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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes - City Council - 09/10/2001CITY COUNCIL 10 SEPTEMBER 2001 The South Burlington City Council held a regular meeting on Monday, 10 September 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. Whitten, Water Pollution Control Dept; G. Forbes, S. Chase, M. O'Brien, Ms. McNamara, A. Johnston 1. Comments & questions from the audience not related to Agenda items: No issues were raised. 2. Announcements & City Manager's report: C. Smith: Public forum on Regional Technical Academy, Wednesday T. Sheahan: Spoke with Linda Seavy of UVM regarding the UVM housing plans that have been in the newspaper. She said they don't have studies done yet. The parking garage at Gutterson would be partly in South Burlington, so they would have to come in for approval. Mr. Sheahan invited Ms. Seavy to come and talk with the Council, probably in November. Mr. Sheahan noted this would impact traffic in South Burlington and felt the Council should stay on top of the situation. J. Condos: The Steering Committee will meet on Thursday at 7:30. The next Council meeting will be on Monday, 17 September. The annual MPO meeting will be on 19 September, 6 p.m. at the UVM Dewey Lounge. C. Hafter: The 17 September agenda will include presentation by Chris Cole, CCTA Manager, and Jim Pease regarding stormwater discharge studies. At the 6 September Kennedy Drive informational meeting, the major concern was the cross-walk at Twin Oaks. Counts will be done at this location. 3. Interview with Maureen O'Brien for appointment to the Planning Commission: Mr. Condos noted that Ms. O'Brien served on the Zoning Board for a number of years. Ms. O'Brien said she is the 4th generation of her family in South Burlington. She would like to have input into where the future will take us, specifically the City Center. 4. Request from Stuart Chase, Springlet, Ltd., for Council to delay implementation of new impact fees for 30 days from 7/17/01: Mr. Hafter reviewed the process for adoption of new fees and said that it took place over a 3 month period. After a brief discussion, members felt there should be no change made. 5. Consideration of appointments to Sign Ordinance Review Committee: Mr. Condos stressed that the Council is not looking for wholesale changes, just "tweaking." Mr. Hafter suggested adding someone from the Design Review Board to the list of volunteers for the committee. Members agreed to discuss appointments in executive session. 6. Approval of resolution authorizing a special assessment district for sanitary sewer on Spear St. South: Mr. Hafter reviewed the history of the request. He noted that the city pays half of the installation cost and the residents pay the other half. Residents pay 100% of the hook-up costs. The design for the sewer has been redone with a pump station. The project cost is now $94,000, which includes a 15% contingency. Owners are ready to go forward and want to get on with the work this fall. Mr. Smith moved to approve the Resolution as presented. Mr. Sheahan seconded. Motion passed unanimously. Mr. Hafter said the group at the north end of Spear St. still is not able to come to an agreement. If they can't, the project won't be done. Ms. McNamara thanked the Council and the City for its efforts 7. Review Agenda for Planning Commission meeting on 11 September: No issues were raised. 8. Review minutes of 6 August and 20 August: Mr. Magowan moved to approve the minutes of 6 August as presented. Mr. Smith seconded. Motion passed 3-0 with Messrs. O'Rourke and Sheahan abstaining. Mr. Sheahan moved to approve the minutes of 20 August as presented. Mr. O'Rourke seconded. Motion passed unanimously. 9. Sign Disbursement Orders: Disbursement Orders were signed. 10. First reaiding of an ordinance regulating the use of public and private sanitary sewage system; schedule public hearing for same: Mr. Hafter said the ordinance was adopted in 1968 and has not been updated since. The proposed update has been under review for about a year. Some major changes are included: 1. Allocation for sewer capacity is now on a first come first serve basis. The change now reserves 50,000 gpd for the City Center. 2. Presently, an allocation can be held forever. In the revision, an allocation can be held for 5 years. After that time, it would be returned to the city. The Development Review Board can extend the period for an additional 5-year period. 3. The City can now require pre-treatment of waste or can revise fees to pay for pre-treatment. 4. There can now be a sinking fund created for major expenses. There is no change in fees at this time, but Mr. Hafter anticipated they will come back to the Council with recommendations. Mr. Forbes indicated that they had worked with a state model in revising the ordinance. Mr. Sheahan felt that 10 years was a long time to lock up capacity. Mr. O'Rourke agreed. Mr. Condos said that some projects haven't been completed for longer than that. Mr. Sheahan noted that when sewer allocation capacity was short, there were some projects that couldn't be built because allocations were locked up with projects that have still never been built. He suggested a 2 or 3-year extension maximum with the possibility of showing progress on a project. Mr. Magowan said the Council shouldn't encourage people to build faster than the school system to keep up. Mr. O'Rourke also noted the potential for increasing the cost of housing. Mr. Hafter said the language will be worked on. Item #4 Revisited: Mr. Chase arrived at the meeting and presented his case for a 30-day waiting period before imposition of new impact fees. He said he paid the initial impact fees in April and had been talking with the DRB regarding the second building. When he came back in for that building, the fees had gone up. He said he would have paid them earlier if he had known. Mr. Hafter noted there is a 30-day warning window between the two public hearings. Mr. O'Rourke said if the Council did extend the period, it could set a precedent that might prove more difficult. Members again agreed not to make any changes. Executive Session: Mr. Sheahan moved the Council adjourn and reconvene in Executive Session to discuss contract negotiations, personnel matters, and appointments to Boards and Committees, and to resume regular session on to make appointments, approve a contract, and/or adjourn. Mr. Smith seconded. Motion passed unanimously. Regular Session: The City Council returned to regular session. Terry Sheahan moved the appointment of Maureen O'Brien to the Planning Commission to serve the remaining two years of a term that expires in 2003. Dan O'Rourke seconded. The motion passed unanimously. Chris Smith moved the appointment of the Sign Ordinance Review Committee as proposed by the City Manager with the addition of a member from the City Design Review Board. Terry Sheahan seconded. The motion passed unanimously. Terry Sheahan moved that the City secure the $30,000 landscaping bond for the Dorset Park Skating Association's new rink at Dorset Park, noting the City will become the owner of the rink. Further, such security will be provided following an agreement between the City and DPSA that DPSA will grant indemnity to the City for all costs arising from such security, and authorizing Jim Condos to sign the agreement. Chris Smith seconded. The motion passed unanimously. Terry Sheahan moved adjournment. Chris Smith seconded. The meeting adjourned at 10:30 p.m. Clerk Published by ClerkBase ©2019 by Clerkbase. No Claim to Original Government Works.