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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes - City Council - 12/03/2001CITY COUNCIL 3 DECEMBER 2001 The South Burlington City Council held a regular meeting on Monday, 3 December 2001, at 7:30 p.m., in the Conference Room, City Hall, 575 Dorset St. Members present: J. Condos, Chair; C. Smith, T. Sheahan, D. O'Rourke, S. Magowan Also present: C. Hafter, City Manager; D. Gravelin, Business Manager; J. B. Hoover, Director of Planning & Zoning; B. Hoar, Public Works Dept; Rep. A. Audette; S. Martin, P. Jones, C. Smith, A. Johnston 1. Comments & questions from the audience, not related to Agenda items: No issues were raised. 2. Announcements/City Manager's report: Mr. Smith: Testified before the Senate regarding the Technical Academy. Also got notice of a meeting sponsored by GBIC related to the stormwater issue, 10 December, 8-9:30. Mr. Sheahan said he may be able to attend. Mr. Sheahan: Attended the Regional Planning Commission meeting last week. The assessment to communities will be going up. South Burlington's assessment will be about $1600-1700. Mr. Hafter: A pre-budget meeting regarding the County budget will be held on 18 December. Mr. Hafter will try to attend. Starting 9 January, the City Clerk's office will be open until 6:30 p.m. on Wednesdays. Don Whitten will retire at the end of the week. A pot-luck lunch will be held on Wednesday at noon. George Dow from Brattleboro will start in the position on 2 January. UVM Water Resources & Lake Study Center will be hosting a meeting on stormwater on 19 January. The meeting will include workshops, discussions, etc. There is no registration fee. Mr. Martin commented that the Conservation Law Foundation is boasting on their website that the Circ Highway is coming. Mr. Hafter noted that this group also appealed South Burlington's wastewater plant which has now won several awards. Mr. Hafter noted the legislative breakfasts will be held at 7:30 a.m. on 7 January, 4 February, and 4 March. Budget meetings will be held on 21 February, 28 February, and 7 March, if needed. The Steering Committee presentation of budgets will be on 21 March and the budget public hearing will be on 11 April. Election Day for city voting will be on 21 May. Mr. Hafter reported that the city has received a municipal planning grant of $12,700 for updating of the Zoning Regulations. He thanked Ms. Hoover for her work in securing this grant. Mr. Hafter noted he will be in Philadelphia at a conference regarding stormwater utilities next week. Mr. Condos said he will attend the National League of Cities conference in Atlanta beginning on Wednesday. 3. Interview with Peter W. Jones for appointment to the Natural Resources Committee: Mr. Jones said he has been a city resident since April 2000. He was interested in the open space plan and sat in on some committee meetings. He felt it would be good to become a member to add to the plan and to work on other issues. 4. Continuation of public hearing on Flag Illumination Ordinance; proposal to amend ordinance and reward hearing: Ms. Hoover said she had researched the lighting at the Sheraton. The bulb is 400 watts and the lumens are about where the city wants to be. This appears to be pleasing and not too garish a look. For simplicity sake, the recommendation is for those properties with frontage on a major road to allow 36,000 lumens per bulb and also to reduce the color rendering index to 65. With property not on a major roadway, 15,000 initial lumens would be allowed (about a 250 watt bulb). Regarding footcandles, an applicant could demonstrate that footcandles at the flag will meet city regulations. Ms. Hoover felt keeping this option was worthwhile. Mr. Martin said he supported plan "El and E2" rather than the alternative. He gave members photos of Burlington at night and pointed out features. He noted the numbers of lumens used by some businesses and streetlights. He felt the concerns of the astronomical society were unfounded. Ms. Hoover said what the city has been told is the best way to reduce the amount of light going into the sky is to raise the maximum height of light poles from 25 ft. to 30 ft. She would be willing to prepare such an amendment. Members were OK with this. Mr. Magowan was concerned with lights on groups of flagpoles. Members agreed that there could be a maximum of 2 lights per property. Mr. Sheahan then moved to close the public hearing and approve the amended ordinance for first reading and to schedule a public hearing for 7 January 2002. Further that the language regarding heights of poles be changed in the Zoning Ordinance and that the city allow a maximum of 2 flag lights per property. Mr. O'Rourke seconded. Motion passed unanimously. 5. Continuation of public hearing on ordinance regulating the use of public and private sewer systems; first reading and rewarding of new public hearing: Mr. Hafter said the proposal is similar in some ways to the old ordinance and different in others. The main concern is to have a system that allocates capacity that will work well. The process would be simple: allocation would be reviewed by the WPC Department; if all is OK and there is allocation available, the applicant will get a preliminary allocation. This is not a guarantee that there will be capacity available at final capacity allocation. The final capacity allocation would expire under certain circumstances. If the allocation expires, an applicant can come in and reapply. There would be no up front costs for affordable housing but they would still have to pay all fees. Ms. Hoover said that by exempting affordable housing the city would be virtually keeping the status quo. What would be affected would be multi-year housing developments. Mr. O'Rourke felt the smaller and medium sized developers would be the most affected. Mr. Condos said the problem is capacity that sits and sits and is never used. He suggested possibly looking at a "flow trigger." Mr. O'Rourke suggested the possibility of having projects of 10,000 gpd or more pay up front. Mr. Hafter said the ordinance could also say you lose capacity after 10 years. He suggested that making developers pay up front might make them develop faster and the city might not want that. Mr. Sheahan suggested paying 50% after 5 years if they want to keep the allocation another 5 years. Members felt that was a good idea. Mr. Hafter said if allocation is lost after 10 years, a developer would not get back any money paid. Mr. Smith asked about the transferring of allocation. Mr. Hafter said a developer can't transfer to any other development or any other developer. Ms. Hoover suggested deleting p. 25, d2 which she felt could get confusing. Mr. Hafter will check with the City attorney on this. Mr. Magowan moved to close the public hearing, approve the first reading with the following amendments: Article 2: instead of requiring paying of 50% up front and the rest later, a developer would have to pay 50% of the remaining allocation with expiration at that point if there is no payment, and an additional 5 years of allocation if there is payment. Payment would expire with expiration. Section 5d2 is deleted. Mr. Magowan further moved to warn the ordinance for public hearing on 7 January 2002. Mr. Sheahan seconded. Motion passed unanimously. 6. Consideration of resolution of support for regional technical academy in Chittenden county: Mr. Smith, Chair of the Technical Academy Committee, thanked the Council for considering the resolution. He felt it is very important in getting to the next step at the Legislature. Mr. Magowan moved that the Council approve the resolution as drafted. Mr. Sheahan seconded. Motion passed unanimously. 7. Consideration of approval of grant agreement resolution for $670,000 VCDP funding for Lime Kiln Housing Project: Mr. Ladd updated members on the progress of the project. Occupancy is expected in March. Mr. O'Rourke moved to approve the resolution as presented. Mr. Smith seconded. Motion passed unanimously. Mr. Ladd noted they also have a grant for the Market Place project. They are closing financing on 19 December and have a deficit. They are seeking additional funding from an enhancement grant for up to $50,000 and are asking the city's support for this as well. Mr. Smith moved that the City support the $49,000 enhancement grant for the Market Place project. Mr. O'Rourke seconded. Motion passed unanimously. 8. Consideration of adoption of Council policy on establishment of special assessment districts: Mr. Hafter read the proposed policy. He said the principle is that if there is to be an assessment of public funds, the public should vote on it. Mr. Sheahan moved to adopt the policy as presented. Mr. O'Rourke seconded. Motion passed unanimously. 9. Review agenda for DRB Meeting of 4 December: Members expressed concern with Item #8 which involves a variance. Mr. Hafter said he was told this item would not be heard tomorrow. Ms. Hoover said the Sign Ordinance Committee is meeting regularly and would like to invite Council members to its 20 December meeting when the committee will review the decisions it has made. 10. Review minutes of 19 November 2001: Mr. Sheahan moved to approve the minutes of 19 November as written. Mr. Smith seconded. Motion passed 4-0 with Mr. Magowan abstaining. 11. Sign Disbursement Orders: Disbursement Orders were signed. Executive session: Mr. Smith moved the Council adjourn and reconvene in executive session to discuss personnel and appointments to boards and committees. Mr. O'Rourke seconded. Motion passed unanimously. Regular session: Motion duly made and seconded, the council returned to regular session. On motion by Mr. Smith, seconded by Mr. O'Rourke, the Council voted to appoint Mr. Peter Jones to the Natural Resource Committee. The motion passed unanimously. The Council voted to adjourn. Clerk Published by ClerkBase ©2019 by Clerkbase. No Claim to Original Government Works.