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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes - City Council - 10/20/1980CITY COUNCIL OCTOBER 20, 1980 The South Burlington City Council held a regular meeting on Monday, October 20, 1980 at 7:30 pm in the Conference Room, City Hall, 1175 Williston Road Members Present Paul Farrar, Chairman; William Burgess, Martin Paulsen, John Towne, Michael Flaherty Others Present William Szymanski, City Manager; James Lamphere, Nicole Chittenden, Yvan Beliveau, Paul Graves, Bruce O'Neill, Tom Hubbard, Lowell Krassner, David Spitz, Planner; Richard Ward, Zoning Administrator; Gloria Yandow, Bookkeeper; Peggy Picard, City Clerk; Ronald Schmucker, William Schuele Minutes of October 5, 1980 The October 5, 1980 minutes were approved on a motion by Mr. Burgess, a second by Mr. Towne and a vote of 4-0. Disbursement orders Disbursement orders were signed. Architect's report on progress of new municipal building Architect James Lamphere said building was going well. Site work is on schedule as is the concrete work. They hope to resolve the temporary pollution permit situation soon. The masonry work is 80% complete. The structural steel system is 2 weeks behind for delivery, but that may not impede the overall schedule that much and he still hoped for about the same opening date. Mr. Lamphere did report some problems with the roof system, but that was resolved last week. He said that at the moment everything major was within the estimates and said he did not see any problems. He did not anticipate shutting down for the winter. Meet with Chairman of Sign Review Board to discuss status of Board Mr. Paul Graves said that the Board had been in place for 5 or 6 years and that all it had done was to rubberstamp the work of the Code Officer. He felt the Board had no real function. They had never denied a sign for esthetics and had had only one question on ordinance interpretation. He felt this review of signs could be handled administratively, either by the Code Officer, or by the Code Officer, City Manager and City Planner. Mr. Farrar asked about retaining the Board but having its function be that of an appeals body if someone disagreed with the Code Officer. Mr. Graves felt that was a possibility, or the appeal could go to another body, such as the Planning Commission. There was a consensus on the Council that the City Attorney should be asked to explore this question and come back to the Council with recommendations. Discuss Zoning Administrator's recommendation for amending Sign Ordinance Mr. Ward felt that if sign review were to be done administratively, it would be better to have a panel (Code Officer and City Manager and Planner) than just himself doing it. He said the public could be notified of meetings. Accept deeds for pedestrian trail systems The Council had received copies. There were no comments. Mr. Towne moved that the city accept the deeds. Mr. Paulsen seconded the motion and all voted aye. Continue public hearing on City Master Plan Mr. Towne moved to incorporate page 1 and the first line of page 2 of David Spitz' list, entitled "Initial City Council Proposals for Changes to Draft Comprehensive Plan For Public Hearing, September 15, 1980" within the Comprehensive Plan. Mr. Burgess seconded the motion. Mr. Farrar read the changes for the audience. Mr. Flaherty arrived at this time. Mr. Beliveau asked about the capability to develop to 2 units per acre in the Southeast Quadrant. He was told that the Planning Commission had favored a line on the map, one side of which development would be encouraged on, and not on the other. The Council felt a better way to encourage development in the Quadrant was to zone land R2 instead of how it is zoned today, which is that R2 development can only take place with approval of both Council and Commission. The Council wants to leave zoning in the Quadrant, except for the new areas it will zone Agricultural-Industrial, as it is now, and if, in the future, the city wants to encourage development in any part of it, it will rezone some land R2. The motion carried unanimously. Mr. Farrar noted that page 5 of the Plan contained an inaccurate statement, and Mr. Paulsen moved that the following phrase be added to lines 13-15 on page 5 of the Plan: "or the rate of growth of the county, whichever is greater." Mr. Towne seconded the motion and all were in favor. On page 9, Mr. Paulsen asked whether the city had an updated census figure for population. Mr. Spitz said they did. Mr. Burgess felt the Council should discuss the census with some representatives. Mr. Paulsen moved to change lines 7-9 on page 9 of the Plan to the following and to properly reference it: "In contrast, the best current estimate of South Burlington's population is 10,690 or an annual growth rate of 0.6%." Mr. Towne seconded the motion and all voted aye. The land to be designated for industrial uses in the Quadrant was discussed. The area south of Van Sicklen Road is 300 acres and its exclusion would bring the amount of land so designated down to 600 acres. The Planning Commission does not feel that more than 400 acres need be designated at this time. Mr. Krassner felt that having the Quadrant remain zoned at 10 acres per unit would retain open space and reduce the need for Industrial land out there. The Council pointed out that it was unrealistic to expect that 2/3 of the community would stay zoned 1 in 10 forever and also that the average person could not afford to buy 10 acres in the Quadrant for a home. The Council felt it needed to designate what areas should be Industrial, or its options to do so would possibly be forever foreclosed unless considerable pain were caused for people later. They felt there would be a lot of growth in the Quadrant in the next 5-7 years. The Council felt about 800 acres of industrial land would be needed. Mr. Schmucker asked about R2 land and was told that probably, after the Plan was passed, about 500 acres would be zoned R2 at this time. This area would be contiguous to services available now and will probably be enough for the next 5 years. Mr. Schmucker noted that residents of the Quadrant had wells and that the area was a watershed. He expressed concern about industrial waste getting into the water supply in the area. The areas to be zoned Agricultural-Industrial were discussed. Mr. Burgess moved to adopt the areas delineated on the Planner's map (6A, 2A, 1 and 5 except for the French property of about 86 acres) as Agricultural- Industrial, for about 900 acres. Mr. Paulsen seconded the motion. Mr. Towne moved to modify the motion to delete area 5 totally and leave us with about 600 acres. Mr. Flaherty seconded the motion and it carried with Messrs. Burgess and Farrar voting no. Mr. Flaherty then moved to delete area 6A, but the motion died for lack of a second. Mr. Towne then moved to amend the motion to include 1/2 of area 6B to make it equal to the recreation area and contiguous to 6A. Mr. Burgess seconded the motion and it carried with Mr. Flaherty voting no. The motion as amended passed with Mr. Flaherty voting no. Mr. Towne moved to designate areas 6C and 12, for a total of 195 acres, as the area for recreation. Mr. Burgess seconded and all voted aye. Mr. Burgess then moved to change area 7 to Commercial and Mr. Towne seconded. The motion passed without dissent. The Council now discussed a proposed word change for lines 10 and 11 on page 27. The Natural Resources Committee suggested the change to the Planning Commission, which rejected it. The original suggestion plus some new wording from the Planner was discussed. Mr. Krassner said the Committee did not feel that a natural area formed its own buffer and he cited a development next to city parkland which had wanted to pave up to the edge of the parkland. Mr. Burgess asked whether the wording applied to all natural areas or only the 3 specifically stated. Mr. Flaherty felt the language specified the 3 areas, but Mr. Krassner felt it was a general comment. Mr. Flaherty moved that lines 10 and 11 on page 27 be replaced with the following: "Because these three sites are institutionally owned, their status as natural areas should be able to be preserved. In addition, zoning provisions should be enacted to provide an adequate buffer as protection from contiguous development on adjoining land; and ordinances to prevent littering, destruction, and other abuses should be enacted and enforced." Mr. Paulsen seconded the motion and all voted for it. Mr. Farrar said this could be expanded to other areas. Mr. Krassner did not feel the Plan dealt adequately with the problem of Williston Road. Mr. Flaherty moved to close the public hearing on the Comprehensive Plan and forward the changes to the Planning Commission for their consideration. Mr. Paulsen seconded and all present voted for the motion. Mr. Flaherty then moved to hold the second public hearing on the Comprehensive Plan on November 17 at 7:30 pm. Mr. Towne seconded the motion and it passed 5-0. Discuss position of assistant to City Manager Mr. Burgess said he had written a job description and Mr. Szymanski said he would make copies of this for discussion. Consider appointment of a committee for the renewal of the Airport Tax Stabilization agreement Mr. Flaherty said the contract expired early next year and he felt a committee should be formed to do the negotiations. Mr. Szymanski was asked for copies of the agreement. Report on status of sewer connections Mr. Szymanski said all but 2 of the people notified to connect had done so. One is taking the city to court and the other said they would connect but they have not done so yet. He will keep on top of this. Review Planning and Zoning agendas Mr. Paulsen noted that item 7 on the Zoning Board's October 27 agenda referred to a parcel of land east of East Terrace and to the rear of #48 East Avenue. He felt this must be an error in the warning and would have to be rewarned. Mr. Szymanski said he would check on it. Old business Mr. Towne asked about the items discussed some time ago with representatives of the Fire Department. Mr. Szymanski said he would write a memo regarding what had been agreed to and give it to the Council for approval. The meeting was adjourned at 9:45 pm. Clerk Published by ClerkBase ©2019 by Clerkbase. No Claim to Original Government Works.