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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes - City Council - 03/03/2003CITY COUNCIL 3 MARCH 2003 The South Burlington City Council held a regular meeting on Monday, 3 March 2003, at 3:30 p.m., in the Conference Room, City Hall, 575 Dorset St. Members Present: J. Condos, Chair; T. Sheahan; S. Magowan; C. Smith Also Present: C. Hafter, City Manager; D. Gravelin, Assistant City Manager; J. B. Hoover, Director of Planning & Zoning; J. Fay, CWD; G. Dow, Solid Waste District; A. Johnston, The Other Paper; Channel 17 1. Comments & Questions from the Audience not related to agenda items: No issues were raised. 2. Announcements and City Manager's Report: Mr. Smith: - Regional Planning update meeting regarding County build out analysis on Wednesday. - Has heard from people concerned with the placement of signs on Odell Parkway. Mr. Sheahan: - Housing Committee meeting on Monday. A committee is being appointed to look into affordable housing. Mr. Magowan: - CCTA did a survey regarding transit issues in the City. This will be available at the next meeting. Mr. Condos: - MPO Executive Board meeting, Wednesday, 4 p.m. - Today is the 50th anniversary of the South Burlington Police Dept. A celebration will be held later this evening, which will include former Chiefs and Officers. - The second budget presentation will take place on Thursday, 7 p.m. - Mr. Condos will travel to Washington, D.C. to attend the National League of Cities and Towns meeting. Mr. Hafter: - Lake Champlain Housing Board meeting, 5 March. - CUSI Board meeting 6 March. - Mr. Hafter will be testifying before the Senate Transportation Committee on 12 March. - Steering Committee meeting, 20 March, 7:30 p.m. for presentation of the city and school budgets for 2003-4. - The 17 March agenda will be preceded by a site visit to the Midas property. The agenda also includes a storm water utility RFP, items relative to the Shelburne Rd. reconstruction, and amendments to the CCTA bylaws to extend service beyond Chittenden County. 3. First Reading of proposed amendments to Sign Ordinance, request from Champlain Oil to amend the sign district regulations; schedule of public hearing: Ms. Hoover reviewed proposed amendments to the sign ordinance. Issues have arisen regarding wall signs. In some cases you can't tell where a business begins and ends, and locations of individual businesses are not obvious. Existing regulations don't seem to work for multi-tenant buildings. In order to address this (referring to Table 10-1), building owners will no longer be asked to divide up signage; instead, a tenant will get: 15% of the façade, 5% of the individual tenant's storefront, or 100 sq. ft., whichever is greater. C. Smith made a motion, seconded by T. Sheahan, to schedule a public hearing for the amendments to the sign ordinance regarding wall signs, for April 7, 2003. Upon vote, the motion passed. Councilman Magowan recused himself from the meeting. The Council reviewed a request from Champlain Oil for a sign exemption from Dorset Street/City Center Sign District. John Mitchell of Champlain Oil raised concerns regarding Williston Road corridor and sign permit process. Following brief discussion, Staff recommended Council clarify that selling gasoline in this district shall be governed by Section 22 of the Sign Ordinance, as all other gas stations in the City, in addition, however, the design review standards under Section 6(b) shall apply. T. Sheahan made a motion, seconded by C. Smith, to waive the first reading and schedule a public hearing for the amendments to the regulations regarding gas stations in the Dorset Street/City Center District, for April 7, 2003. Upon vote, the motion passed. 4. Presentation of report on South Burlington water system improvements; Jay Nadeau, SB Water Department Superintendent, Wayne Elliott of Forcier Aldrich & Associates and Jim Fay of CWD. Councilman Magowan returned to the meeting. City Manager Hafter outlined the events leading to the water system analysis of South Burlington's water capacity, where fire and fire-flow regulations limited further development, and low water pressure experienced in certain areas of the City. W. Elliott of Forcier Aldrich & Associates reviewed the Main service area and the High service area of the South Burlington water system, and outlined their recommended improvements contained in their report. His recommendations include raising the Dorset Street tank to add 600,000 gallons, adding a twin tank at the Allen Road, and additional system improvement on the delivery system, at an estimated cost of $1.9 million. J. Fay of CWD reiterated his support for the recommendation outlined. City Manager Hafter will prepare a resolution for action at the next meeting to have this item put on the May ballot. 5. Continue First Reading of Proposed South Burlington Land Development Regulations; Schedule of Public Hearings. JB Hoover, Director of Planning & Zoning, reviewed briefly some corrections including Section 4.08(G)(1) Non-complying Structures -- eliminate section (c) and last sentence in (G)(2). She referred to a memo regarding items needing consideration by City's attorney, and reiterated number of units on a private versus public roads needing further discussion by City Council. Mark Hall, representing Mr. Jewet, raised two issues for clarification: 1) referring to section 3.15 Waivers on page 83 -- whether the DRB will have the ability to waive any regulation of both sub-division zoning bylaws or zoning regulations; and 2) Section 15.12(C)(3)(a)(ii) Criteria for Public and Private Roadways on page 235 -- whether this condition will limit the ability of the DRB to waive public street requirements with respect to PUDs, sub-divisions, or master plan applications. Following clarification by JB Hoover and further discussion, its was suggested that "(i.e. single-, two- and/or multi--family)" be removed from 15.12(C)(3)(a) i and ii. Chairman Condos requested that staff ask City Attorney review Section 3.15 - Waivers. Questions were raised by UVM regarding the possibility of a waiver. Ms. Hoover said that there had to be an appropriate outlet for review of an application. She stressed that UVM would get a full review of any proposal. Mr. Condos said that the city wants a big say in the kind of traffic that would be generated by a UVM project. He noted that UVM wants to build 800 units of housing at University Heights and they want to access this through South Burlington. Ms. Hoover said that there are no specific permits required for access, and if there is no physical development in South Burlington, there is no way for the city to address traffic issues. The proposed housing on University Heights involves no building in South Burlington. The issue of traffic would have to be addressed at Act 250. Mr. Condos asked if that would still be the case if UVM upgrades the access road, which is in South Burlington. Ms. Hoover said it could not be addressed through the planning/zoning process, as it is not a city street. Mr. Condos noted that residents of Prospect Street do not want any more cars coming out onto their Street, and South Burlington doesn't want any more cars coming out onto Spear Street. He added that if this is what UVM is proposing, the city would fight it. Mr. Condos added that he will be meeting with President Fogel next week and will tell him so. UVM people said they are concerned with the long term and with preserving their options. Ms. Hoover then addressed the C-1 District. She noted this is currently zoned for R-7 housing. The Planning Commission strongly recommends changing this to R-15 on Shelburne Road and R-12 on Williston Road. She said the difference between R-7 and R-12 is not considerable, and there isn't that much land. The traffic overlay would still apply. Mr. Condos said he had no problem with this except where it backs up against R-4 housing. Ms. Hoover noted the required setback would be 65 feet from the property line. She said multi-family use is appropriate there, and it isn't happening at 7 per acre. She felt there would be more impact to neighbors from a large office building. Mr. Condos felt that if town houses were built, it would be OK, but he didn't want to see an O'Dell Parkway kind of look up against R-4. Ms. Hoover felt that going from R-7 to R-12 makes it more likely to result in mixed use there. She stressed that there are landscape standards for buffers. Mr. Condos said he is still struggling with the Airport Zone on the south side of Williston Road from Kennedy Drive west. He didn't want to see car rental parking lots there. Ms. Hoover said this is now C-1 and could be left that way with an R-7 residential component. The Planning Commission would have another look at the area. Mr. Condos said that was OK with him as long as there are no car rentals allowed there. Concern was raised regarding the CR Wood property that is partially zoned IC and partially zoned C-1. Staff recommends that no adjustment be made to the boundaries of the Commercial district as currently set. Councilman Magowan mentioned that he still has some question on the Waiver provisions and suggests City attorney review more closely. On motion by C. Smith, seconded by S. Magowan, the Council voted to waive the first reading and schedule public hearings for April 7 and April 21, 2003, for the proposed amendments minus Section 3.15 -- Waivers, and with changes discussed at this meeting. 6. Review Development Review Board agenda for meeting of March 4, 2003. S. Magowan inquired about two projects in the southeast quadrant. 7. Review Minutes of Regular City Council meeting of February 17, 2003; City Council Budget Presentation on February 20, 2003. S. Magowan moved to approve the Minutes of February 17, 2003 as written. C. Smith seconded, and upon vote, the motion passed unanimously. S. Magowan moved to approve the Minutes of February 20, 2003 as written. C. Smith seconded the motion. City Manager Hafter requested a change to the last page, third paragraph up, insert the word "CWD" before "increase should hold through 2008." The motion was amended to reflect this correction, and upon vote, the motion, as amended, passed unanimously. T. Sheahan moved adjournment. C. Smith seconded. The motion passes unanimously. The meeting adjourned at 5:50 p.m. Clerk Published by ClerkBase ©2019 by Clerkbase. No Claim to Original Government Works.