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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes - City Council - 08/05/1996CITY COUNCIL 5 AUGUST 1996 The South Burlington City Council held a regular meeting on Monday, 5 August 1996, at 7:30 p.m. in the Conference Room, City Hall, 575 Dorset Street. Members Present: William Cimonetti, Chair; James Condos, Robert Chittenden, David Austin, Terrence Sheahan Also Present: Charles Hafter, City Manager; Peg Strait, Asst. City Manager; Lee Graham, Police Chief; Bruce O'Neill, Recreation Dept.; Carla White, Susan Deacon, Joan Handley, Joan Aguire, Laura DeMaroney, Shevonne Shuman, Patrick Travers, George Chamberland, Bonnie O'Day 1. Comments and Questions from the Audience (not related to Agenda items): No issues were raised. 2. Announcements/City Manager's Report: a. Mr. Hafter gave members minutes from the 15 July City Council meeting. b. Mr. Hafter reported that the City is working on plans to change the Official City Map of the I-89/Hinesburg Rd. Intersection. The AOT doesn't find the plans objectionable. The city is meeting with the State Planning Division next week. c. Mr. Hafter has been asked to serve on an Economic Growth Task Force which will meet on 8 August. d. Chief Graham spoke briefly on National Night Out which will occur on 6 August. He encouraged people to use the Rec Path to get to the Park. Mr. O'Neill said there will be activities for children and adults and entertainment and fireworks. The Astronomical Society will be there with telescopes, and there will be balloon rides and free public skating. e. Mr. Condos said that the Rec Path needs an upkeep effort. Members discussed the possibility of using a different system next year as the college students who patrol the path serve only to mid-August because they have to return to school. 3. Interviews with Applicants for Appointment to City Boards and Commissions: a. Recreation Committee: The Council interviewed incumbent Laura DeMaroney and applicants Susan Deacon and Shevonne Shuman. Ms. DeMaroney said she has enjoyed serving on the Committee and is proud of what is offered to the community through the Recreation Dept. Ms. Deacon has been a resident of S. Burlington for a year and a half. She said the city is known for providing excellent services to its residents and she wanted to help provide such opportunities. Ms. Shuman is a new resident of the city with a background in recreation and parks that she has never gotten to use fully. Mr. Chittenden asked if there has been interaction between the committee and other communities. Ms. DeMaroney said she was surprised there hasn't been much but would like to see more. b. Leisure Arts: The Council interviewed Joan Aguire. Ms. Aguire has served 2 terms and feels it is an excellent program. Mr. Cimonetti asked if there has been any interaction with the new Senior Center. Ms. Aguire said not yet. c. Library Board of Trustees: The Council interviewed incumbent Joan Hanley and Bonnie O'Day. Ms. Hanley said it is very exciting work. They have worked on both short and long term plans and have accomplished most of their goals. Automation is coming up and she would be excited to help with that. Ms. O'Day has lived in the city for 10 years and teaches at Central School. She has a passion for libraries and would like to give something back to the community. Mr. Chittenden asked about access to other libraries and about problems with the Fletcher Library in particular. Ms. Hanley said that South Burlington card holders can use their cards at other libraries except the Fletcher. It appears the Fletcher doesn't want to give up the income from "out of town" cards. Mr. Hafter noted that Burlington residents can get cards so they can use other libraries. Mr. Chittenden asked if would be appropriate to try to get on a level playing field. Ms. Hanley said she didn't know if it would do any good as the Fletcher is very adamant about it. d. Rec Path Committee: The Council interviewed Patrick Travers. Mr. Travers has lived in the city for a year. The path goes by his back porch and he is an avid user of it. He felt there could be better maintenance of the path and felt that more publicity would encourage more use of the path. e. Natural Resources Committee: The Council interviewed incumbent Carla White. Ms. White said the Committee has been very busy. They are currently doing a street tree inventory and are working on problems with incursion into CO zones. They also did some work on revisions to the Comprehensive Plan. Mr. Austin said the Committee has been very useful to the Planning Commission. 4. Refunding Note for Exhaust System at Fire Station: Mr. Hafter presented the note which is for $17,000 at 4.45%. Mr. Condos moved to approve the refunding note and resolution as presented. Mr. Austin seconded. Motion passed unanimously. 5. MPO Update: Mr. Cimonetti said there was a review at the insistence of the state on the funding for the next phase of the Rec/Transportation path. The state said it didn't think the work could be done in time for the end of December as they feel it takes 6 months to review, on the average. Mr. Cimonetti noted that everything had been done by outside consultants, but this did not mean anything to the state and they removed funding from the current year. It will be proposed to be put into the next TIP. Mr. Cimonetti then noted that at the next meeting the AOT asked to amend the TIP to include funds for the commuter rail program. There will be a meeting on this on 22 August at 2 p.m. in the Shelburne Town Hall. He reminded members that the Council received a petition from 1,000 residents asking that more questions be answered before the state can go through with this. Mr. Cimonetti said the major concerns in S. Burlington, Shelburne and Charlotte are noise from whistles at crossings. An environmental assessment has to be done. There is a plan that will be proposed to federal transit people to seek a waiver from the whistle blowing requirement (with appropriate protection, trains are not required to blow whistles at crossings). The Shelburne Selectboard has directed their Town Manager to write a letter to every MPO member that Shelburne is not satisfied with noise mitigation efforts and does not want the project to get funded until they are satisfied. Mr. Cimonetti said S. Burlington can do a similar thing. He recommended that the City Manager work with Bill Finger on this. Mr. Condos noted he had presented a list of questions to which he has never received a response. He was not comfortable that the state is really ready to move forward on this. He noted that the state had claimed this would reduce air pollution. Now it appears there may actually be more pollution. Members agreed that the City Manager should work with Bill Finger on this. Mr. Condos then raised the question of the Regional Plan. He said he was concerned that Regional Planning is determining a plan and imposing it on communities rather than having communities create a plan. Mr. Hafter said he has been told there will be meetings with communities regarding revisions. Mr. Condos noted there is not a regional facilities map as yet. 5. Acceptance of Peter Jacob's letter of resignation from the Planning Commission: Mr. Condos moved to accept Mr. Jacob's resignation and to instruct the City Manager to send a letter of thanks for his service. Mr. Austin seconded. Motion passed unanimously. 6. Consideration of Acceptance of Public Dedication and Establishment of a Class III and Class IV Public Street; Dorset Street South: Mr. Hafter said there is an irrevocable offer of dedication of a 60 ft. r.o.w. As part of the golf course plan, the first 300 ft. of this road will be done to city standards. In Phase III of the plan, the rest of the road will be done. Mr. Hafter then reviewed the Class III and IV categories. In Class III, a road is maintained to standards of other streets (graded, plowed, etc.); in a Class IV road, there is no public use or maintenance of the street. He noted that the Class IV portion of the road will probably not be needed when the Economou project is done and it can probably be returned to the owner. Mr. Austin asked if the same road can have 2 classifications. Mr. Hafter said the City Attorney says it can. Mr. Cimonetti recommended bringing this proposal to Charles Shea to see if it satisfies him. Mr. Cimonetti noted that Mr. Shea has filed an appeal of the golf course approval. 7. Consideration of Approval of Chittenden Solid Waste FY '96-7 District Budget: Members reviewed answers to concerns raised. Mr. Condos noted the overall reduction of the budget from $12,000,000 to $8,000,000. Mr. Hafter felt they are working hard to get things going in the right direction. Mr. Chittenden moved to approve the Chittenden Solid Waste District FY '96-7 District Budget. Mr. Austin seconded. Motion passed unanimously. 8. Review Planning Commission Agenda for 6 August and Zoning Board Agenda for 12 August: Mr. Cimonetti noted the UMall expansion is on the Planning Commission agenda. He briefly reviewed the concerns. Mr. Condos noted that item #3 on the Zoning Board agenda is very close to a use variance and that is illegal. Mr. Austin noted the ongoing concern with a plat that was filed in 1986. He felt the issue needs to be resolved. Mr. Hafter explained that the issue is an easement for a pedestrian path which some of the neighbors want to keep in the plat. 9. Sign Disbursement Orders Disbursement Orders were signed. Executive Session: Mr. Chittenden moved the Council adjourn and reconvene in Executive Session to discuss appointments to Boards and Committees and to resume regular session only to make such appointments and/or adjourn. Mr. Condos seconded. Motion passed unanimously. Regular Session: Council returned to regular session. Bob Chittenden moved adjournment. David Austin seconded. The motion passed unanimously. The meeting adjourned at 10:05 PM. Respectfully submitted, Clerk Published by ClerkBase ©2019 by Clerkbase. No Claim to Original Government Works.