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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes - Airport Rezoning Task Force - 12/16/2021 1 SOUTH BURLINGTON AIRPORT REZONING TASK FORCE MEETING MINUTES 16 December 2021 The Airport Rezoning Task Force held its first meeting on Thursday, December 16, 2021, at 7:00 p.m. in the Auditorium, City Hall, 180 Market Street, and via GoToMeeting. MEMBERS PRESENT: M. Ostby, C. Sargent, K. Robison, I. Bissell, P. Engels, H. Riehle ALSO PRESENT: K. Peterson, City Planner; Nicholas Longo, Camille Clark, Rosanne Greco, James Leas, Bob Atchison, Jody Woos, Loretta Marriott, Jake Flood, Thomas Chittenden, Amanda Hannaford, Marguerite Adelman, Deb Flanders, Robert Ackland. 2. Welcome to the Airport Rezoning Task Force M. Ostby opened the meeting to introduce the Airport’s request for a rezoning change and the desire for community feedback for the Planning Commission as the reason for setting up the Airport Rezoning Task Force. She noted the Planning Commission is obligated to review any rezoning request it receives. M. Ostby noted this meeting is an information gathering meeting and an organizational meeting for setting up future meetings. K. Peterson noted that this is an introductory meeting for the Task Force. Members introduced themselves. H. Riehle is the City Council Chair and is here in place of Meaghan Emery who will be the regular City Councilor on the Task Force. P. Engels is a Planning Commission member. I. Bissell is a resident of the Chamberlin neighborhood. K. Robison is a resident of the Chamberlin neighborhood. C. Sargent is a resident of the Chamberlin neighborhood. M. Ostby is a member of the Planning Commission. N. Longo introduced himself as Acting Director of Aviation for the Burlington International Airport. He thanked the Task Force for hearing the airport’s request. 3. Set Schedule for Regular Meetings M. Ostby started the conversation about setting the meeting schedule. K. Peterson outlined the basic timeline of the work of the City’s consultant, Brandy Saxton, as discussion of when the next Task Force meeting should be. M. Ostby noted that avoiding February break (week of February 21) would be best. H. Riehle and C. Sargent discussed dates. -------------------------BREAK IN RECORDING, CHANGE TO SECOND RECORDING ---------------------------- K. Peterson noted that the Planning Commission has authorized the Task Force through May 31, 2022 M. Ostby stated that she wants the public to have something to react to when we have the public sessions and that the meeting dates set did not set an agenda. 2 Meetings were set for January 20, February 3, February 17, March 3, and March 17, all Thursdays at 7 p.m. 1. Agenda: Additions, deletions or changes in order of agenda items I. Bissell expressed a desire for there to be public comment at all meetings. C. Sargent said it is premature for public to comment tonight when we have not heard the request and we cannot answer questions about it. M. Ostby said she wanted to make sure that people are educated on the process before opening to public comment. I. Bissell made a motion to allow public comment at the end of the agenda. H. Riehle noted that the City Council includes an opportunity for public to make comment on topics not on the agenda. Otherwise, she thought the public could have opportunity to ask relevant questions after each agenda item. Also, that the City Council is willing to have a broader Airport-related conversation, but that’s not the focus of this Task Force. Ms. Ostby stated she is open to taking clarifying questions for the airport, not questions to the Task Force and not questions not on the agenda. I. Bissell revised his motion to allow for questions from the public after the airport presentation, not general comment. M. Ostby seconded the Motion. Vote 7-0 to approve motion. 4. Presentation of Rezoning Request by Burlington International Airport N. Longo reintroduced himself and outlined the rezoning request as a part of the Airport’s long-term master plan. N. Longo shared an aerial overview of the airport area, with the area of the rezoning request east of Airport Parkway near Kirby Road Extension highlighted in red. The area is currently zoned R-4 and the request is to rezone to AIR. He showed the City of South Burlington Official Map, including the #1 circled area where the City and Airport have discussed the connections from Airport Parkway to Airport Drive N. Longo then presented the City of South Burlington Zoning Map to show the particular area of R-4 that the airport is requesting be rezoned to AIR, noting that it is approximately 10 acres of area. The streets within the area are not part of the request and are owned by the City. N. Longo finally presented a subset of the Airport’s Master Plan map. 3 N. Longo explained that the access to the airport runway system is critical to this request and the rezoning would be related to a conceptual proposal for a snow removal vehicles building and area. I. Bissell asked clarifying questions about green colors on the Master Plan map. N. Longo stated it was either airport-owned or eligible for acquisition and divided by a conceptual idea of a relocation of roads. N. Longo explained process for approval by the City of South Burlington entities for actual construction of buildings, and the relationship of the Airport as a City of Burlington department. C. Sargent asked about the end-game concept of the rezoning. N. Longo explained it would be the area for maintaining airport vehicles and property and the other buildings are conceptual building locations for other possible commercial buildings. C. Sargent asked where the maintenance building is now. N. Longo pointed out where it is located and that it is undersized for its needs and cannot be expanded due to its location near other buildings and the secondary runway. C. Sargent and M. Ostby asked additional questions about details of current location. H. Riehle asked where the FAA fits into the process of rezoning and reusing the property. N. Longo explained the FAA role in the acquisition of the houses on the lots and the FAA approval of the Master Plan. The FAA is involved in the reuse of the properties and its use for airport purposes and noise buffering. H. Riehle asked if the only uses in the rezone are for the direct use of the airport or is it also open to commercial businesses. N. Longo referred back to the conceptual drawing that shows other buildings for aeronautical use by businesses that need access to the airfield, but there is no company looking for that space. I. Bissell asked for clarification of which buildings were direct airport needs. K. Robison asked about a time limit for use of the land other than for noise mitigation or repayment of money to the FAA. Further discussion between Task Force Members (C. Sargent and K. Robison) and N. Longo re other locations around the Airport. H. Riehle noted the commercial entities would add to the Grand List and provide jobs and taxes and asked if the airport building would be taxed. N. Longo said it likely would not. I. Bissell asked if the expansion was related to a projected increase in flights. N. Longo clarified that the maintenance of the airport is the same for one flight or two hundred, but there is a projection of increased commercial and general aviation flights. I. Bissell expressed concerns about prioritizing commercial development over local residents. M. Ostby noted that the land is already privately owned. M. Ostby stated that the Task Force has an opportunity of tailoring the zoning to the area, not just saying yes or no to the specific request. N. Longo also noted that there are plans for walking/multi-use paths near and around the Airport. Further discussion about other locations on the Airport property for maintenance facility. Clarification about conceptual proposed use of the requested rezoning area. Discussion of use of area for aircraft. 4 M. Ostby clarified that what the Airport is presenting today is not necessarily what they will propose in the future. K. Robison asked if the decision was for no rezoning, how often could the Airport come back? K. Peterson stated that there would not be a restriction on when they could return and request. P. Engels asked about taxation to the City of South Burlington. C. Sargent asked about the tax agreement between the Airport and the City. H. Riehle believes it was a 10-year agreement, so it will have to be renegotiated. Members discussed that an opinion on the tax implications of the rezoning would be good to know. H. Riehle asked about if the City could require the Airport do something in exchange for the rezoning. K. Peterson stated that it may be a tricky situation and the Task Force will need to discuss it with the City Attorney for legal advice. Further discussion about the airport being a good neighbor to the neighborhood, options for provision of amenities in open areas, and future uses. Opened to Questions from the Public C. Clark asked a question about how this would affect funding for F-35 noise mitigation. N. Longo explained that the funding is completely separate. R. Greco asked if this is the first of more requests from the Airport. N. Longo said there were no additional requests planned at this time. J. Leas asked questions about exclusion zones at the ends of the runways, clarifications about locations of current buildings on the airport property, and possible locations for buildings elsewhere. He asked about Beta and Task Force members stated that the question was not related to this rezoning. He also asked about taxes on buildings elsewhere on the property or options for other locations to develop. B. Atchison asked about the carbon footprint of air travel compared to other forms of transportation. He also asked about compliance with other climate-related goals. H. Riehle stated that the City of South Burlington takes this as an important topic. B. Atchison asked if the Airport is planning to add runway to where the current maintenance facility is. N. Longo said no. 5. Discussion with Consultant Brandy Saxton B. Saxton introduced herself and her background. She outlined the timeline for the Task Force’s work and what she is planning to provide to the Task Force. She also discussed the opportunities for public feedback into the Task Force’s work and timing of drafts of any recommended zoning to present to the Planning Commission. M. Ostby asked about timing of input from Task Force, community feedback, etc. amongst consultant work. B. Saxton stated that the specific answer to the question would be answered in the background/status memo for the January 20 meeting. 5 I. Bissell asked about the community engagement process. B. Saxton outlined some details, but more will be included in the January 20 meeting documents. P. Engels asked about producing a document about ownership and zoning of properties west of the airport. B. Saxton noted the request. 6. Other Business No other business. 7. Adjourn Motion to Adjourn by H. Riehle, C. Sargent seconded. All in favor.