Selectboard Minutes
Regular Meeting of Monday February 9, 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. Plus see the Sign in sheet at Town Hall
1. Called to Order:
– The meeting was called to order by Chairman David Carter at 7:00 pm.
2. Adjustment to Agenda:
– Andy Julow and Nate Hayward were on the agenda and will not attend this meeting.
3. Minutes:
-Steve Robinson made a motion to approve the minutes of January 26, 2026. The motion was seconded. Anne Zolotas abstained. The others in attendance so voted and the motion carried.
4. Public input:
A. None
5. New Business:
A. Greta Brunswick of NRPC was present via Zoom to discuss the Lavin Property Municipal Planning Grant (MPG). NRPC will send over a contract for the MPG. Some items discussed are:
-The term of the contract will be February 2026-December 31, 2027 to give enough time to complete the parameters.
-There will be a steering committee of 5-8 people from the Town formed to work on the process.
-Mapping and wetlands delineation will be necessary.
-Once parameters are set, there will be community engagement and public hearings.
-Priority visions for the land will be considered.
-Once priorities are determined, then there will need to be an implementation strategy and funding sources located.
B. Peter Zamore of the Wastewater Committee was present to discuss updates.
-The preliminary report from Otter Creek Engineering was approved by the State DEC. This concludes Step 1 of the grant process. Otter Creek Engineering did extra work in producing the over 500-page report partly due to original testing at Allenholm Farm. Their fee was approximately $14,000.00 over the initial estimate. This overage will be paid using the money left from the original grant. David Lane made a motion to approve a resolution that the Chaiman can sign an amendment to the contract from Otter Creek Engineering. The motion was seconded, all in attendance so voted and the motion carried.
-The Wastewater Committee has sent out an RFP for wetlands delineation.
-Step 2 to design a system will commence once the project priority list is established.
-The LCIEDC stated that the scoring parameters for future grants are high, so that all grant opportunities will be explored when the timing is right.
6. Town Administrator (TA) and Zoning Administrator (ZA) Reports:
A. See the written report from the ZA attached below with these minutes.
B. There will be a webinar on Feb. 19 at 10:00am to discuss the CHIP program that Martha will attend. Other interested parties can join at Town Hall.
C. The Town received a note about landfill testing. The consensus of the Board is to allow the testing firm to share the report with the DEC.
7. Old and Ongoing Business:
A. none at this meeting
8. Announcements and Communications:
A. none at this meeting
9. Other Business:
A. David Lane made a motion to sign the orders 26-17 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: The road crew plowed during the latest storm. The Road department will be doing some of the lead mitigation around the Old Meeting House and KAS Engineering have been in touch to coordinate with them.
E. Lister Updates: Appraisals are starting up again.
F. Old South Hero Meeting House update: see above
G. Lavin Property update: See above
H. Town Hall Committee update: See https://southherovt.org/town-office-building-committee/ Nate Hayward send an update about the Bond financing. See attached *Bond Info from Nate email 2-09-2026
I. Tree Warden Update: none at this meeting
J. Liquor License applications: none at this meeting
10. Adjournment:
-David Lane made a motion to adjourn at 8:00 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
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February 9, 2026 ZA’s report to the SB
1. 911 addresses for the Town Park – I had sent in an address update for the Town Park to
VT E911 to use the same address as the Red Fire Station, since that location will be part
of the larger parcel that is to become the Town Park – 318 US RT 2. The Meeting
House is 320 US RT 2, so it made sense to me. I should have known better. The E911
Coordinator is suggesting 322 US RT 2, since the driveway entrance is on the west side
of the Meeting House. In addition, he said that the driveway itself should become a
named private road, so the individual components of the park (playground, pavilion) can
have numbers, too. Keep in mind that new addresses are assigned based on the
distance from the beginning of the road, so the numbers themselves are frequently
confusing (especially when there are only two locations receiving new addresses. That
discussion will continue.
2. On another E911 note – the current Town Office is 333 US RT 2. The old Rescue
Building, where the new office will be built, has an address of 329 US RT 2. Because it
will be prohibitively expensive to change the Town Office address on all printed material
(much less with vendors and correspondence), I intend to request that the Town Office
retain our existing address. However, 333 and 329 US RT 2 are currently separate
parcels that will be developed as part of the same project, most of the parking will be on
the 333 parcel. We may need to formally dissolve the boundary between the two. The
new location of the single entrance/exit from RT 2 may benefit my argument for retaining
the current address. I’ll gear up for that argument next.
3. There will be a webinar on the new CHIP program – VT Community Housing
Improvement Program – presented by the Agency of Commerce and Community
Development on Thursday, Fe. 19 from 10 to noon. The webinar is for Town officials
(Selectboard, Planning Commission, Town /Administrator/Manager, Zoning
Administrators, etc.) to learn about the program, application requirements, and timelines.
I have already registered. If anyone wants to attend, I can put it on the large screen in
the Boardroom.
4. There has been 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.
5. There is 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.
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.
Development Review Board
1. The Board next meets on February 11, where they will have 2 hearings – a setback
waiver and a sketch plan review for a major subdivision. The Meeting House committee
has applied for a conditional use/site plan review for a change of use, first floor only, to
be held on February 25 th . The change of use will be for a public facility.
Respectfully submitted,
Martha Taylor-Varney, ZA