Planning Commission Minutes*
*These are unofficial Minutes subject to approval at the next regular board meeting.
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March 10, 2008
Present:
William Scranton; William Brooks; Larry Miller; Ann Tiplady; Robert
Soule; John West; Melissa Whitmore
Guests:
Dennis Smith, Lisa Charbonneau, Anthony Esposito, Christopher Dunigan,
Cindy Cather,
Chair Bill Scranton opened
the meeting at
1.
Review and approval of meeting minutes of
Bob Soule moved and John
West seconded approval of the minutes of
2.
Discussion – Masonic Hall use for auctions
Jay White, as Secretary of
Chipman Lodge #52 F&AM, has submitted a zoning permit application to hold
auctions at the Masonic Hall. After some discussion on whether or not this
required a permit, a motion was made by Larry Miller and seconded by Bob Soule
that this use should proceed through the process of a site plan review. Since
the Buffums (neighbors to the north) are out of town until May 1st
and had expressed some concerns in writing, Bill Scranton will try to get an
email address for them so that they and all other abutting property owners may
be notified of the site plan review.
3.
Discussion – Farmers Market at the Stone Shop property
Christopher Dunigan proposed
having a Farmers Market in the parking area on the north side of his property.
It would run
4.
Discussion – Response to letter from Lisa Charbonneau
Bill Scranton addressed Lisa
Charbonneau, who was in attendance at the meeting, about her concerns that the
minutes of the Planning Commission are not being made available in a timely
manner. It was noted that minutes are supposed to be available five business
days after the meeting; agendas a minimum of 24 hours in advance; and posting on
the website is done as a courtesy by the Town. Bill Brooks said that he will do
his best to get them out on time.
5.
Discussion – Revised Zoning Regulation – what are the options going
forward?
The concensus of the group
appears to be to table the major reworking of the zoning regulation for now,
since the revision of the Town Plan is due in 2009. Before that, however, a few
important minor changes need to be made to the current zoning regulation. The
Flood Regulation section in the proposed zoning regs will have to be pulled out
as a stand-alone document and passed before the end of June so that the Town
will still qualify for Federal flood insurance. Bill Brooks will contact Mark
Blucher at Rutland Regional Planning and Ned Swanberg at Water Resources to see
what is needed for this to happen. Also need to ask Mark Blucher what is
required to establish a Development Review Board. It was mentioned that this
information is probably in 24 VSA Section 4460.
We also talked about adding
expired interim zoning regulations into the current regulation; adding language
to allow “other uses as deemed appropriate” to the districts not covered;
making sure the zoning maps on the wall match up with the “actual” zoning
maps which are in the vault. We will ask Mark about the steps needed to
accomplish these things. We will also ask him for extra copies of the “red
book”, and if his office can add road names to the maps they produce. Finally
we will ask Mark to attend our April 14 meeting to discuss these things.
6.
Tom Phillips – Planning Commission representation at the Act 250
hearing
Tom Phillips said that it
was his understanding that Bill Scranton was supposed to attend the hearing as
the representative of the Planning Commission and that the PC had taken no
stance on the project. Tom feels that Bill came out as opposed to the project
and did not do what the Planning Commission had voted for him to do. Bill
disagreed, saying he gave a history of the project as it has come before the PC
with various requests, and that he did not take sides.
7.
Discussion – March 19th Site Plan hearing on Gravel Crushing &
Screening
Bill Scranton handed out a
sheet with things for the PC to consider in this site plan review. Larry Miller
provided copies of the paragraphs of our current zoning regulation that pertain
to site plan review and 24 V.S.A. Section 4416 regarding site plan review
criteria. There was some discussion around the table about what is involved in
the site review process.
8.
New Business
Tony Esposito was in
attendance to ask about what permits he needs to section off part of the inside
of his building at the Hardware Store. The board feels that the site review done
for the previous owners covers what is now being proposed and so he just needs a
building permit since the cost of the project will be over $2000.
9.
Adjournment
Bob Soule moved to adjourn
at
Next
Meeting:
April 14th at
William H. Brooks, III
Secretary and Zoning Administrator