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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes - City Council - 11/20/1978CITY COUNCIL NOVEMBER 20, 1978 The South Burlington City Council held a meeting on Monday, November 20, 1978 at 7:30 p.m. in the Conference Room, City Hall, 1175 Williston Road Members Present Paul Farrar, Chairman; Michael Flaherty, Martin Paulsen, William Burgess, Kenneth Jarvis Others Present William Szymanski, City Manager; Wayne Jameson, Pauline and Gordon O'Brien, Andy Potter, Gregory Premo, Vernon Wamsganz, John Bergin, Free Press; Bill Spignesi, Robert Methot, Henry Collin, Marjorie Kneeland, Patricia Klinck, Chuck Bolton, Tony Cairns, Roland Seward, John Mitchell, Peter Kyriacou, Margaret Picard, Karin Larson, Edward Fissette, Pam Douglas, Bruce Houghton, Roy Case, William Meador, Dana Alling, Ron Schmucker Additions to the agenda There were the following additions to the agenda: 12. Request of Margaret Picard, City Clerk, to talk to the Council. 13. Discussion of computer problems. 14. Discussion on financial report of the city. 15. Progress report on adoption of on-site sewage regulations for individual systems. Minutes of November 6, 1978 It was moved by K. Jarvis, seconded by W. Burgess, and passed with all in favor, to approve the November 6, 1978 minutes. Disbursement orders The Council members signed disbursement orders. Public hearing on proposed amendments to the City Charter P. Farrar said that the amendments he would read would be presented to the voters of the city on December 12. The polls will be open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. that day. P. Farrar read the article regarding an amendment to Section 104(b), which deals with the sign ordinance. He then read the amendment regarding creation of a Library Board of Trustees, Section 307(a). He noted that the purpose of the first article was to make it clear that the amendments to the sign ordinance which were approved by the citizens of the city were well founded in the charter. The second article, he said, is to make it clear to organizations outside the city that our library is indeed a community library and not just an adjunct to the school library. This will make it easier for the city to obtain grants from federal and state sources. The third article, said P. Farrar, refers to the acquisition of some land on White Street and Williston Road for improvements to that intersection. He read the article. P. Farrar then noted that acquisition of this land would help the city solve a present and future problem with that intersection, which is hazardous right now. If the land were bought, White Street could be brought out to meet Williston Road in a right angle which would also allow a 4 way intersection at that point with a road which will be built at some time to allow access to a large piece of vacant land known as the "superblock" area. There were no comments or questions. M. Paulsen moved to close the public hearing on the charter amendments and the bond issue. M. Flaherty seconded the motion and it passed 5-0. Interview applicants for Zoning Board of Adjustment and Fire Department Advisory Board Charles Bolton - Zoning Board Mr. Bolton was asked why he wanted to serve and he replied that he had been interested in the position 3 years ago. He said that he had studied resource economics at UVM and felt that knowledge would be useful on the Zoning Board. He has a real estate business on White Street. He was not interested in furthering his profession by use of the Board and did not think he could anyway. He has lived in the city for many years and feels he understands the people who live here. He has not thought about any specific changes to the zoning document which he would like to see made but said he wanted to add to the efficiency and fairness of the decisions the Board makes. He was somewhat concerned about conflicts of interest with his business but said he would abstain from voting in cases where he did have a conflict. Mr. Bolton said he had read the Zoning Regulations and that he had the time to be on the Board. He expressed concern about conflicts but was not sure it would happen too often. He said he would like to try the job and see what happened. He did note, though, that one person on the Board was already involved in real estate and perhaps that was enough. Peter Kyriacou - Zoning Board Mr. Kyriacou said that he had never had the time to be on a board in the 11 years he has lived in the city but that he has now leased his restaurant and wants to become involved. He felt the members of the Board were there to administer the regulations and said he would not be on the Board for the pay. He noted that he has had a lot of business experience and he felt the zoning regulations had to be upheld for the citizens. He has read the document and been before the Board a few times. He felt that if there were to be changes made to the zoning document, they should be recommendations of the entire Board, not one or two members. William Spignesi-Zoning Board Mr. Spignesi said that in the past year he had been appointed to the Southern Connector Citizens Advisory Committee and that he has enjoyed that work very much. He is interested in the city and wants to continue his involvement. He said he had the time to devote to the Board. He has lived in the city 4 years and has read the Zoning Regulations. Vernon Wamsganz - Fire Department Advisory Board Mr. Wamsganz said that he was a native of New York but had come to South Burlington in 1962. He has had a lot of previous experience as a volunteer fireman and as a chief. He has also been president of the northern New York Fire Association. He has been involved with fire organizations in Vermont also and was in charge of the committee which formed the South Burlington Fire Department. He has been retired from UVM and has a lot of time. He said he wanted to get involved in something. Pending Interim Zoning Applications Gordon O'Brien, Auto Body Repair, rear 490 Shelburne Road M. Flaherty moved that the South Burlington City Council approve the conditional use application of Gordon O'Brien, 490 Shelburne Road allowing for the operating of an auto body repair shop, according to the proposal of record, based on the following findings and subject to the following stipulations: Findings The proposed use is consistent with the health, safety and welfare of the city of South Burlington and standards 2, 3 and 4 of Section 5 of the Interim Zoning Regulations. The proposed use is consistent with standards 1 and 5 based on the evidence presented by the applicant, that there shall not be more than two vehicles under repair at any one time. Stipulations 1. Any additional signs shall be erected in conformance with the City sign regulations. 2. The proposed use shall be strictly operated by members of the family and in conjunction with the motel operation. 3. The maximum number of vehicles allowed shall be three per week, with no outside storage of junk vehicles; any increase shall require review by the City Council. 4. This approval is limited to the use proposal and shall be subject to an automatic review by the City Council or Zoning Board within two years from this date. M. Paulsen seconded the motion and it passed 5-0. Champlain Oil Co.-Convenience store and gas station at 1241 Williston Rd P. Farrar said that the applicant had presented the Council with a traffic report prepared by Traffic Engineering Associates dated November 20, 1978. The conclusion of the report, he said, was that the traffic impact of the proposed use will be negligible. M. Flaherty asked Bruce Houghton of Traffic Engineering Associates whether the gas pump activity of the new station would be the same as that of the old station and was told that was correct, so that any traffic from the retail store would be added to the number of cars which came into the old station to get gas. Asked what kind of traffic he would estimate for the retail store use, Mr. Houghton said that he studied two other gas station/convenience stores and found that in one 35% of the customers getting gas also bought food items and that figure was 20% in the other store. He said that the store with the 35% figure was more comparable to the type of operation this would be than the other was. In other words, if the Council wanted a number, W. Burgess said, it would be the traffic from the old Shell station plus 35%. Mr. Houghton said that was correct, and added that at the Riverside Avenue gas station studied in Burlington, there were two islands and more access points. At that station 50-55 vehicles came in during the peak roadway hours. Mr. Tony Cairns, who represented Champlain Oil, said that based on the gallonage of gas sold during the year and the average number of gallons per car, he could estimate that the station used to have 245 cars per day. Champlain Oil recently opened at that station and Mr. Cairns said that he expected they would have 173 cars per day, or 72 cars less than the old station had had under Shell management. Noting that the old station had a servicing activity and that the new one would not, M. Paulsen asked Mr. Houghton how much less traffic the station would produce without that activity and was told he did not have a good answer for that question but that it would be less than 35%. Mr. Houghton noted that the mechanic activity would have had a peaking aspect because a lot of people leave their cars to be fixed in the morning and pick them up at night. The net number of new cars coming to the station will be the difference between the added 35% for the convenience store and what is subtracted out for the lost mechanic activity. M. Flaherty asked what number of cars would have to be added to the traffic in order for the station activity to adversly impact Williston Road and was told that that was very hard to answer but that if 50-60% of the business in excess of the people buying gas were retail customers that would severely crowd the capacity of the road. K. Jarvis asked if the Riverside Avenue store had a full selection of convenience items and was told that it did not; it was primarily a beverage activity, which Mr. Houghton felt this new business would also be. Mr. Roland Seward said that he operated the Seward's Restaurant in the Seaway Shopping Center on Shelburne Road and that he would be running this convenience store. He said it would be a full fledged convenience store with bread, tobacco, beauty aids, soft drinks, frozen foods, groceries and dairy products. He said it would parallel a neighborhood grocery store. W. Burgeas asked Mr. Houghton whether that would make the traffic impact greater or lesser and was told Mr. Houghton would have to say that would probably create more traffic than a store with a more limited range of goods would create. That would raise the extra traffic above the 35% figure. P. Farrar asked why these two particular stations had been chosen to study and was told that Mr. Houghton was locking for self-service stations with convenience stores and for places where the road volumes were comparable with Williston Road. He also noted that he wanted to know if there was a difference between a well-known national brand of gas and a lesser known brand, and he found that there was. He said that the percentage of customers going into a larger convenience store would be more than the 35% he found using the smaller store but that he had picked the two comparisons because he had understood that they were comparable to what this store would be like. He noted that even if there were a very large convenience store on a lot, if that lot were full and it was hard for people to get in, they would not try. W. Burgess said that if one added 35% to the figure of 245 cars per day, the new business should generate 330-331 cars per day and a lot of those cars would come in during the peak road hours. He said that even if one took the 173 cars per day figure and 35% that would add about 61 cars per day on top of the normal service station activity. He expressed concern about left turns across 2 or 3 lanes of traffic. Mr. Houghton said that at the facilities he looked at right turns made up 75-80% of the cars going in and he felt the city would find that not many people made left turns because it was so hard to do. He said people only stopped at a facility like that if it was easy to get in. If it was not, they went somewhere else. Mr. Alling, the previous owner of the Shell station under consideration, said that last year Shell had asked him to drop his prices in an effort to draw people in and that had some effect on the gallonage figures, which would not normally be so high. Mr. Ron Schmucker said it would have been better if Bruce Houghton had been told what the convenience store would be like before he made his study. Mr. Houghton said that he, the Zoning Administrator, and the applicant had agreed that the two facilities he had studied were the type of store this would be but that what he had heard tonight indicated there would be more activity than he thought. Mr. Schmucker asked if Mr. Houghton had looked at internal circulation and was told he had not. Mr. Schmucker felt that if people could not get around on the lot easily it might have an impact on the road conditions. Mr. Cairns said that the two stores studied were the only ones with the Citgo brand of gas in the Burlington area which were comparable to the new operation. He said that he did not think there would be a traffic problem with this use based on 173 cars per day plus the retail store. Mr. Schmucker wondered if this new operation would serve the public good, noting that there were other operations in the area which met the public need now. Mr. Peter Kyriaeou felt, there would be an adverse traffic impact and said the Council should make this use a gas station or a grocery store, but not both. W. Burgess moved to close the public hearing on the application of Champlain Oil Co. for a convenience store and gas station at 1241 Williston Road. M. Flaherty seconded the motion and it passed unanimously. Thomas Farrell Distribution Center, northerly side of Holmes Road The State Highway Department had been asked whether the route of the proposed Southern Connector, which may be located so as to come into conflict with this building, could be moved to the east so as to miss it. W. Szymanski said they had told him that if the road were moved several other buildings would have to be removed, such as Holmes Trucking. He asked if the building could be moved 30-40' closer to the tracks and was told by a representative that 40' was too close but that they might be able to move over 20'. W. Szymanski said that if the building were built in that location, they would have to have a service road around the sewer plant. He noted that the Highway Department had not looked at this new plan in detail and he added that it was quite tight in that area. P. Farrar said the Department would have to look at this plan to see if it was viable. Mr. Greg Premo, a member of the Southern Connector Citizens Committee said that that committee had not seen the new line W. Szymanski is suggesting for the road and added that the committee meets next week. He asked that the committee be shown the plan at the next meeting. P. Farrar said he would like to do that and he suggested that the State look at the plan in the coming week. M. Flaherty moved to continue the hearing until the next meeting of the City Council. M. Paulsen seconded the motion. W. Szymanski asked Mr. Methot, representative for Farrell, whether they would mind coming into the building from the back and across the tracks and was told he would ask about that. Mr. Methot said that the building was very large but that there was no reason it had to be the dimensions it was shown; he said they could make it longer and narrower if that would help. The motion passed with all in favor. Sebring Road sewer problem W. Szymanski gave the Council copies of what remedies he proposed for the problems (see attached copy). He was asked what the best solution was and replied that all 4 solutions outlined should be done. Mr. Case asked what would happen if they were not able to resolve his problem and was told he would then probably have to pump his sewage also. W. Szymanski said that nothing could be done about the problems until next spring. He said the city would keep a close check on things this winter. He also noted that they could not take money for this out of the sewer construction money-it would have to come out of the operating budget. W. Szymanski said the city would keep the sewer lines clean, which would help keep the sewage from plugging up. M. Flaherty moved to authorize the City Manager to proceed with his recommendations on his memo of November 20, 1978. W. Burgess seconded the motion and it passed 5-0. Status of road closing requests Shunpike Road W. Szymanski said he had sent out letters to the residents of this road and had set November 21 as the deadline for replies. He has so far received 15 and 9 do not want the road closed and 6 do. Old Farm Road W. Szymanski said this road was on the Urban Systems map and that if they wanted to close it they would have to take it off that map. He noted that the Regional Planning Commission was planning to update the map soon. Request of Margaret Picard, City Clerk, to talk to the Council Mrs. Picard told the Council that she would like them to allocate some money to help the city with its computer problems. She was not sure exactly what needed to be done and said that Dan Long, who wrote the city's program, was coming home from college this weekend and had promised to help them work out some problems. She felt this was just a short-term solution, though, and that the system needed to be beefed up or a programmer hired to program it who would be there when needed. She said the program was written in a language which not many people understood. P. Farrar felt the problem arose when the city tried to switch to this new system too fast. W. Burgess wanted to sit down with the auditor and talk about the problem. P. Farrar felt the city had a short-term problem and a long-term one and that the long-term one consisted partly of not having city staff available to handle the problems that arise day-to-day. The Council felt that it was very important to solve the long-term problems. Ms. Gloria Yandow, the city bookkeeper, said that up until July 1 everything was up to date but that after that the computer program was not ready and that caused problems. She said there was no documentation for the program, which was a problem, but said she hated to go with another program when the city has put so much time into this one already. Mrs. Picard felt that Dan Long had a 50% chance of fixing the problem before Thanksgiving. She added that it would be nice if the Council members talked to the city hall staff once in a while to try to find out their problems. She said she wanted to feel free to come before the Council with problems. W. Burgess said that he wanted the Council to get together and be sure they all understood the problem and to seriously intend to do something about it. He felt a solution might take some money. The Council set a tentative date of November 29 to talk to the auditors about the issue. Financial report M. Paulsen said that at the September 18 meeting he had asked for a verification of the financial statement by the auditors. He said that some budgets in city departments seemed to have been overspent without authorization. P. Farrar said they were not overspent but that a different accounting format had been used in the report. The report used the accrual method and the other method used by the city was the cash method, so the figures looked different in the city report and the auditors report. W. Szymanski gave M. Paulsen the numbers which would clarify the situation. Status of adoption of individual on-site sewage systems W. Szymanski said that document had to be recommended by the Planning Commission before the Council adopted it and said he would check on it. M. Paulsen felt they had recommended it to the Council for its review and approval. He said some administrative procedures needed to be put into place. Meet as Liquor Control Board M. Paulsen moved to adjourn the City Council meeting and meet as the Liquor Control Board. W. Burgess seconded the motion and it passed 5-0. W. Szymanski said he had an application for a first class liquor license and an entertainment permit from the Old Board. The Fire and Police Chiefs had no problems with granting the license. M. Flaherty moved to sign the liquor license for the Old Board Restaurant and to approve the entertainment permit. M. Paulsen seconded the motion, which passed unanimously. W. Szymanski said the application from the Ground Round Restaurant had been withdrawn. M. Flaherty moved to adjourn the Liquor Control Board and reconvene the City Council and go into Executive Session for the purpose of discussing appointments to City Boards and Commissions and to reconvene without taking action. M. Paulsen seconded the motion and it passed with all in favor. Mr. Tony Cairns of Champlain Oil at this point told the Council that after his hearing on an interim zoning application had finished earlier this evening he had taken the people who were going to run the convenience store at the gas station on Williston Road over to see the place. They had not realized how small it was and have now decided to carry only the 10 convenience items, as originally stated. The Council now met in Executive Session. Make appointments to City Boards and Commissions At 9:50 p.m. the Council came out of Executive Session. M. Flaherty moved to appoint Verncn Wamaganz to the Fire Department Advisory Board, William Spignesi to the Zoning Board of Adjustment, and Sylvia Smith to the Winooski Valley Park Authority. K. Jarvis seconded the motion, which passed unanimously. The meeting was adjourned at 9:50 p.m. Clerk Published by ClerkBase ©2019 by Clerkbase. No Claim to Original Government Works.