HINESBURG PLANNING COMMISSION
Minutes of April 10, 2001
APPROVED
Present: Ted Bloomhardt, Roger Kohn, John
Mace, Jean Isham, George Bedard, Fred Haulenbeek, and Will Patten. Also Faith Ingulsrud, Town Planner
Members
Absent: Carrie Fenn, George
Munson
Members of the Audience: none
1. Joint
Meeting with School Board. The
Planning Commission met with the Hinesburg Elementary School Board for a
presentation on the relationship between new housing and school
population. Faith explained that the
presentation is the culmination of over a year’s work by the School-Housing
Steering Committee. The Planning
Commission could use the modeling program to better understand and track new
residential development as it impacts school population and facility needs, and
the School Board could use the modeling program to better anticipate school
population. The modeling program could
also show at what point new housing would overwhelm the school as well as
over-burden town services. Faith
introduced Will Costello who has been working on developing the modeling
program, and David Spitz who has been hired to propose policy and directions
for the project.
Mr. Costello presented the computerized
modeling system. He described the four
sectors involved: (1) housing, (2) population, (3) regulations and tax rates,
and , (4) quality of life, or why people would want to live in Hinesburg. Future demographics show a decline in school
population (grades K through 8) between now and 2012. How much of a rebound in these numbers depends on how many 18
year olds will stay in Hinesburg and raise families. Mr. Costello pointed out that if the value of land and property
in Hinesburg continues to rise, then there will be more higher income houses
which statistically contribute fewer children to the school population. If you wanted to increase school population,
you ideally would encourage more lower income/affordable housing. Mr. Costello then showed different scenarios
on the modeling software program.
Hinesburg has been adding about 15 new houses a year over the past 10
years. When more houses at different
income levels are added, the school population is impacted. The “tipping point” of adding 60 to 65
houses in a year is when there is a noticeable increase to school
population. It was agreed that
Hinesburg will probably not get to that point.
Mr. Costello added that contrary to popular opinion, study after study
shows that school quality is not a factor for why people choose to live in a
particular town.
Mr. Spitz then presented his findings on education costs and land use
planning. He provided detailed
information on the school population projections for Hinesburg. Hinesburg’s decline in enrollments is
similar to what’s happening in Shelburne and Charlotte. More kids are graduating than
kindergarteners are coming in. Mr.
Spitz had detailed information on the implications of this decline on school
funding through Act 60. With declining
enrollment, if the cost per student goes up, and the per student state grant
does not compensate, then taxes will increase.
A tax rate worksheet illustrated his point; it is important to watch
costs as student numbers go down.
In terms of land use planning, Mr. Spitz
noted that you can’t tell people how much they have to spend on building a
house, but you can set policies that will encourage different types of
housing. He recommends that there be
residential sewer allocations to increase school enrollments. Faith said that it is likely that sewer
allocations will be less a constraint in a few years when smaller “package”
treatment facilities are likely to be allowed by the State. Mr. Spitz provided a map of Hinesburg
indicating that up to 6000 acres of land not eligible before, may meet the
septic capacity guidelines, if the Phase II State septic system regulations are
passed. George Bedard guessed that half
of those acres would still not be suitable for building houses due to other
factors. He also thought the new lots
that would be opened up because of the new proposed septic regulations would be
huge with expensive homes (statistically not a lot of kids in homes of that
price range).
Ted Bloomhardt said the model shows there
has to be a great amount of development to impact the school. School Board members also approved of the
modeling program in demonstrating that declining enrollment has an impact, and
the database can track just how much of a decline is occurring.
Maintenance and upkeep of the tracking
system was discussed. Should this be
just for Hinesburg, or should it be maintained regionally, as everyone
regionally would benefit. Faith said
that there has already been a request to do a modeling presentation for
Chittenden County planners at the Regional Planning Commission. In response to a comment by Colleen
MacKinnon regarding the need to look and the impact of development on other
town services, Faith noted that in a year, the Planning Commission will be working
on the new Town Plan and perhaps could use a model like this to look at
development impacts on other Town services..
Although no definitive decision was made on who would be responsible for
maintaining the system, it was observed that the community involvement in
Hinesburg was a big factor in making the model work.
2.
Miscelleneous.
The next meeting of the Planning Commission
will be Tuesday, April 17th at 8:30 p.m. to meet with the Zoning
Board regarding the concept of a Development Review Board (DRB). Since there are no applicants scheduled to
meet with the Planning Commission, Faith suggested a few loose ends be taken
care of either before or after meeting with the Zoning Board.
The May 2nd meeting will be for
applicants. A work session on rural
density and ridgeline zoning was
scheduled for May 23rd.
.
Ted Bloomhardt moved to accept the Matthew
Morse deed language as corrected. Jean
Isham seconded, and it was unanimously approved.
Ted suggested David Spitz come to a meeting
to talk about his final proposals. Ted
also described the status of the Zoning Administrator position job search.
The meeting adjourned at 9:00 pm.
Respectfully submitted,
Sally Kimball, Recording Secretary