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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes - City Council - 09/17/2001CITY COUNCIL 17 SEPTEMBER 2001 The South Burlington City Council held a regular meeting on Monday, 17 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. Gravelin, Rep. A. Audette; B. O'Neill, T. Hubbard, Recreation Dept; J. B. Hoover, Director of Planning & Zoning; C. Cole, M. Danahy, CCTA; A. Johnston, The Other Paper; R. Murray, G. Davis, P. Reed, B. Wessel, L. Wood, W. Clifton, M. Ambusk, P. Adams, M. Provost, J. Riordan, A. DeMag, B. Gabos, J. Pease, C. Hewson 1. Comments & questions from the audience not related to agenda items: No issues were raised. 2. Announcements and City Manager's report: Mr. Smith: The forum on the Technical Academy went very well. The final report will be out in a few weeks. Mr. Sheahan: The Regional Planning Commission will meet Monday, 6 p.m. They are in the home stretch of the Regional Plan process. A public hearing is expected in October. Mr. Magowan: CCTA meeting, 26 September. Mr. Condos: Annual MPO meeting Wednesday, 5:45 p.m., J. Dewey Lounge at UVM. A guest speaker will be from the Federal Highway Department. VLCT is working with the National League of Cities and Towns to organize an "Always Remember 9-11" campaign fund for public employees and their families who were victims of the recent terrorist attacks. The focus will be on contributions of $1.00-$5.00. The intent is for South Burlington to participate. Mr. Hafter: The annual Town Fair will be held on 27 September at Killington. The Fire Department has started a "New York Firefighters Family Fund" and has raised $61,000 as of today. There will be a bottle drive this weekend with proceeds to go to this fund. 3. Discussion of Community Center/Aquatic Center Proposal: Mr. Condos said that the possible action the Council could take tonight would be to state its intent to have a ballot item for the Center on the 21 May ballot. Mr. Magowan was concerned that if the ballot item is for $11,000,000, it might fail. This might also mean there couldn't be a $6,000,000 project as there might not be a second "bite at the apple." Rep. Audette said the Council doesn't have to set a dollar amount at this point. Mr. Smith said he wasn't sure there could be only one shot at a ballot item. Mr. O'Rourke said no one knows what $6,000,000 would buy. He felt that his questions about the numbers had been answered. He also acknowledged there could be a lot of variables between now and a bond vote. Mr. Reed said that people who have seen the property tax numbers feel they are reasonable. He also noted they would have to pay a consultant more to prepare figures for a $6,000,000 project. Mr. Hafter said the public would not be paying the full amount as there is fundraising planned in the private sector and the city will also use some impact fees. Mr. O'Neill said when the process began, the Committee looked at services that were needed in the community. They would need to look at what activities might be removed with a smaller project. Mr. Condos said it is not the Council's intent at this time to do any cutting. Rep. Audette cautioned against making the same mistakes that were made with the City Hall building which he felt is now a "white elephant." He noted the private sector has hired a lobbyist to work against the project, and he hoped the city could work through this. He felt the important thing was to let the people make the decision as to what they will or won't support. Mr. Smith moved that the Council state its intent to place on the May 21 ballot an item for up to $11,500,000. for a community center/aquatic center. Mr. Sheahan seconded. Motion passed unanimously. Mr. Reed thanked the Council and said this gives them something to work with to try to develop private funding. Mr. O'Rourke said he was very impressed with the Committee and the work they have put into this project. He felt that the concerns about money would dissipate when the public sees what the project consists of. 4. Consideration of request from Lake Champlain Housing to authorize City Manager to sign quit claim deed on Lot #3, Lime Kiln Housing Development: Mr. Condos reviewed the history of this item and noted that the deed went to the wrong place so that the City now has the deed. Mr. Ladd asked the city to reject the offer of dedication so that the land can be given to the Winooski Valley Park Association. Mr. O'Rourke asked if there is any other land involved. Mr. Ladd said there is not. Mr. Sheahan moved to authorize the City Manager to sign a quit claim deed on the property at Lot #3, Lime Kiln Housing Development, and further to reject the offer of dedication. Mr. O'Rourke seconded. Motion passed unanimously. 5. Update from Chris Cole, General Manager, CCTA: Mr. Cole introduced himself to the Council and noted that he had previously served with the Legislature working on fiscal policy. CCTA recently had a retreat at which it reviewed policy, etc. There are a lot of transportation issues to be faced. The commuter rail has no funding once it comes off the federal grant. Other proposed trains have no funding identified. For CCTA to expand, they will have to find funding, and there is not enough room in the property tax to do this. Mr. Cole said CCTA will try to educate the Legislature on this and let them know that the people in Chittenden County want enhanced public transportation but not funded by the property tax. Mr. Cole noted that CCTA also has a "low emissions" project team which is reviewing use of different kinds of fuel. A brief discussion followed on problems with the train operation. Mr. Condos asked about the possibility of a shuttle bus to get people across Shelburne Rd. Mr. Cole said VTA has purchased some services from CCTA including a shuttle bus route. Ms. Danahy reviewed the 24-minute route and noted it will begin on 21 October. Mr. Magowan said the issue facing CCTA is an increasing cannibalization of public transit. He felt that if there is going to be attractive public transit, this can't continue. Mr. Hafter said he had heard that the property tax that is now being paid for public transit will always be there and anything more from the State would be on top of that. Mr. Cole said that is not his intent. He felt there is no reason there can't be a gasoline tax. Mr. Condos said he feels that non-member towns have to ante up. If a town really wants to be part of the system, it has to pay for it. Mr. Condos felt the "good news" is the seamless integration between the Champlain Flyer and CCTA. There is no additional cost for the shuttle. Also, IDX has indicated they will fund ½ the cost of a CCTA pass. Mr. Cole said CCTA is now purchasing smaller buses. Rep. Audette said there is already a bill proposed to raise the gas tax for public transit. Mr. Wessel indicated the delight in having Mr. Cole on board. He also noted there are some new Board members with fresh ideas. He felt this is a good time for change. 6. Presentation of stormwater discharge mapping project: Mr. Pease said the project is funded by Section 319 of the Clean Water project. South Burlington is the only community that did not have a comprehensive drainage map. The work of the project mapped this as thoroughly as could be done. The city may put it on the website and make it available to the public. Mr. Pease noted that many catch basins need to be cleaned up; about 30% of them have disintegrated enough to require substantial cost. Mr. Condos asked if the DRB can use the list to bring about compliance. Ms. Hoover said the Board can tell them they are out of compliance, but this is a State process. Mr. Condos asked if the DRB can tell people they must comply with the State regulations. Ms. Hoover said she will check to see what is legal. She added that there is also a question of asking the city to enforce a State permit. She felt that could muddy the waters, Ms. Hoover added that they will explore ways to get this cleaned up. Mr. Pease said there are probably 60 expired permits in the city as well. The plan is to get them into a general permit which will allow for more controls. There has been talk that if a homeowners' association doesn't maintain the catch basins, the State can hold the community responsible. That is why there is a move to push a public utility. Ms. Hoover said the people who worked on this project did a tremendous amount of work for no money. 7. Consideration of proposed VLCT Education Funding Plan: Members felt that the letter that was received did not provide enough information. Mr. Condos said it appears that the plan takes all non-residential property and sets one rate for it. He said what is needed is to fix the real inequities, namely equalizing teacher salaries. Mr. Smith said that doesn't make sense either. He didn't feel you can pay someone in the Northeast Kingdom what you pay in South Burlington. Mr. Condos said equalizing does not necessarily mean making it the same. 8. Appointments to Sign Ordinance Review Committee: Mr. Condos noted that Peter Jacob and Wayne Gibson have asked to serve on the Committee. Mr. Smith moved to add Messrs. Jacob and Gibson to the Sign Ordinance Review Committee. Mr. O'Rourke seconded. Motion passed unanimously. 9. Review Development Review Board Agenda for 18 September meeting: Mr. Condos expressed concern with item #7. He noted that there are some migrant workers living in RV's behind Mr. Palmer's business. Other members were also concerned. This will be communicated to the DRB. 10. Sign Disbursement Orders: Disbursement Orders were signed. As there was no further business to come before the Council, the meeting was adjourned at 9:30 p.m. Clerk Published by ClerkBase ©2019 by Clerkbase. No Claim to Original Government Works.