MEETING MINUTES OF THE

BURNS COMMITTEE

January 14, 2004

Town Hall 7:00 PM

 

Members in attendance:

Dana Farley (Village Resident), Chair                 Moe Harvey (Citizen at large)   

Al Moraska (Planning Commission)                    Jesse Bradley (Recreation Committee)  

Charles Russell (Selectboard)                             Jack Clemmons (Economic Development Committee)

 

Members absent:      

Dee Pierce (Conservation Commission)                         

John Owen (Affordable Housing Committee)     

                                   

Others present:

Dick LeBoeuf

Brian Shupe

Dean Bloch, Town Planner

                                   

The meeting convened at 7:00 PM.

 

Minutes

The minutes from December 10th were approved.

 

Septic Proposals

The Committee reviewed three septic proposals (from:  Trudell Consulting Engineers; Otter Creek Engineering; and Lamoureux and Dickinson Engineering).  Letters from Civil Engineering Associates and Stone Environmental were also reviewed.

 

In reviewing the proposals, one of the questions discussed was whether monitoring can be done this Spring, or whether a two-step process (ie: test pits this year and monitoring next year) would be appropriate.  Trudell and Lamoureux & Dickinson proposed to conduct a monitoring program this Spring; Otter Creek did not, but proposed a topographic survey and wetland delineation.

 

The Committee asked Dean to have Spencer Harris review the proposals and give the Committee a written recommendation.  The Committee will meet next week (on January 21st at 5:00 PM) to review Spencer’s recommendation and to select a consultant.

 

Discussion with Brian Shupe

Brian provided a background of his firm, Burnt Rock, Inc., and indicated that the firm mostly works for municipalities, but in some cases does work for private entities.  An example is a recent project for Rock Point, which involved creating a conservation-minded management plan.  The firm works on planning rather than on design, however they frequently team with designers.

 

Brian felt that the recently completed West Charlotte Village Plan lacked a three dimensional design component, which was perhaps the reason why the plan wasn’t accepted.  There was discussion about the incorporation of “design statements” into the Burns Planning Process.  Dana said that the village could most likely be broken into four neighborhoods, and that each neighborhood will look at constraints and opportunities, and will do a written statement that provides a vision for how the neighborhood should evolve.

 

Brian said that the process may need a designer more than a planner, but one that can help people envision what is possible and also provide graphic representations of verbal and written statements of residents, rather than a master plan.

 

Dana asked Brian whether he would recommend rezoning the Burns property ie: as Village or Commercial (which was also the next agenda-item for the meeting).  Brian said that he would recommend it, however he felt that this might need an amendment to the Town Plan, considering that the Planning Commission is being very careful in its current amendment of the zoning bylaws (which Brian is assisting with) to stay in sync with the Town Plan.

 

Discussion of Rezoning Parcel

There was brief discussion about rezoning the Burns parcel.  There was no conclusion.

 

Discussion of Next Step

The Committee briefly discussed how it wants to proceed with selecting a consultant.  The Committee asked Dean to draft an RFP for a consultant, using the Planning Process as an outline, with a project budget of $12,000.

 

Next Meeting

A meeting to approve a septic consultant was scheduled for Wednesday January 21st at 5:00 PM.

The next regular meeting was scheduled for Wednesday February 18th at 7:00 PM. 

 

Action items:

C         Dean to ask Spencer Harris for written review and recommendation of septic proposals.

C         Dean to ask Trudell what their cost is for monitoring.

C         Dean to draft a Request for Proposals (RFP) for facilitator/planner/designer.

 

Potential future agenda items:

 

C         Selection of septic consultant; make recommendation to Selectboard

C         Review Request For Proposals (RFP) for facilitator/designer/planner

C         Establish neighborhood groups

C         Discuss how Dick LeBoeuf’s project fits into the Burns project

C         Discuss make-up of Committee

 

The meeting adjourned at 9:10 PM.

 

Respectfully Submitted,

Dean Bloch