special permit, meaning it requires another standard of review and that does not work best for Taft and is not in their interest," said Mr. Minnich. "Under the new overlay, if they want to build a building, as long as it complies, they can go to the Commission for administrative review."

Mr. Minnich then moved on to the second intent of the Taft overlay zone.

"There is discussion with Taft about property outside the [proposed overlay] zone. Taft is like any other person or company and can purchase homes outside the zone, but that would suggest that the property would not be used for school purposes," said Mr. Minnich. "That's an issue we need to discuss with Taft."

A meeting was held between the Taft School Business Manager Gil Thornfeldt and Mr. Minnich concerning the overlay zone initiative.

"I mentioned to him I wanted to make him aware of what was going on at staff level," said Mr. Minnich. "I said Taft would be integral to this and it was my decision to not talk about this in theory, but for us to have on paper the suggested boundary lines and what the proposed text would be.

"Mr. Thornfeldt looked forward to that opportunity when it comes. We will have something in writing for review."

Mr. Minnich gave assurances that this action will be done in cooperation with Taft School.

"In the end, Taft will be very much involved in the process," Mr. Minnich said. "This won't go forward if Taft is not on board with the suggested changes."

Mr. Thornfeldt, during a Friday, August 21 interview, reported that the P&Z Chairman informed him, "that this was all preliminary and not ready for public consumption, so-to-speak."

In regards to making Taft property outside the proposed overlay zone subject to municipal taxes, Mr. Thornfeldt stated, "that is unacceptable."

Taft, qualifying as an educational institution, is exempt from paying taxes, but on its own volition, donates $125,000 donation to Watertown's coffers every year in addition to offering the use of its facilities for use by the Watertown community.

Currently, the initiative lies in early development. Mr. Minnich reported that "I will be getting something from [Public Works Director] Roy [Cavanaugh] soon. I never approached Roy [Cavanaugh] because he's not our staff; our staff is the town engineer [Chuck Berger]."