CHARLOTTE PLANNING COMMISSION 7:00 P.M., TUESDAY, JULY 7, 1998 TOWN OFFICES 425-3533 MEMBERS PRESENT:Al Moraska, Chairman David Allen Ed Melby Peter Kunin Dave Brown Jeff McDonald MEMBERS ABSENT:Jim Donovan Planner Charlie Burnham GUESTS SIGNED IN:Kate Bortz Dave Garbose Sylvia Spear Sandy Mayo Linda Hamilton 1. General Business: Minutes for July 7, 1998 were read and approved as submitted. Motion to approve was by Ed Melby, seconded by Jeff McDonald, approved 6–0 with 1 member absent. Al Moraska wanted to briefly discuss whether they should have a deliberative session about the issues that were brought up on the A. Johnson project — the wastewater systems, for instance. He also wanted to see whether any conditions they would set would have any impact on their contract with the Selectboard. Larry Hamilton had brought up an issue about the trees; there would be certain specifications they would have to follow regarding the State guidelines concerning the trees. The guidelines they were going to use, they had said, were those in effect in 1987. Steve Libby had said that any conditions would "change the agreement with the Town." Peter Kunin said the Planning Commission should "just do what we think is right." Al suggested that the Planning Commission could have a separate contract with any conditions. Peter agreed; "We should do our condi- tions, the way we see fit. That's actually our duty under the Bylaws. And if they have to go back and recut the contract, then so be it. That's the way it has to be. We don't have the right to walk away from conditions." 2. State of Vermont, Agency of Natural Resources, Mt. Philo State Park: Bruce Brown, Parks Regional Manager discussed possible revised parking lot location as a result of the storm damage cleanup. Bruce produced a rough sketch of the area down at the Mt. Philo Road entrance and explained that much of the pines that were on the right hand side (south side) of the entrance were gone and removed after the ice storm damage. He explained what he feels is a potential for the parking lot on the south side instead of the north side option that was previously chosen, provided they plant a berm to partly shield it from view. The north side, which totals 7.2 acres, is used by a farmer for agricultural purposes and nothing additional would be done to that. If the north side ends up being used for a parking lot it would only mean a little less land would be used by the farmer. The advantage for not using the north side parking is more for those sledding in the winter — since the mountain road angles downward towards the north side and the sledders would not be headed towards the parking lot. To questions about the land possibly being too wet, Bruce said all of that land tends to be wet lately because of the rain. He said it may need more fill. Jeff noted it is a level area, and Bruce commented that, so far, there aren't any fish or cattails replacing the pines. Peter brought up the previous concerns regarding plowing, and location of the gate. Bruce said there needs to be an off-season gate, which will be moved somewhere beyond the parking lot. Whichever location is chosen does require security. There will be a berm and plowing will be done in a way to prevent accidents. (Such as having a pile of snow making a barrier so that sleds would not go onto Mt. Philo Road after coming down the hill.) Kate Bortz asked Bruce to consider the views, not only from the mountain, but of others such as from One- Mile Road looking over at the mountain, when he plans the screening. David Allen noted that there is now a spectacular view of the lake when coming down from the mountain. Bruce said they are also considering the viewshed from the top – the less visible the parking lot is from the top, the better. There are many trees that look strange after losing so many branches, but he predicts that in a couple of years it will look much better. Al suggested before they make any recommendations, they should do a site visit. Some members have been over there since the storms but Al said he had not, and some others had not. Ed agreed that they should set one up, and try to have it soon because there should be a parking lot solution before another winter is upon us. Peter Kunin asked if there could be a better drawing supplied, which Bruce agreed to. Bruce will speak with Jim Burke and get back to the Planning Commission. Peter asked about some ledge that has been cut out on one section of the road and moved to the other side for stabilization. Bruce said parts of the road would be repaved, and Peter reminded him that permits need to be obtained if changes to the width are planned. Bruce said it may be for 12 feet instead of an 11 foot width. There is one lane up, and two lanes down. A site visit is planned for 6:30 p.m., before the next Planning Commission meeting on July 21, 1998 at the gate on Mount Philo Road. Dave Garbose, a neighbor, asked about additional removal of stumpage because of difficulty in walking on some of the trails that have heavy damage from the loggers. Bruce said that in the woods, there would not be any additional stumpage removal but at the campsites the stumps would be ground down. There is chipping being done now, of some of the debris. 3. Planning Session: Kate Bortz addressed the Planning Commission to give some guidelines about the ways that they can go about either remaking the Town Plan, or just refining it to take care of known problems with some of its wording. She described how they had broken down the categories and had accepted volunteers for helping the Plan ning Commission see how they wanted to write it up. All the volunteers were separated into eight sections, each group meeting on its own for its own category. Kate, who was then Chairperson of the Planning Commission, worked with two of the groups, while one Planning Commission member each, worked with the other six groups. In some of the recent work such as in Hinesburg and in Shelburne, a consultant was hired to actually do the writing of the Town Plan. Kate advised the Planning Commission to ask for money in the budget to hire an assistant to the Planning Commissioner, Charlie Burnham because he certainly isn't going to be able to devote the time necessary for this plan "on his lunch hour." Members all agreed that this will be necessary, in additional to having an extra set of eyes to see things and suggest changes. Dave Brown likened it to having someone give advice to a person bowling – a new person can see how the bowler can improve his method of throwing the ball, while the bowler himself can't figure out where his problem is. Kate said the first step is to decide which way to go — whether to update this Town Plan or to totally rewrite a new one. After the survey among townspeople, when she had worked on it, they had used interests expressed by the respondents to set up the forums. "Mud season" in early spring is a good time to do this because there's not much else to do when it's tough to get around. Each night, while using visual models and felt strips for roads, they had people design landscapes. This was similar to the exercise Charlie had people do, dividing the town up into imaginary neighborhoods while not splitting streets down the middle. Kate said that then, they wrote the Town Plan and the battle began. There were 295 people who were not happy. From there, revisions were made. She said, "Look at what you have, they use the survey to see if people want to use the same format. Sandy Mayo and Sylvia Sprigg came into the discussion at this point, and Sandy said several members of the recently formed FACTS Committee would like to offer their assistance on any volunteer committees that are needed to work on the Town Plan. Ed Melby and David Allen said they would welcome this kind of help. Some of the townspeople may feel that various committees such as Recreation and Conservation are taking care of all things related to those issues, even though they may have some innovative ideas themselves. It's good to have more people involved. Kate added that the Town of Charlotte is fortunate to have so many very talented people who have been involved with these committees. The first Plan was reaffirmed after 5 years with minor changes. She asked about the Zoning Bylaws, which are sometimes changed or refined more often, even yearly. Al Moraska said that is the duty of the Planning Commission also. They should create a survey for the Charlotte News. They will try to locate Kate's old survey for ideas. Sometimes the Zoning Bylaws are ahead of the Town Plan, and Peter said the best thing everyone can do at this point, is during the next two weeks re-read the Documents and try to highlight things that they would like to have discussed. Several members said it is unfortunate that Charlie Burnham is ill and unable to attend this evening because they know that he has some ideas to present. 4. Business Meeting: More complaints have been coming in regarding the activity on F5 near the railroad tracks, across from Country Home Products. At the last meeting Charlie had said he was discussing this with Skip Sheldon. The bulldozer operator said he had a signed contract to put an access road in for the railroad station. Then he said the area that was cleared, graded and ditched, was for a soccer field for the school and he told Gloria to check with the school. Gloria had a letter documenting her investigation on the day that she was alone in the office. She took photo- graphs of the area. It seems Charlie was told this was agricultural and they were just "planting grass." Ed looked, and the machine has been removed. Other members have also looked, finding an exact square, ditched area with stakes. If they step beyond agricultural planting, which there is evidence they have done, they are in violation because they were supposed to apply for Zoning approval. Even Phase I of a soccer field would require a permit under land development. Peter read various sections of the regulations pertaining to this: Charlotte Zoning Bylaws, Chapter VII, Section 7.1: The Administrative Officer shall not permit any land development which is not in conformance with these Bylaws: Page 5, Land Development: The construction, reconstruction, conversion, structural alteration, relocation or enlargement of any building or other structure, or of any mining operation, excavation or landfill. Any change in the use of any building or other structure, land, or extension of use of land. "The use was agricultural. The definition for use is on page 8:" Use: The specific purpose for which land or a building is designated, arranged, or intended; or for which it is or may be occupied or maintained. Section 6.5, Site Plan Approval: Any use [has to be approved by us!], other than single- or two- family dwellings, home occupations, ... accessory uses, accessory apartments or agricultural opera tions requires Site Plan Approval by the Planning Commission before the Administrative Officer may issue a permit. Section 6.1 Zoning Permit: No land development may be commenced within the area affected by these regulations without a zoning permit being issued by the Administrative Officer. No zoning permit may be issued by the Administrative Officer except in conformance with these bylaws and the provisions of the Vermont Planning and Development Act. Peter said the Zoning Administrator has to investigate and determine whether Skip Sheldon is really being candid about what is going on. Peter stated that there is some evidence to indicate that Skip Sheldon may be less than truthful about the true purpose of the square area that is being graded, ditched, staked etc. especially given what other people in town, and the heavy equipment operator, have said the intent was, and that is "for a soccer field for the school." Submitted by Nancy Lane