HINESBURG DEVELOPMENT REVIEW BOARD

MINUTES OF AUGUST 3, 2004

Approved 8/17/04

Members Present: Ted Bloomhardt, George Munson, Clint Emmons, Robert Gauthier, Greg Waples, Howdy Russell and alternate, Carrie Fenn. Also Peter Erb, Zoning Administrator.

Member Absent: Tom McGlenn.

Members of the Audience: Annie Hamilton, Missy Ross, Mark Styduhar, Elise Cleary, Chris Gilbert, Steve & Carol Palmer, Tanya Jones, Tim Blake, Laura Carotenuto, Colin McNaull, Steve Longshore, Raymond Ayer, Sam Evanson, Ross Orvis, and Brian & Beth Hathaway.

1. MINUTES George Munson made the motion to accept the minutes of July 20, 2004 as corrected. This motion was seconded by Howdy Russell and passed with Greg Waples and Carrie Fenn abstaining from the vote.

2. BISSONETTE – SKETCH PLAN Wayne Bissonette was first on the agenda to request

sketch plan approval for a 9-lot subdivision of his property on the west side of the Gilman Road. This proposal is being presented as a Planned Residential Development PRD as governed by Section 4.5 of the Hinesburg Zoning Bylaw. Wayne was present and represented by Nick Nowlan and Gunner McCain of McCain Consulting. George Munson recused himself from the Board during the discussion of this project.

Two of the Board members Greg Waples and Clint Emmons along with Peter Erb and several neighbors had made a site visit to this property prior to this meeting and they reported on observations made at that visit:

a) The topography of the portion of the land where the nine houses will be located.

b) The location of the lot where the septic systems for these houses will be.

c) The direction of the traffic and these two new spurs to this private road. There will be 6 houses on the northern spur and 3 houses to the south.

d) The proximity of this new road to the Jones house (one of three on this private road) and the screening by the Jones house.

e) They did not have time to walk the proposed open land or remainder of this property.

Nick Nowlan then explained some other features of their proposal:

a) There will be a 5-acre common land that will have the leach fields for the 9 houses and also some open land. There was some confusion on the number of acres that remained in this portion of the Bissonette land. Nick explained that they are combining what is known as the Hines land and the Pierce lot, which is a total of about 130 acres.

b) This subdivision then will be 9 residential lots, the common lot with the septic systems, an open space lot of about 40 acres, and the 12^th lot being the remainder. At this time there is no specific plans for this remaining acreage.

c) The plans have shown a portion of the open space to the west, which has shown on the tax maps to be the common land for the Mead Farm Road subdivision. Nick explained that the property will be surveyed and it is their understanding that this area is owned by Wayne and Barbara. If this land is owned by the Mead Farm homeowners, there is sufficient other land to meet the requirements of Section 4.5.9(1) of the Bylaw which requires 25% of a parcel in a PRD to be open space. It was felt that this open space needs to be further identified and explained.

d) A portion of the planned open space is adjacent to property that is now owned by the State Fish and Game Department. That property and this of the Bissonette has trails that are used by hikers and X-C skiers. Wayne stated that he has never posted his land and has allowed people to always use his property.

e) A neighbor that lives on this private road expressed concerns about the maintenance and snowplowing of this road and whether the new property owners would be responsible to share in those costs. The homeowners that currently live there do not have a homeowners association and just share in these costs. It was explained that new owners would have to have an association and pay their proportion of the expenses including the existing stretch.

f) Concern was also expressed by Greg Waples that this number of houses would have quite a impact on these existing homes and create traffic issues. He felt it would be necessary to ensure that there continue to be screening for the Jones house.

g) Gunner McCain explained that Hinesburg has 2-acre lot sizes in this area of town and by presenting this as a PRD it allows for more land to remain open.

h) Wayne explained that he has been approached by the Land Trust about purchasing the development rights, but he is not prepared to discuss this at this time.

i) A large portion of this property is deeryard and this will be discussed further in the future and during their Act 250 review.

Ted Bloomhardt made the motion to continue the sketch plan review of the Bissonette subdivision to the Board’s September 7^th meeting and the Board determine in Deliberative Session whether there is sufficient evidence for the staff to draft conditions of approval. This motion was seconded by Howdy Russell and passed.

**** George Munson then returned to be a participating member of the Board and Carrie Fenn let the meeting at this point. ****

2. TEBBITTS & RADIGAN – FINAL PLAT REVISION Ted opening the public hearing

for a revision to a final plat. Chris Tebbitts and Jonathan Radigan have purchased a lot formerly owned by Jim and Charlene O’Neill and are currently building a house on this lot which is located on the south side of Buck Hill Road West. They have relocated the house within the building envelope to have more solar exposure and would like to have a detached garage near that house in the north/west corner of the building lot.

Chris explained that they would swap a portion of the building envelope to ensure that there is not more of the wetlands affected. They have installed their driveway in a location that would allow the envelope to move further to the south and are requesting that the envelope be extended on the north/west side. It was determined that stonewalls and landscaping would not be considered development within the wet land and therefore less envelope would have to be altered.

Ted Bloomhardt made the motion to close the public hearing and move to direct staff to draft conditions of approval. This motion was seconded by Howdy Russell and passed unanimously.

3. FOURNIER – FINAL PLAT Ted Bloomhardt opened the public hearing for final plat

review of a lot owned by Gary Fournier and located on the Pond Road across from the CVU playing fields. Gary had submitted and explained the following new information:

a) There is a letter from his engineer explaining that storm run-off would not be an issue because this lot is quite level.

b) The location of the new house and well has been moved slightly to the west and this will remove the well-head protection area from the lot to the east.

c) The plans show septic systems for two new lots and houses and the Board members felt that the second one should not be shown on the plat as this lot is not being reviewed and approved at this time.

d) There will be underground power to the house and this installation will be inspected and approved by Green Mountain Power.

e) There are two building envelopes hand-drawn on the plan and these should be officially added to the engineering plans.

f) A letter was submitted from April Mouleart, the State wetland coordinator, explaining that the building envelope will not impact the wetland.

g) Peter Erb is working with Gary’s lawyer to ensure that the submitted legal language for the shared drive maintenance is correct.

h) Septic designs have been submitted from a licensed engineer.

Ted Bloomhardt made the motion to close the public hearing and the Board enter into deliberative session in order to render a decision. This motion was seconded by Robert Gauthier and passed unanimously.

4. STEWART – SKETCH PLAN Sally Stewart was next on the agenda to request sketch

plan approval to create one new lot at her property on the west side of the North Road. She explained that she originally had a 10-plus acre lot and they had subdivided off one lot and done the septic work for a second lot but had not finished this process. The following issues in regard to this subdivision were then discussed:

a) When the original subdivision occurred, she kept a 50’ wide right-of-way through the new lot #1 for access to the back or upper portion of their land.

b) The topography of this lot is quite steep, but Sally has been working with an excavator and they feel they will be able to keep the grade under 15% by having turns in the driveway. However, it is more level near the top where a new home could be located.

c) There is an electric line that crosses this property and the power for the new house would come from that. The line from the pole to the house would be underground.

d) Although the replacement septic area for her house on lot #2 is located on this new lot #3, she is quite confident a field could be found on her existing lot.

e) She has talked to Spafford well drillers and they will guarantee sufficient water. However, if water is a problem, she will look into maybe hooking up to the Town water system and coming down from a lot on the Piette Meadows subdivision.

f) A major issue seemed to be whether there would be sufficient acreage for the existing lot and a new one. It was explained that the acreage within the right-of-way cannot be counted toward required 3-acre lot size. It was suggested that she contact her surveyor to check this acreage.

g) The Board felt they would like to take a site visit to the property and therefore continue this sketch review.

Ted Bloomhardt made the motion to continue the public discussion of this application by Sally Stewart for sketch plan approval to the September 7, 2004 DRB meeting. The Board will conduct a site visit to this property on the North Road at 6:00 p.m. before this meeting and requests that the applicant stake the center of the right-of-way. The applicant will also check with a surveyor to determine whether there is sufficient acreage for have the required 3 acres on one side of this right-of-way and still ensure that the grade is less than 15%. This motion was seconded by Howdy Russell and passed unanimously.

6. DELIBERATIVE SESSION Greg Waples made the motion that the Board go into deliberative session in order to act on the following items:

• Bissonette It was felt that the Board should try to coordinate another site visit where more members could participate and staff will try to set this up. At that time, it is requested that there be stakes for the house locations with lot corners being marked and the center line of the road. The Board would also like to observe where clearing may occur and the location of screening at the road. This should be done if the Board members are going to conduct a site visit prior to the August 17^th meeting.
• Fournier Staff will draft conditions of approval including that the final plat needs to be revised by removing the second septic system, showing the relocation of the house and well to ensure that the well-head protection area is only on this property and specific dimensions and locations points be shown for the building envelopes.
• Grabowski/Lyman After some discussion on several issues, Clint Emmons made the motion to grant subdivision approval with conditions to Brett Grabowski and David Lyman for a Planned Residential Development located on the west side of Route 116. This motion was seconded by Greg Waples and passed unanimously.

**** Greg Waples left the meeting at this point ****

• O’Brien Howdy Russell made the motion to grant final plat approval to Everett O’Brien to subdivide his property on the east side of the North Road into two parcels each with an existing residence. This motion was seconded by Clint Emmons and passed.
• Hart/Duggan Howdy Russell made the motion to approve the request by Mike and Elaine Hart and Tami and Gerry Duggan to replace an existing camp on Wood Run with a larger camp. This motion was seconded by George Munson and did not pass as Russell, Bloomhardt, Munson, and Gauthier voted against and Emmons votes for it.
• Priest Howdy Russell then made the motion to deny the request by Marie and Alex Priest for variances to construct a garage on their property on the north side of the Texas Hill Road. This motion was seconded by Robert Gauthier and passed with Bloomhardt, Russell, Munson, and Gauthier voting for it and Emmons voting against.
• SIROTKIN/MCCLEMENS George Munson made the motion to grant site plan approval, a conditional use permit, and sign approval to Alan Sirotkin to establish a chocolate products facility in the former art building on the south side of Commerce Street. This approval was seconded by Clint Emmons and passed.
• Hodgkin Howdy Russell made the motion to approve the request sketch plan approval to made 2 lots of the Hodgkin property. This motion was seconded by Robert Gauthier and passed.

The meeting was adjourned at 11:15 p.m.

Respectfully submitted,

Holly Russell, Recording Secretary