Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes - City Council - 05/15/1978CITY COUNCIL MAY 15, 1978 The South Burlington City Council held a meeting on Monday, May 15, 1978 at 8:00 pm in the Conference Room, City Hall, 1175 Williston Road Members Present Paul Farrar, Chairman; Frank Armstrong, William Burgess, Martin Paulsen, Michael Flaherty Others Present William Szymanski, City manager; A.C. Audette, Gary Rounds, Ken Dattilio, William Wessel, Peter Yankowshi, Sterling Emerson Additions to the agenda The Following additions were added to the agenda: 1) Discussion of letter to the District #4 Environmental Commission regarding Pyramid Mall. Mr. Paulsen moved to add a consideration of a response to the District $4 Environmental Commission concerning Pyramid Mall. Mr. Falherty seconded the motion and it passed unanimously. 2) Discussion of the denial of the Red Coach Grill 3) Discussion of the William Wessel Chairman of the Planning Commission’s …… land and was told that they would want to use Bureau of Outdoor Recreation (BOR) funds for it. Mr. Farrar said that if the city was serious about it, they should get a BOR certified appraiser and agree with the owner that if the city buys the land, they and the owner will split the cost of the appraisal. If the city does not buy the land, they will pay for the appraisal and if the owner does not sell, he will pay for it. Mr. Flaherty suggested that Mr. Szymanski check with the owner and see if he will agree to that arrangement. Mr. Szymanski said that some of the land was pretty low and that some was heavily wooded but that he would check it out with the owner about the appraisal. Mr. Flaherty suggested talking to Bruce O'Neill, Recreation Director, about his long range plans for open space in the city. At this point, Mr. Yankowski of the Natural Resources Committee came in and he described the land for the Council. He said that it was along a brook and some of it was a little wet but that it had a lot of trees and would be nice to have in the middle of a heavily developed part of the city. It has two access points and he felt there were a lot of potential uses for it. Set time and place for Council Reorganizational meeting It was agreed to meet Wednesday, May 17 at 4:45 pm at City Hall for the Reorganizational meeting. Discussion of response to District Environmental Commission concerning Pyramid Mall Mr. Farrar gave the Council copies of a letter from him to the District Environmental Commission outlining the city's position with regard to the Pyramid Mall application (see attached copy) and asking that any permit they are granted be contingent upon the two conditions in the letter. These are that Williston and South Burlington submit joint applications for the upgrading of Shunpike Road from the Digital plant to Brownell Road and that that project be completed before the Mall opens and that the Williston Road improvements between the Burlington City line and Hinesburg Road be completed and that the construction contract for the South Burlington-Burlington Southern Connector be let. He said that these were the roads in the city that would be over 100% of the design capacity if the Mall opened without the improvements having been completed. Mr. Flaherty moved that the City Council approve the communication dated May 15, 1978 and attached to these minutes. The motion was seconded by Mr. Armstrong. Mr. Paulsen said that the Council was tying the applicant up with conditions over which he had no control. Mr. Farrar said the precedent had been established by the Environmental Board in the Rand application, where the expansion of the store was tied to the upgrading of the Williston Road - Dorset Street intersection. Mr. Paulsen asked what would happen if the land was not available for the Southern Connector and would not be for 10 years and Mr. Farrar replied that in that case the applicant could ask for a modification of the permit stipulation. The motion passed unanimously. Regional Master Plan Review The Council had copies of a memo on this issue from the Planning Commission and they discussed the question of another Interstate interchange in South Burlington to relieve the exit 14 traffic load. Mr. Farrar said that the city should perhaps study whether it wanted a full interchange at Kennedy Drive, an interchange at Hinesburg Road, both, or neither. Mr. Armstrong was opposed to a full interchange at Dorset St. and Kennedy Drive but Mr. Burgess felt he would like someone to tell the city where to put the interchanges and he did not want to shut off Dorset St. and Kennedy Drive without hearing anything about that location. Mr. Szymanski said he would send a memo to the Planning Commission saying that the Council was in agreement with their basic comments. Executive Session for discussion of the offer to purchase the land at the corner of White St. and Williston Road Mr. Flaherty moved to adjourn the City Council meeting and meet in Executive Session for the purpose of discussing the possible purchase of the property at White St. and Williston Road. The motion was seconded by Mr. Armstrong and passed unanimously. Progress on list of sanitary connections to the Airport Parkway treatment plant Mr. Paulsen said he would like a list of all connections to the sewer and Mr. Szymanski said he would have it next time they met. Mr. Audette asked what the city would do in the case of people who had footing drains hooked to the sewer, saying that there were a lot of them in certain areas of the city. Mr. Farrar said the Coundil would have to set a policy. Criteria for lifting interim zoning Mr. Wessel, Chairman of the Planning Commission, was present, and he discussed his May 3, 1978 memo concerning the lifting of interim zoning with the Council (see attached copy). Mr. Armstrong said that he felt that goal #2 was excellent and agreed with #3. He asked what would happen if the traffic report the consultant gave the city did not agree with the recommendations in the Williston Road Task Force report. Mr. Paulsen said that if it did not it would be good to know that as soon as possible. Mr. Burgess asked whether the three years mentioned in #1 as the time frame for the consultant's recommendations meant that the Planning Commission wanted to have these recommendations implemented before interim zoning was lifted, which would be three years from now and was told no, that the Commission just wanted to have the recommendations completed which would set out actions to be taken over the next three years. Mr. Paulsen asked if the Commission felt it had the time to do all the work involved in making an Official Map and was told that they were trying to do it in two phases: cataloguing what the city has first (Mr. Page is looking for someone to do that now), and then putting on the map all the things the city would like for the future. Mr. Paulsen said that he thought an Official Map had to be very detailed and Mr. Farrar felt it had to be reasonably accurate on a reasonably scaled map. Mr. Armstrong moved to approve the criteria for the lifting of interim zoning subject to the discussion the City Council has had. The motion was seconded by Mr. Flaherty. Mr. Burgess said that he would like to add a condition to this acceptance and that is that the timetable for the criteria fit into the one year schedule the Council set for interim zoning. He said that #8 3 and 6 would be hard to finish in a year. He also felt the Council should be moving on working up a Capital Program so that they could give the Commission a date for the completion of it. The motion passed unanimously. Discussion of the denial of the Red Coach Grill Mr. Armstrong said that he felt the Planning Commission had been on solid ground in its denial of the Red Coach Grill and that they had had no alternative but to do what they did. He felt they were on solid ground in view of the reports of the anticipated traffic levels that would be at the intersection even after the improvements. He hoped the reports would be wrong but said that he had to go along with what the traffic engineers had predicted. Mr. Burgess said that kids were going into the sewer system in Country Club Estates and he wondered if the city would have any liability if someone were to get hurt. Mr. Syzmanski did not know what the city could do except put grates over the pipes and those would become clogged and would need cleaning periodically. Mr. Paulsen brought up the question of storm grates along the roads where the bars are parallel to the sidewalk, posing a hazard for bicycles, which can fall between the bars and throw a rider. He wondered if these could be turned 90°. Mr. Szymanski said that they were like that on Kennedy Drive and that to replace them one would have to dig up and replace the entire frame. Mr. Paulsen suggested that Mr. Szymanski look into the cost of replacing them, saying that perhaps the city could special order some for Kennedy Drive. Meet with Street Department Union representatives Mr. Farrar said that he felt this particular merit system form should be done away with and Mr. Burgess agreed, suggesting that they be tailored to each city department. Mr. Farrar said that the question now was whether to do away with the merit system altogether this year. Mr. Audette, the Street Department head, said that he liked and was satisfied with the system. Mr. Armstrong asked about simplifying the form and was told that that was only part of the problem. It was pointed out that the employees did not mind being evaluated but they did not like having their pay tied to it. Mr. Burgess said that he liked the idea of the evaluation being tied to pay and said that it was important to have a written assessment of an individual which can be a focal point for discussion between him and his supervisors. Mr. Rounds, the union representative, agreed with that. Mr. Audette felt that an evaluation which was not tied to salary would not mean anything. Mr. Flaherty asked about increasing the amount of money that was tied to the evaluation but Mr. Rounds was not sure that would work. Mr. Burgess felt a man would let somebody know if he was unhappy with his evaluation if there were money involved and he felt the merit system had its place no matter how imperfect it was. He did not like the present form, though. He felt the system should be kept and that salary should be tied to it. Mr. Paulsen said he would like more reasons why the form is disliked. Mr. Farrar said that he felt that if they gave is they would be retreating from a worthwhile goal. Mr. Szymanski said that a lot of time and effort had gone into the merit system and he did not want to see it scrapped. Mr. Farrar said that they had known when they started the system that it would not come easily and would not be perfect. Mr. Paulsen suggested increasing the funding for merit. Mr. Rounds said that the Street Department employees were 100% against the system and that they had tried it for 2 or 3 years and it has not worked out at all. Mr. Flaherty said he would like to think about it for a week and suggested that the Council meet in Executive Session to discuss it and get back to the union. The Council decided to get back to the union on #2 of their list also. The meeting was declared adjourned at 10:00 pm. Clerk Published by ClerkBase ©2019 by Clerkbase. No Claim to Original Government Works.