Selectboard Minutes
Regular Meeting of Monday February 23, 2026 at 7:00 PM
At South Hero Town Hall and via Zoom
Board Members Present: David Carter/Chairman, Skip Brown/Board Secretary, Steve Robinson, David Lane, Anne Zolotas (via Zoom)
Board Members Not Present: none
Other Town personnel Present: Sue Arguin, TA, and Tim Maxham
1. Called to Order:
– The meeting was called to order by Chairman David Carter at 7:00 pm.
2. Adjustment to Agenda:
– none
3. Minutes:
-Steve Robinson made a motion to approve the minutes of February 9, 2026. The motion was seconded, all in attendance so voted and the motion carried.
4. Public input:
A. None
5. New Business:
A. NRPC sent over the contract for the Municipal Planning Grant (MPG) for the Lavin Property study. David Lane made a motion to approve and sign the MPG contract as presented by NRPC. The motion was seconded, all in attendance so voted and the motion carried.
B. Nate Hayward of the Town Office building committee sent a document outlining the timeline and steps to secure the bond for the new building. See Attached *Town Office Project Financing Update 2.19.26. The bond amount is estimated to be $2,750.000.00 which is less than the amount that was voted on by the Town in 2025. Note that the term of the bond will be either 20, 25 or 30 years and will be discussed at a future meeting with public input.
C. Tim Maxham, moderator of the Town Meeting information session, was present to discuss the it. The meeting will be at 9:00 am on Saturday, February 28, 2026 at the Folsom Educational and Community Center. LCATV will be in attendance to film the meeting and set-up will be the Friday before.
6. Town Administrator (TA) and Zoning Administrator (ZA) Reports:
A. See the written report from the ZA attached below with these minutes.
7. Old and Ongoing Business:
A. none at this meeting
8. Announcements and Communications:
A. none at this meeting
9. Other Business:
A. Steve Robinson made a motion to sign the orders 26-18 and have the Treasurer pay the bills as presented on the orders. The motion was seconded, all in attendance so voted and the motion carried.
B. Town Clerk/Treasurer updates: none at this meeting
C. Recreation Commission (RC) update: https://southherovt.org/rec/ for more info.
D. Road Department update: Anne Zolotas made a motion to accept the bid of $8450.00 from Forest City Builders to construct an office in the Town Garage. The motion was seconded, all in attendance so voted and the motion carried.
E. Lister Updates: Appraisals are starting up again. The listers are taking continuing education courses as required from the State.
F. Old South Hero Meeting House update: There will be a meeting on February 25 to discuss the next steps with the architect and builder who is working on the project.
G. Lavin Property update: See above
H. Town Hall Committee update: See https://southherovt.org/town-office-building-committee/ See above. Plus:
– There was a pre-construction meeting on February 20.
– The Town will look into builder’s risk insurance
– Demo of the former rescue station will be cleared for March 2, 2026
– The contractor plans to start construction on April 1, 2026 and has an aggressive schedule where they hope to be done by December 2026. Note that there will be bi-weekly progress meetings on every other Tuesday.
– Voting for the 2026 primary and general elections may have to be held elsewhere. More info to follow.
I. Tree Warden Update: none at this meeting
J. Liquor License applications:
– Steve Robinson made a motion to approve the Class 1 and 3 liquor license application from Emma Enterprise/McKees Island Pub. The motion was seconded, all in attendance so voted and the motion carried.
– David Lane made a motion to approve the liquor license application for the Sandbar Restaurant for Class 1, 3 and outside consumption. The motion was seconded, all in attendance so voted and the motion carried.
K. Steve Robinson made a motion to go into executive session at 7:45 pm for legal/insurance matters. The motion was seconded, all in attendance so voted and the motion carried. A motion was made and adopted to end executive session at 7:52 pm. After executive session, David Lane made a motion to authorize a compensation payment of $250.00. The motion was seconded, all in attendance so voted and the motion carried.
10. Adjournment:
-Skip Brown made a motion to adjourn at 7:55 pm. The motion was seconded, all in attendance so voted and the motion carried.
Respectfully submitted, Approved by,
_______________________________ ________________________________
Graham Brown, Secretary David Carter, Chairman
For a video of the meeting, see: www.lcatv.com
February 23, 2026 ZA’s report to the SB
1. There was a webinar on the new CHIP program – VT Community Housing
Improvement Program – presented by the Agency of Commerce and Community
Development on Thursday, Feb. 19. Skip Brown from the SB and Joan Falcao
from the Planning Commission attended here in the Town Office. The webinar
gave an introduction about the program, application requirements, and timelines.
Additional webinars will continue. The next will be April 8, entitled “Building with
CHIP: Project Readiness and Pre-Development Planning.” This was an excellent
presentation and there’s a lot to learn about this new program. I have a link to
the Power Point presentation from last week’s introductory webinar. If anyone
would like to watch it, I can send you the link.
2. There is still no change to the status of the appeal by Joanne Naas’ regarding the
ZA’s approval of a boundary adjustment between Chippen Point and Wright
Family Partnership on West Shore Rd. So far, no additional legal expenses have
been charged to the Town.
3. There is also no update to the appeal by Mitchel Richardson of a recent denial by
the DRB of an application for a site plan amendment and renewal of an expired
conditional use approval. The Town continues to incur minimal legal expenses on
this one.
Planning Commission
The commission is finalizing its list of proposed updates to the Development
Regulations and has begun discussing the process required – public hearings, etc. I
anticipate this to begin in the spring. I am hoping that the Commission can meet with
Northwest Regional Planning Commission at an upcoming meeting to review the
updates to the Development Regulations that may be required due to Act 181 and the
HOME Act.
Development Review Board
The Board next meets on February 25, where they will conduct a conditional use and
site plan review for the Meeting House. The Meeting House committee application is for
a review for a change of use and will consider the first floor only. The change of use will
be for a public facility.
Respectfully submitted,
Martha Taylor-Varney, ZA