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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes - Open Space IZ Committee - 07/02/2019South Burlington Open Space Interim Zoning Committee July 2, 2019 The Open Space IZ Committee held a regular meeting on Tusday, July 2, 2019, at 7:00 pm, in the upstairs conference room, City Hall, 575 Dorset Street . Members present: Vince Bolduc, Alyson Chalnick, Meaghan Emery, Bernie Gagnon, Amanda Holland, Duncan Murdoch, Allan Strong, Sam Swanson, and Tami Zylka. Also present: Jennifer Morway and Leo Nadeau. Absent members: Sophie Mazowita and Betty Milizia. 1. Directions on emergency evacuation procedures from conference room: Allan called the meeting to order and provided instructions on emergency evacuation of the building. 2. Additions, deletions or changes in order of agenda items: No changes were made. 3. Comments from the public not related to the agenda: No comments were made. 4. Summary of public comments received at public forums: Allan recapped the two public forums. Vince reported that there were 22 people at the June 22 public forum, including three committee members. Allan was pleased by the quality of the comments. He shared that members of the public expressed some concern about the impact of potential changes on their land and that it was important for the Committee to reiterate its charge. He also felt that Vince’s explanation of the value of the Committee’s report was well received. Vince noted a thread about development in the public comments and expressed his opinion that the impact of development on climate change cannot be not locally controlled but is rather dependent on overpopulation generally, no matter where people settle. Meaghan expressed the opposite view that development type and density do have an impact on temperature, as seen in cities. Vince then clarified that climate change is not something the Committee has been charged with considering. 5. Review of 1731 Hinesburg Rd: Allan directed Meaghan to provide background to this property and the review process the Committee has been tasked with. Meaghan explained that it was a fifteen-acre section of a parcel purchased by the City and other investors as part of the Auclair sale. The property belongs to Jennifer Morway, who explained that her property appears in the 2002 Open Space Strategy as a priority but that when she reviewed her 15-acre property using the matrix prepared by the Committee, her review showed no wildlife, no water, nor forest resources. Meaghan explained that this strategy plays a small role in our overall assessment of parcels with regard to Tier 1 criteria. If parcels do not score high in Tier 2 criteria, they will not appear among the Committee’s top priority list. Allan shared that his review of the parcels showed that the larger parcel originally owned by the Auclair family does not score high on the Committee’s matrix. Ms. Morway questioned whether this report was outdated and whether it should be pulled from Tier 1 criteria (discussed subsequently). Allan stated that the Committee would view Ms. Morway’s property separately from the rest of the parcel, and Tami suggested that the Committee include a footnote in its final report. Allan let Ms. Morway know that Committee members would review her property and report back in public session. 6. Progress update on parcel rankings: Allan reported that he received word from Paul Conner that the PARCELNUM should be used rather than OBJECTID in the parcel descriptions. He requested that members send him a corrected spreadsheet by Monday, July 8, replacing OBJECTID with PARCELNUM, as indicated on the CCRPC map. That way, he can confirm that the Committee has reviewed all the parcels in the City of 4 or more acres and less than 10% impervious cover. Allan would like members to review conserved parcels in addition to unconserved parcels since some forms of conservation are not into perpetuity. He expressed the desire that the Committee’s final report include an explanation of how conserved parcels were conserved. Allan also reported that Paul Conner added some of the BioFinder layers for wildlife habitat: “BioFinder Landscape Scale Overall Priority.” Allan compared this layer to the “Prioritization” layers of “Surface Waters and Riparian Areas,” “Highest Priority Interior Forest Blocks,” and “Priority Interior Forest Blocks.” Members questioned whether these criteria should be in Tier 1 or Tier 2. Amanda suggested that they be moved from Tier 2 to Tier 1, and Sam argued the value of doubling the score by including them in both Tier 1 and Tier 2 since these are the priorities. Doubling would allow for these features to be singled out. Amanda agreed, and Bernie stated that the consequences of doubling could be assessed if needed. Member noted that Duncan’s map shows our interior forest blocks more clearly. Duncan then explained how he traced the land in South Burlington that is not forested in order to see opportunities for connectivity. Combined with river corridors, this would indicate how wildlife connectivity would look. The four layers Duncan encouraged members to use for Tier 1 criteria are riparian corridors, BioFinder Landscape Scale Overall Priority, forests (Duncan’s map), and open space (Duncan’s map of grasslands). Allan explained how he tried to see how this might look for grasslands, which is a challenge with the BioFinder layers. Leo Nadeau asked whether the Committee was considering whether open land parcels were being hayed or not, which has an impact on wildlife. Allan responded that Jens Hilke shared that this changes from year to year, and Ms. Morway gave an example by stating that there is less cutting in wetter seasons. Duncan explained that the Committee is looking at potential linkages, regardless of current farming practices. Ms. Morway suggested that Jens Hilke’s expertise would be useful in this analysis. Allan reminded the Committee that the Committee’s charge was really Tier 2 and that Tier 1 criteria could be referred to in the notes of the final report. Bernie described the Planning Commission’s work on the larger question of connectivity through a subcommittee (Bernie and Allan are on the subcommittee). The subcommittee will be interested in seeing the rankings that are issued by the IZ Open Space Committee before moving ahead to conclusions. Allan recommended that the IZ Open Space Committee continue with its work, knowing that another committee will be considering connectivity. Meaghan suggested that Tier 1 criteria could be used as an internal tool for the Committee in order to identify groups of parcels for prioritized conservation. Allan directed the Committee members, in addition to replacing OBJECTID with PARCELNUM, to review their data using only Duncan’s layers for shrubs and forests criteria in Tier 2 grasslands and forest large blocks -- and not using BioFinder’s data. Duncan’s maps can also be considered along with the BioFinder Landscape Scale Overall Priority layer (now available on the CCRPC map) for connectivity under Tier 1. Mr. Nadeau asked Duncan if he had taken into account development that has been approved. Both Duncan and Amanda answered in the negative, Duncan stating that it was “sight-based” and Amanda explaining that the report would be a “snapshot in time.” 7. Final report: outline and task distribution: Because of members’ vacation plans, Allan and members agreed on Tuesday, July 23 as the next meeting date. Vince and Allan will prepare an outline of the final report, which Allan will send out. Allan raised Vince’s narratives, which he had sent out, to be used a model, and Tami suggested that parcel descriptions include the Parcel Number, the address, and the acreage. Vince asked how the parcels should be organized within the report (in addition to the descriptions and the caveats), and Meaghan suggested a city map showing the recommended prioritized parcels with a key, showing the four quadrants of the city. The parcels would then appear in four different sections, one for each quadrant, from top prioritization ranking down. 8. Review and approval Meeting Minutes: June 19, 2019: Since the minutes had not been sent out prior, the Committee agreed to review the minutes at the next regular meeting. 9. Adjourn: The meeting adjourned shortly after 9pm. The next meeting is on Tuesday, July 23 at 7pm, in City Hall.