DRAFT
Town of Charlotte
Board of Selectmen
Minutes
Monday, February 23, 2004
7:00 PM, Charlotte Town Hall
Jennifer Steele Cole
Eleanor Russell
OTHERS: Dean
Bloch (Select board Assistant)
Ed Amidon
Jack Clemmons
Karen
Frost
Rayne
Herzog
Robert
Mack
Chris McGee
Ted
Montgomery
Peter
Richardson
Ed Stone
Jocelyn
Bolick (clerk)
The meeting was called to order at 7:00 pm.
The items on the agenda were as follows:
Adjustment to Agenda /
Approve Minutes for February 9th / Public Discussion / Interview of
candidates for Burns Committee / Rayne Herzog – Shelburne Athletic Club: Race
Schedule / Ted Montgomery – County Housing Committee update / Affordable
Housing Committee - Update / Telecommunications Ordinance / H-684: Abandonment
of public highways / Select board update: QueVT, Senior Center Coordinator,
VELCO, legislative issues, Thompson’s Point lease language, Town Meeting / Bills
and Warrants / Adjournment
Adjustment to Agenda
None.
Approve Minutes for February 9th
Motion made by
Eleanor Russell, seconded by Jennie Cole:
“To approve
the select board meeting minutes with corrections for February 9th,
2004”.
Vote: all in favor.
On page 4, under Jeffrey McDonald, change “MPO Tack” to “MPO
TAC”.
On page 4, under Marty Illick, change “He is helping town
representatives organize town growth …” to “He is helping organize town growth…”.
On page 4, under Lou Bresee, change “Lake Road and Ferry
Road, ???” to “Lake Road and Ferry Road, Ferry Road and Greenbush Road”.
On page 5, under Liam Murphy, change “town’s interest to do
in a coordinated manner” to “town’s interest to plan trails in a coordinated
manner”.
On page 6, under Liam Murphy, change “Ellie said you can go
back 30 years” to “Ellie said the proposal is that a road is abandoned if it is
not used for 30 years”.
Public Discussion
None.
Interview of candidates for Burns Committee
Chris McGee talked about his interest in becoming a member of the Burns
Property Committee. He has lived in the
town for 8 years and has a business background. He wants a chance to learn and contribute to the future of the
town. Ellie asked about ideas that
Chris might have concerning the property.
He would like to see it turn into something that we can all use and
enjoy.
Charlie said they
want to take the politics out of it.
Chris said he would like to talk to members of the community to get
opinions and consensus. Ellie feels
there is an overlap between development in the village and the Burns Property
development. Chris does travel on
business on a sporadic basis; however, he rarely travels overnight so he should
be available to make most meetings.
Charlie said the meetings are currently on the second Wednesday of the
month.
Ellie said the committee
is made up of a cross-section of the town: a member of the Business and
Economic Committee, Affordable Housing, a village resident, member of the
Planning Commission, member of the select board, and a citizen at large. Charlie said they’re still hashing out
changing the composition of the committee.
It’s important that the members represent different aspects of the
community.
Karen Frost said she is a resident of the village; they purchased their
house in 1986. She has been interested
in following the town processes and outcomes.
Jennie asked if Karen had any thoughts on how the property should be
developed. Karen said no, this is a
position where you gather information and then reach a decision. She has had experience in engaging the
public and informing them about things.
Getting people to turn out for meetings is difficult.
Charlie said the
committee is about to send out to RFP’s – one for the septic and water, and one
for the facilitator for this process.
Rayne Herzog – Shelburne Athletic Club: Race Schedule. This
is the 3rd year that the race has been run, and the course has not
changed at all. This year, however,
they will have the ability to have 2 person relay teams totaling 40
people. A school bus will take 20
people out to Nat Norton’s house (approximately the halfway point) before the
race starts. The first half of the team
will run to that point, and then hand off to the second runner in the team.
They have reserved
May 8th for the race (the day before Mother’s Day). Shelburne Police will monitor the corner of
Mt. Philo and the Charlotte/Hinesburg Road.
Last year, there were 205 people running. Rayne doesn’t see the race getting over 300 people – logistically
it would be very difficult. Most of the
parking last year was at the school. No
cars were parked on the street. The
first year the race was run there were 225 people. Rayne guesses (because of the teams) there will be roughly 250
people. They are cleaned up and out of
there by 1 PM. Smokejacks restaurant will
run the food stand again.
Shelburne Athletic
Club has done 58 races in the last 5 years without an incident. They’ve covered the town of Charlotte and
Charlotte Central School with their liability insurance. SAC intends to donate $500 to the Rec
Department, as they do every year.
Dean suggested
putting volunteers at the school side of Hinesburg Road at Mt. Philo Road to
help group people.
Motion made by
Eleanor Russell, seconded by Jennie Cole:
“To approve the half marathon race
and the closing of Hinesburg Road between Mt. Philo Road and Guinea Road from
roughly 8:30 AM to 8:40 AM on May 8th ”.
Vote: all in favor.
Ted Montgomery – County Housing Committee update. Ted
said they started meeting last May and they’ve been meeting once per
month. The overall charge of the
Housing Supply Goals Task Force is to look at the next 10 years (2000-2010) in
Chittenden County and give the best estimate of the number of housing units
that will be needed.
They look at the
trends over the years. The number of
units ranged from 8,000 to 12,000 new units over those 10 years. It’s an estimate of what should be built
based on the need. Affordable, moderate
and high-end housing are all included in that number. This is a math exercise - they need to make sure the information
is good and that the formula that they created is good.
So, how do you
allocate the units across the towns?
Each of the 19 municipalities was grouped 9 different ways. Ted feels Charlotte is pretty much status
quo right now. It shows Charlotte should
be building one more housing unit per year than its current rate. Ted said they are not finished. In a few more months, they will have numbers
that will be made available to the public.
Affordable Housing Committee – Update. Peter
Richardson (substituting for John Owens) came to discuss the conclusions that
were made. They spent time in 2003
looking at the moving definition of affordable housing.
They have been
involved in the Varney Farm, the Burns Property. They have been focusing their attention on the zoning by-laws and
the VHCB grant application. Those 2
activities are combining to make 2004 a watershed year for Affordable Housing.
Peter asked the
select board its’ perception on how the Affordable Housing Committee is going. He feels it is a small group which could use
more representation. Ellie said the
group has been very energetic, and she’s happy to see that.
Charlie asked about
the role of the town in terms of promoting affordable housing. What is the roadmap? What are the specific goals? It’s time to have a bigger discussion with
the town.
Robert Mack said he’s
not a big proponent of grants like VHCB unless there is a clear picture of what
is going to be accomplished. Peter said
they have to figure out a way to make this exercise useful.
Jack Clemmons
wondered if the town could have its own project. We could look at developing (on town land) attractive affordable
housing – the town would control it.
Dean said the grant
is trying to develop several projects, not just one. The grant is to find out what’s out there, not what to do with
it.
Peter said they are
looking for new blood on the committee.
They are looking for more diverse voices. They sent out surveys; they went to the Grange, the teachers at
the school, and the folks in CVFRS.
None of them could find a place to live here – there are no houses on
the market for $200,000.
Dean wondered if the
committee would be interested in playing the intermediary – finding someone who
is interested in selling their land for affordable housing.
Telecommunications Ordinance: Dean said the
telecommunications section is folded into the zoning regulations. The town attorney would like to separate it
from the zoning regulations. It should
look very similar to what is currently there, but with different enabling
language.
Ellie asked why they
would want to do this. Dean said
currently zoning appeals go to the environmental court; with the change it
would go to superior court. Dean will
look into it further.
H-684: Abandonment of public highways. Ed
Amidon came to talk about this bill. He
feels it is very unlikely to go anywhere this session. The League of Cities and Towns has taken a
position opposing this bill. If the
bill does not come out of the committee and get passed this week, it is
dead. There is very little chance that
it will get passed this week.
Charlie asked if a
letter supporting this bill should be sent.
Ed said yes; send it to Frank Mazur, the chair of the House
Transportation Committee. Ed said it
will push it more in the direction that it is going now.
The lobbyists are
George McNeal and Bill Hugh. Perhaps
the ski areas are behind this bill? Ed Stone
suggested Frank Thornton write the letter.
Ellie asked Ed about
the revenue sharing bill. Ed doesn’t
feel that bill is going anywhere.
Robert Mack asked
about the Farm Legislation bill.
Select board update
Motion
made by Eleanor Russell, seconded by Jennie Cole:
“To approve Plan number 105858 to
replace poles and guys on Museum Road and Churchill Road”.
Vote:
all in favor.
Bills and Warrants
Signed as appropriate.
Adjournment
Town
meeting: March 2nd at
9 AM.
Next
select board meeting: Monday, March
8th at 7 PM.
Motion
made by Eleanor Russell, seconded by Jennifer Cole:
“To adjourn the select board meeting”.
Vote: all in favor. Meeting adjourned at 9:50 PM.
Minutes respectfully submitted by Jocelyn Bolick.