HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes - Natural Resources Committee - 03/19/2014South Burlington Natural Resources Committee
575 Dorset Street
South Burlington, VT 05403
(802) 846-4106
www.sburl.com
Wednesday, March 19, 2014
6:15pm
South Burlington Municipal Offices, 575 Dorset Street
MEETING MINUTES for Regular Bi-Monthly Meeting
Present: Patrick Clemins (NRC/OSC Clerk), Russell Agne (NRC/OSC Member), Jeff Dickson
(NRC/OSC Member), Larry Michaels (NRC/OSC Member), Cathyann LaRose (NRC/OSC Staff
Liaison - SB City Planner), Sarah Dopp (OSC Member - SB Land Trust), Jennifer Kochman (OSC
Member - Rec and Leisure Arts Cmte)
OPEN SPACE COMMITTEE
Meeting called to order at 6:21pm.
1/29/2014 and 2/12/2014 Minutes: Approval of past meeting minutes was tabled to the next
meeting due to lack of quorum.
New Regular Meeting Date: With the transition back to Natural Resource Committee business,
and renewed interest in participation from Peter Jones, the committee revisited the
Wednesday, 6:15pm regular meeting schedule which was chosen largely to fit our OSC
consultant’s schedule. Generally, people like the earlier time, but wanted to wait for more
members to pick a date. However, Thursdays were popular among the NRC members present.
Planning Commission Form Based Codes Draft Progress and Expectations: A roundtable of
experts will be convened on Tuesday, March 25th at 7:00pm as part of the regular Planning
Commission meeting to talk about economic impacts of current draft of code.
Private open space standards were discussed last week and a proposal was developed by city
staff. LaRose distributed the proposal and noted that it’s posted online for review under the
Planning Commission agenda for 3/11/2014 - http://goo.gl/Dm1I04. LaRose urged the
committee to look over this proposal and contact her with comments or concerns.
Dopp noted that in her visits to the Planning Commission meetings, she got the impression that
public attendees do not talk about open space in the City Center outside the proposed central
green and suggested that the Committee work to change this perception.
Crowdsourcing Invite: Clemins will send out a reminder email tomorrow requesting ideas for
interventions for the management of Lake Champlain. To participate, browse to
http://css2cc.org.
Related to this theme, LaRose mentioned the upcoming New England Planners Conference in
Stowe in September which is focusing on city planning in the face of climate change.
Reimbursement is available for committee members that would like to attend.
End of Interim Zoning: Interim Zoning was scheduled expire at the end of February and the
Council decided not to approve the optional extension. Thus, funds for Interim Zoning activities
must be expended by the end of June and City Council no longer will review development
proposals. The goal is to have an adopted Form Based Code for City Center by July.
Michaels noted that many current developments are already integrating some of the proposed
Form Based Codes and ideas that have emerged from Interim Zoning Committee discussions
into their plans.
LaRose suggested that committee members show support for proposals before the
Development Review Board (DRB) that they like in addition to sounding concerns so that the
DRB can get a sense for what the public would like to see in development proposals.
Staff and Liaison Reports: Kochman gave a summary of a discussion they had at their
Recreation and Leisure Arts Committee meeting last week which highlighted the importance of
specificity in LDRs. As a result of that discussion, they intend to draft a regulation that requires
a certain percentage of the park space required in a development to be active recreation.
Dopp distributed some thoughts on what constitutes a scenic view to the committee as part of
her work on the scenic view working group.
LaRose distributed the draft Composite Open Space draft map to the committee. Comments
should be sent directly to Sharon Murray. LaRose will distribute some other updated draft maps
via email.
Action Items for Committee:
Provide feedback to Cathyann on City Center Open Space Planning Tools memo to the
Planning Commission.
Provide feedback to Sharon on Composite Open Space Map draft and additional draft
maps arriving via email from Cathyann in the next week or so.
Next Meetings: The next few regular meetings of the Natural Resources Committee / Open
Space Committee will be:
Wednesday, Apr 2nd at 6:15pm – Murray delivers OSC Report draft to Committee
Wednesday, Apr 16th at 6:00pm – Public Comment Meeting, possibly at the Wheeler
House
Wednesday, Apr 23nd at 6:15pm – Finalize OSC Report
May ??? at 6:15pm – Review of Revised Form-Based Code Draft from Planning
Commission (Red-lined draft is scheduled for approximately May 1)
Wednesday, May 7th at 6:15pm – NRC Planning Meeting (Priorities and Committee
Structure)
Meeting adjourned at 8:00pm.
Respectfully submitted,
Patrick Clemins