Approved July 10, 2007

DRB Members Present: Tom McGlenn, George Munson, Dennis Place, Zoë Wainer, Lisa Goodfry, and Greg Waples.

DRB Member Absent: Ted Bloomhardt

Also Present: Alex Weinhagen, Town Planner; Peter Erb, Zoning Administrator; Holly Russell, Acting Recording Secretary; Rocky Martin, Travis Palmer, Valerie Thibodeau, Joanne & Steve Hoke, Beth & Bob Quackenbush, Bill Marks, Dorothy Pellet (Free Press) Jonathan Trefry, Pat Mainer, and George Bedard.

Town of Hinesburg Revised Site Plan for Town Hall

Rocky Martin, Public Works Director for the Town, presented a revised site plan for the Town Hall with the following updates:

They plan to pave the drive and parking area.
There will be 3 parallel parking spaces in the front on Route 116.
There also will be more landscaping in the front of the building and there will be a sidewalk from here to the Saputo factory to the north on Route 116.
There will be spaces designated for a park & ride on the west end of the parking lot.

Rocky then explained several updates to the submitted plan:

The Mary Zuber honorary flag pole will be located near the front of the building.
They plan to remove the tree between the two rear parking areas. Peter Erb suggested moving it to the north so that it would still provide shade for the lot.
The exterior lights will be solar and downcast, but there will not be any new lights in the existing parking lot. George Munson commented that the lot currently is very dark and there needs to be brighter lighting. Rocky said the light fixtures need to be cleaned out and that should help.
There will also be a new sign at the front of the building and they plan to have downcast lighting on it. George suggested running this sign by the Village Steering Commission so that it would match any signs they may be working on.
Travis Palmer, an adjacent landowner on the Charlotte Road, was present and explained they have requested that they be allowed to remove their road-cut onto Route 116 and use the Town’s driveway to access their property. Rocky explained that this is an issue that the Select Board will have to address. If this should occur, he would return to the DRB to further revise the site plan. Travis would also like to see some type of hedge continued along his property line with that proposed behind the Gary Clark house. It was suggested that this hedge be of a salt resistant variety.

Dennis Place asked whether there would be sufficient parking when soccer games are going on. Rocky explained that at that time, the Town offices are closed and there should be sufficient spaces. Some of the parents also park at the United Church.

Tom McGlenn made the motion to close the public discussion of the Town Hall site plan and directed staff to draft conditions of approval. This motion was seconded by George Munson and passed with Greg Waples abstaining from the vote.

Viola Goodrich Final Plat Public Hearing

Tom McGlenn opened the warned public hearing for review of a request by Viola Goodrich to create one new lot at her property on the east side of the Lavigne Hill Road. This proposal was presented by George Bedard and the Goodrich’s were not present for the hearing.

George B then explained the following points of this proposal:

Lot #2 with the existing house will be 23.92 acres in size and the proposed new lot #1 will be 9.60acres in size.
They have received approval of the waste water design, prepared by McCain Consulting Inc, from the State. The replacement area for the new lot will be on the larger lot owned by Viola.
The utility lines will be underground from the Lavigne Hill Road and within the 60’ wide road right-of-way.
The run-off from this driveway will go toward the field with a culvert at the edge of Lot #1. There will also be rip wrap in the ditches to slow the runoff into the field.
Greg Waples felt that the hammerhead turn-around in the field on lot #2 was not necessary. George B. explained there is one shown at the new house but the engineers had designed the road with this additional one. Dennis and Tom did not have a problem with there being an additional area. Tom felt that this would be a good area for future access to the upper field.
George B. explained that there could be a homeowners association or there will be language in the deeds as to the sharing in the cost of maintaining this shared drive. Tom agreed with Peter’s suggestion that there be a requirement that with any future development would have to join an association.
The wells in this area have yields from low to sufficient.
Peter Erb in his staff memo to the Board had felt that the building envelope should be decreased in size. George B. said they would move the line on the eastern side 120’ and this would have it inside the wood line. Peter also requested that the northwest corner be removed from the building envelop as this is a highly visible area. George B. said the septic area is here but he would talk to his clients about this.

The areas that need to be revised are decreasing the size of the building envelope to the east and the northwest corner and removing the hammerhead turn-around in the field.

Tom McGlenn made the motion to continue the public hearing to the Board’s July 10, 2007 meeting and directed staff to draft conditions of approval. This motion was seconded by Zoë Wainer and passed unanimously.

Hoke/Quackenbush Sketch Plan Review

The next item on the agenda was a proposal for sketch plan approval for a subdivision of property owned by Stephen & Joanne Hoke and Robert & Elizabeth Quackenbush. This property is located on the corner of the Baldwin and Burritt Roads. This is a revised plan from one that was denied approval by the Board on 10/03/06.

Steve Hoke presented the following background information:

The applicants each have their own house lots and have jointly owned this approximately 65 acre parcel since the 1970’s. They are currently proposing 6 lots for this parcel.
This proposal includes a large 27.4 acre wooded lot (Lot #6) that will allow the owner to participate in the State’s Current Use Program. They have been working with Ben Campbell, a forester, who submitted a letter on the woods. They have also included a large 16.7 acre lot (#1) to preserve the open field.
Another issue had been the nearness of the new houses to the Baldwin farm land and the new road location has been moved to the south to expand the isolation distance.

George Bedard then further explained details of this proposal:

They do not plan to cut any of the larger trees in constructing this road along the Baldwin property to the south. Greg commented that at the time of the previous site visit, they had observed barred owls. Steve said they have a written agreement with the Baldwin on this matter.
The large wood lot has pine trees on the north portion and more hard woods in the south. The 4 smaller house lots are where the poorest soils are located.
Lot #1 will be accessed off the Burritt Road and the house close to that road and it would share a road-cut with the Quackenbush’s.
There will be shared septic systems mainly on lot #6. This design may change as new State rules are currently being considered.
This plan shows the location of each house and the next presentation will have building envelopes and no-cut zones. The houses with the exception of lot #1 are located in woods.
Greg felt that it should be in the deed for lot #6 that the owner is required to participate in the State Current Use Program.
There will be a small boundary adjustment at the Hoke property to keep their pond completely on their property.
Greg then questioned the density of having this number of houses. George B said that this project is proposing 6 houses on 66 acres which is generally keeping with the neighborhood pattern. Except for the house on lot #1 these houses will generally not be seen from the public roads.

Jon Trefry, who lives near on the Baldwin Road, had written a letter to the Board concerning this subdivision and explained that he had done this prior to the newest plan being presented. Although he felt that these applicants had looked at the DRB concerns from the first application and it is good that they have kept the woods in a large parcel and the field open. However he has concerns about this amount of development in the Agricultural District. He urged the DRB to minimize the amount of fragmentation of the ag land.

Bill Marks, from the Conservation Commission, passed out a booklet with maps and charts on the lot size and felt the 4 smaller lots should be part of a PRD and much smaller. He also felt there should be more than just logging considered for the large wooded lot.

Pat Mainer, who lives on the Fletcher Farm Road off the Baldwin Road, also felt that it would be better to cluster the houses on smaller lots although she did not have any problem with the density. She also was concerned about preserving the wildlife corridor in this part of town.

George B. explained that he felt with the location of the houses and the topography there could still be a wildlife corridor with this subdivision. He also said at the next presentation they will look at a pedestrian space along the Baldwin Road. He felt that in this area, people would want more space and privacy between their houses.

Greg commented that at the original site visit only two of the current members had been present. It was decided that the other members would contact George B. or the applicants and make site visits on their own. The members would also like time to read the handout from the Conservation Commission.

Tom McGlenn made the motion to continue the public discussion of the Hoke/Quackenbush sketch plan proposal to the Board’s July 24, 2007 meeting. This motion was seconded by George Munson and passed unanimously.

Action Items

Francis George Munson made the motion to grant sketch plan approval to the Francis Family to create one new lot at their property on the north side of the Hayden Hill Road West. This motion was seconded by Dennis Place and passed unanimously with Greg Waples abstaining from the vote.
Middlebury Bank Dennis Place made the motion to grant approval for a revision to the conditional use permit and site plan approval for the Middlebury National Bank. This motion was seconded by Zoë Wainer and passed unanimously.
Carse Zoë Wainer made the motion to grant David Carse a 6^th month extension for his sketch plan approval to subdivide the former Ballard property on the west side of Route 116. This motion was seconded by George Munson and passed unanimously.

The meeting was adjourned at 9:20 p.m.

Respectfully submitted,

Holly Russell

Acting Recording Secretary