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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes - City Council - 05/21/2001CITY COUNCIL ORGANIZATIONAL MEETING 21 MAY 2001 The South Burlington City Council held an organizational meeting on Monday, 21 May, 2001, at 7:30 p.m., in the Conference Room, City Hall, 575 Dorset Street. Members present: J. Condos, C. Smith, T. Sheahan, D. O'Rourke, S. Magowan Also present: C. Hafter, City Manager; M. Picard, City Clerk/Treasurer; Rep. Albert Audette, L. Murphy Mr. Hafter presided until a Chairperson was elected. He opened the meeting by introducing Louise Murphy, the new Director of the Community Library. 1. Administering of oath of office: Ms. Picard administered the oath of office to elected Councilors James Condos and Chris Smith. 2. Election of City Council officers: The floor was opened for nominations for Chair. Mr. Sheahan nominated Mr. Condos. Mr. Smith seconded. There were no further nominations, and Mr. Condos was elected unanimously. Mr. Condos presided over the remainder of the meeting. Mr. Magowan nominated Mr. Sheahan for Vice Chair. Mr. Smith seconded. There were no further nominations, and Mr. Sheahan was elected unanimously. Mr. Magowan nominated Mr. O'Rourke for Clerk. Mr. Smith seconded. There were no further nominations, and Mr. O'Rourke was elected unanimously. 3. Set time and place for regular meetings: Members agreed to meet on the first and third Mondays of the month at 7:30 p.m. 4. Annual appointments to be made by a majority of City Council, pursuant to City Charter, Chapter 3, Section 301(2): The following slate of candidates was presented: City Treasurer Margaret Picard, CMC Asst. City Treasurer Denis Gravelin City Attorney Stitzel & Page Zoning Administrator Ray Belair Asst. Zoning Administrator Sarah MacCallum Auditor Angolano & Company First Constable Lt. Ernie Lemay Second Constable Officer Paul Edwards Grand Juror Charles Hafter City Agent Charles Hafter Mr. Hafter advised that all the nominees are willing to serve. Mr. O'Rourke moved to approve the appointment of the proposed slate of officers as presented. Mr. Sheahan seconded. Motion passed unanimously. 5. Information on appointments to be made by City Council in June/July 2001: Mr. Hafter indicated he will advertise for people interested in these positions. As there was no further business to come before the Council, the meeting was adjourned at 7:45 p.m. Clerk CITY COUNCIL 21 MAY 2001 The South Burlington City Council held a regular meeting on Monday, 21 May 2001, at 7:45 p.m., in the Conference Room, City Hall, 575 Dorset Street. Members present: J. Condos, Chair; T. Sheahan, C. Smith, S. Magowan, D. O'Rourke Also present: C. Hafter, City Manager; J. B. Hoover, Director of Planning & Zoning; Rep. Albert Audette; S. Compton, T. Boll, V-Trans; T. Fraga, J. Hanna 1. Comments & questions from the audience (not related to agenda items): No issues were raised. 2. Announcements & City Manager's report: Mr. Smith: Continuing work with the Technical Advisory Committee. No decisions have been made yet. Mr. Magowan: CCTA is moving into its new era. Chris Cole has been named General Manager. Mr. Condos added that Mr. Cole is looking for ways to get transit off the backs of the property tax. Mr. O'Rourke: Raised the possibility of moving elections from May to March because of the very low turnout. Mr. Condos suggested having the City Charter Committee discuss this. He also reviewed the process for a City Charter amendment that would be required to make that change. Mr. Condos: The MPO Executive Committee will meet on 29 May. The Board of Civil Authority will meet on 5 June to discuss legislative apportionment. The Regional Planning Commission will meet at 6 p.m. on 4 June (same night as City Council). Members were comfortable with having Ms. Hoover attend that meeting. The Legislature is still in session and is finally debating the budget bill. Mr. Audette: Phase 3 of the bike path is complete except for some small items. The dedication will be in mid-June. Contractors did an exceptionally good job, and people in the area are very happy with how they were treated. Members noted that the path is already getting good use. Mr. Hafter: The Vermont League of Cities and Towns has issued an invitation for people to serve on their committees. Interested Council members should let Mr. Hafter know. The City's Pension Committee met this week. 3. Presentation from Dubois & King on potential passenger rail station sites; selection of final study locations: Mr. Hanna reviewed the sites considered in the study. He said that there are no "perfect sites." The eleven sites considered are: 1. West of Hannaford 1a. East side of railroad tracks by apartments 2. Across from the apartments 3. Northwest side of Holmes Rd. 4. Southwest side of Holmes Rd. 5. Behind site #4 6. Open area behind auto dealers 7. North side of Bartlett Bay Road 8. South side of Bartlett Bay Road 9. Adjacent to west side of railroad tracks 10. By Nesty Drive on west side of railroad tracks Zoning regulations would preclude use of site #2, #3 and #4. Other sites would be conditional uses. In reviewing sites, the consultant identified residential areas, retail areas, industrial areas, and areas where commuters might be heading to work. They also considered ease of access to and from Rt. 7, site size, topography, access to rail, parking areas, location compatibility with existing uses, environmental constraints, and rail trip generation. The sites were then briefly reviewed in terms of these considerations: #1: easy access to Rt. 7, some wetlands, some difficult topography #1a: easy access to Rt. 7, very close to apartments #2, 3, & 4: not considered because of zoning restraints #5: not a bad site, but there would be wetland issues #6: fairly good site #7: (location of temporary station), not a bad site #8: not bad except stormwater detention pond is to be built there #9: no easy access to and from Rt. 7; topography not very good #10: no good access to Rt. 7, would have to wind around buildings; might not get much use from S. Burlington residents because it is at the very southern end of the city The hope is to narrow the choices down to 3 or 4 sites and do a more extensive study of these sites. Mr. Condos noted that #5, #6 and #7 have access to Shelburne Rd. via a traffic light. Mr. Magowan asked about a multi-modal site. Ms. Compton said they can't get involved in that because criteria would be different. Mr. Condos said they are not talking about something as big as what Burlington is doing but something where pedestrians, bikes, cars and buses can mingle on the site. Mr. Magowan added they would also want to have buses that go from this site to Williston and Essex. Mr. Hafter said what the city talked about is that this could happen but that it would be a potential for this site. Ms. Compton said that isn't what the State calls "multi-modal," but a transfer point is something that could be talked about. Mr. Condos said another criteria the city would like to consider is potential expansion. Mr. Magowan indicated he is still willing to be the Council rep in this process. Mr. O'Rourke said he felt the city should follow the recommendations of the experts and do more in-depth work on the 4 sites (1, 5, 6, and 7). Mr. Hafter said he would set up a meeting to discuss the criteria for continued evaluation. 4. Review of updated Impact Fee proposed: Ms. Hoover noted that about a year ago, the City got a grant to work on updating impact fees. The present fees are set aside for roads, schools, recreation, and the special Dorset St. water line. The study also updated the projects that are eligible for using impact fees. A possible new impact fee for fire protection was also considered. Ms. Hoover reminded members that if impact fees are not spent for eligible projects within 6 years, the money must be returned to developers. Fee changes for roads would result in reduced impacts as follows: Single family homes from $226.to $141.87 Multi-family homes from 158.20 to $99.31 Non-residential from 226.to 141.87 Projects eligible to use these funds include: Kennedy Drive widening, Airport Parkway/Ethan Allen Drive improvements, Williston Rd./Shunpike Rd. intersection improvements, Market Street construction, and Shelburne Rd. widening (assumes no cost, but could be added). Members briefly discussed other possible projects that could qualify for impact fees and asked Ms. Hoover to look into the Lime Kiln Bridge project. Impact fees for school would increase as follows: Single family homes from $2183.94 to $2845.92 Multi-family homes from 1091.97 to 1561.46 This money could be used to upgrade High School lockers, 2 cafeteria space renovations and 3 classrooms at the High School, creation of 8 new classrooms at the Middle School, purchase of 2 buses, and lighting outdoor recreation fields. Proposed fire protection fees would be as follows: Single family homes   $275.62 Multi-family homes   187.92 Non-residential .87 per $1000 of value Mr. Condos said it appears residential property would pay for building and contents and commercial property only for buildings. He felt this didn't seem fair. Ms. Hoover will look further into this. The impact fee for the Dorset St. water line would remain the same at $210.63. Recreation fees would increase as follows: Single family homes from $1686.36 to $1906.64 Multi-family homes from 843.18 to 953.32 On change that could increase the impact fee would be the city's cost of the Kimball Ave. to Williston town line section of the rec path. The proposed Community Center is also not included in the above calculations but would be eligible when bond amounts and timing are established. Ms. Hoover will work on getting this into ordinance form for the 4 June Council meeting. 5. Consideration of entertainment permit for National Night Out: Officer Tom Fraga addressed previous Council concerns. He noted that the event would have several components including events at the park, the Dorset St. parade, and community school and seniors events on the second day. With regard to the proposed sleepover for Scouts, this would have been similar to a jamboree focusing on what the Scouting groups do. However, there hasn't been much interest from the Scout groups that were approached, and so it has been put off to a future event. Mr. Condos suggested that if a sleepover event is proposed, guidelines be developed before it is presented. He also praised the efforts of the Police Department and community for making this a true community event. Mr. Sheahan moved to approve the entertainment permit for National Night Out with the deletion of the overnight campout. Mr. Magowan seconded. Motion passed unanimously. 6. Consideration of annual entertainment license for Sheraton Vermont Corporation, live music: Mr. Hafter said the application is in order. Mr. Smith moved to approve the entertainment license for Sheraton Vermont Corporation as presented. Mr. Sheahan seconded. Motion passed unanimously. 7. Review Planning Commission agenda for 22 May: No issues were raised. Mr. Sheahan did comment on a recent sketch plan at the Development Review Board for a residential development on the golf course property. He was concerned with putting homes into an area that contains an old growth natural area. He said it is one of the few heavily wooded areas, and it was his recollection that nothing was supposed to be built there. Mr. Sheahan was also concerned with the "nibbling" that has increased the number of housing units from what was originally proposed. Members agreed to send this message to the DRB. Mr. Sheahan also suggested asking the Natural Resources Committee to look at this from the point of view of wildlife habitat. 8. Review minutes of 7 May 2001: Mr. Sheahan moved to approve the Minutes of 7 May as written. Mr. Smith seconded. Motion passed unanimously. 9. Sign Disbursement Orders: Disbursement Orders were signed. 10. Convene as Liquor Control Board to review first and second class license renewals from Klinger's Bread Co. and Quarry Hill Club: Mr. Smith moved the Council adjourn and reconvene as Liquor Control Board. Mr. Sheahan seconded. Motion passed unanimously. Mr. Hafter said both requests are in order. Mr. O'Rourke noted he would have to recuse himself for the Klinger's application due to a conflict of interest. Mr. Sheahan moved to approve the first class license for Klinger's Bread Co. Mr. Smith seconded. Motion passed 4-0. Mr. Magowan moved to approve the first class license for Quarry Hill Club. Mr. Smith seconded. Motion passed unanimously. Executive Session: Mr. Sheahan moved the Board adjourn and reconvene as City Council in executive session to discuss personnel issues and contract negotiations and to resume regular session only for the purpose of approving a contract and/or adjourning. Mr. Smith seconded. Motion passed unanimously. Regular session: The Council returned to regular session. Mr. Magowan moved approval of a labor contract with the Water Pollution Control Association for 7/1/2000-6/30/2003. Mr. Sheahan seconded. The motion passed unanimously. Mr. Sheahan moved adjournment. Mr. O'Rourke seconded. The motion passed unanimously. The meeting adjourned at 10:40 p.m. Clerk Published by ClerkBase ©2019 by Clerkbase. No Claim to Original Government Works.