HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes - Chamberlin Neighborhood Airport Planning Committee - 11/19/2015CHAMBERLIN NEIGHBORHOOD- AIRPORT PLANNING COMMITTEE
MEETING MINUTES
19 NOVEMBER 2015
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The South Burlington Chamberlin/Airport Study Committee held a meeting on Thursday, 19
November 2015, at 7 p.m., in the Conference Room, City Hall, 575 Dorset Street.
MEMBERS PRESENT: C. Sargent, Chair; G. Severance, P. Clemins, K. Robison, K. Schlenter, D. Hartnett,
M. Companion, J. Simson, T. Harrington
ALSO PRESENT: P. Conner, Director of Planning & Zoning; L. Krohn, CCRPC; T. Chittenden, E. Fitzgerald,
members of the public
1. Agenda: Additions, deletions or changes in order of agenda items:
No changes were made to the agenda.
2. Open to the Public for items not related to the agenda:
A member of the public said he is trying to decide whether it is healthy for his family to live in the area
or not. He asked who could give him a factual answer.
Mr. Clemins said he thought the EPA does have some information on noise levels.
A member of the audience suggested forming a long-term committee on noise issues.
Ms. Sargent noted that the City Council is asking Gene Richards and a member of the Air Guard to be at
the 7 December meeting and suggested that might be a good time to ask where to get information. Ms.
Sargent also suggested contacting Roseann Greco who has read a lot of information.
3. Minutes of 9 November 2015:
Ms. Harrington moved to approve the Minutes of 9 November as written. Mr. Schlenter seconded.
Motion passed unanimously.
4. Consider Committee work going forward – how best to support our own goals and also
participate in on-going Airport studies:
Mr. Krohn said that noise exposure maps are totally voluntary on the part of the Airport. He also noted
that the figures are averages, but that people respond to intensities. The question is what is the best
pallet of strategies.
Mr. Simson said he believed there will be people in the neighborhood 5, 10, 20+ years from now. There
are a lot of things other than residences that can be done with the Airport property. He felt the
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Committee can help create a plan to do some very nice things with that land. Mr. Hartnett agreed but
felt the Committee can do both…find out whether it is healthy to be there and create a good plan for
the land.
Ms. Robison cited programs where noise mitigation was put in, and these are the kinds of programs
Gene Richards is applying for now. Mr. Krohn noted that with noise mitigation, the mitigation has to
involve at least a 10 decibel lowering of noise. A member of the audience said that it is not automatic to
get mitigation. You have to sign an easement in order to accept the mitigation. He also felt you need to
have facts to know what kind of mitigation will work.
Mr. Conner said it seems there will be an opportunity in the near future as Mr. Richards said there is a
“reuse plan.” The Airport has hired CHA to help develop a plan to determine what is to be done on the
land the Airport has acquired. The first rounds of community input will take place early next year.
Ms. Robison asked if they can get money only from the FAA or whether South Burlington can help. Mr.
Conner said there is a city budget, but it will depend on what the scale is. Anything large typically
involves State or Federal assistance. Mr. Krohn said the FAA is the most likely source for noise issues.
In discussing a public survey, Ms. Harrington cautioned against too many open-ended questions. Mr.
Clemins was hesitant about another community survey. He felt they should build off data they already
have rather than start from scratch.
Mr. Hartnett said if they look at the Airport as a partner and work with them, it will be much better. He
cited the need to keep an open mind and noted the Airport isn’t going anywhere and neither is South
Burlington. He said they should “seize the moment and move forward.”
Ms. Robison said it is too bad people have so much distrust that they treat others with disrespect. She
said it is important to be respectful regardless of the politics. A member of the audience said there is a
lot of emotion and a lot of the conversations are repetitive. He felt people need more information
before they can respond to a survey. He wanted to make an informed decision.
Mr. Krohn said it is important to decide what is best for the neighborhood and then consider the
funding. He listed some questions for the committee to consider:
What uses might be on the Airport property?
Who would pay for those uses?
Should they go with the Airport consultants and have them pay the bill?
Mr. Krohn stressed that ultimately the Committee has to say what it thinks is best for this community.
He offered to work with someone on the CCRPC staff to put together a draft for a survey.
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Mr. Krohn also noted that although there is talk about berms, there is a reason you don’t see them at
airports: they help only at ground level, not when planes are in the air.
Mr. Hartnett said the consulting group the committee worked with already has a lot of information. He
suggested they get both consulting groups together and work up a survey.
Mr. Clemins said he felt the Committee should be informed and participate in the land re-use plan, but
it’s really a much bigger issue than that. Mr. Conner cited the need to understand what the questions
are with regard to a land re-use plan. Mr. Krohn suggested having a CHA consultant come to the
Committee’s next meeting and explain what that land re-use plan is.
Mr. Companion said it is unclear what can and cannot be done with the land, and it is also unclear what
others want done with the land. He felt a very important part of what the committee can do is to collect
date and analyze it. He felt they should know about property values in the area and whether they will
decrease and whether that will decrease the Grand List. He felt they should form a group to collect solid
information to disseminate to everyone; otherwise, it is just emotion.
Mr. Krohn said that with regard to property value, they can inspect the lister’s records and see what is
happening. But he cautioned that sometimes it is “self-fulfilling” to say that values will go down. He
also said that health issues are hard to pin down as noise can be loud and lasting, periodic, etc.
Ms. Sargent asked if the grant money has to be used by a certain date. Mr. Krohn said they work on a
fiscal year basis. Consultants have a different schedule. There is no yes/no answer. He added that they
will be meeting with the consultants next week to see if they are available on a longer term basis.
Mr. Conner said they need to communicate directly with the city’s consultant and the Airport consultant
and have these efforts mesh together, then come back with some answers.
Mr. Clemins said he felt the community needs some output from the Committee to respond to.
Mr. Conner asked if the Committee wants the Airport consultant (CHA) to come to a committee
meeting. Members said yes. They felt that would identify local issues and the things they need to know.
Ms. Robison said that the public meeting, there were no facts; people didn’t know what was going on.
Mr. Companion said people are not trustful of what is going on. He felt there should be some local,
regional and state government people involved to add some integrity to the pursuit of knowledge;
otherwise, people will question the source.
Mr. Simson said the more he listens, the more he thinks they need clarity as to whether it is the
Committee’s mission to deal with the noise issue. He didn’t feel they can answer anything definitely.
He said they need to be clear that they can do the work on how to take advantage of the new lands to
make the neighborhood a better place to live, aside from the noise. He felt the committee needs to
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recommend getting the right people to deal with the noise issue; otherwise they are just spinning their
wheels.
Ms. Sargent suggested looking at how to capitalize on being a neighbor of an airport (e.g., a park with
airplanes, an Airport Museum, etc.). She felt Gene Richards would be good to work on for that.
5. Other Business:
Mr. Krohn noted they have used about one half of the budget. He said that one question is how the
consultants can be useful. His gut reaction was to keep them engaged. He hoped they were at a point
where they could have some tangible outputs.
As there was no further business to come before the Committee, Mr. Hartnett moved to adjourn. Mr.
Severance seconded. Motion passed unanimously, and the meeting was adjourned at 8:45 p.m.
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