Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes - City Council - 12/17/2001CITY COUNCIL 17 DECEMBER 2001 The South Burlington City Council held a regular meeting on Monday, 17 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, S. Magowan, D. O'Rourke Also present: C. Hafter, City Manager; D. Gravelin, Business Manager; J. B. Hoover, Director of Planning & Zoning; Rep. A. Audette; P. Craven, S. Fortier, A. Johnston 1. Comments & questions from the audience not related to agenda items: No issues were raised. 2. Announcements and City Manager's report: Mr. Magowan: CCTA meeting Wednesday. There will be a discussion of VTrans dropping CCTA service at the train station and replacing it with Mountain Transit. CCTA schedules had been revised to include that service. Mr. Magowan felt the way CCTA was told of this was less than desirable. Mr. Condos: The City received a planning grant for an update of the Zoning Ordinance. A meeting regarding mediation on the Potash Watershed issue will be held tomorrow, 4 p.m. Consultants will present work done so far and what is left to do. The MPO will meet Wednesday, 7 p.m. in Milton. Mr. Hafter: The first Legislative Breakfast will be on 7 January, 7:30 a.m. at the High School. The Steering Committee will meet 17 January, 7:30 p.m. The proposed date for the Council retreat is 24 January. A location will be set. 3. Consideration of first reading of amendment to zoning ordinance: 1) allowances for daycare, churches/houses of worship, and public utility substations/transmission lines; 2) zoning map and text amendments related to University of Vermont properties; 3) official map amendment to specify open space area on south side of Kennedy Drive: Ms. Hoover said that part 1 involves technical corrections. Towns must make reasonable allowances for daycare, churches, etc. The Planning Commission noted places where these had not been provided for. The only areas where these uses are not allowed are Parks and Recreation and Municipal. The uses do go through conditional use review and would be allowed as conditional uses in C-1, C-2, AI, Industrial Open Space, and Airport. During the Comprehensive Plan update, it was noted that there was a piece of UVM property zoned R-4. This makes parking areas and part of the MAT complex non-complying. The piece is north of Swift St. on Spear St. It would be zoned I-Ag instead of R-4. A piece of land between the University properties which is owned by the Country Club will remain R-4. There is also a residential lot owned by the Wheelock family that is zoned I-Ag. This had been done to keep the zoning line straight. There is no reason to keep the Wheelocks from doing anything with that property, and this amendment would make that piece R-4. On the UVM pieces, Ms. Hoover noted that a 100 ft. buffer is required between any structure in the University district and the boundary of the adjacent residential district. In other districts that buffer is only 65 ft. The Planning Commission proposed to reduce the buffer strip north of Quarry Hill Road to 65 ft. The third part of the amendments relates to a future park on the south side of Kennedy Drive. The amendment would remove the generalized circle and specify the exact location of such a park. Members asked about information on the proposed changes at UVM in the Gutterson area. Mr. Hafter advised that he attended a meeting in Ward 6 a few weeks ago. The UVM plan shows a gate and "no access" through to Spear Street. Ms. Fortier of UVM said they hope to convene a joint DRB meeting with the South Burlington and Burlington. Ms. Hoover said the DRB will devote one of its February meetings to that joint meeting. The DRB will be asked to authorize a technical review of the UVM traffic study now. Mr. Condos noted that Fletcher Allen is again leasing parking space at UVM. He was concerned that South Burlington never got a chance to review that use which puts undue traffic into South Burlington residential areas. Mr. Condos also noted an issue of "payment in lieu of taxes," especially since part of one dorm is located on South Burlington land. He felt that before the city allows anything, they would want to discuss all the impacts on South Burlington (including fire service, police service, etc.). He stressed that South Burlington gets the brunt of traffic impacts with no consideration to its residents. Ms. Hoover noted that until the city warns a public hearing on the proposed amendments, UVM cannot file any applications with the city. Ms. Forster was concerned with a delay as they are working toward an August 2003 occupancy date of the new housing units. Mr. Condos said when he is told by UVM people that there are no plans and a few days later sees plans being shown on TV, he is concerned. He said he wants UVM to come to South Burlington to discuss issues the same as it does in Burlington. Mr. Sheahan felt the Council should warn a public hearing and noted they had to have a traffic study in order to do design work on the garage. Mr. Sheahan moved to approve the first reading of the amendments and schedule a public hearing on 21 January 2002. Ms. Fortier said she knows that the concept of the parking garage is to balance the traffic impact between Burlington and South Burlington. 4. Report from Paul Craven, MPO, update Burlington/Essex passenger rail project: Mr. Craven said the driving force behind the project is a Congressional earmarking of $7,000,000 to extend service from Burlington to Essex. The MPO did an analysis of this and the result was a multi-modal approach to that corridor. The problems in the area include: a projected 44% population increase in the county by 2025, a 56% in employment, a 275% increase in congestion with resultant failure of intersections, and the fact that 95% of travel is by car. The challenges being faced include: retaining and improving the quality of life and economic opportunities; meeting planning goals of towns, region and state; increasing travel capacity in the corridor; providing a critical link for state-wide rail infrastructure; increasing transportation choices; and improving access to job opportunities. Mr. Craven showed a map of the 8-mile rail corridor including routes and feeder bus services. Mr. Condos noted the illogic of having a route from Taft Corners to Essex in order to get to Burlington. The proposed program would include: intersection improvements, feeder bus services, upgrading the railroad line from IBM to downtown Burlington, improving the 5-corners intersection, a bike path along the corridor, and enhancement of highway rail crossings. Capital costs would include: Track/structures $10,800,000 Burlington Station Siding 900,000 BED Plant Siding 3,600,000 Mainline Improvements 2,200,000 Storage Siding 1,200,000 Grade Crossings 2,500,000 Stations 3,700,000 Operating Costs would include: Operations; management; insurance $1,400,000 Bus feeder service 520,000 Grade crossings do not include "quiet zones" which would probably double the cost. Workshops will be held in various communities to solicit input. An environmental assessment will be done by May 2002. The CCMPO Boar decision will be made in February and will include a long range plan. Mr. Condos said he would be surprised to see any funding from the Legislature this year. He felt that if this project is going to delay the Shelburne Rd., Lime Kiln bridge, or Kennedy Drive projects, he would want some serious discussion. Mr. Magowan said he was bothered by the cannibalization of CCTA service. 5. Consideration of Amendment #2 to the cooperative agreement for the Kennedy Drive reconstruction: Mr. Hafter said the amendment addresses increased engineering costs. The city's share is still 10%. Mr. O'Rourke moved to approve and sign the amendment as presented. Mr. Sheahan seconded. Motion passed unanimously. 6. Review Development Review Board agenda for 18 December meeting: No issues were raised. 7. Review minutes of 3 December 2001: Mr. Sheahan moved to approve the minutes of 3 December as presented. Mr. O'Rourke seconded. Motion passed unanimously. 8. Sign Disbursement Orders: Disbursement Orders were signed. 9. Executive Session: Mr. Smith moved that the Council meet in Executive Session to discuss personnel & legal matters and to resume regular session only for the purpose of adjournment. Mr. Magowan seconded. Motion passed unanimously. 10. Regular Session: The Council returned to regular session. Mr. Sheahan moved adjournment. Mr. Smith seconded. The motion passed unanimously. The meeting adjourned at 10:30 p.m. Clerk Published by ClerkBase ©2019 by Clerkbase. No Claim to Original Government Works.