Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes - City Council - 01/16/1978CITY COUNCIL JANUARY 16, 1978 The South Burlington City Council held a meeting on Tuesday, January 16, 1978 at 8:00 p.m. in the Conference Room, Municipal Offices, 1175 Williston Road Members Present Paul Farrar, Chairman; Michael Flaherty(late), Frank Armstrong; Martin Paulsen, William Burgess Others Present William Szymanski, City Manager; Stephen Page, Planner; Bill Wessel, Planning Commission Chairman; Dave Morency, Sidney Poger, George Mona, Kirk Woolery, Planning Commissioners; Hugh Marvin, S.B. Representative to Regional Planning; Paul Henderson, Free Press; Joe Slakas, WJOY/WQCR Minutes of regular meeting January 3, 1978 and special meeting January 5, 1978 It was moved by Mr. Paulsen and seconded by Mr. Burgess, to approve the minutes of January 3 and January 5, 1978. The vote was three yes and one abstention, by Mr. Armstrong. Sign Disbursement orders Disbursement orders were signed. Review Interim Zoning Regulations and Sewer Regulations amendment Mr. Daniel O'Brien said that he would like to see the language in the two documents say that where soil conditions permit, on-site sewage disposal would be allowed with the understanding that when there was more capacity in the plant, the on-site buildings would hook up. He said that he would be willing to stipulate hooking to municipal sewer as soon as possible and to stipulate that lots without the right soil conditions would be considered unbuildable, until the plant can take them. Mr. Farrar said that he thought the Council could look at individual cases and make determinations on them. Mr. Burgess said that the sewer ordinance amendments say no on-site if a lot is expected to be able to hook up to a sewer within 3 years. Mr. Poger said that the Planning Commission had, on two occasions, said unanimously that it would oppose any on-site sewage. He also said that the interim zoning document said that the sewer problem was the worst condition on the north side of town and that traffic was the worst condition on the south side. He felt that traffic was bad on both sides and that if the restrictions caused by the sewer problem were lifted, the north side of town would not be covered for traffic. He recommended that the north side be covered for both. Mr. Flaherty asked why the Commission did not like on-site in the Airport Parkway area and was told that the Commission wanted development to occur where there were services for it. Mr. Poger also said that if on-site was allowed in an area, there would be no way to control growth or guarentee health, safety, and welfare. Mr. Morency said that the reason for interim zoning was to give the Commission time to plan and look into how to control growth. He felt that one way to control growth was to have a Capital Budget. Mr. Farrar felt that the city had one. He said that the rate of growth was established by the ability of a community to provide services if you have outlined your willingness and ability to do so in an acceptable Master Plan, Capital Budget, and Zoning document. If a city has capacity in all things: traffic, schools, sewers, than it cannot say no to development. Mr. Marvin felt that if the city had a one-year delay in building, at the end of that time, if would be flooded with applications and the situation would be worse than ever. He felt that there must be an alternative. Mr. Farrar said that the only alternative would be if the State allowed the city to violate their pollution standards a little more. Mr. Paulsen said that he thought the gallonage of the plant could be increased without increasing the BOD and suspended solids. The Council discussed this point. Mr. Paulsen said that if the city came up with a sound answer, the plant capacity could be increased for a year and the Commission would have time to plan. He felt that the same planning could be done with or without interim zoning. Mr. Farrar pointed out that the Commission would not have time to plan if it was constantly dealing with applications. Mr. Paulsen said that if one averaged the figures over a number of years, the average annual growth rate was not that far out of line. Mr. Page gave the Council a packet of papers which gave them an idea of the geographical extent of development pressure and the timing of it. (see attached copies) He also had a list of signallized intersections with one or more approaches operating at 75% of capacity or greater. Mr. Farrar thanked him for it. Mr. Mona said that all interim zoning bought was time and he did not see it as a catastrophe because it could be lifted at any time. Mr. Paulsen felt that the city could lose 3 to 5 years of economic impact. Mr. Poger felt that it was a catastrophe and he felt that the central point was not the sewer, but the traffic situation. That, he felt, was intolerable, and the interim zoning would buy time to find out what the city could do to stop an intolerable situation. On page 2 of the draft of the interim zoning regulations (see copy attached to January 5, 1978 minutes), Section 4A, number 3, Mr. Flaherty moved to put a period after "swimming pools" and delete the rest of the sentence. The motion was seconded by Mr. Paulsen and passed unanimously. Mr. Burgess wanted to know which problem the city was addressing - sewers or traffic. If it was traffic, he did not feel that the interim zoning document should be discussing toilet facilities. He also said that if the problem was traffic, it could be solved by zoning out high traffic generators, which seems much simpler. Mr. Farrar said that they had both problems and Mr. Burgess replied that both should be addressed - traffic as traffic and sewer as sewer. Mr. Page said that in his experience it was much easier to deal with effluent flows than traffic, and he pointed out that a collection of low traffic generators added up to the same effect as one high traffic generator. Mr. Szymanski said that in September he had received a letter from the State which told him that the city should be careful not to overplan regarding the sewer capacity. Mr. Burgess said that he would accept that the capacity of the plant had almost been reached, but he said that he did not like controlling a traffic problem by calling it a sewer problem. He said, in response to Mr. Woolery's comment that the other alternative was to keep expanding, that he felt there were many ways to say no. Mr. Morency said that that was reactive planning and did not gain the city anything - they would not learn anything. Mr. Farrar said that they could say no when intersections reached 75% of capacity because there was no room, and Mr. Morency said that it did not seem logical to have areas zoned commercial and not allow people to build because there was no room, and yet charge them taxes on commercial land. Mr. Page pointed out that interim zoning could be revoked any time the city wanted, and he added that this was not the first straw the city had grasped at - the efforts of the Williston Road Task Force and the recent zoning amendments show that the city has been trying to cope with the situation for a long time and has been unable to. Mr. Burgess asked what the Commission would do with the time it would get through interim zoning. Mr. Wessel replied that that had been discussed at the last Commission meeting and that they had felt that a year was the minimum time they would need and that 2 years would be better, given the amount of time that is needed to get legislation through the Commission and the Council. He said that they would set priorities at the next meeting. He guessed that it would take them 3-4 times longer to plan and pass legislation without interim zoning than with it. Mr. Paulsen asked if the Commission needed additional help and Mr. Wessel replied that more staff help would be good. Mr. Paulsen suggested splitting the Commission into two parts - one to plan and one to deal with applications. Mr. Wessel said that that would bear thinking about. Mr. Paulsen favored considering traffic in the north side of town in the interim zoning regulations and Mr. Farrar agreed. Mr. Farrar added that the packet of paper that Mr. Page had given them perhaps ought to be added to the findings. Sign Claim for Highway State Aid Mr. Szymanski said that this was to have the State reimburse the city for several repaying projects. Mr. Flaherty moved to sign the claim for highway state aid for repaying. The motion was seconded by Mr. Armstrong and passed unanimously. Sign Water Department renewel note and new note for duplicating machine purchase Mr. Flaherty moved to sign the Water Department renewel note and a new note for the purchase of a duplicating machine. The motion was seconded by Mr. Paulsen and passed unanimously. Update on South Burlington Southern Connector Mr. Szymanski said that he had written everyone that the Council had asked him to. The Council said that it would advertize for positions on the citizen's committee and appoint the members next Tuesday. The meeting was declared adjourned at 11:00 p.m. Clerk Published by ClerkBase ©2019 by Clerkbase. No Claim to Original Government Works.