TOWN OF HINESBURG

PLANNING COMMISSION MINUTES

 

August 3, 2005

Approved August 17, 2005

 

Commission Members Present:  Jean Isham (chairperson), Fred Haulenbeek, Joe Iadanza, Carrie Fenn, George Bedard, Kay Ballard.

 

Commission Members Absent:  John Buckingham, Johanna White, Nancy Norris.

 

Also Present:  Alex Weinhagen (Director of Planning/Zoning), Andrea Morgante.

 

The meeting began at approximately 7:30pm.

 

Update on Village Growth Project & Consultant RFP:

Alex briefly reviewed the Request for Proposals (RFP) that he sent out on July 28 to generate consultant interest in the project.  He indicated that a design charette would be held first to kick off the project.  The Commission discussed options for the charette.  Joe stressed that the charette should include a walking tour of the village area at the outset so that all participants are familiar with the area.  Andrea said this is a common component of many charettes, and is an extremely valuable, and well worth the time.

 

George said we need to be sure to make use of the maps and information from the 1993 village growth study.  He felt that participants should be very aware of these prior efforts, which could be used as a springboard for revisions and new ideas.  Alex said he fully intends to incorporate this material into the process.  Andrea stressed that available natural resources information be described and explained up front so all participants know what kind of constraints and opportunities were dealing with.

 

The Commission discussed possible consultants, and recommended Alex talk with Diane Gayer at the Vermont Design Institute and Dan Greller (former Commissioner) at Landworks for ideas.  Alex said he would e-mail Andrea the RFP and a list of the consultants that it was sent out to.

 

Minutes of the July 20, 2005 Meeting:

Fred MOVED to approve the July 20, 2005 meeting minutes.  Carrie SECONDED the motion.  The motion PASSED 6-0.

 

Other Business:

New Model Flood Hazard Area Regulations:

Alex explained that the State Flood Coordinator (Margaret Torizzo) recently distributed revised model flood hazard area regulations for municipalities to use as a template for local regulations to comply with the National Flood Insurance Program.  He asked if any Commissioners could help him by comparing the new model language to the existing language in our regulations.  This way, if any changes were necessary, there would be time to get these to the Selectboard before they finalized the Zoning & Subdivision Regulations revisions ahead of their September 19 public hearing.  George volunteered to do this, and report back at the next PC meeting.

 

Wayne Bissonette Re-zoning Request Update:

Jean said she attended the last Selectboard meeting (along with Carrie, Kay, and Joe) to listen to the discussion of Wayne Bissonette’s re-zoning request to expand the commercial district at Ballard’s Corner across Shelburne Falls Road to a portion of his property.  She updated everyone on the discussion.  Apparently, the Selectboard will continue this discussion at their September 5th meeting.  Jean commented that the Selectboard should review the statutory provisions for the regulation revision process if it decides to push forward this change on its own.

 

Agenda Items for August 17 Meeting:

Carrie reminded everyone that Kristen Underwood of South Mountain Consulting will doing a presentation on stormwater and impervious surfaces at the August 17 meeting.  She reminded Alex to get a computer projector for the presentation.  She said the presentation and related discussion will take a good portion of the meeting.  Fred said the other agenda item should be George’s review of the new model flood hazard area regulations.

 

The meeting adjourned at approximately 8:30pm.

 

 

Respectfully Submitted,

Alex Weinhagen, Director of Planning & Zoning