HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes - Sustainable Agriculture Subcommittee - 06/02/2015SOUTH BURLINGTON
SUSTAINABLE AGRICULTURE SUBCOMMITTEE OF THE PLANNING COMMISSION
MEETING MINUTES
2 JUNE 2015
1
The Sustainable Agriculture Subcommittee of the Planning Commission held a regular meeting on
2 June 2015 at 7:00pm at Healthy Living Upstairs Conference Room, 222 Dorset Street
Present: Rosanne Greco, Sarah Dopp, Kindle Loomis, Will Raap, Bronwyn Dunne, Betty Goldberg,
Sophie Quest. Visitor: Tom Chittenden
AGENDA:
1. Agenda: Additions, deletions or changes in order of agenda items.
None
2. Open to the public for items not related to the agenda.
None
3. SusAg committee member announcements:
Kindle reported on the Common Roots presentation of their proposal to the City Council for a
test student farm on the Underwood Property. The counselors approved the creation of an
MOU, which they will vote upon on June 15. This farm will be supported financially by the
South Burlington Land Trust. Common Roots is “tremendously grateful” for this gift. Both
farming education and forest ecosystem education will be taking place on the Underwood
Property this summer if the proposal is approved.
4. Update on the UVM student work on the Underwood Property (Allan).
Allan was not present to give this update.
5. Update on website development (Bronwyn).
Natalie Loveless is ill at the moment, but she is looking forward to helping Sus/Ag develop a
website.
6. Update/discussion on Growing Connections (Rosanne).
One garden match is already happening on Four Sisters Drive. Other landowners are interested
in volunteering their land. Sarah and Rosanne will be contacting them.
Will Raap talked of the “shareable economy” a concept that is spreading throughout the
civilized world. One example is “airB&Bs”. Basically a person with some asset is sharing with
other people, perhaps for money or for trade or for good will. People sharing garden space are
shifting to producing food for the community, not just for themselves.
7. Report on “No Mow Lawns” education forum (Sophie & Rosanne).
This item to be discussed at the next meeting.
8. Discussion of future SusAg tasks.
Tom Chittenden, a new City Councilor, came to find out more about Sus/Ag and to give his
opinion of what should happen to it in the future. He wanted to know what “urban agriculture”
is and how it relates to large farming operations and what exactly Sus/Ag wants to do in the
future.
2
Will Raap gave a long explanatory talk of the entire contemporary agriculture arena, Food and
Agriculture being an important subset of economic development. The Vermont Farm to Plate
systems strategy has produced more food, less food insecurity and 4000 jobs. Access to good
nutritional food for all is part of a sustainable future. We need to reframe economic
development so that it includes food and agriculture at a local level. We need to be creative
with new mindsets to become part of the solution to a world with little or no oil available for
transportation of food.
South Burlington, itself, is a suburban economy trying to find its niche in society. Chittenden
believes that it should continue to increase high growth and be covered with houses, hoping
that neighboring cities will grow the necessary food. Raap believes that good agricultural land
must be preserved by regulations, just as we have learned to protect wetlands. Greco talked of
a future of climate disruption and what she had learned as a military professional about
necessary understanding and planning for a future very different from the conveniences of the
present economic society.
A hope was expressed that smart planners will respond to what people ask for and that the
public would learn to develop a new set of values in order to be resilient in a changing climate.
Raap asked how the work of the Interim Zoning committees could be best incorporated into a
South Burlington policy framework. We need to know what the next phase of South
Burlington's work will look like.
9. Other business:
Chittenden spoke directly to the 18 tasks that the City Council asked Sus/Ag to work on. 6 of
them are directly related to Planning Commission work. He said that the City Council should be
the direct overseer of Sus/Ag in the remaining, long term tasks. He said that the Council would
decide who were the appropriate members of such a newly constituted group and that he
definitely would not allow several members participating in this meeting to be part of a new
City Council Sustainable Agriculture committee.
10. Suggest next agenda topics.
No time for this item.
11. Approval of minutes from May 5, 2015.
No time for this item.
12.12.12.12. Adjourn
13.13.13.13. Bushel Basket Topics:
o Development of SusAg Website & Facebook; Raising funds for projects; Farming projects in
SB technology parks; Composting plans; Education classes on solid waste initiatives; City
Food Hubs initiative; City Maple sugaring initiative; Edible Landscaping initiative
Respectfully submitted from trees on the edge of Lake Champlain, sun shiningl
Sophie Quest
Clerk