HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes - City Council - 10/28/2019 - Special City CouncilSPECIAL CITY COUNCIL 28 OCTOBER 2019
The South Burlington City Council held a special meeting on Monday, 28 October 2019, at
6:30p.m, in the Conference Room, City Hall, 575 Dorset Street.
Members Present: H. Riehle, Chair; M. Emery, T. Barritt, D. Kaufman
Also Present: T. Hubbard, Deputy City Manager; P. Conner, Director of Planning & Zoning; M.
Mittag
1. Instructions on exiting building in case of emergency:
Mr. Hubbard provided instructions on emergency evacuation of the building.
2. Agenda Review: Additions, deletions or changes in order of agenda items:
No changes were made to the Agenda.
3. Comments and Questions from the public not related to the agenda:
No issues were raised.
4. Council Discussion and possible vote on proposal for services made by Earth
Economics:
Mr. Mittag questioned the legality of this meeting as the Earth Economics proposal has not
been made public, either at the last meeting or on the website.
Members agreed to discuss the proposal but take no action.
Ms. Riehle noted that Mr. Chittenden, who could not be present at this meeting, is opposed to
the proposal.
Mr. Conner then outlined the Earth Economics proposal as follows:
a. A cost/revenue analysis of development (Mr. Conner noted that John
Stewart is already doing this, and staff recommends not doubling efforts)
b. An analysis of the value of open space
Mr. Conner suggested that they could explore a narrower focus, specifically assigning a value to
resources (the land not built on). This means giving a money value to something that
traditionally have a money value, but this might be easier for the consultants to do.
Ms. Emery said she would like two reports: have the consultant see what John Steward has
done and what the Interim Zoning Committee has done. She felt that since the inventor has
been done this could cut down on the hours.
SPECIAL CITY COUNCIL
28 OCTOBER 2019
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Mr. Barritt asked whether the Regional Planning Commission would be interested in sharing the
cost of this.
Ms. Emery said she would also like to add that property values beside open space are higher
than those not next to open space. She also felt it was important not to limit the study to the
Southeast Quadrant and noted that the IZ Committee has some parcels outside the SEQ.
Mr. Kaufman said at first he thought this was a good idea, but now he isn’t sure that it’s worth
$45,000. He wanted to talk further with Mr. Dorn and Mr. Conner.
Ms. Riehle said the item will be rewarned with the proposal posted.
As there was no further business to come before the Council, Mr. Kaufman moved to adjourn.
Mr. Barritt seconded. Motion passed unanimously. The meeting was adjourned at 6:55 p.m.