Selectboard Minutes
Regular Meeting of Monday August 23, 2021 at 7:00 PM
At South Hero Town Hall and via Zoom
Board Members Present: David Carter/Chairman, Skip Brown/Board Secretary, Ross Brown/Vice Chairman,
Chuck Hulse, Anne Zolotas
Board Members Not Present: none
Others Present: Martha Taylor-Varney, ZA. Also see sign in sheet of in person and active Zoom participants. Attendance SB 08-23-2021
1. Called to Order:
-The meeting was called by Chairman Carter at 7:00 pm
2. Adjustment to Agenda:
-none
3. Public Hearing to discuss amendments to the Development Regulations:
A. Doug Patterson, Chairman of the Planning Commission (PC) presented some proposed amendments to the Town Development regulations. See the Zoning Amendment Report attached for specifics. Zoning-Amendment Report-
Note that the proposed amendment to Article II: Table 2.1 – Allowed Uses “Commercial Uses – Industrial” the notation ‘X’ (prohibited) is proposed to change to C/S (conditionally permitted with site plan review) in the South Hero Village and Keeler Bay Village zoning districts caused the most public comment.
Note that the narrative on the regulations section 203 states:
Village Districts
The Village Districts, consisting of South Hero Village and Keeler Bay Village, encompass the traditional village centers in South Hero consisting of a concentration of residential, commercial and public land uses at higher densities than other parts of town. Commercial and mixed use development is encouraged to be located in the Village Districts and encouraged to be designed and sited to further traditional village center characteristics such as walkable, pedestrian friendly streets, sidewalks and walkways; human-scale buildings with architectural details,
landscaping and lighting; an integrated street network; shops and services intermixed with homes; a variety of commercial establishments from retail shops to home businesses, professional offices, and tourist services; places for the community to gather for social and cultural events; small, low impact industry; and government services. Historic buildings are a significant contributor to village character and should be preserved when possible. New
development shall be consistent in siting and scale with the surrounding historic structures in the Villages.
The issue is that the accompanying chart inadvertently shows “industry” as x’d out as “not allowed”. The PC would like to change that to conditional use/site plan review to concur with the narrative.
The following are excerpts of some of comments from various people in attendance:
-Bob Fireovid presented a petition stating that changes to the development regulations should be voted on by the Town in a general election. See attached: Petition regarding development regulations
-Bridget Kerr agrees with the idea of a Town vote. Also, she was a former appointee to the PC and wants her name removed from the development regulations that were enacted during her appointment.
-Sherry Corbin believes that the Town should let the DRB do its job and uses in the Town should be under conditional use/site plan review.
-Nate Hayward notes that the current regulations are more restrictive than the previous regulations. He also agrees that the Selectboard should have the right to amend the regulations after a public hearing process. He feels that small industry and good employers would be a positive for the Town.
-Bob Buermann supports the proposed amendments and agrees that the DRB should be involved with the process.
-Joan Falcao asked about what restrictions could be included in a possible DRB decision, such as noise and dust, etc. What the DRB can regulate are spelled out in the regulations and would be part of conditional use, should a permit be granted.
-Sue Straight, Marian Fritz and Phil Reynolds also had questions and comments. Go to www.LCATV.org to see a full video of the meeting with questions, comments and responses from all involved.
-Also related to Development Regulations, Bob Buermann would like to see a clarification of the zoning implications of home accessibility structures (i.e. wheelchair ramps) and how they are handled in the regulations.
The public hearing portion of the meeting ended at 8:10 pm. No decisions were made at this meeting. More information to follow.
3. Minutes:
-Chuck Hulse made a motion to acknowledge the minutes of the meeting of August 9, 2021. The motion was seconded, all who were in attendance at the last meeting so voted and the motion carried.
4. Public input:
A. Bob Buermann noted that VELCO has proposed some battery storage on their land off of Eagle Camp Rd. He suggested some items to be aware of regarding safety of lithium ion batteries. Also, he wants the Town to be aware that Northwest Solid Waste in Georgia, VT is planning to update its location and that should not be increasing their dues from the Town.
5. New Business:
A. Patrick Robinson and Matt Reed of the SHVFD presented a plan to purchase a new fire engine. The current engine known as Engine 2 (E2) was acquired in 1993. The anticipated life of an engine is about 20 years. It has served the Town well, but is in need of replacement. See the full report attached. SHVFD New E1 Fire Engine
B. Cindy Reid of Cathedral Square was present via Zoom to ask the Board to sign grant paperwork. Ross Brown made a motion to approve and have the Board sign the VCDP grant paperwork. The motion was seconded, all in attendance so voted and the motion carried. Also, some of the condo owners, including the Town, on Community Lane and representatives from Cathedral Square will be asked to sign a Cross Easement Agreement so that residents may pass from one development to the other. Ross Brown made a motion to have David Carter sign the Cross Easement Agreement when it is presented. The motion was seconded, all in attendance so voted and the motion carried.
6. Administrative Assistant Report:
A. See the written report filed with these minutes below or in Town Hall.
7. Old and Ongoing Business:
A. Regarding ARPA funds, the Recreation Commission will look into a play structure for the beach area. It may qualify for some ARPA funds and will be discussed in the future.
B. The Old South Hero Meeting House committee now has a website. www.southheromeetinghouse.org
C. There are issues of people cutting through the private area at the junction of West Shore Rd. and Rte. 314. Ross Brown made a motion to have David Carter write a letter to VTrans to ask them to address the situation. The motion was seconded, all in attendance so voted and the motion carried.
8. Announcements and Communications:
A. See other business
9. Other Business:
A. Skip Brown made a motion to approve and sign orders 22-04 and to pay the bills associated with the orders. The motion was seconded, all in attendance so voted and the motion carried.
B. Town Clerk/Treasurer updates: The delinquent taxes now stand at approximately $76,000.
C. Recreation Commission (RC) update: none at this meeting
D. Road Department update: All proposed paving projects should be completed by the end of October.
E. Anne Zolotas made a motion to go into executive session for legal/zoning matters at 8:55pm. The motion was seconded, all in attendance so voted and the motion carried. Executive session ended at 9:01. After exiting executive session, Ross Brown made a motion to grant a provisional mobile vendor license for the period of September 1-October 13 to Jeff Wells in order to have an apple related food truck/cart at Hackett’s Orchard. The motion was seconded, all in attendance so voted and the motion carried.
10. Adjournment:
-Skip Brown made a motion to adjourn 9:05 pm. The motion was seconded, all in attendance so voted and the motion carried.
Respectfully submitted, Approved by,
_______________________________ ________________________________
Graham Brown David Carter, Chairman
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Administrative Officer’s Report to Selectboard August 23, 2021
Discussion Items:
- The Selectboard will be meeting with the Planning Commission at the PC’s regular meeting on September 1, 2021 to discuss grant funding available for wastewater planning and assessment. The meeting will be facilitated by Lynette Claudon, a watershed coordinator with the VT Agency of Natural Resources. to discuss grant funding available for village wastewater planning and assessment. This will be a regular Planning Commission meeting and will be warned as a joint PC/SB meeting. THIS MEETING WILL BEGIN AT 6PM – THE PC’S REGULAR MEETING TIME. The public will be encouraged to attend.
- I have a copy of the VCDP draft grant agreement for the Cathedral Square Implementation grant. Once it has been reviewed it will need to be approved in the GEARS system by Ross.
- SB members received an email from Joel Berhsing of vhb re his retirement. Benjamin DeJong ill be the Town’s contact now for landfill well testing. October well testing may be postponed, as it was last year, due to exceptionally dry conditions. The newly installed monitoring wells may need more rainfall before testing can be accomplished there, also.
- Stone Environmental is working with VT DEC to investigate illicit wastewater discharges to storm drains in South Hero. Smoke testing will be conducted at the RT 2/Keeler Bay Rd. intersection and at 257 US RT 2 on Wednesday, 8/25, to check for leaks or inappropriate connects to storm drains.
- I have the password for the new Guest wifi throughout the Town Office. The old WiFi password no longer works.
- I will be out of the office on August 26 and the week (September 7-9) following Labor Day. I will be attending a DRB hearing on the evening of September 8th.
Planning Commission:
The Planning Commission is now meeting in person but continues to provide a Zoom option for those who prefer.
- Funding and format options for the 2023 Town Plan are currently being considered.
- Plans for “Weekend in the Islands”, October 9-10, continue. There is a website now (weekendintheislands.org), including the current list of local businesses participating. PC member Michele Gammal is organizing.
Development Review Board:
– DRB meetings moved back to in-person meetings at the Town Office on June 23. The Zoom option will continue to be available. Meeting starting times also moved from 6pm to 7pm for the summer months.
– I am scheduling DRB hearings into September 2021 but right now have only 1 for each of the 2 DRB meetings that month.
– Recent DRB hearing decisions are posted on the Board outside the ZA’s office or can be emailed upon request.
Respectfully submitted, Martha Taylor-Varney (ZA and Assistant to the Selectboard)