HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes - Open Space IZ Committee - 04/17/2019South Burlington Open Space Interim Zoning Commi ee April 17, 2019
The Open Space IZ Commi ee held a regular mee ng on Wednesday, April 17, 2019, at 7:00 pm, in the upstairsConference Room, City Hall, 575 Dorset Street .
Members present: Vince Bolduc, Meaghan Emery, Sophie Mazowita, Duncan Murdoch, Allan Strong, Sam Swanson, andTami Zylka. Also present: Paul Conner. Absent members: Alyson Chalnick, Bernie Gagnon, Amanda Holland, and Be yMilizia.
1. Direc ons on emergency evacua on procedures from conference room:
Allan called the mee ng to order and provided instruc ons on emergency evacua on of the building.
2. Addi ons, dele ons or changes in order of agenda items:
No changes were made.
3. Comments from the public not related to the agenda:
No members of the public were present. Paul Conner gave a report on the Planning Commission work to date andtheir work to iden fy primary and secondary natural resources.
4. Tes ng the framework using the CCRPC map and Biofinder:
Allan directed members to address the er 2 items for the first parcels assigned: Meaghan assigned a 50 to herparcel, for a total of 50 points; Sam assigned a 40 to his parcel, for a total of 90 points; Duncan assigned a 50 to hisparcel, for a total of 100 points; Sophie assigned a “generous” 40, for a total of 40 points; Vince assigned a 40 to hisparcel, for a total of 40; Tami assigned a 50, for a total of 50; Allan assigned a 50, for a total of 100 points. Membersnoted that these were all environmentally rich parcels and that bigger parcels are more likely to score higher.
5. Discussion of alignment between scoring criteria and available spa al data:
Allan asked whether parcels that are already protected by regula on should be included in our rankings and whetherwe should assume that regula ons will be strongly enforced and not prepare for poten al loopholes.
Members also considered the scoring guidelines of giving all or nothing when assigning points. Sam suggested thatwe include a category that cites the percentage of land that falls into a given category: 0-25-50-75-100%. Vince askedhow we might introduce some fine-tuning rather than assigning a 0 or 10 for a given category. We can also include adisclaimer that points are not indica ve of an absolute value but as a tool that has been used to dis nguish differentparcels from one another. Allan suggested that these finer scoring rubrics might undervalue a richly diverse parcel,environmentally speaking, that includes a li le of everything or many things. Paul responded that the fine-tuningmight allow for smaller, richly diverse parcels to score higher when compared to a larger parcel. Duncan alsosuggested the need for us to define more clearly grasslands, wildlife crossings, and riparian forests.
6. Integra on of Tier 3 criteria:
Vince recommended a short narra ve per parcel that would address the Tier 3 criteria. It was also suggested that afact sheet per parcel could be useful to planners. Sophie and Duncan suggested the inclusion of a map for each parcelalong with a list of poten al regulatory protec ons already exis ng for the parcel.
7. Finalizing the priori za on scheme:
For next me, Allan will a empt to add some fine-tuning to the rubric, provide more instruc ons, and assign fiveparcels that we all evaluate as homework. This would allow us to be er define our terms, such as grassland, riparianforest, and wildlife crossings (for proper es not next to the road).
8. Discussion: Next steps for engaging SB residents in open space conserva on priori es
Members discussed the final product they plan to provide to the Planning Commission and City Council. Theysuggested providing an overall picture of priori za on, with a top ten list of priori zed proper es, and an inventory ofparcels that the Commi ee studied. Tami suggested a poten al survey in order to gain public feedback beforeproducing this final list. Paul informed the commi ee of the City’s pilot Consensus program that would allow thecommunity to be surveyed. Members finally agreed to iden fy a given number of top parcels (a target number of 20)to bring before the public at a visioning mee ng(s) in order to iden fy how to priori ze this list and come up with atop 10 list (as a target number). Public could be made aware of the visioning mee ng(s) through the Other Paper,Front Porch Forum, and our own networks. The top 20 or so parcels could be accessed on the City’s website. At thismee ng, the public could help the Commi ee iden fy aesthe c natural features of which the Commi ee membersare not aware, priori ze parcels based on the community’s priori es: forests vs. wetlands, SEQ vs. other areas in theCity, etc.
9. Review and approval of Mee ng Minutes of March 20, 2019:
Sam moved to approve the minutes, Vince seconded. They were approved 6-1 (Tami abstained).
10. Adjourn:
The mee ng adjourned shortly a er 9pm. The next mee ng is on Tuesday, May 7 at 7pm, in City Hall.