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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes - Chamberlin Neighborhood Airport Planning Committee - 05/27/20151 South Burlington Chamberlin Neighborhood Airport Area Transportation-Land Use Study Community Meeting #1 Meeting Notes DATE: Wednesday, May 27, 2015 TIME: 6:30-9:00 PM PLACE: Chamberlin School, White Street, South Burlington PRESENT: Please see end of document Paul Conner, Director of Planning & Zoning for South Burlington, welcomed everyone and provided a brief overview of the Chamberlin Neighborhood Airport Area Transportation-Land Use Study. A presentation was made by Bob Chamberlin of RSG, Carole Schlessinger and Skip Smallridge of Crosby | Schlessinger | Smallridge, and Gene Richards of the Burlington International Airport. The presentation highlighted the study’s goals and objectives, existing and future land use, zoning, historic resources, development patterns, transportation facilities, and the airport’s vision. The presentation also included discussion of the study process, outreach, and schedule. The presentation is available at: http://www.ccrpcvt.org/transportation/corridors/chamberlin/public/ After the presentation, participants worked in small groups to answer the following questions: 1. What Are Your Positive Visions for Your Neighborhood? 2. What’s In & Around Our Neighborhood: What types of uses and amenities would you like to see in your neighborhood? 3. Urban Form: Physical Character & Landmarks: What are sightlines, landmarks, architectural characteristics, streetscape characteristics that are important to protect and/or create? 4. Mobility In and Around the Neighborhood: How can we be sure everyone can get where they want and need to go safely using all modes of transportation? 5. Airport Master Plan: Are there elements of the Airport’s Master Plan that can benefit the Chamberlin neighborhood? Are there elements that are missing, that you’d like to see? What are the best ways for the neighborhood to interface with the Airport? Facilitator: Corey Mack 1. Positive Visions for Your Neighborhood: Affordability, good schools!, neighborhood, like to watch aircraft. 2. What’s In/Around Our Neighborhood: Open space, dog park! (limited lease?). What to do with the houses that are bought out? Pocket park? 3. Urban Form: Stores in walking distance or other services, streetscape, sidewalks/bike lanes (judiciously, not necessarily all roads). Civic space for public use to enhance the culture, repurpose the school? Something to block backyards (screening) as homes come down – fencing, flowering shrubs like Burlington waterfront. It would be nice to remove airport traffic from neighborhoods. Traffic pressures from Essex Junction (Lime Kiln Road) and Williston. Appreciation of the small neighborhood feel, but recognize the development pressures that come with change and airport expansion. 4. Mobility: Keep busses in our neighborhood – maybe smaller? Bike lanes, bikepaths, sidewalks, not necessarily on all roads, but on the more busy roads. Pedestrian connections between streets that are otherwise cut off. 2 5. Airport Master Plan: Interesting opportunity with planned hotel and off ramp (14N). Would work well with rezoning or form-based code along corridors. It doesn’t have to be big/ugly /industrial, could be integrated and provide services to airport visitors (hotel, restaurant, etc.). What about 12B? When the houses come down, what happens to the noise; will it travel further? Street lights, particularly where houses are being removed. Reduce through traffic and speed. Lines on main roads with bike lanes, narrow lanes to slow traffic. “Gateway” neighborhood within neighborhood and maintain identity. What We Don’t Want to See: Nightclub, something incompatible with our neighborhood. Is BJ’s moving in near Williston Road? What We Do Want: Multi-use civic space, network of paths through/near open space. Key Issues: Traffic. Reduce cut-through traffic volume and speed; provide more opportunity for bus/walk/bike. Make the neighborhood less conducive to through travel. Facilitator: Skip Smallridge • When F-35 comes will homes still be in residential zoning or will noise zone eliminate more homes? No rezoning no more loss of homes. • Widen Airport Drive – multi-lanes both ways, trees and wide sidewalks with landscaping on both sides. • 14N – new interchange directly to 89 from Airport Drive to alleviate traffic on Williston Road. • Open up Picard Circle to make a new entrance to expanded dog park. • Sidewalk around Chamberlin School • Bus stops – shelters with benches. Facilitator: Paul Conner 1. Positive Visions for Your Neighborhood: Marshy creek just to west, Patchen Road major walking area, lots of chances to meet people. Some dangerous places. Speeding. Missing sidewalks. Lots of trees. Difficult to cross Patchen to Jaycee. Mid block crosswalks not all working. School centrally located. Park near Williston Road- beautiful; not known. Very few crosswalks on Williston Road. 2. What’s In/Around Our Neighborhood: Smaller neighborhoods, fewer cars, cute homes. Very different feel from Hayden; more together, more homey vs. “put together,” more community. Side item – Ruth/Heath a cut through. 3. Urban Form: Airport Parkway sidewalks on both sides. Bus shelters. Increase parking at Jaycee. Would really like to keep neighborhood. 4. Mobility: Worried about worst case of corporate buildings@ 65 area. But, some buffer buildings OK – a balance. Green space, pool, community center. Balance. Trails, community gardens, cookout. Like idea of straightening road; returns Airport Parkway to neighborhood. Safety on 116. Protect and enhance. CCTA access. Access and safety for bikes/peds in and around neighborhood to parks, streets, other areas. Move Patchen/Airport Parkway/White back to being neighborhood streets. Airport Road and White Street = stoptional. Facilitator: Carole Schlessinger 1. Likes/Dislikes/General Thoughts: Positives: Residential and no stores/shops in middle of neighborhood, quiet streets, expand Airport Drive to Airport Parkway, Chamberlin School (i.e. Neighborhood school). Negatives: Growth of Airport Parkway and White Street, uncertainty in 3 future plans for neighborhood. 2. Long-Term Vision: Residential neighborhood (including Chamberlin School), no more airport purchase of land/no more buy-backs, less noise, linkage of neighborhood to City Center, keep Chamberlin School as a community asset (community center, etc.). 3. What’s In/Around Our Neighborhood: Commercial properties on Williston Road are close enough, don’t need more or smaller versions in neighborhood. Concerns about potential zoning along Airport Road/Parkway – no commercial, preference is open space. No desire for additional roads. Pedestrian cut throughs. More park space. More social space – future of Chamberlin School? Pre-school, teen center, senior activities, etc. Some higher density residential (townhouses along Williston Road would be okay). 4. Urban Form: Sidewalks NOT an issue, save for routes to school for kids. Moon rising down White Street. Dog park further away from Airport security fence. Evergreens/cedars/lilacs to landscape airport land. Keep commercial buildings used and maintained (prevent eyesores). Mix of developed and undeveloped open space. Hockey/Hockey rink (outdoor). Observation/picnic area for watching planes take off and land. 5. Mobility: Too much traffic on White Street – it really divides the neighborhood – especially commercial shipping/trucks. Traffic calming like flashing speed limit signs. Parallel street to Williston Road to ease traffic on Williston. Bike path extending from White Street to Patchen to Dorset. Shelters for public transit. More dead end streets at Airport Drive NOT a bad thing (Patrick and Elizabeth). 6. Airport Master Plan: Airport Drive extension to Airport Parkway!!! More certainty and follow- through on plans. Continue improved public outreach from airport. Turn unused roads on airport property into open space. Summary: Keep neighborhood residential. Connect Airport Drive to Airport Parkway. Decrease traffic on White Street. Streets for land deal? Continue recently improved community-Airport dialogue. Bike path connectivity off of Williston (White Street connector). School/community center and park space. Connectivity to City Center. Facilitator: Charlie Baker/Christine Forde 1. Positive Visions for Your Neighborhood: Residential is affordable – more owners, less rentals. Parks. Safe walkability – sidewalks need to be improved, winter is really bad, better plowing. Noiseland – open park land. Less commercial traffic through/in neighborhood. Disconnect residential streets from Airport Parkway. Natural noise buffers. 2. What’s In/Around Our Neighborhood: Don’t need corner store. Dog park plus more park there. Park land. Like school here. Noise mitigation with landscaping and house sound mitigation. Walking paths, bike path/trails to connect to existing. School community center. Continue sidewalk down Patchen. 3. Urban Form: Keep small houses with big backyards. Minimize subdivision of existing. Lights shine on houses. Better street lighting. Traffic calming. Not have White Street be a through street. 4. Mobility: Bike routes (Kennedy to Chamberlin). Sidewalks passable in winter. Bike lanes. Transit route improvements and link to St. Mike’s. Reduce parking on lawns. Bike/ped. connection to Holiday Inn/Williston from Kirby. 5. Airport Master Plan: Mulch might be killing trees in front of airport (too much mounding). 14N would help. Looping of residential streets would be good. 12B would help. Look at neighborhood connection to Airport Parkway-Essex if connected to minimize through traffic. Preserve view from 4 White Street over airport. Potential of buildings as noise mitigation. Move taxiway east away from neighborhood. Noise mitigation. Why do helicopters fly in/out so low over neighborhood? Facilitator: Bob Chamberlin 1. Positive Visions for Your Neighborhood: Home values increasing. Keep the single family home spirit. Feels like “urban renewal” on Patrick Street – safety issue on Airport Drive. Minimize through traffic (traffic engineering study) on Gilbert Street (used to be a dead end). GPS is evil. Meaningful NOISE mitigation. Ground run-up enclosures = GREs. Walkability – repair what we’ve got instead of building new, paths, winter maintenance. 2. What’s In/Around Our Neighborhood: Parks, garden plots, and open space. Small scale shops, retail, well maybe not… Meaningful sound mitigation, open space nice but no sound mitigation. More cul de sacs (sacre bleu!). Can we get better access to the open space? How about a sign showing where the park is? Streetlights (LED). 3. Urban Form: Big trees. Vistas of Mt. Mansfield – no utility poles. Front gardens. Curbs. Can we use the ROW differently on White Street? Front yards with porches (unanimous) – City landlords no porch (removable porches – loophole in the land use regulations). Identity = eg. Sign for Mayfair Park. 4. Mobility: Maintain the sidewalks – no new ones. Better signs into and out of the airport. Do we really need to charge for very short term parking? Better signs to the cell phone lot. Expand Airport Drive to 3 or 4 lanes. Get airport traffic off of White Street. Poor visibility on White Street. Weird and unsafe White/Airport Drive intersection. Gene loves biking. Safer biking on Williston Road. 5. Airport Master Plan: We like the airport’s parkway idea, but the details… How about a big old fence for noise? Auto Noise Report System (ANRS) in the 2006 NCP. Facilitator: David Grover 1. Positive Visions for Your Neighborhood and 2. What’s In/Around Our Neighborhood: Watching planes take off at the dog park. Neighbors – very social, everyone knows each other, friendly atmosphere. Walking. Accessible to downtown/Interstate. Grocery store, post office in walking distance. Close to future City Center. Bus transportation is accessible. Relatively safe in terms of crime – could use more street lights. Walk to airport. Nice big trees, established, small Vermont feel. Big back yards and gardens. Wildlife in the ravines, open space, paths. A sense of home after being here a while. Becoming a more diverse neighborhood in age and ethnicity. 3. Urban Form: Size of front yards – don’t have telephone poles, don’t need more sidewalk/curbing. Most streets are walkable. Some streets have open streets (few cars parked). With more renters there are more people parking on street – dangerous and changes the character of the neighborhood. BIA employees sometimes park on street. Would like parking for residents only. Airport patrons park on street – unwelcome. Scale of neighborhood (lot size, house size, etc.) 4. Mobility: Access of major regional arteries (15, 7, 2, I-89). Patchen Road near Grove Street development, is too restricted for neighborhood traffic – worried about SD Ireland development traffic. Would like to see a cut through to Airport Drive to Airport Parkway to connect them so people don’t have to use roads through neighborhoods. Good sidewalk on Patchen & Williston, plowed regularly. Bike lanes on Williston Road aren’t used – bikes on sidewalks. Pedestrian crossings on Williston are very dangerous. Can’t take a left out of Mills on to Williston – a light would fix this problem. U-turn at Elizabeth and Patrick will cause more traffic on Peterson, etc. Planners put people on Williston Road to airport, causes two problems: all of these people end up 5 in the neighborhood and very difficult to turn onto Williston Road. Routing traffic from I-89 to Kennedy instead of Williston would help. There’s a bigger issue where the area is too congested at peak times, cant’ get out of neighborhood; need to circumvent this traffic somehow. Williston Road back to 4 lanes so that people will take Williston Road (some disagreement). 5. Airport Master Plan: Keep it green, keep trees, bushes, etc. Bring in community activities like a farmers’ market and arts. Keep it natural, not landscaped. Consider a wildlife corridor to direct animals around airport. Skeptical that a noise wall will mitigate noise from planes above. Bike paths/walking paths in this area similar to what is in front of airport now. Airport does a good job maintaining property and paths – keep it up! Hate to see this school close if the F35 comes in. Parking garage already took the view of the mountains. Do not want a hotel in the area of the housing. Route traffic to Kennedy Drive from Whale’s Tails on I-89. Can smell jet fuel in the right wind. Take Away: Keep the character of the neighborhood the way it is – just the right size, friendly neighbors, safe, bikeable, walkable, needs street lights. Problems from airport patrons and employees. Remove all through traffic. Keep integrity of the neighborhood by reducing cut through traffic, keep it walkabout and bikeable, keep the natural feel of BIA acquired land – keep the trees, bring in community activities (farmers’ market), and provide walk/bike paths. Facilitator: Cathyann LaRose 1. Wish List: Nice space (park/garden) when you leave airport – welcoming features (fountain). Garden spaces throughout neighborhood (community gardens), pedestrian connections between different parts of the neighborhood (easements?). Reduce the number of streets that connect to Williston Road (ex. Elizabeth, Patrick Streets) – dead end streets. Benches in parks. Sidewalks. Issues to Solve: Traffic on White Street (check GPS directions?). Commuters frustrated by Williston Road backups at PM rush hour. Parking on Elizabeth Street – employees, pickups, travelers – correct signage/policy. Keep old tree growth. Lighting on streets is dim and not safe. Sidewalks, difficult accessibility. Connections to Jaycee. Multi-age parks, pocket parks, don’t need to be large and overly programmed. Red light near school. Character: Must keep welcoming, family friendly, quiet, limited traffic, maturity of landscaping, convenient, mixed demographics. Like corner stores. Land use – like bordering commercial. Access to Kinney Drug/south side of Williston Road. Would like neighborhood to be large and cohesive, currently street-based. Bus shelters on Williston Road and White Street. Airport Road has too much parking on road. Communications with Airport: Currently 8 out of 10, was 0. Use Front Porch Forum. House demolition plan communications was 10 out of 10! Excellent. “Community-driven” community outreach/initiative is important and it works. Keep it up! Remember that not all residents use computers. 6 Participants Facilitators Charlie Baker, CCRPC Bob Chamberlin, RSG Paul Conner, City of South Burlington Christine Forde, CCRPC David Grover, RSG Lee Krohn, CCRPC Cathyann LaRose, City of South Burlington Corey Mack, RSG Diane Meyerhoff, Third Sector Associates (Logistics) Carole Schlessinger, Crosby | Schlessinger | Smallridge Rick Brown Marie Friedman Amanda Hanaway- Corrente Erin Knapp Nic Longo Patrick Clemins Marc Companion Bill Keogh George Maille Pat Nowak Carmine Sargent Karsten Schlenter Tracey Harrington Elizabeth Allen Jordan Armstrong Dave Auer Linda Bailey Liz Bossi Walt Bourdieu Eileen Bouvier Bob Bouvier Lucy Boyajian R Brice Collie Chambers Jean Chaulot Judy Cohen Meg Collins LouRhea Dattilio Eva Diner Leo Duncan Lonnie Edson Meaghan Emery Megan Goyet Anna Johnston Kim Lane Loretta & Steve Marriott Kit Mercure Randy & Patty Miller Kathy Murphy Amanda Northrop Bob Nowak Rick Brown Marie Friedman Amanda Hanaway- Corrente Erin Knapp Nic Longo Patrick Clemins Marc Companion Bill Keogh George Maille Pat Nowak Carmine Sargent Karsten Schlenter Tracey Harrington Elizabeth Allen Jordan Armstrong Dave Auer Linda Bailey Liz Bossi Walt Bourdieu Eileen Bouvier Bob Bouvier Lucy Boyajian R Brice Collie Chambers Jean Chaulot Judy Cohen Meg Collins LouRhea Dattilio Eva Diner Leo Duncan Lonnie Edson Meaghan Emery Megan Goyet Anna Johnston Kim Lane Loretta & Steve Marriott Kit Mercure Randy & Patty Miller Kathy Murphy 7 Skip Smallridge, Crosby | Schlessinger | Smallridge 8 9 10 11 South Burlington Chamberlin Neighborhood Community Meeting #1 - Chamberlin School Wednesday, May 27, 2015, 6:30-9:00 PM 8 Responses Received 1. How did you hear about the Meeting? (check all that apply) 2. Please rate the following aspects of the meeting: Comments: • Thank you – Made things clearer and good collaboration! • Useful discussion • Having small group discussions with a facilitator was great! • Good idea to gather together area residents – well organized and executed! 3. Anything else you’d like to share with us? • North end of Patchen Road goes to severely constricted streets in Burlington. Has already passed reasonable capacity. • Reroute Airport traffic. Interstate exchange (new) at Whales Tails, north to Kennedy, up to Kennedy, to Airport. Full exchange for truck traffic. • Make wildlife corridor landscaping along new road on west side of airport (with bike path and sidewalks and widened road). • Scrap 12N idea for interstate exchange. Rick Brown Marie Friedman Amanda Hanaway- Corrente Erin Knapp Nic Longo Patrick Clemins Marc Companion Bill Keogh Rick Brown Marie Friedman Amanda Hanaway- Corrente Erin Knapp Nic Longo Patrick Clemins Marc Companion Bill Keogh Rick Brown Marie Friedman Amanda Hanaway- Corrente Erin Knapp Nic Longo Patrick Clemins Marc Companion Bill Keogh George Maille Pat Nowak 12 • Don’t over plan the area where houses are removed – leave trees, flowering bushes, everything that blocks noise. Add paths, community gardens. Address new traffic routes between Williston Road and Route 15, Patchen Road and Colchester Ave. • Please keep our neighborhood zoned residential. • Would like to know what revenues via taxes South Burlington accrued and lost because of bought out residents. Also there is no way to mitigate noise – let’s be realistic. Clearly homes and businesses in SB and surrounding communities are in “noise swath” on ground and in air! 13 Chamberlin Neighborhood Project – Community Meeting Comment Form May 27, 2015, 6:30PM, Chamberlin School Topic: What’s In & Around Our Neighborhood - Land Use and Open Spaces • Continuation of dog park. Keep a good balance with open space. Topic: Urban Form - Physical Character & Landmarks • Small mom & pop store, possible civic center/community center, screen backyards with flowering shrubs. Move traffic away from residential area. • The change in Williston Road for bikes between Hinesburg Road/Kennedy Drive. Can we have it voted on to change it back? Topic: Mobility - Walking, Biking, Driving, Transit • Bike lanes on through network; continuation of city bus – maybe smaller; pathways between dead ends – so as to not have to walk all the way around the street, better line markings on main streets. Topic: Airport Master Plan • Hotel @ airport; possible restaurants; aesthetically pleasing, coordination with City Center; 12B and 14N exits, network of paths for walking; extra lighting along streets. • As long as a through way is built to take the traffic away from the neighborhood it would help to keep our homes quiet and safe. __________________________