HINESBURG PLANNING COMMISSION

MINUTES OF MARCH 27, 2002

 

Present: Carrie Fenn, Jean Isham, George Bedard, Will Patton, Fred Haulenbeek, John Buckingham, Nancy Norris, John Mace and Joe Iadanza.

 

1.  MINUTES   Will Patton made the motion to accept the minutes of March 13, 2002.  This motion was seconded by Carrie Fenn and passed unanimously.

 

    *********

The remainder of the meeting was a work session will Brian Shupe of Burnt Rock Associates.

 

 

2.  TELECOMMUNICATION FACILITIES           2/27/2002 DRAFT

 

The following ideas and concerns were discussed with Brian on proposed draft regulations on telecommunications facilities:

– We may need to designate which zoning districts where these regulations would apply.

– These facilities would require a conditional use permit from the Development Review Board (DRB).

– Section 5.22.7 deals with small scale and temporary facilities that could be permitted by the Zoning Administrator without DRB approval.

– Whether it would be advantages to have several users on one large, high tower or several smaller towers.

– There was also differing views on whether a tower of 200 feet would be too high.  Any towers higher than 200 feet would require blinking lights under aeronautic regulations.  Carrie Fenn made a motion that Section 5.22.6(2) should read a height of 150' rather than 200 feet.  This motion was seconded by Will Patton.  After further discussion, and Brian saying that he could do further research and revision on this subject, Carrie withdrew her motion.

– Section 5.22.6 (6) then states that these towers or equipment shall not “extend vertically more than 20 feet above the average height of adjoining tree cover.”  It was suggested that this could be a smaller number that has been set in several other towns.

– John Mace questioned how far the tree cover could be from the tower.  Carrie also commented these high towers require a lot of guy-wires and quite a cleared area.

– These towers would be included in the conditional use approval process in the Forest Conservation Overlay District.

– Joe said that he would be the point person on the Commission to gather information on this subject and do some research.

 

It was decided that it would be good to include this draft regulation on telecommunication facilities for the April 10th public forum and then have this also go through the adoption process.  The Commission will discuss this proposal with the Select Board at their meeting on April 1st.

 

 

 

Hinesburg Planning Commission            Minutes of 3/27/02                                          Page 2

 

 

3.  PRD & PUD

 

Brian then passed around for the Commission preview draft changes to the Planned Residential Development (PRD) and Planned Unit Development (PUD) section of the Zoning Bylaw.  He explained some of the points of these changes:

– there could be incentives offered for clustering houses,

– there is a clearer distinction between the two concepts,

– there is a  clarification of the application process,

– there are general standards that would apply to any application,

– He is proposing standards for the preservation of open space and this should be distinguished from common land.  There was then a discussion of the best way to keep open land from becoming overgrown in the future.

– there was a question of whether non-contiguous land could be included in the density.

 

It was decided the Commission would review this again after Brian has revised the language.  It could perhaps be adopted as a separate housekeeping items in the Zoning Bylaw.  The Development Review Board would appreciate some clarification of this language in their review of subdivisions.

 

 

4.  FOREST CONSERVATION OVERLAY DISTRICT

 

The Commission will present a draft proposal of the district to the Select Board on April 1st and there will then be a public forum on April 10th.  Judy Bond had done a list of the landowners that would be affected by this overlay district.  It was decided to notify all these landowners prior to that forum.

Fred will make a general presentation of this proposal and John Mace explain the maps.  On the 10th   Brian will be present if there are any questions about this process.  Will felt that it is important that the members listen to any concerns or ideas from the landowners.

 

 

5.  The meeting was adjourned at 10:00 p.m.  The next meeting will actually be the public forum on the 10th. 

 

 

Respectfully submitted,

 

 

Holly Russell