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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes - City Council - 10/05/2020CITY COUNCIL 5 OCTOBER 2020 The South Burlington City Council held a regular meeting on Monday, 5 October 2020, at 6:30 p.m., via Go to Meeting remote participation. MEMBERS PRESENT: H. Riehle, Chair; M. Emery, T. Barritt, T. Chittenden, D. Kaufman ALSO PRESENT: K. Dorn, City Manager; T. Hubbard, Deputy City Manager; P. Conner, Director of Planning & Zoning; I. Blanchard, Project Manager; M. Murray, C. Baker, M. Clark, B. Sirvis, C. Shaw, L. Bresee, A Chalnick, K. Epstein, T. Perrin, E. Goldman, M. J. Reale 1. Additions, deletions or changes in the order of Agenda items: No changes were made to the Agenda. 2. Comments and Questions from the public not related to the Agenda: Ms. Sirvis thanked the Council for their quick response to her issue. 3. Announcements & City Manager’s Report: Mr. Chittenden thanked the Rec Department for the soccer program and for providing a sense of normalcy for families. Mr. Barritt noted the recent tour of the new Market St. building. Ms. Riehle said it seems to be well managed, and the School District is happy with the process and the communication. Ms. Riehle noted a meeting via ZOOM with the School District. They were interested in when the final tax bills will go out and what the numbers will be. They were reminded to continue to push to see that the new HVAC system at Chamberlain is up to COVID codes. They are now in the bid process, and the assumption is that the COVID codes will be part of the bid. Mr. Dorn asked Ms. Blanchard to speak to the Council regarding the solar element of the new building. Ms. Blanchard said they city has put out an RFP and RFQ and are close to selecting a vendor. It looks like the building is good for battery storage, but it is still a complex process with a lot of questions. The city is also looking at different financing options. Even with private incentives, the thought is that it is still better for the city to finance it. There will be a recommendation from staff later in the week. CITY COUNCIL 5 OCTOBER 2020 PAGE 2 Ms. Riehle asked the parameter of extra money the city has to meet. Ms. Blanchard said $400,000-$500,000. The city would not self-finance over $500,000. Ms. Blanchard noted the energy reserve fund has about $100,000 now. Ms. Blanchard noted that there is an additional complication. The city is working to award the solar array contract sooner rather than later because of roof final construction, and the aim is not to interrupt that timeline. Mr. Dorn said the Council will probably need a special meeting this week because of that timeline. Ms. Blanchard said the expected lifetime savings based on an older projection is between $50,000 and $175,000. The hope is to make that even better. Ms. Blanchard said the warranty is 25 years though the lifetime is probably 30 years. The batteries would be warranteed for 20 years. Mr. Dorn then continued his report as follows: The Airport Noise Committee is meeting tomorrow at 5 p.m. Mr. Conner has a long list of questions regarding the implementation of the plan. The City has received a public records request regarding the South Burlington Times. The School District is also interested in joining in the Times. The deadline for the next edition is Thursday. The Learning Management System is up and running. Two new communities (Hinesburg and Milton) are talking to the Howard Center regarding joining the community outreach program. Census data taking has been extended until the end of October. Ms. Emery asked whether wastewater COVID testing will be a regular procedure. Mr. Dorn said he didn’t think so. CITY COUNCIL 5 OCTOBER 2020 PAGE 3 4. Consent Agenda: a. Approve and Sign Disbursements Ms. Emery moved to approve the Consent Agenda as presented. Mr. Chittenden seconded. Mr. Barritt asked about a $71,000 payment to the Water Department regarding roads, paths, etc. Mr. Hubbard said he would provide those details. Ms. Emery asked if the roof replacement was for the fire station. Mr. Hubbard said it was for a pump station. In the roll call vote that followed, the motion passed unanimously. 5. Interim Zoning Application #IZ-20-02 of Eastern Development Corporation for development on an existing 8.66 acre lot developed with a single family home and 7,000 sq. ft. storage building. The development consists of one 6.68 acre lot containing 36 dwelling units in three-family buildings, a 1.38 acre lot containing the existing single family home and storage building, and a third lot containing proposed city streets, 600 Spear Street: It was noted that this item has been continued to 19 October 2020. Mr. Conner explained that the property is south of the Miller Farm across from the Forest Service building. Mr. Mittag felt it was important to consider a buffer between the buildings and the highway. 6. Chittenden County Regional Planning Commission Annual budget overview: Mr. Baker reviewed the annual report. He thanked the city’s representative and alternate and those who have participated on committees. Mr. Baker pointed out a page of projects, a number of which involve South Burlington, and the capital program. There are also regional activities including racial equity work which may involve training for elected officials. The Building Homes Together project has resulted in a number of homes being built, but only 13% of them are permanently affordable. There is still not a healthy vacancy rate in the county and still not enough affordable housing. CITY COUNCIL 5 OCTOBER 2020 PAGE 4 Mr. Mittag asked if there is a record of the number of affordable units per municipality. Mr. Baker showed a chart of the total number of new construction units by municipality. South Burlington had 600 while Burlington had 1100 and Winooski and Essex Junction had 400 each. Two-thirds of those units are in multi-family buildings. Mr. Baker noted that state funding is down a bit for FY21 and could be down even more for FY22. He also noted that a year or 2 ago the Legislature adopted a new provision regarding clean water and asked for entities to be volunteer providers. CCRPC did volunteer. Mr. Shaw noted that CCRPC is taking on a bigger load now. Ms. Riehle thanked Mr. Shaw for his service as representative to CCRPC. Mr. Barritt asked whether CCRPC got any CARE money. Mr. Baker said they did not, but the State Legislature did make some money available to help municipalities. He felt there were no major impacts to the CCRPC budget as the result of COVID. 7. Council discussion and possible guidance on recommendation of the South Burlington Energy Committee to create a Climate Action Plan: Mr. Dorn noted that Ms. Riehle asked for this to be on the agenda to see if the Council wanted to move forward based on the presentation at the last meeting by the Energy Committee. Ms. Riehle said there were a number of important recommendations. There is also the timing for a grant to help the Energy Committee meet its goals. Mr. Epstein said the Energy Committee is proposing the City Council follow up with the recommendation to create a Climate Action Plan. This would involve specific goals identifying sections of South Burlington that create greenhouse gas emissions and how to address this. He noted there is a small grant that could help with getting public input regarding a Plan. Ms. Riehle said the question is whether the Council wants to pursue this and whether the budget and staffing can accomplish it. Ms. Emery read from the grant program goals and suggested there might be circles of people who could meet in neighborhoods. Mr. Chittenden said time is a scarce resource. He asked what has been done and what can be done. CITY COUNCIL 5 OCTOBER 2020 PAGE 5 Mr. Dorn said what has been done is mostly internal to the city. He cited the hiring of Lou Bresee, the solar installation on the landfill, and the potential for solar on the roof of the new 180 Market St. building. Mr. Bresee is tracking a multitude of lighting and thermal issues as well. Mr. Dorn then noted that broader outreach in the community will take more staff as there is no staff person to do this. It is a fine project, but the City doesn’t have the staff for it. There are also costs, and there is no budget for the plan. There are also things the city doesn’t have control over such as better transit routes. Mr. Chittenden asked whether a staff person is needed or whether there could be an RFP for a consultant. Mr. Dorn said they might want to cost out what Montpelier and Burlington are proposing. Mr. Barritt suggested that CCRPC could have someone coordinate one action plan for the County. He felt there is a need for concrete goals and the money to achieve them. Mr. Bresee noted that there was a CCRPC presentation 3 weeks ago regarding energy plans and what should be in them. A number of communities have plans. A committee could gather plans that already exist at not much cost. Mr. Epstein noted that VCAN acts as a connector between Energy Committees. They host a yearly meeting where attendees can learn from each other. CCRPC has helped in this effort. Mr. Epstein felt the Energy Committee can look at what other communities have done. He also suggested the city submit a funding request to CCRPC to help create an umbrella Climate Action Plan for the region with specifics for each community based on what the people of that community want. Mr. Barritt suggested the Energy Committee take a stab at it themselves as they have the expertise. Mr. Epstein said he wasn’t sure they had the expertise or the hours or influence to gather the broad stakeholder groups. Mr. Bresee said if CCRPC already has plans from other communities, it would be good to see if those are things the city wants to do. Ms. Murray said a year ago when CCRPC was putting together its budget, the Energy Committee asked them for tracking and were told that wasn’t going to happen. She stressed the need to consider the long-term costs if action isn’t taken. Ms. Emery read from CCRPC’s Energy Statement “to assist with development of local energy plans.” She felt that suggests they are going to help to do a plan. Ms. Riehle suggested CITY COUNCIL 5 OCTOBER 2020 PAGE 6 “pushing” CCRPC to do a good template for the county. Mr. Chittenden said he would support having Mr. Dorn and Mr. Conner contact CCRPC in this regard. Mr. Dorn said he can reach out to CCRPC and report back to the Council on what they and other towns are doing. Mr. Dorn stressed that the city is heading into investing a lot of money into 2 initiatives, the rooftop solar at 180 Market Street and the turbine at the Sewage Treatment Plant. 8. Councilors’ Reports from Committee Assignments: Ms. Riehle: There will be an Airport Commission meeting on Wednesday. Mr. Conner added that there is also a meeting of the Sound Committee tomorrow and a public meeting on an update to the Airport Master Plan next week. 9. Other Business: Members agreed to meet on Wednesday at 5:30 p.m. to discuss and make a decision on the redesign of solar panels for 180 Market Street. 10. Executive Session: Ms. Riehle moved the Council meet in Executive Session to discuss matters related to personnel and contracts where premature disclosure could put the City at a competitive disadvantage and to invite Messrs. Dorn and Hubbard to the Session. The Council also agreed that no other action would be taken after Executive Session and that the meeting would adjourn immediately afterward. Ms. Emery seconded. Motion passed unanimously. The Council entered Executive Session at 8:30 p.m.