Town of Hinesburg
Planning Commission
Meeting Minutes
May 12, 2010
–DRAFT–
Members Present: Joe Iadanza, Carrie Fenn, Bob Linck, Jean Isham, Will Patten, Tim Clancy
Members Absent: Ray Mainer, Tom Ayer, Johanna White
Also Present: Alex Weinhagen (Director of Planning/Zoning), Mary Seemann (Recording Secretary), Russell Spies, Dorothy Pellett, David Fenn, Jim Collins, Xavier Donnelly, Bill Schubart, Janice Osgood, David & Barbara Lyman, Wayne Bissonette, Chris Nielsen
Jean opened the meeting at 7:40 pm.
Saputo/Interim Zoning
Bill Schubart and Will Patten gave a narrative of progress that has been made with the property. Bill stated that the interest for purchasing the facility “as is” is stagnant. There has been some interest expressed by people who would like to acquire the property at a low price and use only a portion of the buildings but don’t necessarily have a plan for the entire 15 acres. Bill said that the 6 member committee feels, as well as many residents that this is 15 acres in the heart of a Vermont Village and therefore whatever happens to that space is critically important to the Town. He said the plan that was being shown tonight was the same final plan that was shown to the Selectboard on Monday night. Bill pointed out that there are really only two buildings on the property that are salvageable.
Will P said the Selectboard’s charge to the committee was to bring back 80 jobs, restore the tax base, and if possible maintain a link to the working landscape. After a year of working on this project the conclusion is: a) no one is ever going to take over the entire property and develop it in a way that would be in the best interest of the Town; b) there would be people who would come in and pay a half million dollars and up for a portion of the land. Will said when those prospective buyers were asked about the remaining land they said they would figure that out later. He stated that was a red flag to them and that is when the committee realized if they wanted to do a Master Plan for the site we have to look at the Zoning Regulations to actually create the vision. Will passed out copies of a combination of zoning and commercial proposal showing the property broken up into three different zones thus getting the use the committee feels is in the best interest of the property it also put forward a commercial proposal the committee thinks will make the deal happen.
Will introduced Rolf Kielman (architect) and his intern Xavier Donnelly who gave a 3-D presentation of the property, translating what the committee had given him into visuals. Will said the committee has a written proposal on what they think should happen to the land, they have a graphic proposal, and the zoning amendments to the interim zoning that was discussed at the Selectboard meeting Monday night. Will said the last element to this is the zoning proposals and what the committee is recommending is to immediately have the Selectboard adopt amendments to the interim zoning that reflect the committees intentions. He said that if this is approved by/endorsed by the Selectboard and Planning Commission the Steering Committee will proceed to go out to all the interested people, the developers, the financial people they have talked to and say if they are interested in the Saputo property here is the direction we are headed and ask them if they want to get involved.
Bill said that some of the committee members were concerned with the absence of clarity for how the Town feels about this property. Right now it could be sold as is. The Town needs to make clear up front how they see the property, that will preempt a bad sale or a sale and years of litigations because of disagreement on how that property could be used commercially but not in the Town’s best interest.
Jean clarified that the interim zoning revision only applies to the Saputo site.
Alex Weinhagen gave a narrative on the interim zoning revision stating what was new and talking about each change.
Jean opened the discussion up for any questions.
Carrie F asked if there was any mention about property from Creekside as a “green space”. Will said that land would be one on many green spaces.
David Lyman asked how the new flood plan regulations fit into this property and if there was a plan for affordable housing in the plan. He stated that FEMA does not require the “no-fill” regulations so where did it come from within Hinesburg and why. David stated that the discussion on this was not over, that there were a lot of people upset with it.
Jim Collins asked if the new proposed regulations remove the playing fields out of the Flood hazard area. Jim said by doing so drives the cost of affordable housing up.
Wayne Bissonette stated that this does drop the value of property for the owner.
Jean asked Alex how he wanted the committee to handle this interim zoning and Alex went through the steps of the process. Alex reminded the committee that the interim zoning will end in January 2011 and there is an option to extend it for one year. Alex stated he felt they could have permanent zoning by the end of the year.
Jean said since the committee had just received copies of the interim zoning revisions they could defer it to the next meeting so all would have a chance to read it then discuss it. Alex said he felt the Selectboard would give them all the time they need but the Steering Committee feels the sooner this gets put into place the better that way potential developers will have a clearer picture of what should happen.
The Board took a couple of minutes to review the interim zoning revisions which led to some discussions for clarifications.
Russell Spies asked if the Town had thought of hydro for the land.
Jean thanked Bill and Will for all the time and effort they and their committee have put into this project.
Permanent Zoning Options
Jean asked Alex what steps were needed to start this process. Alex pointed out they had a lot of “balls in the air” and said he would like to see them put a couple down. He said the flood hazard is now in the Selectboard’s hands, the Town Plan Revision and the Village Growth Rezoning is still in the air and both are going to a public hearing at the next meeting. Jean pointed out that those are close to a conclusion. Alex said he thought it was important to keep focused on those two items for as long as it takes into June, then to get it kicked to the Selectboard. Alex stated that there is still a very large item that has been in limbo since November/December of last year which is the Rural Area Rezoning. He said he is hoping that this summer the Planning Commission could start making some decisions on that and try to move it forward. He said that if the Planning Commission could not marry the two big projects, Saputo and Rural Rezoning together then to figure out which one is the most critical and go with that.
Will P said from his Steering Committees perspective the interim zoning is plenty, if they know the Selectboard and Planning Commission support the interim zoning. Jean I said she felt any developer interested in the Saputo property would want to see permanent zoning in place before they get too far into the project.
Bob L asked what the practical differences are between zoning and interim zoning in terms of how things can be changed. Alex explained the differences.
Joe I said this is as big a project as the Village Growth Rezoning, that there should be ample public hearing time. He suggested doing “real zoning” sooner rather than later, well before the January 2011 dates. Due to the dates and because of the urgency for the Village Area versus the Rural Areas, which need attention but have been putting them off for quite a while, they could be put off for a couple more months while they work on the Permanent Zoning.
Jean said she agreed with Joe and when they start on the Rural Zoning she would like to see the Planning Commission concentrate on just that. Jean said she would like to see the Commission get the Town Plan Revisions and Village Growth Rezoning Revisions through and off to the Selectboard then start with the Permanent Zoning.
Jim Collins asked Alex for an explanation on the urgency to release the Town Plan because he said the draft he read is full of information that is ancient. Jim asked how soon before we get the census information so they can put out accurate information. Jim asked what would come crashing down if they didn’t do a Town Plan within the next one to two years. Alex explained that the Town could lose its eligibility to apply for certain State Planning Grants.
Bob L said he would not like to put off the Rural Area Zoning for very long. Jean said she didn’t see how they could efficiently work both the Permanent Zoning and Rural Zoning in at the same time saying that jumping back and forth between these would not be a good use of their time.
Village Growth Area Rezoning
Jean asked Alex what the most important part was to look at. Alex said there was a three page report that summarizes what the changes are and put a copy up on the screen for the audience to look at along with the Commission members. He stated that this was the first meeting where the Planning Commission has seen this language and the members should not feel under the gun tonight to change anything. What they are looking at tonight is what the public will be looking at for the public hearing so anything they want to change can be talked about at the next meeting. He said he felt that would be a good meeting to say if the language looks good or if someone wants to make changes so the Planning Commission should think of the public hearing as an opportunity for them to have a discussion with the public at the same time.
Jean said that the changes were substantial enough she felt the members needed time to review them and suggested that they didn’t get into it tonight and bring any questions to the next meeting, the public hearing. After the discussion at the public hearing they can make any changes that they deem necessary before submitting it to the Selectboard.
There was discussion between the members and audience regarding Master Plans and Rezoning.
Top 10 Implementation
Jean had made a list of what she thought would be the most important implementations they should work on and asked if anyone wanted to add, delete or make changes to this list.
Will P said he felt that number one should be transportation; public transportation and traffic management. Will asked if the purpose for this list is to focus our zoning discussions.
Alex said the purpose for the Top 10 list was to lay out for everyone in the community what are the priority projects and recommendations.
Will asked if they make the recommendations to the Selectboard and Alex said yes.
Jean stated Alex will come up with a timeline and a responsible party for the Top 10 list so it all doesn’t have to be the Planning Commission.
Mike B said perhaps one of the top 10 should be development of a strategic committee for the recreation department. Jean said that was a good suggestion.
Bob L said he would like to see affordable housing and energy in the top ten.
Joe I said he had three items that were not on the list: 1. Traffic signaling and flow. 2. Encouragement of vegetation buffers around streams. 3. Interconnected transportation network.
Carrie F said she agreed with Bob on the affordable housing and what she had chosen to focus on was 2.2.1c- facilitate public/private partnerships in the creations of affordable housing. She said she was also concerned about preserving the groundwater quality.
Tim C said his choices were traffic, recreational and storm water runoff. Alex said there is an active grant application pending with the State for storm water planning.
Jean asked Alex if he would come up with a list using all the discussion and input from the members.
Minutes from April 28th
After some corrections Jean said she would entertain a motion to accept the minutes as amended. Carrie F made a motion to accept and Bob L. seconded the motion. Tim C abstained. A vote was taken THE MOTION PASSED
Other Business
Alex presented that NRG, the Blittersdorf’s, would like to add an additional 36 new trackers in the meadow area behind Commerce Street and behind the residences on Mechanicsville Rd. The area is part of their property and it is surrounded by wetlands. They put in 36 trackers last years and now they have a permit application in to put in another 36 next to them. Bob said he would speak to Mr. Blittersdorf to see if he would honor the buffer zone.
Will made a motion to adjourn the meeting and Joe seconded. A vote was taken.
THE MOTION PASSED
Jean called the meeting to a close at 10:12pm.
Next scheduled meeting: May 26th
Respectively submitted,
Mary Seemann
Recording Secretary