Selectboard Minutes
Regular Meeting of Monday April 22, 2024 at 7:00 PM
At South Hero Town Hall and via Zoom
Board Members Present: David Carter/Chairman, Skip Brown/Board Secretary, David Lane/Vice Chairman, Ross Brown and Anne Zolotas
Board Members Not Present: none
Others Present: Sue Arguin, Town Administrator and Martha Taylor Varney, ZA. Also see sign in sheet of in person and Zoom attendees. *Attendance SB 2024-04-22-2024
1. Called to Order:
– The meeting was called to order by Chairman Carter at 7:00 pm.
2. Adjustment to Agenda:
-Add Northwest Communication Union District to New Business
3. Minutes:
-Ross Brown a motion to approve the minutes of April 8, 2024. The motion was seconded, all in attendance so voted and the motion carried.
4. Public input:
A. none
5. New Business:
A. Emily Alger of the South Hero Land Trust (SHLT) was in attendance to discuss and present a possible new Goulet Farm/Swanson Family Conservation Project in a partnership with Vermont Land Trust. This land is in the Keeler Bay area of South Hero and would potentially conserve 195 acres as farmland. See www.SHLT.org for more information. See Attached *Goulet Swanson Conservation Project 2024
B. The South Hero representatives of the Northwest Communications Union District have been George Rice with Rich Goggin as the alternate. Ross Brown made a motion to re-appoint George Rice and Rich Goggin to the Northwest Communications Union District for the next term. The motion was seconded, all in attendance so voted and the motion carried.
C. Heidi Chamberlain was present to discuss the lease for the Island Craft Shop. The building costs the Town approximately $430.00/year in current year taxes, utilities and insurance. Since the actual cost for the building will not be known until the new tax rate will be set, the consensus of the Board is to extend the lease and to hold the current rent until July when the tax rate is known. A new lease will potentially begin in August.
D. The Town has applied for a Northern Border Grant for the Old South Hero Meeting House. The pre-application step of applying for the grant was approved, so a full application is being prepared. Ross Brown made a motion to approve and sign a letter of support from the Selectboard for the project. The motion was seconded, all in attendance so voted and the motion carried.
E. The Development Review Board (DRB) has denied an application for Pest Pro. Pest Pro had appealed that decision to the Environmental Court. The Town is a party in this appeal and an attorney should be involved. David Lane made a motion to hire the law firm Dinse to represent the Town. The motion was seconded by Anne Zolotas. Ross Brown voted no. The others voted yes and the motion carried.
7. Town Administrator and ZA Reports:
A. See the written reports posted with these minutes.
B. David Lane made a motion to approve and have the chairman sign the mobile vendor license for Folino’s Rest Stop on Route 2. The motion was seconded, all in attendance so voted and the motion carried.
8. Old and Ongoing Business:
A. The salt shed RFP is being finalized. The Town will probably purchase the truss system materials and will look for a contractor to do the labor. More information will follow at the next meeting. The concrete floor slab will be poured soon.
B. The contracts for bids for the mowing of Town properties will be opened at the next meeting.
9. Announcements and Communications:
A. The South Hero charter has been approved by the legislature and the 1% local option tax will begin to be collected in the July quarter. See Attached *South Hero Charter
10. Other Business:
A. Skip Brown made a motion to approve and sign the orders 24-22 and to pay the bills associated with the orders. The motion was seconded, all in attendance so voted and the motion carried.
B. The following liquor license applications were presented:
-Ross Brown made a motion to approve the liquor license applications for Apple Island General Store and Clubhouse. The motion was seconded, all in attendance so voted and the motion carried.
-Anne Zolotas made a motion to approve the liquor license applications for Arbor Farm Market. The motion was seconded, all in attendance so voted and the motion carried.
-Skip Brown made a motion to approve the liquor license applications for Lily Pad (dba the Green Frog). The motion was seconded, all in attendance so voted and the motion carried.
-Skip Brown made a motion to approve the liquor license applications for Snow Farm Vineyard. The motion was seconded. David Lane did not vote. The others in attendance so voted and the motion carried.
– David Carter made a motion to approve the liquor license applications for Two Heroes Brewery and Public House. The motion was seconded, all in attendance so voted and the motion carried.
-Anne Zolotas made a motion to approve the liquor license applications for Victoria’s Café. The motion was seconded, all in attendance so voted and the motion carried.
C. Town Clerk/Treasurer updates: There will be a town vote on May 14 for the school budget.
D. Recreation Commission (RC) update: none
E. Road Department update: Road Foreman John Beaulac will be out of the office for about 2 months, but will be on call. He will check in on Mondays for supervision. Ross Brown and Road Commissioner John Roy will check in regularly.
F. Old South Hero Meeting House (OSHMH) project: See above
G. ARPA updates: none
H. Wastewater (WW) update: none
I. Town Hall Committee update: The committee will meet every 2 weeks on Tuesdays. One member has already resigned, so the committee will review the list of applicants and will bring the name of a new member to the next Board meeting.
11. Adjournment:
-Ross Brown made a motion to adjourn at 8:28 pm. The motion was seconded, all in attendance so voted and the motion carried.
Respectfully submitted, Approved by,
_______________________________ ________________________________
Graham Brown, Secretary David Carter, Chairman
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
April 22, 2024 ZA’s report to the SB
1. I finally received the results from the traffic speed study on Hochelaga Rd.,
conducted by NRPC last summer. The report leaves it up to the Selectboard to
determine the speed they want. The current speed limit is 35mph. Sherrif Allen
supports reducing the speed to 25mph.
2. On a related subject, the Sheriff’s Department has been told by the judge in North
Hero that speed limits on South Hero town roads cannot be enforced with the
documentation that has been provided. In June 2021, the Selectboard signed a
document that listed all the town roads and their speed limits and included a map of
town roads with color-coded speed limits. This had been accepted by the judge
serving at that time. The new judge says he won’t accept it but will not tell the
Sheriff’s Dept. what he will accept. The Town may need to consider a single
ordinance that includes all Town roads and their speed limits to satisfy the judge.
Currently, speed limit updates are found in several ordinances rather than in one
document.
3. I have one mobile vendor license application, The Rest Stop at 466 US RT 2, for the
Board to approve and sign this evening.
4. The Zoning office will be closed April 24 to May 2 nd .
Planning Commission
South Hero Land Trust attended the PC’s April 17 meeting to present the Goulet Farm
Conservation Project. Additional discussion included the new Online Submission Tool
for Municipal Planning Commission Bylaw Reporting Form, and a sidewalk mapping
project. The Commission’s next meeting is May 1 st .
Development Review Board
1. The DRB denied Pest Pro’s application for a site plan amendment. Pest Prop has
appealed to Environmental Court.
2. There will be no hearings at the Board’s April 24 meeting.
3. The Board’s hearing schedule in May is already full (2 hearings per meeting). I am
beginning to schedule June hearings.
Respectfully submitted,
Martha Taylor-Varney, ZA
ADMINISTRATORS REPORT FOR APRIL 22, 2024
- S.H.O.R.E.- South Hero Overland Route Exploration is meeting again on May 1st to review what is in place for the biking tour that will be happening June 7 & 8th. They would also like the input of our road department at that meeting, so John or Herbie will be attending.
- Local Hazard Mitigation is at the point where we need to send out RFP’s to planning organizations that help write and manage this process. I was suggesting we put it out there to 3 of them, Northwest Regional Planning , Threat Owl (this organization is doing Grand Isle’s at this time) and there is a company called Seam Solutions that does them also out of Barre.
- Starting the process of submitting the final application for Northern Borders with Sandy Gregg and Mary Harwood. There is a substantial list of duties that need to be completed in order to move forward with an application.
- The Listers have been very busy going in and out of homes that had building permits issued to see how far folks had come as of April 1st. Ted Nelson our Assessor will be coming back next week for the day.
- Benton Mitchell, the Listers District Advisor came and spent the day on Thursday reviewing how to do the homesteads and other items pertaining to information being loaded in the system and VTPie. Great learning experience and helpful.