CHARLOTTE PLANNING COMMISSION
7:00 P.M., TUESDAY, JANUARY 19, 1999
TOWN OFFICES
425-3533
Members Present:Chairman Al Moraska
Ed Melby
Jim Donovan
Jeff McDonald
Dave Brown
David Woolf
Members Absent:
David Allen
Guests Signed In:
Kate Bortz
Robin Reid
Robert Mack
Teresa Jenson
Linda Radimer
Linda S. Hamilton
Sylvia Sprigg
Martha Perkins
Louis Cox
1. General Business: Approval of Minutes is tabled until next meeting.
2. Town Plan kickoff night: Chairman Moraska explained to the audience that every five years the towns are
required by state law to update their Town Plans. We did a very complete, comprehensive and thorough revision in
1990. Then in 1995 when we did the Plan we felt at that time that there were not enough changes to make a total
revision necessary at that point, so with minor adjustments we passed it.
This year, he said, we felt that there were enough changes going on within the community that we needed to do
a more in-depth study of the issues. As with the format done in 1990 committees will be formed to work on a differ-
ent area of interest in the community, and these committees would look a the Town Plan and see if the Town Plan
fits. If the committee decides it needs to be fixed, they will submit their report to the Planning Commission for con-
sideration. Each committee will have a coordinator from the Planning Commission to try to keep things rolling, but
the committees themselves will do the work.
We are putting the workload on the committees and would like to get as many people involved as we can. The
committees are operating on a voluntary basis and we hope people will volunteer, but if people are interested but
cannot afford the time we encourage them to submit some of their views in writing, either to the Planning Office or
to a Planning Commission member.
The groups will be acting autonomously within their fields, and they will be setting up their own meeting sche-
dules. They can meet as often as they wish, and can recruit people with expertise in a certain area to join the group,
and they can invite experts to address their group but the Planning Commission has no funding to pay experts. We
hope to get people to participate, certainly as we did the last time.
Jim Donovan said that as each of the committees is working autonomously, as they get to the end of their work
and see what recommendations they want to make, it would be good if they see how these proposals relate to other
parts of the Town Plan. In March, after the committee meetings they could try to work all the recommendations
together. Al agreed that the committees would overlap to some degree, and they will be looking at perhaps the same
issue but from a different perspective.
Selectboard member Bob Mack asked if the committees will keep minutes. Al said it would be a good idea for
the committee to have a secretary on the committee. Dave Brown agreed that although this is not a requirement, to
take minutes, it would be a good thing if they do it and keep their own records.
Robin Reid asked, chronologically: "How can you draw the public into this?" Jim Donovan replied that they
are going to be forming committees tonight; some have already started.
Dave Brown said they will almost have to have meetings every week or every other week; they might have to
post sign-up sheets for people to sign up for the committees they want to be on. Calls may have to be made to some
of the people who have already expressed interest, if volunteers don't show up.
Robin Reid asked if they can publish names of "who's on what committee." Ed said we have to find time to
work on this, and suggested the sign-up sheets be posted not only in the town offices, but in East Charlotte and in
the Brick Store.
Martha Perkins asked what the choices were, as to which committee to sign up on. Robin said the news article
was confusing and wanted to know if there was supposed to be a consensus at each meeting.
Al introduced Kit Perkins, who has been hired for a couple of months as a consultant to work on this project.
Kit said that as of now, the Charlotte News is the main resource. She asked if the kickoff meetings were to be held
on each of the topics, or would each committee meet ahead of time. She suggested that each issue of the Charlotte
News have an article about one of the committee topics. She suggested they would need to call others to form their
committee. When a committee is formed, is there a point on which to start?
Jim Donovan said, yes, there is. First they would all read what is in that part of the Town Plan that deals with
the interest of their committee, and see if that is the same policy that they want to see in effect in the future. That's
the starting point. Then they review that information and make sure that it's accurate. They want to make it better
rather than starting fresh.
Martha asked if there would be a specific committee on education. Jeff McDonald said that although education
is a facet of the Town Plan we would need to see whether we need to change the subdivision regulations and the
zoning regulations to make sure that we can afford to pay for schools. Martha said she had read that we will be
studying future use of buildings and community facilities in Charlotte. Linda Hamilton suggested that elderly
housing is one of the subjects of study that is included. Jeff said there is a committee for this, and that is why they
will need to pull in those who are working on these studies and the Road Commissioner to help them. (Jeff said he
will be on this committee.)
Ed Melby asked that this "large" group of citizens here tonight help run down this list of proposals and come
up with ideas for possible volunteers, because the time is getting short. "For instance," he said, "Housing:" Dave
Brown suggested the name of someone who has been studying housing for the last year and a half.
Kate Bortz said the first time, she had a list of 65 names. She simply called them and told them they were
appointed. She said, "Just be prepared, and call them." Jump-start them; the Planning Commission should just set a
meeting date and ask everyone to come, and each member just sit with their group. Waiting, she said, is dicey, so
get the meeting going. They are more energized if all the people will come. Linda Hamilton said a small core needs
to get the ball rolling, to block out some questions and be willing to change. She suggested they organize commit-
tees just to get going, and then get the volunteers to join in.
Kit Perkins said first there should be an idea of the overall vision. Then they need to figure out, "What are
appropriate questions to each of the committees? Do they need to add new sections," she asked, "and do they need
to add new policies?" She observed that the village center and East Charlotte may need differing approaches.
Al Moraska suggested that with housing, they may need to look at affordability, senior housing, and general
trends that are happening as regards to subdivisions. Jim Donovan added that this is an area where there may be
some overlap. Dave Brown said it may be a matter of sending someone to the other meetings, such as Fire, Rescue,
Grange or Senior Citizen meetings to get the input they need and come back to report to the committee.
Robin Reid suggested that repetition may help; write an article and place it in the Charlotte News as an insert,
but continue to print the article as much as 3 times. Sometimes, she said, people mislay an article and when they
see it a 3rd time they are reminded to do something about it.
Ed Melby reminded folks that the railroad application is coming up again, and what with transportation
changes, other businesses expanding etc. there is going to be more pressure on housing and light industry. What
defense do we have, he said, other than putting up a wall? Although the heavy soils may slow things down due to
septic requirements, recent improvements in their design may take that protection away. We have to decide, and
plan, where that growth is going to occur.
Dave Brown agreed that the town can try to slow things down, but must decide what part of town growth is
desired, how to plan buffer zones and which areas where there will be some wildlife protection. The town has to do
something to prevent its looking like Williston, Shelburne or South Burlington, he said.
Linda Hamilton said there is very little time before Town Meeting day so people should take advantage of this
little time allowed before the meeting, and be ready to make some suggestions at Town Meeting. Linda Radimer
agreed that the more people available for the preliminary planning, the better.
Al Moraska listed the Planning Commission members who would work with each group:
(1) Economics committee – Al Moraska: Business, a review of the commercial-industrial area. Do we have
enough commercial area, or too much? What type of businesses would we like to see? Home occupations
is growing in the area, and the biggest business in Charlotte is farming. Dave Brown said there is a farm-
land study going on in town, and they would want to make sure that the committees don't do a study when
somebody else is already doing it. This is the farmland inventory that is being put on GIS maps. Robin
Reid added that the Land Trust, Richard Pete's group, has some information, too. Linda Radimer said
there is some information from the 5-town group.
(2) Transportation, Facilities, Government – Jeff McDonald: One of the things that has been discussed,
Jeff said, is whether the town should hire a Town Manager or a Town Administrator. He said there is a 5-
town study on schools, as well. Kit said there is a Planning Grant, for a survey or a census, hoping to get
a pupil-per-house number in order to get the impact of development projects.
(3) Lake and Shoreline – Ed Melby: The lake shore hasn't changed, but the town assets have, he said.
There are now tennis courts, fishing access, Thompson's Point access, the Lake Champlain Ferry, new
residences along the lake shore, two areas of summer residences, on Thompson's Point and Cedar Beach,
increased ferry transportation, interest in the annual June fishing contest, but the lake is a tremendous asset
for the town. There was a "Shoreline Committee" report to the Charlotte Planning Commission dated
October, 1987, Ed said, that he had not seen before. There has been a lot of work done and it's a matter of
looking at the database and updating it, and studying how they can maintain it as a resource.
(4) Agriculture Committee – Dave Brown: He said they are looking at the land in Charlotte and trying to
see, with conservation, wildlife, development, how it will be used in the next ten years. This may need a
large committee, he said, because of all the land. The farmland study will be used to help tie in water
resources, development, and uses to the whole picture. The wetland mapping will help a lot. Linda
Hamilton said they will have draft maps soon.
(5) Village Centers – Jim Donovan and David Woolf: There are other areas, he said, where neighborhoods
develop. How do they feel they want to develop as well as the town centers, themselves? We will need to
get the overall picture as well as studying the Town Center itself.
Al said the next step is to get the people. Linda Hamilton said there is a "Future Growth" report that might be
a resource. Dave Brown said the next step is to find out names of earlier committee members. Al said there is a
Natural Resources Committee and a list of participants who might be a place to start.
Kate Bortz said she would get a list of names from the attendees at the 5-town gathering in October. Sylvia
Sprigg suggested that archived copies of the Charlotte News may have people's names who worked on the old Town
Plan. Dave Brown said at the next Planning Commission meeting, they should get all the names together and
perhaps by then they may have the nucleus of each committee. Robin said that each week there is a calendar of
upcoming meetings. Kit has a list of contacts, and she plans to go to some of these meetings before then. Dave
asked if someone could make up an announcement paper. Martha asked if there is money to do a mailing, but
Robin suggested using an insert in the paper instead. The deadline is Tuesday for the following week.
Martha said it appears that Health, as a subject, is not included; is that under Facilities & Services? she asked.
There is an amount of funds allotted to pay for Visiting Nurses, etc., she said, and if the Planning Commission
addresses this, the Selectboard has more definition. Jeff McDonald said it may not specifically be a cost benefit
since there are federal programs that the town takes part in.
Dave said these types of questions might be asked of the volunteers: "Why do you like Charlotte?" and "Why
did you move to Charlotte?" If they answer that "I like the scenery," or "This is a rural area," or "I don't like living
in a city," then you know that if you want to keep Charlotte the rural way it is, you need to do certain things with
the Town Plan to be sure that development occurs where you want it to occur. If you get what the spirit of the
people is, then the committees have to look at the overlap while not destroying the other goals.
Linda Radimer said they may have to look at the setbacks from woods, have setbacks from the roads reduced
in order to continue to preserve wildlife. Sylvia said in the report from the 5-town gathering, the other towns are
feeling the same way.
Kit asked about the news-insert questions, such as help with the goals. Dave said they should put in a few of
the broad questions he mentioned before, and they may trigger new ideas. Robin suggested they offer people to
come in and read the Town Plan. Dave agreed; some people may not have read the Town Plan because they had to
pay $9.00 for it in the past. Now, it is going to be offered, FREE. Robin will help with the insert.
Al Moraska asked Kate Bortz about the Planning Grant proposal. This is a study, she said, where they want to
get a better handle on development and how it impacts the schools. There is an Act 250 questionnaire and they are
doing this survey re the southern towns of Chittenden County to find out what the average per-pupil ratio per
household is based on an up-to-date inventory. Williston had a door to door survey to look at trends, but this should
be done through a sampling, at least. They would have a consultant set up the system so that each town can
continue to keep up with new information being added. They want to get schools to take up the planning, and
Champlain Valley Union high school has the impact study. What Faith Ingleswood put in the last memo lists the
number of towns in the consortium. Kate Bortz said Shelburne would participate, but is not one of the applicants
for the grant.
This is from the Department of Housing and Community Affairs, and appears to be in a format where it is easy
to write; it is meant to be easy. There was some money left over from last year. The census is another year away,
and that data will not be available for 3 to 4 years, so that study is not a good match. When there is a refusal of a
developer's requests, he needs to have an answer given to him. Dave Brown observed that there is an impact from
each town on CVU and what the town's percentage is for the school.
Al Moraska made a motion that the Charlotte Planning Commission supports the Planning Grant
application for the 5-Town study on Impacts on schools for new development. Jim Donovan seconded the
motion and it was approved with a vote of 6–0, with one member absent.
3. Findings of Fact for Jane Titus application: (This project was approved two weeks ago.) This is a deliber-
ative session to finalize the wording of the agreements they have already made during the hearing. Lot 2 can't be
subdivided further. Jeff suggested that for the waste water disposal system a requirement should be made that these
plans be revised so that the intermittent sand filter system to show a minimum separation distance of 12" above the
ground water. Also there needs to be some protection from people driving on it.
For Lot 1 Jim Donovan suggested that instead of just saying that everything outside of the building envelope is
open space, they should designate just where that delineation occurs, such as that area closest to the Demeter area in
the woods. They measured out the area on the map and did further discussion about that, and the proposed waste-
water disposal area, and Al wrote up the conditions which Gloria has written up in a Proposed Findings of Fact.
Al Moraska moved to continue the reconsideration of the Findings of Fact on the Perry application to the
meeting of February 2, 1999. Dave Brown seconded the motion and it was approved 6–0 with one member absent.
Submitted by Nancy Lane
APPROVED BY CHARLOTTE PLANNING COMMISSION