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HomeMy WebLinkAboutAgenda - Planning Commission - 01/31/2023South Burlington Planning Commission 180 Market Street South Burlington, VT 05403 (802) 846-4106 www.southburlingtonvt.gov Special Meeting Tuesday, January 31, 2022 City Hall, 180 Market Street, Auditorium 7:00 pm Members of the public may attend in person or digitally via Zoom. Participation Options: In Person: City Hall Auditorium, 180 Market Street Interactive Online: https://us06web.zoom.us/j/84628086971 Phone: 1 929 205 6099; Meeting ID: 846 2808 6971 AGENDA: 1. Welcome, instructions on exiting the building in the event of an emergency (7:00 pm) 2. Agenda: Additions, deletions, or changes in order of agenda items (7:02 pm) 3. Open to the public for items not related to the agenda (7:03 pm) 4. Announcements and staff report (7:10 pm) 5. Discuss and possibly provide input on Vermont House Bill; H.68 and companion bill in Vermont Senate (7:15 pm) 6. Adjourn Respectfully submitted, Paul Conner, AICP Director of Planning & Zoning South Burlington Planning Commission Virtual Meeting Public Participation Guidelines 1. The Planning Commission Chair presents these guidelines for the public attending Planning Commission meetings to ensure that everyone has a chance to speak and that meetings proceed smoothly. 2. In general, keep your video off and microphone on mute. Commission members, staff, and visitors currently presenting / commenting will have their video on. 3. Initial discussion on an agenda item will generally be conducted by the Commission. As this is our opportunity to engage with the subject, we would like to hear from all commissioners first. After the Commission has discussed an item, the Chair will ask for public comment. 4. Please raise your hand identify yourself to be recognized to speak and the Chair will try to call on each participant in sequence. To identify yourself, turn on your video and raise your hand, if participating by phone you may unmute yourself and verbally state your interest in commenting, or type a message in the chat. 5. Once recognized by the Chair, please identify yourself to the Commission. 6. If the Commission suggests time limits, please respect them. Time limits will be used when they can aid in making sure everyone is heard and sufficient time is available for Commission to complete the agenda. 7. Please address the Chair. Please do not address other participants or staff or presenters and please do not interrupt others when they are speaking. 8. Make every effort not to repeat the points made by others. You may indicate that you support a similar viewpoint. Indications of support are most efficiently added to the chat. 9. The Chair will make reasonable efforts to allow all participants who are interested in speaking to speak once to allow other participants to address the Commission before addressing the Commission for a second time. 10. The Planning Commission desires to be as open and informal as possible within the construct that the Planning Commission meeting is an opportunity for commissioners to discuss, debate and decide upon policy matters. Regular Planning Commission meetings are not “town meetings”. A warned public hearing is a fuller opportunity to explore an issue, provide input and influence public opinion on the matter. 11. Comments may be submitted before, during or after the meeting to the Planning and Zoning Department. All written comments will be circulated to the Planning Commission and kept as part of the City Planner's official records of meetings. Comments must include your first and last name and a contact (e-mail, phone, address) to be included in the record. Email submissions are most efficient and should be addressed to the Director of Planning and Zoning at pconner@sburl.com and Chair at jlouisos@sburl.com. 12. The Chat message feature is new to the virtual meeting platform. The chat should only be used for items specifically related to the agenda item under discussion. The chat should not be used to private message Commissioners or staff on policy items, as this pulls people away from the main conversation underway. Messages on technical issues are welcome at any time. The Vice- Chair will monitor the chat and bring to the attention of Commissioners comments or questions relevant to the discussion. Chat messages will be part of the official meeting minutes. 13. In general discussions will follow the order presented in the agenda or as modified by the Commission. 14. The Chair, with assistance from staff, will give verbal cues as to where in the packet the discussion is currently focused to help guide participants. 15. The Commission will try to keep items within the suggested timing published on the agenda, although published timing is a guideline only. The Commission will make an effort to identify partway through a meeting if agenda items scheduled later in the meeting are likely not be covered and communicate with meeting participants any expected change in the extent of the agenda. There are times when meeting agendas include items at the end that will be covered “if time allows”. Considerations for H 68 Commissioners Chalnick & Mittag January 25, 2023 1 There are proposals in the Vermont House and Senate which could preempt some of South Burlington’s land development regulations. The purpose of this special meeting is to discuss these proposals and determine whether and how the planning commission and/or the City of South Burlington should provide input. The House Bill – H.68 - has been introduced. As of 1/25, the Senate bill has not yet been introduced, but a draft is here. Below, we highlight a few of the proposals that are contained in both bills that we think merit discussion: Proposed 24 VSA 4412(12) In any district served by municipal sewer and water infrastructure that allows residential development, bylaws shall establish lot and building dimensional and density standards that allow five or more dwelling units per acre for allowed residential uses, and no dimensional and density standard for multiunit dwellings shall be more restrictive than those required for single- family dwellings. Proposed 24 VSA 4412(1)(D) In any district that is served by municipal sewer and water infrastructure that allows residential development, multiunit dwellings with four or fewer units shall be an allowed use. Proposed 24 VSA 4412(13) In any district served by municipal sewer and water infrastructure that allows residential development, any mixed use developments and affordable housing developments, as defined in section 4303(2)of this title, may exceed building height limitations by one additional habitable floor beyond the maximum height and using that additional floor may exceed density limitations for residential developments by an additional 40 percent, provided that the structure complies with the Vermont Fire and Building Safety Code. Potential questions to discuss: • At a parcel view, what does it mean to be in a district served by sewer and water? What if the parcel is not along the road where the infrastructure exists? • Would the proposals, if enacted, impact the density limitations in natural resource protection zones? Would the proposals, if enacted, impact how Conservation PUDs are intended to work? • Would the proposals, if enacted, pre-empt the 1.8 unit/acre zoning for certain parcels in the SEQ. • What other possible impacts could there be? • Are there other provisions in the proposals that we should discuss/provide input on? Also worth discussing is H.606 - which would have required the state to have a plan to conserve 30 percent of its land and waters by 2030. This bill was passed by both the Vermont House and Senate in 2022, but vetoed by the Governor. Draft of possible statement from the planning commission (and/or the City Council) to the relevant House and Senate committees, for consideration: Considerations for H 68 Commissioners Chalnick & Mittag January 25, 2023 2 “The City of South Burlington has significant concerns about proposed House bill H.68 (and a companion Senate proposal) that would preempt local land development regulations. In South Burlington, we have a carefully considered zoning scheme to balance the imperative to protect natural resources against the need to ensure sufficient housing stock. In particular, we recently concluded an intensive three-year period of interim zoning where we heard the views of many concerned citizens and which resulted in significant changes to our zoning regulations. In some cases, the new regulations promote more density, in others more natural resource protection. By tying into decisions around water and sewer service made decades ago in a different time, the new proposals undermine critical natural resource protections that South Burlington believes are vital in light of our climate and biodiversity crises and would conflict with the climate change adaptation, resilience measures and biodiversity goals contained in South Burlington’s Climate Action Plan. It is highly objectionable for the careful balance struck by South Burlington to be overturned by a blunt state-wide instrument. The proposals also seem to ignore the questions of capacity and local concerns around expansion of schools, additional upkeep in roads and other additional city services. South Burlington strongly supports doing more to address the lack of affordable housing. In fact, our zoning incorporates an inclusionary zoning ordinance which has mandatory requirements and incentives for affordable housing and South Burlington has made, and will continue to make, significant investments in affordable housing, including recent significant investments in our City Center. These investments have been made using environmentally sound principles, and future investments need to similarly be made through well-planned infill and with zoning regulations that promote denser housing development along transit routes, in our city center and neighborhood developments areas, as well as by revitalizing, redeveloping and repurposing under-utilized commercial space and empty parking lots. We do not believe that developing large “green fields” – as the proposals seem to promote - will address the issues of affordable housing that the State is facing, but the proposals will exacerbate our environmental crises. We would also strongly encourage the State to adopt stronger measures to protect our precious natural resources and would urge that any housing proposal be paired with increased natural resource protection, for example the provisions contained in H.606, which would have required the State to have a plan to conserve 30 percent of its land and waters by 2030.”