February 15, 2023 PC Minutes | Town of Town of South Hero

SOUTH HERO PLANNING COMMISSION MINUTES February 15, 2023

Members Present: Sandy Gregg (Chair); David Roy; George Harwood; Don Bedard (via Zoom).

Member Absent: Michele Gammal (Vice-Chair).

Others Present: Donna Boumil (Lake Champlain Islands Community Development Corp); Phil Reynolds; Philip Scott; Joan Falcao; Bob Fireovid; Tim Maxham; Emily Klofft (NRPC); Greta Brunswick (NRPC); Phil Reynolds; Martha Taylor-Varney (ZA).

6:00PM – S. Gregg called the meeting to order.

Changes to the Agenda

Gregg corrected the date on Item #6A, changing January 23 to February 23, 2023 at 6:30.

No other changes to the Agenda.

Public Comment

There was none.

S.H.O.R.E. Presentation

Donna Boumil is managing a VOREC (Vermont Outdoor Recreation) grant recently awarded to Lake Champlain Islands Economic Development Corporation, in partnership with the South Hero Land Trust and Northwest Regional Planning Commission. Local Motion had originally been a partner in the project but no longer is involved. The project is called S.H.O.R.E., an acronym for South Hero Overland Route Exploration, and is an effort to improve the quality and quantity of bike and pedestrian routes in South Hero. The PowerPoint is attached to the minutes on the Town Website. Joan Falcao suggested that maps showing bathroom and water locations would be helpful, in addition to merchants putting signs in their windows with the amenities they could provide. She also asked if Local Motion’s earlier plan to construct shelters would still be included in the grant. Donna responded that these options may be included as part of the study. She will continue to update the Planning Commission throughout the process.

PC Chair S. Gregg welcomed Don Bedard to the Planning Commission. Don was appointed to the Commission by the Selectboard on February 13 to finish Fred Bartle’s term. Don’s current term will expire on June 30, 2024.

2023 Town Plan – Continue Discussion on Proposed Content [All documents will be added as attachments to the minutes on the Town website]

Sandy explained that the drafts of the various parts of the Town Plan will be available as hyperlinks on the Town and NRPC websites. All updates will be included on the site. There was discussion on the upcoming schedule for the Town Plan draft – NRPC will receive and review the final documents over the next 2 meetings – and additional discussion on a proposal whether to reduce the depth of the Shoreland zoning district from 500’ from the lake to 250’ from the lake. Would this just be in the area of the villages or all of the lakefront properties in South Hero? How could these shifting boundaries affect the properties in the Shoreland District? Greta Brunswick will email a draft map showing the 250 and 500-ft. distances related to existing lots in the villages. Joan Falcao asked if there were any prime agricultural soils in the Shoreland district. Greta responded that the prime ag soils are in the rural residential zoning district. This discussion will continue at the March 1 meeting.

Draft 2 – Natural Resources and Land Use: This draft is now in the final format and includes photos and maps. Greta Brunswick explained that this draft included minor tweaks to the original draft, including adding Agriculture to the Vision Statement in the Introduction, and proposed land use maps.

Draft 1 — Transportation and Complete Streets: Martha Taylor-Varney referenced a proposed Park and Ride for the RT 2/Jasper Mine Rd. area in Colchester by Exit 17. Greta will look into that to see if a reference to it should be included in the Plan. She also will be getting a data point on the ferry traffic travelling through South Hero for the next draft. There was brief discussion on whether the Town has a policy regarding airstrips. Greta asked the Commissioners to review the Goals and Objectives, and the Strategies listed at the end of the draft. Those printed are from the 2015 Plan and will need updating. She asked that Commission members submit their comments to her by March 1^st.

Draft 1 – Municipal and Community Facilities and Services: The Commission members made a few corrections to the Facilities and Utilities Map. Additional discussion included the 1% local option tax adopted last March (yet to be implemented until VT Legislature approval), additional updates to the section on daycare centers, the South Hero Meeting House, telecommunications, and reviews of the goals and objectives, and strategies. Again, Commission members were asked to submit comments to NRPC by March 1^st.

Draft 1 – Housing: Discussion included whether there was concern about short-term rentals. Martha responded that the Selectboard has had discussions about this in the past but thought it would be too difficult to enforce anything at this time. Draft 1 includes statistics from as recently as 2020. Are there any statistics available that would show how Covid affected the availability and cost of housing in South Hero? Joan Falcao asked if there was any information available to show the number of permits issued for new housing in South Hero? There is a table in the Town Report that shows these comparisons from the past 5 years (under Administrative Officer’s Report). Commission members were asked to have comments to NRPC by March 1.

First drafts of Local Economy, Climate and Flood Resilience, and Energy sections will be presented by NRPC at the PC’s March 15 meeting, in addition to 2^nd drafts of sections reviewed tonight. Greta told the Commission that she will not receive updated Energy information in time to include in the 2023 Plan.

Old Business

Follow-up from special Feb 7 meeting regarding Open Meeting Law. Members have reviewed open meeting law documents from VLCT.
Chair Gregg read a letter in response to the letter from Bob Fireovid re the Commission’s violation of open meeting law. The letter will be attached to the minutes on the Town website. The members approved the letter and Sandy signed it for the Planning Commission.
Discussion on possibly updating the Planning Commission Rules of Procedure was moved to the March 1 PC meeting.

New Business

Gregg asked if the Commission wanted to respond in writing to Articles 7 and 8 on the Town Meeting ballot. SouthHeroVoters.org will be holding a meeting at 6:30 at the Worthen Library on Feb. 23. The meeting proposes to discuss the pros and cons of the two Articles. G. Harwood stated that a public discussion would be good. S. Gregg read into the minutes a proposed statement [attached below]. D. Roy did not want to ratify a statement by the Planning Commission. D. Bedard agreed. Joan Falcao stated that, regardless of the results of the vote, it won’t affect the new Town Plan. The Town Plan should be influenced by the town’s wishes. No action taken.

Meeting Minutes

February 7, 2023 special meeting – D. Roy move to approve the minutes; G. Harwood second. S. Gregg, D, Roy, and G. Harwood in favor (D. Bedard was formally appointed to the Planning Commission by the Selectboard on February 13, 2023, so did not attend this meeting as a member).

February 1, 2023 regular meeting – G. Harwood moved to approve the minutes; D. Roy second. S. Gregg, D, Roy, and G. Harwood in favor (D. Bedard was formally appointed to the Planning Commission by the Selectboard on February 13, 2023, so did not attend this meeting as a member).

Administrator’s Report

ZA Martha Taylor-Varney reported that the final close-out of the Bayview Crossing implementation grant with Vermont Community Development Corp. will be complete on Thursday [February 16, 2023].
A Park and Ride lot has been proposed in Colchester on Jasper Mine Rd., near the Exit 17 interchange. No further information is available at this time.

Next Meeting – March 1, 2023