HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes - Natural Resources Committee - 12/04/2013South Burlington Natural Resources Committee
575 Dorset Street
South Burlington, VT 05403
(802) 846-4106
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Wednesday, December 4, 2013
6:15pm
South Burlington Municipal Offices, 575 Dorset Street
MEETING MINUTES for Regular Bi‐Monthly Meeting
Present: Laurel Williams (Interim NRC/OSC Chair), 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), Sharon Murray
(OSC Consultant ‐ Front Porch Community Planning & Design), Sophie Mazowita (UVM
Graduate), Evelina Nikolií (UVM Undergraduate), Ryan Maher (UVM Undergraduate), Jack
Markoski (UVM Undergraduate)
OPEN SPACE COMMITTEE
Meeting called to order at 6:21pm.
11/6/2013 Minutes: Williams moved to approve the 11/6/2013 minutes. Kochman seconded
the motion, and the motion passed.
Open Space Committee Presentation to Planning Commission on 11/12/2013: Kochman
moved to approve the slides that Laurel presented at the Planning Commission meeting on
11/12/2013 as representative of the opinion of the Open Space Committee as a whole. Dopp
seconded. The motion passed. Michaels noted that it might be beneficial to have a more
proactive relationship with the Form Based Code Committee in the hope of improving their
awareness of our efforts and keeping them updated with our current direction.
Draft Form Based Code Public Input Meetings: Williams asked that committee members make
an effort to attend one of the three public input meetings coming up in the next week.
Park Stewards Network: Mazowita is interested in establishing a Park Stewards Network to
help maintain and/or improve South Burlington parks and recruited three undergraduate
students to run a pilot stewardship program at Red Rocks Park. Six volunteers showed up at the
pilot event on Saturday, November 23rd and performed a number of maintenance projects.
There was also an outreach table setup at the entrance to the park and a number of people
stopped by to find out more about the initiative. The students felt that despite the
disappointing turnout (mostly due to the cold weather), events such as this have the potential
to have significant impact on South Burlington parks and recommend that a Park Stewards
Network be established and sustained either as an committee established by the city, or as an
independent volunteer organization. Mazowita will try to recruit another set of undergraduates
for next semester.
The committee generally thought the Park Stewards Network was a great idea. It was suggested
that Wheeler Park might be more in need of maintenance than Red Rocks Park and would be a
good location for next year’s event. The committee provided feedback on the Network’s efforts
and some potential partner organizations. Finally, the committee thanked Mazowita and the
students for their efforts, and encouraged them to continue the work. A report written by the
students as part of their course will be distributed to the committee when it is finished.
Red Rocks Master Plan Subcommittee: Mazowita has been asked to recruit a subcommittee
with expertise in the management of natural resources to create a Red Rocks Master Plan and
asked the Committee if they had any recommendations for subcommittee members. The
Committee stressed that the public should have significant input to the process of creating the
Master Plan and will reach out to those that helped write the Wheeler Park Management Plan
to see if they could provide input to the Red Rocks Master Plan.
Private Open Space Standards for City Standards: The Planning Commission has acknowledged
that there is currently a gap in standards for private open space and has requested
recommendations for these standards. During discussion, the following points were made by
various members of the committee:
The current 5% requirement for every private parcel is not appropriate for the city
center. The requirement should at the least, be based on broader geography (per block
/ neighborhood) or changed completely to more appropriately represent the broader
vision for the neighborhood.
The contribution (i.e. land, money, other resources) to the open space requirement
should be distributed proportionately among all private land owners.
Most privately contributed open space should be easily accessible to the public.
Should the new open space requirement be based on incentives, requirements, or a
mixture of both?
More time is needed to collaborate with the Form Based Code Committee to generate
truly thoughtful recommendations.
Williams moved that any recommendations made about private open space would be
predicated on the formal acceptance of the current public open space recommendations for
the City Center (i.e. Dumont Park, the Tributary 3 Greenway, and the public green / square),
and more time is required to effectively collaborate with the Form‐Based Code Committee on
Private Open Space Standards. Milizia seconded, and the motion passed.
Murray will work collaboratively with Paul Dreher to draft some potential private open space
standards based on the discussion within the Open Space and Form Based Codes Committees.
Next Meeting: The next regular meeting of the Natural Resources Committee / Open Space
Committee will be Wednesday, January 8th at 6:15pm.
Meeting adjourned at 8:23pm.
Respectfully submitted,
Patrick Clemins