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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes - City Council - 03/17/2003CITY COUNCIL 17 MARCH 2003 The South Burlington City Council held a regular meeting on Monday 17 March 2003, at 7:00 p.m., at a site of proposed land condemnation and in the conference room, City Hall, 575 Dorset Street. Members present: J. Condos, Chair; C. Smith, T. Sheahan, D. O'Rourke Also present: C. Hafter, City Manager; D. Gravelin, Assistant City Manager; Rep. A. Audette, Chief D. Brent, Fire Department; J. B. Hoover, Director of Planning & Zoning; T. Terillo and other members of UVM Rescue Squad, S. Fortier, UVM, M. Kupersmith, E. & M. O'Grady, T. Eustace, B. Black, M. Johnson, J. Fagan, E. Fontana, J. Nadeau, B. Wessel, C. Cole 1. Site visit re: proposed condemnation of a portion of property at 60-80 Midas Drive: Members visited the site of the proposed land condemnation prior to convening the meeting at city hall. 2. Comments & questions from the audience not related to agenda items: No issues were raised. 3. Announcements and City Manager's report: Mr. Sheahan: Meeting of Housing Coalition, 24 March, 4 p.m. The hope is to get an official from each municipality in the country to work on affordable housing. Regional Planning Commission meeting, 24 March, 6 p.m. Mr. Condos: MPO meeting, 20 March, 7 p.m. Mr. Hafter: Noted receipt of letter from Tim Duff resigning from Design Review Committee (Mr. Duff has recently been appointed to the Planning Commission). Mr. Sheahan moved to accept Mr. Duff's resignation from the Design Review Committee and to have the City Manager send a letter of appreciation. Mr. Smith seconded. Motion passed unanimously. Steering Committee will meet Thursday, 20 March, 7:30 p.m. for presentations of the city and school budgets. The Correction Center Liaison Committee will meet on 20 March, 4 p.m. A meeting will be held on Monday, 24 March, with residents of Pheasant Way regarding traffic calming. Members indicated they wanted a legislative breakfast in April. It will be held on 7 April, 7:30 a.m. Mr. Hafter noted a major influx in skunk-related issues. Calls should go to police dispatchers. 3. Interviews for appointments to boards and commissions: Mr. Hafter noted that there are openings on the Development Review Board (1), Design Review Committee (2) and Natural Resources Committee (1). The Council then interviewed Michelle Kupersmith, Elaine O'Grady and Michael O'Grady. Ms. Kupersmith said she grew up in the Burlington area and has lived in South Burlington for 16 years. She felt it is time to get involved in serving the community. She is a lawyer but did not see any conflicts with her work and serving on any committee. Her preference is for the Development Review Board. Mr. & Mrs. O'Grady are new to the area. Ms. O'Grady has worked with the EPA in Washington, D.C. She is a lawyer with an interest in environmental issues. She now works as a regulatory manager for a small company. Her first choice would be to serve on the Natural Resources Committee. Mr. O'Grady is also a lawyer who does land use work for the Environmental Law Institute. The Institute is a non-partisan group that does research work for government. They do not lobby but focus on education. His first choice is the Design Review Committee. Mr. O'Grady felt he could be impartial in anything that came up. Mr. Condos explained the selection process and thanked the candidates for their interest in serving. 4. Hearing on proposed condemnation of a portion of Brassard Automotive Services, Inc., property, 60-80 Midas Drive, for city center access road: Mr. Sheahan stepped down during this item due to a potential conflict of interest. Mr. Condos read the notice of public hearing. He noted that a formal notice was sent to all interested parties via registered mail. All other required announcements were made. He then asked if there were any other interested parties present. There were none. City attorney Tim Eustace introduced the interested parties present including Juli Beth Hoover, representing the City of South Burlington. Mr. Condos said that the City Council made a visit to the site at 7 p.m., prior to the meeting. Ms. Hoover was then sworn in and testified. She said the standard for condemnation is that the public benefit is served and that the acquisition of the property is reasonably necessary. Ms. Hoover said the objective of the condemnation is to provide greatly improved alignment to the city center property. The preferred alignment is between the Midas building and the office building and not the southern access. Ms. Hoover showed these areas on the map. The proposed alignment will divide the layout into the best "city blocks" pattern. The current right-of-way is very inconvenient. What is needed is a more gradual curve because of the anticipated volume of traffic. Ms. Hoover said she believes the proposed new alignment meets the requirements of necessity. She gave members the drawings showing the preferred access. Mr. Hafter also submitted a list of interested parties who received notice, a copy of the warning, a corporate resolution of the Brassard Company indicating they will accept the other piece of land as compensation, and the DuBois and King plan entitled "Condemnation for Highway Purposes..." Mr. Condos asked if there was any testimony from abutters. There was none. Mr. Condos declared the public hearing to be closed. He indicated the City Council would issue findings within 60 days. 5. Presentation from UVM Rescue: Ms. Terillo noted that the rescue squad's membership has tripled since September. Dispatching will be switching to the police dispatcher. Funding of the squad includes $26,000 a year from South Burlington and $51,000 from UVM. From January 2002-January 2003, the squad responded to 2,219 calls, the majority of which were in South Burlington. Mr. O'Rourke asked if the squad actively recruits members. Ms. Terillo said it does and noted a lot of interest from the incoming freshman class. Mr. Sheahan asked if they had ever thought of adding more paid positions. Ms. Terillo said she thought one was enough, and they will continue that through the summer. Mr. Hafter said the city really appreciates the service. The frustration is that leadership changes every year. He asked for a list of members. Ms. Terillo said it was sent out today. Mr. O'Rourke said it is no secret that the City has been talking about the need for a South Burlington ambulance service mainly because of the growth in the city. This is definitely not a reflection on UVM service. Mr. Hafter asked what the impact of so much senior housing in South Burlington has been. A member of the squad said calls have grown steadily, but this has not been just in the senior population. Mr. Condos stressed that the city now has just under 16,000 people and will continue to grow. He stressed the need to care for public safety. 6. Consideration of agreement and requests from state of Vermont regarding Shelburne Road project: Mr. Fontana indicated the agreements to consider: street and lighting agreement; water and sewer relocation agreement; town maintenance; 2 letters regarding night work; irrigation system for trees in the median. Mr. Hafter reviewed the agreements individually. The water and sewer agreement says the city has to relocate its water and sewer lines. Funds for this are in the next budget. Mr. O'Rourke moved to authorize the City Manager to sign the Water and Sewer Agreement. Mr. Smith seconded. Motion passed unanimously. Mr. Hafter indicated the winter maintenance agreement says that during winter the city will do the plowing on local streets within the project area. He noted that the state will plow Shelburne Rd. Mr. Sheahan moved to approve and sign the winter maintenance agreement as presented. Mr. Smith seconded. Motion passed unanimously. Mr. Hafter said the street lighting agreement indicates the 53 lights will be the city's responsibility. The State will install them. The city will also pay power costs (this will be a flat fee of about $7500-8,000/year). Shelburne will not have lighting on its portion of the project. North of the project, lighting will be not of the same quality as on the project portion. Mr. Smith moved to approve and sign the street lighting agreement. Mr. Sheahan seconded. Motion passed unanimously. Mr. Hafter said the landscape design is excellent. The desire is to hook into the city's water system to keep the landscaping alive and thriving. The State will be for the water (there will be no sewer charge). Mr. Nadeau explained how the system will work. Mr. Smith moved to approve the connection to City water for purposes of irrigation of landscaping in the project area. Mr. Sheahan seconded. Motion passed unanimously. There is no mandate for night work on the project, but because of congestion on the roadway, it is anticipated there will be work done at night, especially paving, excavation work at intersections, and utility crossings. The contractor will have a public relations specialist to inform the public about this. They will also notify city government and emergency services about the schedule and about any unforeseen circumstances. Mr. Condos noted there are no residences in this section of the highway. Mr. Smith moved to authorize the City Manager to send a letter to the State allowing night work on the project. Mr. Sheahan seconded. Motion passed unanimously. Continue interview process for city boards and commission: The Council interviewed Stacie Sears. Ms. Sears said she moved to Vermont a year and a half ago and just bought a house in South Burlington. She wants to get involved in the community. She has studied land use planning and worked with planning commissions in Canton, New York regarding responsible development. She said she would find the Design Review Committee most interesting. She is now with the Middlebury College Development Office. 7. Consideration of approval of bonding resolution for $1,900,000 for improvements to water system infrastructure and increased water distribution storage: Mr. Nadeau explained how a water tank works. He said the city has tanks because they don't want to keep pumps running all the time. He also explained what happens in an emergency situation. Mr. Hafter read the proposed resolution. Mr. Hafter recommended a 20 year bond and noted interest rates are at an all-time low. The goals of the improvements are to increase water pressure and to increase capacity for development. The cost can be split between those two goals. Mr. Hafter recommended 50% be paid by new development. Mr. Condos stressed there will be no property tax involved in this bond. Mr. Smith moved to approve the resolution and accompanying language as presented. Mr. Sheahan seconded. Motion passed unanimously. 8. Discussion with CCTA re: Charter amendment to permit expansion of service area beyond Chittenden county: Mr. Cole reviewed the history of CCTA and noted that only the original members have joined because of funding issues. Commuting patterns have changed with people coming into South Burlington and other member communities from outside the county. CCTA is the only entity in the state with a proscribed area of operation. Discussion has gone on with IBM regarding reducing traffic to their work site. CCTA has provided matches for car-pooling. In the past there has been talk of bus or train service from St. Albans to IBM. There is also interest in a commuter bus from Barre-Montpelier to South Burlington worksites. CCTA is seeking a Charter amendment to allow all of these possible routes. Funding would be from an 80-20 match. CCTA will utilize fares for this. It would require that buses be full. IBM people would be asked to sign up via subscription. Mr. Condos said he had no issues unless there was a cost to member communities. Mr. Cole said this could actually reduce their administrative costs. Mr. Cole said he was looking for a motion of City Council support. Mr. Sheahan moved the Council indicate its support of language for a proposed Charter amendment to the CCTA Charter. Mr. Smith seconded. Motion passed unanimously. 9. Consideration of capital equipment note for International dump truck: Mr. Hafter said the note is at 2.1% for a 5-year purchase. Funds are in the upcoming budget. Mr. Sheahan moved to approve the note and accompanying Resolution. Mr. O'Rourke seconded. Motion passed unanimously. 10. Appoint Town Service Officer: Mr. Hafter explained the position and said he was willing to serve again. Mr. Smith moved to appoint Mr. Hafter as Town Service Officer. Mr. Sheahan seconded. Motion passed unanimously. 11. Review Development Review Board agenda for 18 March 2003: No issues were raised. 12. Review minutes of 6 March 2003: The minutes could not be reviewed as there was not a majority present of attending members. 13. Consider applications for entertainment permits from the following: Franny O's, Inc., for live local bands; Windjammer Restaurant for live music; The Pour House for live music; Sheraton Vermont Corporation for live music: Mr. Hafter said the applications were all in order. Mr. Sheahan moved to approve the entertainment permits from Franny O's, Windjammer Restaurant, The Pour House, and Sheraton Vermont Corporation as presented. Mr. Smith seconded. Motion passed unanimously. 14. Liquor Control Board: Mr. Smith moved the Council adjourn and reconvene as Liquor Control Board. Mr. O'Rourke seconded. Motion passed unanimously. Consider first and second class liquor license applications from Applebee's Restaurant, Bourne's Service Center, Champlain Farms (2 locations on Williston Road), Clarion Hotel Conference Ctr, Franny O's, Hannaford Food & Drug on Dorset St., Hawthorne Suites Hotel, Klinger's Bread Company, MT Bellies Deli, Marco's Pizzeria, Net Result, Night Flight, Inc., Outback Steakhouse, Pauline's Restaurant, Peck's Mini Mart, Pour House, Sheraton Vermont Corp., SL UNO Burlington, Inc., Spillane's Servicenters, Windjammer Restaurant: Mr. Hafter said the applications were all in order. Mr. O'Rourke said he would recuse himself due to a conflict of interest with one of the applicants. Mr. Sheahan moved to approve the first and second class liquor licenses as presented. Mr. Smith seconded. Motion passed 3-0 with Mr. O'Rourke not voting. Mr. Sheahan moved the Board adjourn and reconvene as City Council. Mr. Smith seconded. Motion passed unanimously. 15. Sign disbursement orders: Disbursement orders were signed. 16. Executive Session: Mr. Sheahan moved the Council meet in executive session to discuss appointments to boards and commissions and a proposed condemnation and to resume regular session only for the purpose of making appointments and/or adjourning. Mr. Smith seconded. Motion passed unanimously. Regular Session: The City Council returned from executive session. Mr. Smith moved the following appointments and terms of office: Development Review Board Michele Kupersmith Term ending:2005 Design Review Board Michael O'Grady 2003 Design Review Board Stacie Sears 2005 Natural Resources Committee Elaine O'Grady 2005 Mr. O'Rourke seconded. The motion passed unanimously. Condemnation action: Mr. Sheahan excused himself from this item due to a potential conflict of interest. Mr. Smith moved that the City Council authorize the condemnation of the proposed strip of land between the two buildings on Midas Drive and offer the conveyance of a strip of land south of the office building as compensation for the taking. Mr. O'Rourke seconded. The motion passed 3-0 with Mr. Sheahan excused. Mr. O'Rourke moved adjournment. Mr. Smith seconded. The motion passed unanimously and the meeting adjourned at 10 p.m. Clerk Published by ClerkBase ©2019 by Clerkbase. No Claim to Original Government Works.