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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes - City Council - 10/01/2007CITY COUNCIL 1 OCTOBER 2007 The South Burlington City Council held a regular meeting on Monday, 1 October 2007, at 7:00 p.m., in the Conference Room, City Hall, 575 Dorset St. Members Present: C. Smith, Chair; S. Dooley, D. O'Rourke, M. Boucher, S. Magowan Also Present: C. Hafter, City Manager; D. Gravelin, Assistant City Manager; J. B. Hinds, Director of Planning & Zoning; D. Kinville, City Clerk; L. Kingsbury, L. Ravin. UVM; E. Mahnke, A. Clift, H. McAndrew, W. Luisos, J. Wood, M. Munson 1. Comments & Questions from the Audience not Related to Agenda Items: No issues were raised. 2. Announcements & City Manager's Report: Ms. Dooley: Attended a meeting of the Vermont Land Trust at which students from Vermont Common School did a presentation regarding the history of South Burlington. They are looking for resources. Mr. O'Rourke: Police Station Committee meeting Wednesday, 7 p.m. and subsequent meeting next week. Mr. Hafter: City Charter Review Committee, Wednesday, 6:30 p.m. 11 October Town Fair. Mr. Hafter will attend with several staff members. Council members are invited to attend as well. 3 October: Mr. Hafter and Tom Hubbard will attend a meeting with Retrovest regarding their proposal about playing fields. 15 October City Council Meeting: will include a presentation of the Dorset Street Corridor Study. 3. Discussion with UVM Planning Services Regarding Zoning of University Land on Patchen Road: Ms. Ravin noted that UVM will be asking the city to rezone the portion of their land on Patchen land from Parks & Recreation to allow for faculty/staff housing. This is in response to the need for housing in the area. UVM would still have to go through all of the regulatory process. The land in question is not part of the Natural Area and the proposed project will not impact that Natural Area. Mr. Hafter stressed that tonight's presentation is just for information purposes, and no decisions will be made at this meeting. Ms. Ravin added that there will be many studies done to determine whether this is a feasible site for housing. She showed the area on an aerial plan and indicated the 66-acre Centennial Woods Natural Area and the various zoning districts. Ms. Ravin indicated that the proposed site began as a sand pit and was leased to South Burlington in the early 70's for park/recreation use. 5-year leases have been renewed since that time. The current use as a "dog park" was not an approved use under the agreement though it has been happening for a number of years. There is a concern that unleashed dogs are contributing to negative impacts on the Natural Area. Ms. Ravin noted that in the UVM Master Plan, this site is designated appropriate for faculty/staff housing. She added that all the UVM land around this site is zoned as IA North, and that could be the request for this site. It is UVM's hope that community space could be included in a residential project and might include office/conference room space, a community garden, etc. UVM also has a policy that buildings must be LEAD certified or an equivalent, and there is a new LEAD category for "neighborhood development." Ms. Ravin then showed an artist's concept for the site indicating buffers, etc. At present, the IA-North zoning does not allow family housing. UVM will ask for zoning to allow University Affordable Housing as a conditional use. UVM anticipates 50-60 residential units of various kinds with amenities, buffers, walking paths, etc. There would be 2 parking spaces per unit. The site would be 8-8-.5 acres including buffers. Ms. Dooley asked whether any existing faculty/student housing would be discontinued. Ms. Ravin said it would not. Mr. Hafter said the City appreciates the many years the property has been leased for recreational use. He stressed that there is nothing in the lease that precludes a "dog park" use. He read from the current lease the terms of the agreement. Ms. Hinds noted that the Planning Commission heard a presentation from UVM last week and will have a formal agenda item on the proposal on 23 October. There will probably be public hearings in November following which any decision by the Planning Commission would come to the City Council, probably in January. Plans will also be sent to the Planning Offices in Burlington and Winooski for comment. Mr. Luisos said that the letter from Rick Paradis regarding the conserved land says the land in question does not abut the Natural Area even though there are signs for the Natural Area on the property. Ms. Ravin said the signs are there because you can't actually see the start of the woods from the ground. Ms. McAndrew questioned the impact of traffic on Patchen Road. Ms. Ravin said any Feasibility study would have to include a traffic impact study. She added that adding to the current population mass might make public transportation a possibility. Ms. Kingsbury added that UVM is surveying faculty and staff, and one of the questions is how people would travel to work. Mr. O'Rourke noted that any public transit would have to be approved by the City as the City pays on a per-mile basis. Mr. Wood felt the history of Centennial Woods is relevant. It was set up in 1881 as a 210-acre site for student use and research. Centennial Field was building before World War 2, and there was also a ski jump in the area. Then in the 1950's, 5 settling ponds were built and a Natural Area of 66 acres was cut out. A student commuter parking lot was subsequently leased by UVM to the Sheraton. The current rugby field is also part of the original Centennial Woods. Mr. Wood was not sure the proposed residential use is compatible with the original use. Mr. Mahnke added to the history by noted that 20 years ago the 66-acre Natural Area was established by an agreement between UVM and the City of Burlington. Easements are dedicated in perpetuity to the Land Trust. At that time, there had been interest in making the Natural Area even larger. Mr. Mahnke stressed the need to keep the "core" Natural Area from shrinking. He said he is a strong advocate for affordable housing, and cited UVM's Centennial Court as a great example of this. He asked that if UVM goes ahead with this proposal that they consider adding to the 66 acres of preserved land as part of the process. Ms. Hinds noted that South Burlington has not chosen to put too much of a zoning framework on UVM property. There are simply designations of IA-North and IA-South. The "Parks & Recreation" zoning of this piece is a "fluke," and it is the only land in the City that is not City-owned that is so designated. She stressed that South Burlington has not done "natural areas" planning for UVM. Ms. Ravin said the Campus Master Plan, which involved 40 public meetings, has addressed this issue. The area is currently designated as "unassigned land bank for building." 4. Discussion of Future Operation of a "Dog Park"; appointment of an "ad hoc" committee to study same: Mr. Hafter reviewed the "dog park" use that has existed for a number of years. He noted that the fencing is not in good shape and there is no source of water. He also said the city has a need for such a facility and suggested forming an ad hoc committee to find a suitable site. The committee would also consider whether this would be a public or private operation, possible funding sources, location, etc. He suggested the Recreation Department oversee this activity and bring potential committee members to the City Council. There should also be a written charge. 5. Consideration of Credit Cards and Electronic Checks for Payment of City Services: Ms. Kinville said she is recommending the use of credit cards and similar electronic payment methods for City services to bring City Hall into the "modern age." The principal issue is who would pay the fees for these services. Ms. Kinville indicated they went to bid with about 10 credit card companies and got 5 or 6 responses. They finally decided on "Municipal Payments." This system would also allow people to access RecTrac from home and make payments that way. The City would get a record every day of the activities of the previous day. Information can be uploaded to the website as well. The fee would be a flat 2.8% which would include Visa and Master Card charges. The City could also tell the company when to apply interest and penalty charges where there are delinquencies involved. The fee for this service would be charged directly to the resident. Mr. Boucher suggested there be something that stresses that it is the credit card company that is imposing the fee, not the City, and that the City neither loses nor gains anything from this arrangement. Ms. Kinville asked the Council to authorize the City Manager to sign the contract. Mr. Magowan said he would like to see the contract first. It was agreed to put the item on the 15 October agenda. 6. Continue Discussion of Proposed Impact Fees; final revisions: Mr. Munson reviewed the remaining issues including discussion regarding the possibility of the outdoor swimming pool; waiving of 25% for affordable housing, discussion of road projects and allocation to local traffic. He noted that an arithmetic error in the Fire Impact Fees was corrected. The fee for a single family home would now be $286.72 and for a multi-family unit $180.87. The 9-acre Dumont Park was added to Recreation fees, which increased those fees by 3% so that the fee for a single family home would be $1913.75 and for a multi-family unit would be $1436.11. Exit 12b was deleted under Road impact fees as was the connector to Marshall Avenue. This resulted in a reduction of 20% to the p.m. peak hour traffic. A single family residence fee would now be $812 and a multi-family unit fee would be $545. The non-residential road impact fee was reduced 17-20% as well. Mr. Munson then reviewed the changes in allocation to local traffic, including possible combinations of projects. Mr. Hafter read a letter from the City Attorney indicating his opinion that the City does not have to identify specific projects. Mr. Munson said he had always thought there had to be specific projects identified and that every project had to expand capacity. Members agreed not to include 12B, but to include the Marshall Avenue connection. Members also agreed to remove the swimming pool, as it was not likely to be built in the next 12 years. With regard to an affordable housing waiver, Mr. Munson noted the language would allow the City to waive some or all on a case-by-case basis. Mr. Magowan felt there should be no waiver. 7. Consideration of Approval of Amendment #2 to Cooperative Agreement with State of Vermont for STP520(17), Market Street: Mr. Hafter said the state is releasing $600,000 for preliminary engineering. Mr. Magowan moved to authorize the signing of the agreement as presented. Ms. Dooley seconded. Motion passed unanimously. 8. Review Agenda for Development Review Board Meeting of 2 October 2007: Mr. Hafter noted there is an issue with Item #18 on the Agenda as to whether there would be a sidewalk or rec. path to be built around the perimeter of Community Drive. Staff recommends a 5-foot concrete sidewalk and the Rec. Path Committee wants an 8-foot asphalt strip. Staff is proposing that the portion of the path between the Tilley and Kimball Ave. paths is a "rec. path," and the remainder is a 5-foot concrete sidewalk. No other issues were raised. 9. Review Agenda for Planning Commission Meeting of 2 October 2007: No issues were raised. 10. Review and Approve Minutes of Meeting Held on 17 September 2007: Mr. Boucher moved to approve the Minutes of 17 September as written. Mr. O'Rourke seconded. Motion passed unanimously. 11. Sign Disbursement Orders: Disbursement Orders were signed. 12. Liquor Control Board: Mr. Magowan moved the Council adjourn and reconvene as Liquor Control Board. Ms. Dooley seconded. Motion passed unanimously. Mr. Hafter presented liquor license requests from the new stockholders of Applebee's at University Mall and the new owners of Pauline's Restaurant on Shelburne Road. He said the applications were both in order. Mr. Magowan moved to approve the Liquor Licenses for Applebee's and Pauline's Café and Applebee's as presented. Mr. O'Rourke seconded. Motion passed unanimously. As there was no further business to come before the Council, the meeting was adjourned at 8:55 p.m. Clerk Published by ClerkBase ©2019 by Clerkbase. No Claim to Original Government Works.