Selectboard Minutes
Regular Meeting of Monday May 13, 2024 at 7:00 PM
At South Hero Town Hall and via Zoom
Board Members Present: David Carter/Chairman, Skip Brown/Board Secretary, Ross Brown and Anne Zolotas
Board Members Not Present: David Lane/Vice Chairman
Others Present: Treasurer Kim Julow, Town Administrator Sue Arguin, and ZA Martha Taylor Varney. Also see sign in sheet of in person and Zoom attendees. *Attendance SB 2024-05-13-2024
1. Called to Order:
– The meeting was called to order by Chairman Carter at 7:00 pm.
2. Adjustment to Agenda:
-Add discuss delinquent tax warrant to New Business
3. Minutes:
-Ross Brown a motion to approve the minutes of April 22, 2024. The motion was seconded, all in attendance so voted and the motion carried.
4. Public input:
A. Ron Phelps asked for the Road Dept. to rake and seed the area where the water line was installed to the South Hero Bicentennial Museum. Ross will talk with the Road Dept.
5. New Business:
A. Kim Lord of GMAA was present to discuss 2 upcoming road running races in 2024:
-Anne Zolotas made a motion to allow the use of the Folsom Educational and Community Center parking lot and to close a portion of South Street for the Clarence DeMar 5K race on July 4, 2024 at approximately 8:30 am. The Sheriff has been notified and will be directing traffic on the same out and back course as before. The motion was seconded, all in attendance so voted and the motion carried.
-Skip Brown made a motion to allow the use of the Folsom Educational and Community Center parking lot for the Green Mountain half and full marathon on October 20, 2024. The race will have hired traffic enforcers and will follow the same out and back course as before. The motion was seconded, all in attendance so voted and the motion carried.
B. Treasurer Kim Julow discussed some new recommendations for the ARPA funds. If funds are not “obligated” by December 31, 2024 then they may be in jeopardy to be returned to the federal government. VLCT has some recommendations to avoid this scenario. See attached* ARPA Obligation Interim Final Rule This issue will be revisited in July.
C. Treasurer Kim Julow discussed the delinquent tax warrant. The current amount owed is $333,765.37. Letters will go out soon to those who are late. The Board in attendance initialed the warrant as received.
D. ZA Martha Taylor-Varney discussed a traffic study that was done on Hochelega Rd. It has been suggested to reduce the speed limit to 25mph. Currently there are several ordinances for speed limits on Town Roads. Since a public hearing and new ordinance procedure would have to be done to change the limit on one road, it was suggested that a single consolidated ordinance be explored for all road speed limits. More information will follow.
7. Town Administrator and ZA Reports:
A. See the written reports posted with these minutes.
B. Skip Brown made a motion to approve and have the chairman sign the mobile vendor license for the Sausage Shack that will be at Snow Farm Vineyard. The motion was seconded, all in attendance so voted and the motion carried.
8. Old and Ongoing Business:
A. The salt shed RFP is still 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 has been poured.
B. The contracts for bids for the mowing of Town properties will be opened at the May 27 meeting.
9. Announcements and Communications:
A. none at this meeting
10. Other Business:
A. Ross Brown made a motion to approve and sign the orders 24-23 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: There will be a town vote on May 14 for the school budget.
C. Recreation Commission (RC) update: There is a meeting on May 14.
D. Road Department update: see above
E. Old South Hero Meeting House (OSHMH) project: Several grants are in progress. Work may commence this fall, so a letter to the Granny’s Attic group about vacating the building will be drafted.
F. ARPA updates: see above
G. Wastewater (WW) update: See the Town Administrator report
H. Town Hall Committee update: The committee will meet every 2 weeks on Tuesdays. The next meeting is May 14. Rick Breault has already resigned.
I. Anne Zolotas made a motion to go into executive session for personnel matters at 8:10 pm. The motion was seconded, all in attendance so voted and the motion carried. Executive session ended at 8:30 pm. Upon exiting executive session, Anne Zolotas made a motion to appoint Jill Lowery to the Town Hall Committee to fill the open spot. The motion was seconded, all in attendance so voted and the motion carried.
11. Adjournment:
-Skip Brown made a motion to adjourn at 8:32 pm. The motion was seconded, all in attendance so voted and the motion carried.
Respectfully submitted, Approved by,
_______________________________ ________________________________
Graham Brown, Secretary David Carter, Chairman
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
May 13, 2024 ZA’s report to the SB
1. I’ve updated the Town Roads speed limit document after our discussion at the last
meeting. This was signed by the SB in 2021. It does not yet include the proposed
lower speed limit for Hochelaga Rd. (reduced to 25 from 35mph). Do you want to
schedule a public hearing for the reduction of the speed limit on HocheIaga Rd. or
consider a comprehensive ordinance where all town road speed limits are included
on the same document?
2. I have one mobile vendor license application for the Boards approval and signature
tonight. It is for The Sausage Shack, which operates at Snow Farm throughout the
summer on Thursday evenings.
3. I received a bill for $796.26 last week from Fitzgerald Environmental Engineering.
The bill is for fieldwork conducted on April 26 to determine the wetland boundary and
the area of wetlands affected when the road was widened to create more parking in
the area of the fishing access/bike path on Martin Rd. Also included was a wetland
map created by Fitzgerald. The technicians calculated that 1041sf of wetland was
affected and buffer impacts were 2048sf. I contacted Krystal Sewell at VT DEC
Wetlands to let her know that we had received the wetland map from Fitzgerald, and
I would send it on to her after tonight’s meeting to allow the SB to see it and ask any
questions you may have. I spoke with John Beaulac today and he and I agreed that
it would be helpful if Krystal Sewell could meet with us at the site to discuss further
(schedule TBD).
4. We also received a bill from Town attorney DINCE PC for consulting services
concerning the Development Review Board’s denial of Pest Pro’s site plan
amendment. I was notified last week by Pest Pro’s attorney that they had filed a
Notice of Appeal with VT Superior Court Environmental Division.
5. VLCT is hosting their Zoning and Development Review Forum on Thursday, May
30 th, , from 9AM to noon. This will be a virtual meeting and I plan to use the TV
screen in the boardroom that morning for the presentations. The 2 subjects for the
forum are especially timely to South Hero – the first will be a presentation by a staff
attorney and a law clerk attached to Environmental Court, to explain how cases work
through the court system, recent case law regarding municipal zoning appeals, and
best practices for DRB’s in writing effective decisions. The second subject of the
forum will be a Legislative wrap-up from the 2024 legislative session in Montpelier. I
expect much of this will center on the proposed changes to Act 250. I plan to sign
up. Anyone who would like to attend here in the Boardroom that morning please
contact me ahead of time so I can have an idea of how many to expect.
Planning Commission
The next meeting is May 15 at 6PM. Agenda items include a discussion on the
Sidewalk Mapping Study, a possible speed limit ordinance, Fire Dist. #4’s needs and
support, and an annual Town appropriation toward support for Friends of Northern Lake
Champlain.
Development Review Board
1. The DRB denied an appeal to the ZA’s approval of a building permit issued for 41
Sunset Beach Rd.
2. The Board approved a setback waiver on Kibbe Farm Rd. and a variance request on
Kibbe Point Rd. at their April 24 meeting.
3. Upcoming hearings include:
– May 22: 2-lot Minor Subdivision on Featherbed Lane, and a 3-lot Minor Subdivision on
Station Rd.
– June 12: (Tentative – to be confirmed this week) a change in conditional use due to a
reduction in the degree of non-conformity of a principal structure on West Shore Rd.
Respectfully submitted,
Martha Taylor-Varney, ZA