Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes - City Council - 04/16/1979CITY COUNCIL APRIL 16, 1979 The South Burlington City Council held a meeting on Monday, April 16, 1979 at 7:00 pm 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; Richard Spokes, City Attorney; Andy Potter, WJOY; John Bergen, Free Press; Sandy Kleppinger, William and Ethel Schuele, Diana Snyder, George Mona, Ronald Schmucker, Fred Solomon, Bruce Houghton, Tony Cairns, Bret Powell, Peter Lavallee, Elizabeth Downer, Richard Gracey, Bruce Righti Meet with City Attorney for briefing on the following: Police Department Association - Mr. Spokes explained the Police Union stipulation which was settled as a result of a special meeting between Mr. Spokes, the attorneys for the Union and the Labor Board, and Chief Carter. The Council had no objections to the stipulation. Interim Zoning extension - Mr. Spokes explained the termination provisions in the Interim Zoning Regulations. His recommendation was to extend the ordinance and, at the time of termination, to simultaneously amend the old ordinances with the changes which have been recommended. Action on pending Shelburne Road Interim Zoning application - There was no discussion of this item. Transfer to original owner surplus highway land - The city holds some land which it finds it has no further use for and wishes to turn this land back to the landowner. It also finds that it may need some more of that person's land for another highway use. Mr. Spokes said the city should use quick claim deeds for that land swap. Status of Sign Ordinance enforcement - Mr. Spokes said this issue had been put on the back burner and that he had not yet had time to prepare the formal notice to sign owners that their signs were non-conforming and would have to be removed within a certain period of time unless they could prove, in some of the cases, that the signs had been up for less than 15 years. Sign owners will have to be given some time to take the signs down. Mr. Spokes said the Zoning Administrator had generated a list of non-conforming signs and that all owners of signs which did not conform as to size, number, location, etc, would be given some time to conform. He hoped the notices would be sent in the next few weeks. At this time the regular meeting began with a Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag. Additions to the agenda 1. Authorize the City Manager to accept the quick claim deeds for property transfer. 2. Authorize the City Attorney to sign an agreement with the Police Department officers. Reading of Minutes of April 2 and 9, 1979 Mr. Flaherty moved to approve the April 2 and April 9, 1979 minutes. Mr. Paulsen seconded the motion and it passed 5-0. Disbursement orders Disbursement orders were signed. Interview applicants to fill vacancy on the Fine Arts Committee Elizabeth Downer - Ms. Downer said she would like to be on the committee because she was interested in music and theater and would like to be involved in the community. She has lived in the city for 1 year and 2 months. She is retired and has the time to give to the community. Diane Snyder - Ms. Snyder said she had lived in the city for 10 years and wanted to be involved. She is familiar with the work of the committee and thinks they are doing a good job. She has been involved in the program in the past and has the time to devote to it. Mr. Farrar thanked both for coming in. Public hearing on extending Interim Zoning Mr. Mona, a representative from the Planning Commission, said that in April 1978 the Council had adopted Interim Zoning because of the high amount of traffic on Williston and Shelburne Roads and that on May 15 of that year the Commission gave the Council a list of criteria for the lifting of Interim Zoning. He gave the Council a copy of this list with some other information. Mr. Mona said the objectives of Interim Zoning had been 1)to control the proliferation of high traffic generators on the two major roads in the city, 2) to ease the Commission's workload, and 3) to give the Commission time to recommend amendments to the regulations to avoid similar problems in the future. He felt for the most part the Council had succeeded with #1, had definitely done #2, and that the Commission had spent 1/2 of its time on #3. As for the six criteria for lifting Interim Zoning Mr. Mona said: 1) Traffic study - Mr. Houghton has done most of the work on the area of Williston Road, Kennedy Drive, and Dorset Street and will report to the Commission on June 5 with his recommendations. 2) New Commercial zoning - the new C1 and C2 zones have been worked out by the Commission. These will replace the present BR zoning. Mr. Mona explained how the zoning worked, and said the document was ready for Council review. 3) Growth controls - the Commission was to set quantitative standards for municipal services and has found that those are not easy to set. Mr. Mona did not feel the Council should wait to lift Interim Zoning until these were in place. He said the Council should begin the review process of the work the Commission has done so far, such as the review of the Comprehensive Plan goals and the other chapters rewritten so far. Mr. Farrar said they would start that at the next regular meeting. 4) Capital Program - the Commission had input into that document this year and the Council was very supportive of them. 5) Official Map - this item has been put on the back burner because it is difficult and expensive to do. 6) Planning Standards - this is an ongoing process. Mr. Mona said the Commission seemed to feel that Interim Zoning should be extended long enough to at least amend the Zoning Regulations to add the C1 and C2 districts. Mr. Flaherty moved that, based on the recommendation of the Planning Commission and the City Attorney, Interim Zoning be extended for the period of 1 year. Mr. Jarvis seconded the motion. Mr. Burgess was not sure the Council should extend Interim Zoning for another year. He felt it had been adopted to give the city some curb cut control and to allow them to protect rights of way for connector roads in the city. He was not sure the Zoning had done what it was supposed to and he was not sure the city had not had more harm than good done under that Zoning. He did not think they had stopped any development in the city and might have allowed some which would not normally have been allowed. Mr. Flaherty felt the Council had given the Commission some time to work and that there should be an extension to allow the commercial zoning to be changed. Mr. Paulsen felt that Interim Zoning had helped the city. The possibility of changing the extension to 6 months was discussed but it was felt that was not a long enough period. The following was added to the above motion: and that the Council would fully hope that Interim Zoning would not have to be carried out for the full year and that they hope that it can be ended before that period expires. The motion passed 5-0. It was noted that some Commission - Council meetings should be held soon. Consider acting on Interim Zoning application of Coburn-Feeley and Robert Cooper, 2 story office building at 1775 Shelburne Road Mr. Paulsen moved to continue this item to the next agenda pending receipt of more guidance on it. Mr. Flaherty seconded the motion and all were in favor. Public hearing on Interim Zoning application of Champlain Oil to convert existing service station to beverage center at 1241 Williston Road Mr. Bret Powell, attorney for Champlain Oil, said the company had earlier applied for a conditional use permit for a convenience store at this location. That application had been denied and there had been much confusion about exactly what a convenience store was at the time. The reason for denial had been a fear that the store would have an adverse traffic impact on the area. Mr. Powell said that, in light of that, although his client would rather have a convenience store, he was now applying for a beverage store. The previous decision of the Council is being appealed because the applicants feel that it was not supported by the facts. Mr. Powell said that, since it seemed that traffic was the most important consideration in the appeal, they had done some fact gathering. He said the regulations in the city did not contain a standard as to what an adverse traffic impact is. Mr. Farrar asked what the center would sell and was told it would sell beer, soft drinks, milk, wine, cigarettes and snacks (potato chips, pretzels, peanuts). It would not sell bread or ham sandwiches. Mr. Powell gave the Council a scale drawing of the facility, including the parking. 10 parking spaces are required and 17-18 are shown. Mr. Tony Cairns, representing Champlain Oil, said that in general service stations, unless they have excellent operators, experience rises and falls in income through the year with the seasons. That is why so many of them are adding convenience stores - they tend to bring in other income when the station needs it. He said that this station under Shell had had an excellent operator and that when Champlain Oil bought it, they tried to find another excellent operator but were unable to. Part of the problem is that the rent on the station is very high because of its good location. Mr. Cairns said that Shell had sold 962,000 gallons of gas from June 1977 to May 1978. That was their gallonage for the year. Champlain Oil has a record now of what it is selling and Mr. Cairns felt it was close to 250% difference. He gave the Council copies of the gallons sold since November of last year (see attached copy). Projected for April, for example, is 35,000 gallons, or far below Shell's gallonage. Mr. Cairns felt that the sentence in the previous denial which stated that the proposed use could generate 300 cars per day was not correct. He said that figure had come from the gallonage Shell had sold plus 35% to account for the number of people who would come to the location for the store alone. In reality, he said, Champlain is selling less gas than Shell did. Shell was also open 24 hours per day much of the time and Champlain (Citgo) at this station is open from 7-11 and until 12:00 on Friday and Saturday. Mr. Cairns did say that he expected gas sales to increase once the beverage center went in but noted that Citgo would not be doing the mechanical work Shell was doing, and if 10% of Shell's cars had been there for service, that number would have to be subtracted from the 35% who might come to Citgo for the store alone, making that number closer to 20-25%. Another part of the denial had been a statement that increased turning movements on the road would cause problems. Mr. Cairns said that he had studied turning movements into the station and that only about 9-10% of those turns were to the left. This study, however, only looked at incoming traffic. Mr. Cairns said that most of the traffic that came in went out in the same direction, i.e., if they came in from the east, they also exited going east. He also noted that there were a lot of cars on Williston Road already and they would be there with or without this station. He did not feel anyone would go out of his way to come to the station, and also noted that it was easy to tarn into the station. Some curb cuts on Williston Road require one to almost make a stop before turning in, but this station has wide cuts and one can make the turn without slowing way down. One other part of the denial was a statement that the station had the potential of a 25% increase in traffic. Mr. Cairns said there was no question that the station could increase its traffic by 25% but he asked the Council to remember the use that was there before Champlain Oil and said they would be far below that use. Mr. Powell felt the figure for those people buying something other than gas was 25% so that should be added to the gallonage figures. Mr. Cairns said that, if one assumed that every car took 12 gallons of gas, Shell would have generated 231 cars per day while Citgo will generate 98 per day. Mr. Bruce Houghton, a traffic engineer, said he would summarize the work he had done in looking at traffic for this use. He said he had tried to find two locations in the Burlington area with similar operations and had chosen a Shell on Riverside Avenue in Burlington and a Citgo on Pearl Street in Essex Junction. Both are self-serve stations and have some convenience store activity. These examples bracket the proposal, with Riverside Avenue having more service than proposed here, and Pearl Street having less. These two locations also have peak traffic loads similar to Williston Road. Mr. Houghton said that he observed the Riverside Avenue location and found that 60% of the traffic bought gas only, 10% bought gas and food, and 30% bought only food. Since in the case of the 10% figure, it is not possible to tell which item attracted the driver, Mr. Houghton gave 1/2 of that figure to each of the other categories. The gallonage the Riverside Avenue station sells is comparable to that of Shell on Williston Road. Mr. Houghton indicated that his data did not show any difference between name brand and non-name brand gas but that he could not say that as a definite conclusion. He noted that the new station on Williston Road was doing less gas selling than the previous one but could not say why. He also noted that cars do not like to make left turns across 2 lanes of traffic and that in general the percentage of people turning left entering will be the same as the percentage turning left exiting. Mr. Farrar said that in the worst case, they could have 1/3 more cars with the store than without it and Mr. Houghton said that if a convenience store were added, there might be 30-35% more traffic, or it might be as low as 20% more. He also said that the percentage of people using the convenience store on Pearl Street was lower than that on Riverside Avenue, and he assumed that was because the latter station carried a different line of goods. Mr. Burgess asked what the addition of a beverage store might do to the traffic in this proposed location and Mr. Cairns estimated that they might sell another 5,000 to 8,000 gallons per month. This would bring the cars per day figure from 98 to 110. Mr. Flaherty asked if the city should expect a 35% increase in traffic with the convenience store and was told that would be a conservative figure. If the city takes the number of cars using the Williston Road station now and adds 30-35% that will give them the figure of cars at the station for non-gas purposes. Mr. Schuele asked if beer would be sold at discount prices and was told it would be sold at regular prices. He then noted that if the price of gas were lower at this station than others, that would increase the number of cars there. Mr. Ron Schmucker, attorney, said that there were beverage stores in Essex Junction and Winooski and that the traffic at those locations should be counted to see how much was generated. He also felt that the previous Shell station in this location had been one of the best in the area and that this station was being operated in a sterile manner. He felt that under those circumstances, of course they were selling less gas than Shell but he said that there was no reason they could not sell 1 million gallons per year. They would be able to obtain that much gallonage from dealers and would not be held back by a quota. Mr. Schmucker asked Mr. Houghton if he was aware of any reason a beverage center would generate less traffic than a convenience store and was told that it would make a difference as to what items were carried. It would depend on what the particular customer wanted to buy, but both stores are meant for impulse buying. Mr. Schmucker gave the Council a letter from the Vermont Retail Grocers Association protesting the sale of alcoholic beverages in gas stations but Mr. Powell felt that did not have any bearing on granting a conditional use approval under Interim Zoning. Mr. Farrar said that if an approval were granted, the Council might want to look at the granting of a license and said the letter would be withheld until that time. Mr. Richard Gracey did not feel there should be beverage centers on Williston Road since they generated a lot of traffic. It was determined that there would be 986 square feet of retail space excluding the coolers and that the building contained 2,000 square feet in total. Mr. Gracey felt that with a 2,000 square foot building, which is the size of his convenience store, the owner would try to get 2,000 square feet of selling area in. Mr. Jarvis moved to close the public hearing on the Champlain Oil conditional use application for a beverage center. Mr. Paulsen seconded the motion and all were in favor. Review proposed use for 10 Patchen Road as per stipulation of approval under Interim Zoning The Council was presented with a request for the following uses at 10 Patchen Road: 1) H&R Block (out of the building already) 2) Auto Exchange (office for automotive book sales) 3) Janet Burnitt (display and sale of knitting machines). Mr. Flaherty moved that the Council finds these uses in conformance with the application. Mr. Jarvis seconded the motion and all were in favor. Meet with Police Department Association Mr. Lavallee represented the Police. He asked where the Council stood on the proposals presented to them at an earlier meeting. Mr. Farrar replied that the Council had added to the budget money to provide summer shoes and body armor but felt that the other proposals were in excess of what they felt was reasonable and justified due to the costs. He also said that if the figure in Article 13 Section 1d could be adjusted, the Council might be able to work with it. They would like to have some justification of such a large increase, also. Zoning Board agenda There were no comments. Act on fiscal 1979-80 budget Mr. Farrar said the Council had had a budget hearing and received no proposals for budget modification and no information that changes had to be made. This pertains to the operating and debt retirement budgets. Mr. Flaherty moved to approve the fiscal 1979-80 budget as presented at the budget hearing and printed. Mr. Jarvis seconded the motion and it passed 5-0. Authorize the City Manager to accept the quick claim deeds for property transfer Mr. Jarvis moved to authorize the City Manager to sign the appropriate quick claim deeds to convey property in and around Kimball Avenue and Kennedy Drive back to the original owner since it is no longer necessary for the city's highway purposes, and also to accept by quick claim deed property from the owner which may be necessary for highway purposes. Mr. Flaherty seconded the motion and it passed without dissent. Authorize the City Attorney to sign an agreement with the Police Department officers Mr. Flaherty moved to allow the City Attorney to sign for the city the stipulations defining the collective bargaining unit for the South Burlington Police Department as presented. Mr. Jarvis seconded the motion, which passed with Mr. Paulsen abstaining because he had not been in on the previous discussions of this issue. Meet as Liquor Control Board Mr. Paulsen moved to adjourn as the City Council and meet as the Liquor Control Board. Mr. Flaherty seconded the motion and all were in favor. Mr. Szymanski said he had about 30 applications for liquor license renewals. All have been reviewed by the Fire and Police Chiefs and tax department. Two of them have delinquent taxes due and in both cases the owners have paid part of the taxes due with a promise to pay the rest on specific dates. One application, that of Joe Barry's Hot Spot has had a neighbor complain about parking lot encroachment on his yard. The Council decided to talk to the owner and neighbor at the next meeting and consult with the City Attorney on this issue before that meeting. Mr. Flaherty moved to approve the following liquor license renewals: Mr. Burgess seconded the motion and it passed with all in favor. Mr. Burgess then moved to approve, on the condition that the back taxes be paid on the schedules presented by the owners, the liquor licenses of the Black Angus at 1710 Shelburne Road and Solomon's Market at 1160 Williston Road. Mr. Jarvis seconded the motion and it passed 5-0. Mr. Flaherty moved to close the Liquor Control Board hearing. Mr. Paulsen seconded the motion and all were in favor. The meeting was adjourned at 10:00 pm. Clerk Published by ClerkBase ©2019 by Clerkbase. No Claim to Original Government Works.