Meeting Minutes - PC
Town of Leicester
Planning Commission Meeting Minutes
Wednesday, September 9, 2009
*Unapproved*
** See subsequent minutes for any changes
Members Present: Donna Swinington, Chair, Pete Fjeld, Tim Johnson
Absent: Gerry Flint, Jeff McDonough
Others Present: Sandra Trombley, Secretary
Call to Order & Roll Call: Called to order the Planning Commission Meeting at 6:05 p.m. by Chair and roll call.
Approve Minutes of August 12, 2009:
Reviewed minutes of August 12, 2009.
Motion by Tim to approve minutes of August 12, 2009. Second by Pete. All in favor. So approved.
Old Business:
Donna and Kate visited with Elizabeth Golden from Regional Planning. That is what precipitated all of the handouts of surveys. Elizabeth working with us will be very limited because there is no money to pay her. She will guide us from Middlebury. She will not be able to get as deeply involved as last time. Donna stated that what they need to do for the next meeting is come up with a questionnaire so that they can do a Round Table and get as many people from the Town as possible to come. The idea is to have a table of six and get everyone’s input. Have a good mix at every table, those that are for zoning and those that are not so much for zoning. We want to do the questionnaire on-line too. Not the Board’s opinions, but the community input. In November we would have the first public hearing.
Elizabeth does have a questionnaire that we can use at one of these forums. Donna will try to get a copy of it before the October meeting. Elizabeth is a very good resource.
Elizabeth thinks we should apply for a grant in case there is some money.
Donna reported that next Thursday Kate has agreed to work on the grant for nothing. They would like to use Survey Monkey for the questionnaire. Kate thinks it will be around $20. We have to have the public input before we can proceed. Once a tentative Town Plan is in place there has to be a public meeting and then it goes to the Selectboard for approval.
Next meeting the PC needs to come up with a survey/questionnaire. The Selectboard needs to be here. The other Town Officers need to be here. This is not just the Planning Commission. This is the Town Plan.
Tim asked about the next steps. Donna explained that once we got the feedback from the town’s people, we would compile the information in December and hopefully start working on it the first of the year. It will be available on the web-site after the first of the year.
Tim asked when the deadline would be for the surveys. Donna said it will have to be the end of January. Regional Planning will help us with some maps, because they have all the maps and graphs we’ll need.
Pete asked for a copy of the current Town Plan. Pete wondered if the survey shouldn’t almost be an introduction and then an invitation. The survey would be simple, but the person completing it would know there is much more and would write down the name and address so they could be notified when the public meeting was being held.
Tim asked if the only way we are going to collect data is to have the on-line survey? Donna explained that it will be on-line, but some will be available at the Town Office, there will be the Round Table open to the public. Tim suggested that since money is short for mailing that perhaps we could make copies and hand them out the two days in January at the Recycling Center. Tim is afraid that only a certain group of people are going to get this survey on-line. Tim would like to see a very diverse spectrum of the people of Leicester filling them out. We could also post some at the Leicester General Store and the Feed store. Tim wants to get as wide a variety of people involved as possible.
We can let people know to drop them off in the Drop Box or mail them back. We want them to know that their input is very important.
We need to have the Town Plan on line as well as some hard copies.
New Business:
None
Public Comment:
None
Action: To review the sample questionnaires/surveys and be prepared to work on our own questionnaire at the next meeting.
Tim mentioned that we could have the kids at school take one home. Pete wondered if the school could do it as part of a civics thing, where every kid gets some to distribute. Donna said we could ask. Tim said we could hand them out at the recycling center about a month in advance.
Motion to adjourn by Pete. Second by Tim. So approved. All in favor.
Adjourned at 6:35 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Sandra L. Trombley
Planning Commission Secretary