CHARLOTTE PLANNING COMMISSION

1. General Business: The minutes of February 1, 2001 were tabled and the discussion then centered around the Village Planning Study, the draft of which has been sent by the consultants for approval.

Jim Donovan said he has talked to Nat Goodhue already, and invites comments from others as well. We had a good planning process, he said, and had some good ideas. He wants to make sure that people who did not participate in this study can pick up this report and really understand it and know what we have talked about, and that five years from now, as another Planning Commission is looking at this, and there is a development proposal they can pull this out and get some guidance from it. Therefore, Jim said, he really wants to make sure that it=s good. Although some of this is good, it=s not organized enough and some of the information is missing. This is stuff that we generated and we talked about and it just isn=t here.

Al Moraska agreed; there are a lot of details that are missing. So Jim said he would like to work with them and finalize the text. We can submit the bills, he said, but extend the final product if we have to.

Dean said the grant says the work has to be done by March 24^th. The State actually needs this by April.

Jim said that, having worked on other products that are funded this way, the communities have asked for extensions. Most of the time, with good reason, they have been granted the extensions. We are well on our way, we=ve got evidence that work was done, and we should be able to get it.

Jeff McDonald asked if the funding agency has seen copies of the report. Dean said they have not.

Jim said we are finalizing and we shouldn=t have any problem with meeting the billing deadline in preparation for this final work, with the understanding that they will have this all completed in April. Dean said he has a May deadline when he has to send everything to the State.

Jim said he has a marked up copy and has asked Nat Goodhue to send a copy of the data file so he could work directly in the files. Jim said he is missing some of the figures, as well so this is not an acceptable product yet. Josie Leavitt will assist Jim with this, and Al Moraska will send over his comments as well.

2. Discussion regarding proposed Town Plan: Al Moraska said he had some concerns and did send a letter to the Charlotte News. He said he limited it to comments on the economic section because he was involved in that portion of the plan. He also had issues with the process the Selectboard took, to arrive at this legally, and the way they added in changes at the eleventh hour without much public discussion. He said he went to the second public hearing on this, as did many other people, and some of the suggestions were worthy of consideration but were brushed aside.

Al said he will vote NO on the Town Plan. He does not feel good about it, and says this is not what we worked on.

Josie and Dave agreed; this is not the Town Plan that the Planning Commission committees and members worked on.

Jim Donovan asked, what are some of the changes that were made. Al said for one thing, there is the elimination of the commercial district on Thompson=s Point Road without a vote, wiping any reference to it in both the text of the Town Plan and on the maps. Even the existing use maps have been changed.

Jim said there are other commercial districts, and we needed to be consistent across the board and the other commercial districts not yet developed have not been removed from the existing use map in the same way.

As Al has said before, the idea of putting all of the business into the village area, which has existing problems with water and septic and has wetlands, as well as potential traffic problems without any kinds of alternatives or any kinds of ways of supporting this choice.

Josie said there was a discussion that the commercial areas wouldn=t be needed because of all the home businesses; but what happens when the home business outgrows the home? That=s not what they said at the work session we had.

Dave Brown said, number one it was a personal thing. They disregarded that the area they are taking away has septic, access and so forth. Number two, if we take the land away there is no alternative for the traffic. Now all the traffic has to go here and the village is not safe enough.

Dave continued; only certain ones in this town know what is going on, and it is done without even public meetings. We, the Planning Commission after having a hearing, voted the petition down and sent a very explicit letter to the Selectboard stating the reasons. But the Selectboard decided not to even put it on the ballot. Al agreed, saying taking all reference to this district out of the Town Plan is a backwards way of changing the zoning without putting it on the ballot.

Expanded home occupations cannot take care of what we want, Al said, such as a grocery store, a bank, a drug store, etc. or even a hardware store. Who wants one of those right next to a home?

Jim Donovan asked, are there enough changes that we as a body don=t want to support it?

Dave Brown: All these months we worked on it; we will get the blame for what ends up, just like we are getting the blame for the trimmed down final design of the fire station, which had to keep within its building budget and not have the tower on it. Everything in this town is done by volunteers; everyone who worked as a volunteer and yet was not listened to, gets the impression that all decisions made will be ignored.

Al Moraska said he has problems with other issues. We treated TDR (transfer of development rights) differently but that was changed. The Zoning Board doesn=t like the new Town Plan either, according to some who have listened to them about this. To limit the number of building permits per year is written into the new Town Plan is on Page 115.

Dave said if we do this as a body, it throws up a red flag for people to at least read this rather than just vote blindly. The Town Plan we have now is still in effect for four more years, and it is not as crucial to vote for this as we have been told.

Jeff said we should have a vote on this by the next meeting March 1^st, all agreed. Jim asked to talk more tonight.

3. George Burrill B Subdivision Modification, Lucy=s Lane and Higbee Road: Liam Murphy represented the applicant George Burrill. He said George has two lots that are 30 acres, and 11 acres. He is applying to change the boundaries so that there is one 36 acre lot and one 5 acre lot. One of the lots was previously approved so he wants to modify that.

Item 2 of Dean=s suggested requirement was the mylar, and Liam brought that in.

Asked if there was a 911 address yet, Dean said the new lot will have a Lucy Lane address. The other lot already has an address and the Zoning Administrator does that.

Although there is an existing woods road, the access is off Higbee Road, Liam said.

Jim Donovan moved that we approve the subdivision modification with the conditions as noted in the Planner=s Notes. Josie Leavitt seconded the motion and it was approved, 6 B 0 with one member absent.

4. Discussion of proposed letter written by Dean Bloch to the principal of the Charlotte Central School, with a copy to PTO president Allie Dickerson: The Planning Commission approved the text of the letter (minus a couple of sentences), as follows:

To Monica Smith, Principal

Charlotte Central School

408 Hinesburg Road

Charlotte, VT 05445

Dear Principal Smith,

I am writing with regard to an application for subdivision which I am expecting will be submitted in the coming month which, in a period of six to seven years, will create approximately thirteen building-lots. The Charlotte Planning Commission has requested that I write to request your feedback with regard to the ability of the Charlotte Central School to accommodate the students added to the school by this subdivision. The Planning Commission may require the buildout of the subdivision to be phased if there is evidence that the impact of the subdivision on the school will be substantial. Such a requirement would need to be supported by specific documentation.

In more general terms, it seems important that there be dialogue with regard to the capacity of the school for new development in general. I would look forward to hearing any thoughts you have regarding this.

Please feel free to call me if you have any questions.

(Signed by Dean Bloch, Town Planner)

5. Estate of Beebe Wicker: Maria Wicker described the boundary line between the two lots which coincides with an existing fence line. One of the lots has 10.08 acres and the other one 74 + acres. There is a design for a new septic system which has been approved by Spencer Harris, and there is a site design by Champlain Consulting. Estimates from the contractors are that they can begin the new septic system in May and construction will take approximately two months. Maria included aerial photos of the land.

Al asked if the septic system will also be created for Lot 2. Maria said the second lot is to be sold as open land with no septic design. We do have a septic right of way to adjacent land, she said, and we also have established two building envelopes. There are natural boundary lines for this other road property lines and a small, seasonal stream.

Jeff asked for other questions or comments from the audience. Some neighbors asked about some details and setbacks. One woman said she has very little percable land, yet she is on higher ground. There was discussion about the fence line and areas of wetland.

Al asked about wildlife. Part of this land is shown on town maps as supporting wildlife and Dave said he and Linda Radimer had walked there with Maria.

Jim said the proposed building envelope in the larger lot is rather large, and asked Maria if they would consider moving the building envelope away from the woods more, and making it smaller. Maria said the reason she had made it that size was to give the potential buyer more leeway in choosing the site. Dave Brown expressed a wish that this building envelope would be more away from the woods because it is becoming a problem to take away too much woods.

Maria asked Dave to point out on the map, his suggestion, and they agreed on a place closer to the road and not in the wet area. A septic doesn=t have to be inside the building envelope. The proposed building envelope is 250' wide from east to west in the woods, and they agreed to reduce this to 125'. Dave also suggested they should try to plan on a way to get into that lot without disturbing wildlife.

Jeff McDonald referred to regulations: In 13.1, B:

This waiver shall in no way guarantee that sewage disposal is possible on the created lot. At such time that a building permit is requested for the lot, all requirements of the Charlotte Health Ordinance must be satisfied.

At this time there are just two options for a building lot. Also, we have talked about waivering the open space requirements. If someone came in later and wanted to further subdivide, the open space requirements would come in using the total acreage in this first subdivision.

Jim Donovan moved that we approve the two lot subdivision for the Wicker Estate with the following conditions:

(1) The survey shall be amended by the addition of a note about the second existing septic area, a Note on Page 2 of the previous survey, and on Pages 1 and 2 indicating that the creation of Lot 2 in no way guarantees that (quoting Section 13.1 B of Subdivision Regulations) Asewage disposal is possible on the created lot. At such time that a building permit is requested for the lot, all requirements of the Charlotte Health Ordinance must be satisfied.@

(2) That a corrected mylar be submitted to the Planning Commission within 60 days.

(3) All utility lines shall be underground.

(4) The septic system for Lot #1 shall be installed by August 1, 2001. The Designing Engineer and the Town Septic Consultant shall inspect the system prior to backfilling, and that the applicant shall provide written certification that the system was installed as designed.

(5) The western building envelope as shown on Sheet shall be modified so that the eastern boundary only extends 125' into the woods.

(6) If the second lot does become a building lot, only one of the building envelopes may actually be used for construction.

(7) Any future subdivision of this land will require using the Open Space Requirements and shall be considered for both Lots 1 and 2.

Ed Stone seconded the motion and Jeff asked for further comments. Maria asked how that open space requirement works in that case. Dean explained that the recommended percentage of the total 84+ acres for a set aside of open space would have to be made, including the 10 acre parcel. But it would have to come out of the larger parcel and wouldn=t touch the 10 acre parcel that they are building on now. Jeff said, for instance, if this were 100 acres and they wanted to preserve 50%, that 50 acres would come out of the larger parcel and wouldn=t affect the first, smaller parcel.

With no further discussion, the motion was approved, 6 B 0 with one member absent.

6. Senior Center B Administrative Review of revised septic plans: Because the Town of Charlotte has bought the Burns property, the design will show a different site for the holding tank. Wally Gates said all of these buildings: the library, the fire station, the town office buildings will all use one common line to the system on the Burns property.

The fire station holding tank is further away (because of the well). This will have a gravity feed (3000 gallon tank), then go to the pumping station. Wally Gates said one concern is not to have the pump station be too deep because of gravity feed. Jim Donovan said there should be a common septic tank.

Steve Voch is designing the system. It is the intent to have all the users side by side using the Town right of way.

This is an administrative review, so Jeff asked for a motion for the changes.

Jim Donovan moved to approve the septic design changes for the Senior Center. Dave Brown seconded the motion and it was approved, 6 B 0 with one member absent.

Wally Gates said they are intending to put out invitations to bid, and hopefully they will have this run parallel to the time the Town has a vote on it so that when there is money available the process can continue and they can start with the contracts.

7. Country Home Products, Greenwood America: Dean said this is postponed until next meeting.

8. Chris and Heather Kingston B Discussion of driveway location for Lot #1 of Charlotte Land Trust subdivision on Greenbush Road: Chris and Heather Kingston have a letter about changing a driveway location. They are doing a topographical survey and have Option A and Option B. They prefer Option B which goes up the hill in the open field. It eliminates the switchbacks which go back and forth on the hill. Josie stated that it doesn=t appear as optically pleasing with Option B. Jim Donovan said we can=t choose without a site visit to see the change. Dean acknowledges it is more steep.

All of the options come into the same area, but the driveway is what they want to change. The Planning Commission had preferred Option A, but the applicants prefer Option B which they have staked out.

Al observed that if they chose Option B and it turns out to be the one, and it is also used for the public for sliding, for instance, that can be a consideration.

Charlie Russell asked to speak, and wants to see all the safety and aesthetics issues addressed when the topographical map is looked at and the site visit is done. Ed Stone said there is also an issue of soil erosion if the driveway is too steep. It was decided that individual site visits would be done by members of the Planning Commission after which any additional concerns would be made known to the applicants when the next meeting is held (after the survey).

9. Continued discussion of the Town Plan: Jim Donovan said he has heard enough to know that the Town Plan that is going to be presented at Town Meeting is not the same as the Town Plan that was sent to the Selectboard after all the teams worked on it. But he does think the Planning Commission might go on record in stating that there are significant differences between the two, and that we don=t necessarily endorse it, but because of the changes we want to make sure that people look at it closely.

Dave Brown said he, for one, will not vote for it. But he is not telling other people not to vote for it; he just wants to put a red flag out there that people should really look at it before they blindly vote for it.

Josie Leavitt asked what happens if this Town Plan gets approved. Jim said then the Planning Commission is supposed to modify the Zoning Regulations to match the new Town Plan.

In any Act 250 hearing, the Planning Commission status doesn=t have as much weight (if they don=t changed regulations) because it will appear that they aren=t making any effort to follow the Town Plan. So Jim said we=re sort of obligated to write new regulations to follow this new Town Plan whether we want to or not.

Charlie Russell said according to latest supreme court decisions both of these can be left open to interpretation.

Al Moraska wanted it known that if this Town Plan does pass, he personally does not want to be a party to making bylaws to fit this Town Plan.

Jim Donovan said he would like to make new bylaws for parts of this Town Plan because they are good changes. Al Moraska agreed, but said this is an Aall or non@ situation.

Josie Leavitt agreed; it is very short sighted, and it was not that way when we gave it to the Selectboard. It got very narrow in focus.

Sylvia Sprigg asked to speak; two of the Selectboard members will no longer be on the board after the election on March 6, and possibly a third one may not remain on because of lack of participation for several months. So after March 6^th there will be a different Selectboard, which may have a different approach. She suggests if this is voted down, the Planning Commission should try to submit the Town Plan as submitted before the changes.

Other Towns don=t automatically vote for the Town Plan the first time, in fact some towns were without one for one or two years, Sylvia said.

Jim Donovan said we are not without a Town Plan even if this one is voted down; the present one is in place for five years. Jim said that is a good point; we don=t have to vote for a new one.

Ed Stone said he would hate to go through the whole process over again.

Wallace Smith said he is probably about to Apreach to the choir,@ but after reading some of the egregious inclusions in this new Town Plan that is about to go before the voters this appears to be at economic cross purposes. If originally the attempt to protect the western zone issue was an attempt to take some of the pressure off the checkerboard development in the outside areas, and that was sought as a necessary sacrifice for the overall development of the town, and they were going to give equal development shares to people in the village areas, and accord them as much sensitivity to the process as possible, and then you see the potential inclusion of required acquisition of development rights before this can happen, you can see how, economically this can never happen because of the cost involved and that can never take place.

For these purposes they are trying to throw a chain around the Town and now they want to include the padlock. Economically that kind of impasse can only go on for so long. That, in itself, should be a reason to send it back for some tweaking. The last time around they wanted to put in some sort of requirement for affordable housing and that, economically didn=t work. We either give lip service to some of these identified goals, and we really have not intention of fulfilling it, or else we are like a cow chasing its own tail.

Dave Brown asked Wally how the people on the Zoning Board feel about this. Wally said he can readily speak for three of them, perhaps four of them. Particularly when it comes to the transfer of development rights they don=t think it=s possible. They think this should be put aside for this year, and the more untenable aspects of it should be worked on.

Josie asked why the Selectboard can make all these changes when it was the responsibility of the Planning Commission to do all this work. Dave said it was because the Planning Commission is appointed, and the Selectboard is elected.

Jeff said the sad thing is that some of the members who have made the changes are not going to be there to face the voters again.

Ed Stone said this whole thing seems like it was a bad idea from the get-go. He doesn=t think too many people paid any attention to it, and now that it=s over an done with, the fish has gotten away.

Jim said he doesn=t agree; a lot of people went to these Selectboard meetings and they were ignored.

Ed Stone said not supporting this product this time doesn=t necessarily mean that we=ve got to wait five years to fix it, and to him that=s the answer.

Dave said we are not losing anything by voting it down this time. Ed asked how many hours went into this thing. Those on the committees said, literally hundreds of hours.

Wally said a lot of this work has now been subverted by three people tampering with a process that previously delineated as to how it was supposed to happen.

Ed Stone reiterated that this Planning Commission recommended unanimously to the Selectboard that this Industrial / Commercial Zone should stay the way it is, and that was a statement. We have a letter to that effect. That was the sentiment of this Board and that is what should be said, nothing more and nothing less. Because down the line we may be asked to do something else and we may live to regret doing something we already did.

Wally said when you ask people to do a job, and then they do the job and you throw it away, at least in theory you have confidence in what they have done then you either accept it or send it back for some tweaking.

Further discussion is postponed again until after the next scheduled agenda item.

10. Discussion of amending tree-clearing limits on Lot #2 in the Charlotte Land Trust subdivision on Lot 2, Greenbush Road: Frances Foster and Laurie Stavrand represented the applicants.

Dean Bloch said one of the requirements for approval was tree clearing limits on Lot #2, 50' surrounding the structures, and in trying to sell the lot, it appears to be a restriction.

Laurie Stavrand said they went out with Wade Weathers who is the real estate agent representing them. AWe picked the coldest day we could find and went out on snowshoes. The temperature was about 0E and we enjoyed this, and Wade shared with us his feelings in what he=s come across in showing the lot.@

Laurie asked if the Planning Commission members had actually gone up to lot 2. She suggests not limiting the potential but looking at other alternatives for a building envelope. She points out an open area that used to be pasture land, and does not have many trees, only scrub-kind of brushy growth. With the exception of some bigger trees there isn=t anything but spindly, Awild@ trees.

Frances said if they limit the cutting to only 50' near the structure they won=t be able to sell the land, they said.

Ed Stone suggested that their expert (Wade) figure what they want to do with the two places they are choosing as an alternative, then as long as they stay away from wetlands there will be something to suggest and board members can then make the decision.

Jeff agrees with Ed; they should come back with the two proposed building envelopes that Wade works with them on, and which one they prefer, then the Planning Commission can make a better decision.

Dave Brown said if they pick the two building envelopes and stake them out, the Planning Commission members can then schedule a site visit.

Jeff said this is very common; a buyer may not agree with the first choice of a building envelope and come in to ask for a change. If it makes sense and meets the guidelines it usually passes.

Laurie asked about the setback requirements and asked the reasons for making them 50'. Jim replied that one reason was the wetlands, and the second was the view of the site from other areas. That whole area there, he said, is a view from the ferry. For instance in Williston you see a house sitting high up on the mountain with everything clear cut in front of it and it spoils the look of the mountain.

Jim suggested that they not necessarily put stakes in the ground, but could put colored tape there in some informal way of showing the location. They should mark trees that would delineate the building envelope. Laurie said the earliest they can get all this done and be within the warning time, is March 15^th.

11. Continuation of discussion on the proposed Town Plan: Josie had an opinion that if we as a commission don=t go on record on this the Town Plan will be approved without people even looking at it.

Jim Donovan moved that the Planning Commission go on record as objecting to the proposed Town Plan. Al Moraska seconded that.

Then there was discussion. Ed Stone said his feeling is that the letter the Planning Commission wrote to the Selectboard has never been made public. He said if anything is made public, that is it. We stated that, and that is a strong letter.

Jim said the letter doesn=t make any reference to the Town Plan, and there are other things in this proposed Town Plan that should not be endorsed.

Dave Brown said the only problem is that as a board, we should work together.

Jim said the reason we wrote the letter is so that the zoning issue would be voted on as a separate issue, and so that the Town Plan wouldn=t fail because of that. But the Selectboard didn=t listen to that reasoning.

Dave said the greater thing is not so much as voting down the Town Plan because we don=t want it, but the fact that we are volunteers. If we don=t stand up for all the work of the other volunteers, then we will not get any other people in the future to volunteer for anything. AAlready it was getting to the point that when I had to leave home to go and work on the Town Plan, my wife would ask, >Why? (a person=s name) is going to change it anyway!= @ It makes it discouraging to anyone even wanted to give the Town that free time, he said.

Everybody see that, and they ask themselves why they would want to volunteer to go on a board, or on a committee because whatever time they give is ignored and the Selectboard will change it.

Jim said he will call the question. The approval was 6 B 0.

Jim Donovan repeated his motion that the Planning Commission go on record as objecting to the proposed Town Plan. The vote was 3 B 3 so that particular motion did not pass.

Sylvia Sprigg said it is her opinion that the Town Plan changes were a result of a personal vendetta. Very special interests prevailed that are not in the best interests of the Town. This was supposed to be a cooperative effort. The Planning Commission wrote, and re-wrote, and they hashed things out and compromised, and they made a good earnest effort and presented a final product that could have been voted on the last town voting day. The Selectboard circumvented the process and came out with a flawed product. In this town, she said, this is not a good product.

Josie said, technically everything went according to the statute. But Al Moraska disagreed, saying some of the methods were actually inappropriate.

Jim Donovan moved that the Planning Commission go on record as noting that the Town Plan as put up for approval has some significant differences from the one that the Planning Commission submitted to the Selectboard, and that we urge all citizens of the Town to carefully review the Town Plan before deciding how to vote on it. Josie Leavitt seconded the motion.

In discussion, Al Moraska said it is not strong enough. Some folks will be submitting letters to the press.

Jeff called for the vote, and it was approved, 6 B 0 with one member absent. (It should be noted that Ed Melby is still on a vacation and it is not known whether he will continue in his temporary re-appointment.)

Jim Donovan will try to put together a very short letter for the Charlotte News, and some others have written to the Burlington Free Press already. Another additional option is the Eagle in Middlebury.

Submitted by Nancy Lane

APPROVED BY THE CHARLOTTE PLANNING COMMISSION ON

Chairman Date

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