TOWN OF HINESBURG

PLANNING COMMISSION

MEETING MINUTES
March 24, 2010

Approved April 14, 2010

Members Present: Tom Ayer, Joe Iadanza, Johanna White, Carrie Fenn

Members Absent: Will Patten, Jean Isham, Tim Clancy,

Also Present: David & Barbara Lyman, Ray Mainer, Bob Linck

Joe called the meeting to order at 7:30.

As there was not a quorum the members were not able to bring anything up for a vote. They discussed issues they would like to have brought up at the next meeting.

Alex gave a couple of updates to the commission. He passed out copies with some revised language on the sections that had been talked about at the last meeting. The second update was that FEMA is delayed in their revision of the maps. FEMA will not adopt new maps until 2011. FEMA is interested in (throughout Chittenden County) making the revised maps more accurate and to have them be more reflective of the high resolution elevation data that Hinesburg got back in 2004 when most of Chittenden County got good aerial photography taken. Alex said at the next meeting when everybody is here it can be decided whether the commission wants to continue forwarding the revisions on to the Select Board or whether to keep it and forward it on to the Select Board with the next package of zoning changes which is the Village Growth revision.

Carrie and Johanna agreed that waiting for more members to be present would be a good idea because it will lead to more discussion.

Johanna said there was one issue she would like discuss and that was what Tom had said last meeting, that there seems to be a double standard and she said she would like to review that more.

Alex asked if that was the portion that granted the Town the ability to add new fill in the flood hazard area whereas non-municipal entities don’t get that option. Johanna said yes that was where she thinks more discussion should occur before a final say. Carrie said she also agrees and when she was reading Alex’s memo which stated –as long as it doesn’t add more than a foot, she pointed out that a foot of water could be devastating for some property owners. She had second thoughts too on the wording and would like more discussion. Alex said he would put that on the agenda as a specific item so it won’t get lost. Alex said that the revisions were pretty targeted; there were three major sections that the commission wanted some new language on.

Tom brought up the question of not putting anything in the flood hazard area like a bathroom but does that mean port-a-lets too? If we allowed the Town or people to put in a field you wouldn’t allow them to build new structures in the flood hazard area but would that include port-a-lets? He thought it was foolish that you couldn’t set up a pod for the summer or football season, which is three months, without needing a zoning permit.

Johanna said the port-a-lets come and go, they are not permanent. Tom said they may be considered storage.

Alex said that was an interesting question and he would have to speak with FEMA about that. It is our zoning administrator who really enforces the regulations and so it is his call to determine whether it is temporary enough in nature that he’s not even going to look at it. Alex said that he felt clearly that the intent of the regulatory language is to keep new structures out so if a trailer or something that was used to store equipment rose to the level of a new structure, as stated in “new accessory structures of under 200 sq ft”, if it is larger than that it may be a problem.

Alex said that the problem with having all that stuff in the flood hazard area is that it can become mobilized during a flood event.

Joe said he didn’t have any problems with deferring the topics to the next meeting and that he shared some of the same feelings as Tom.

Alex pointed out the next two items on the agenda, the Town plan and revision and regulations revisions are going to take up a lot of time at the next meeting, and probably the next two meetings. He suggested since they don’t have a deadline on the flood hazard regulations anymore it might be put off for awhile.

Carrie asked if the April 28th meeting was on Village Growth, Rezoning and Town Plan revisions. Alex said it was. Johanna asked if there had been any progress with getting more people on this board. Alex said the Select Board had four people interested and they didn’t make any appointments on Monday because there was one person they didn’t know and they wanted to interview him. Alex said he hopes that they will appoint someone at their next meeting so hopefully we will be back up to nine member board.

Joe suggested the board look at the Town Plan revisions.

Alex passed out copies of reports thanking Carrie and Joe who have been helping; there are some sections of the Town Plan that are ready. He directed the board to look at the transportation section and said he added language relative to the Hinesburg Rides Program. The energy section is what Carrie and Ashley have been working on and has some new figures and a variety of changes that they made since the last time the full Commission talked about it. Carrie said she and Ashley took into account the comments that were made during the last go-through and hopefully it will be more acceptable. Alex said the land use section is also ready.

One section that is remaining; the Community Facility section, which is section 5 of the plan which deals with general government, water, sewers, roads, and the recreation section that Jean provides. He said that the flood hazard area section needs significant revisions to address what we are doing now with the regulations and the fluvial erosion hazard area. Alex said he would make a pass at it then send it to the Conservation Commission and ask if there is anything else that has changed in the last five years. He said that committee was very interested in the green spaces. Alex said he will have the Conservation Commission look at the Natural Resources section before the next meeting.

Johanna asked if everything Alex gave them is going to be reviewed at the April 28th meeting with the public, and Alex said yes.

Tom said he would like to clear up an assumption, to find out it if is even true and that is that the population is increasing. Alex said it is true but the magnitude of the increase is much less than what the 2005 Town Plan anticipated. He said that was Section 2 which he hadn’t gotten through yet as he was trying to get as many different population models as the Town has. He said that the 2005 plan anticipated annual population growth at 1.2% and that is a vast overestimate of what it actually has been. In the revised Section 2 there will be a much down-graded estimate of that because the Town is not growing that fast. Tom asked if the 1.2% was an over estimate when the population was booming. Alex said it was based on the growth through the 80’s and 90’s; we grew really fast in the 80’s, we grew less fast in the 90’s but the Town was still growing at a good clip. Since 2000 the Town has been growing at a slower pace. Tom pointed out that the schools have been down approximately 200 students in the last ten years. Carrie said the next update will have the 2010 census report in it. Alex said when the commission does the 2015 plan update they will actually have much better census data.

David Lyman asked about the growth Alex gave him a history of it so far. He offered to email the discussions from last year to him.

Minutes of March 10, 2010

Carrie said she would like to hold off on accepting them until they have all had a chance to read them.

Other Business

Joe talked about attending an “All Chairs” meeting. He said the Select Board had called all the Chairs from each Commission together Monday night. The Board was looking for some agreed to common plan for the various Commissions to have regular conversations with the DRB. There are some concerns about various commissions providing unsolicited comments to the DRB on various projects. The Select Board was looking for clarity on how and when different commissions would talk to the Board. Several things were put forward; one – being asked for an opinion and then getting the opinion back in writing and letting the applicant know that there was an opinion from a Commission or Board other than the DRB. Joe said there was discussion as to exactly how to do that; should there be a number of different Commissions talking directly to the applicant or should they all be funneled through the Zoning staff. Then they discussed how to represent themselves in public meetings making sure there is a delineation of people talking for themselves, or people talking as a representative for their particular Board/Commission.

Joe said it was suggested to have the DRB meetings broken up such that the presentation is one section of the meeting where the different Boards/Commissions can comment and then the public. Joe said the other thing that was discussed was to have some type of communication between the different Boards/Commissions about what was going on. It was suggested to have a semi-regular meeting with the Select Board. What did seem to please everyone was a small quarterly update. Joe said his take on the meeting was to get clarity on whether someone is talking as a private citizen or a representative of their Board, Commission or Committee. Alex reminded the Commission they have to be very careful not to invent new regulations by seeking to clarify what they had written, i.e., mixed use. If the language in the books doesn’t accurately convey what you want it to say you have the power to change that language. Alex said that the Planning Commission is the rule creators and the Select Board is the rules maker and the DRB are the rule enforcers. All the other Committees and Commissions do not have the power within the rule making process. Tom pointed out if the Select Board doesn’t understand what the PC had written they should ask us what the intent was.

Johanna suggested that at the next meeting the Commission look at their Mission Statement. Alex said with all the other Boards and Commissions out there the Planning Commission was pinned down by State Statues.

Saputo

With Will out Alex gave a brief update on what was happening with the property. The only update he has was that the Saputo Steering Committee met again gave a vision in black and white and after they have a meeting with the Select Board they will be ready to hear some public input in the hopes that that would create enough of an outline that this Commission could draft some zoning regulations in a permanent way for that area.

Joe made a motion to close the meeting.

Meeting ended at 8:35 p.m.

Respectfully Submitted,

Mary Seemann