Welcome to Leicester, VT

A Great Place to Live

Meeting Minutes

Town of Leicester
Selectboard Meeting Minutes
Monday September 21, 2015
*Unapproved*
** See subsequent minutes for any changes
 
Members Present: Diane Benware, Tom Barker, Ron Fiske, Brad Lawes, Ken Young
 
Others Present: Julie Delphia, Arlan Pidgeon, Sandra Trombley, Secretary
 
Call to Order: Meeting called to order at 6:30 p.m. by Chair.
 
Pledge of Allegiance:
 
Review of Agenda:
 
Added: Weight Permit & Leicester Whiting Road Railroad Topic
          
Approval of September 7, 2015 minutes:
 
Motion by Tom and second by Ken to approve minutes of September 7, 2015 as written. All in favor. So approved.
 
Reports from Town Officials, Committees:
 
Town Clerk/Treasurer:
 
Julie reported that Kelly Churchill came in today and met with Mary Anne. Kelly filed an appeal to Environmental Court. There is a copy of the papers dropped off for the appeal.
 
Road Foreman:
 
Arlan reported that Scott did some grading and dug out the beaver dam.
 
Ken said Kurt will start trapping today.
 
They repaired the culvert on Fern Lake Road. It needs some seeding.
 
Ken would like to see some stakes with red reflectors before winter.
 
Tom asked about the tree on Maple Run. Julie called and gave the pole number to GMP. She will call again tomorrow.
 
Tom asked about the bill for the second mowing. Julie stated the bill is slightly higher than last year, but is under budget.
 
Arlan reported that Melvin Cotting called and he can start cutting brush anytime. Board decided to wait awhile until the leaves come off.
 
Arlan and Brad met with five State employees about the intersection of Rt.7. This meeting was to decide if they should have another meeting to determine if they need a traffic study. This meeting was to start the process. They indicated that it is considered a high incident intersection.
 
Health Officer:
 
Diane will pay another visit to the property in the Junction and report back.
 
Other Report:
 
Diane had a conversation with Jim Carroll to bring him up-to-date on some of the Planning Commission issues. Jim stated that we could update the current Leicester By-laws or we could pear down the Poultney by-laws; it really didn’t matter as long as the Planning Commission felt they had a document that everyone could agree upon and work with.
 
After meeting with Jim, Diane recommended to the Board to have the Planning Commission select a date that they could meet with Jim Carroll and he would go over all the steps involved.
 
Diane will contact Donna S. to ask her to set up a meeting with Jim Carroll.
 
Weight Permits:
 
Arlan approved weight permit for A. Johnson Co. LLC in Bristol and Brad signed.
 
Review/Authorization to pay bills:
 
Motion by Brad and second by Ken to authorize Treasurer to pay the bills. All in favor. So approved.
 
CORRESPONDENCE:
 
VT Sun:
 
VT Sun is looking for an approval letter for 2016 triathlon event. Diane will send a letter reiterating Board’s concern for participants and citizens.
 
Citizens for Property Rights - Underhill:
 
Chair read letter intended to draw attention to GIS mapping. No action taken.
 
Leicester Roads:
 
Chair read a complimentary thank you letter from a non-resident stating how well Leicester’s roads are maintained and the difference between Leicester and other towns.
 
Fall Planning & Zoning Forum on October 28th:
 
Julie reported that Mary Anne will be attending.
 
 
Lake Champlain Basin Program – Grant:
 
The Lake Dunmore Fern Lake Association applies for this grant for their greeter program. They ask the town to write a letter of support; as in past years.
 
Julie will write a letter for Chair to sign.
 
 
NEW BUSINESS:
 
Railroad Crossing on Leicester Whiting Road:
 
Julie reported she got a phone call from Brian Stoy of Frontier Railroad Services telling her they were contracted by AOT to do work on the Leicester Whiting Road railroad crossing. He advised that he needs a letter of approval from the Selectboard to shut down the road effective October 4th for four days and wants to re-route traffic. He couldn’t come to the meeting tonight, but would be available by phone.
 
Julie reported a couple of problems with this. Sawyer Needham road will be closed because Whiting is paving the road starting today through October 7th.
 
They plan on pulling the rails up and doing 10’ asphalt either side of the tracks, removing the rails and replacing ties and rails, installing new rubber rails and repaving crossing with two 3” lifts.
 
The Board shared concerns of such short notice and this project is a much bigger deal than shutting down Old Jerusalem Road. There is much more traffic on the Leicester Whiting Road.
 
Board authorized Julie, on their behalf, to send a letter by email requiring Frontier Railroad Services to have a single lane of traffic at all times with 24 hour flaggers or signal lights and to have adequate signage and notification of all emergency and other services.
 
OLD BUSINESS:
 
Approve Zoning Forms:
 
Julie went over the forms that the Board approved at the last meeting.
  • Application for Zoning Permit needed a correction of a word and formatting.
  • Application for Administrative Hearing needed some formatting.
  • Zoning Permit # has some changes in wording and formatting since the last time the Board saw it. Mary Anne said Ron would check on the Certificate of Compliance piece.
Julie reminded Board that our Interim Zoning By-Laws do not include the Certificate of Compliance. It was removed a couple years ago.
  • On the No Permit Necessary document, there was an appeal section referencing permit. It’s not a permit. This document was contradictory. This document looks very different than what the Board approved.
 
Motion by Diane and second by Tom to authorize Ron to research the Statute and contact Jim Carroll, if necessary, in regard to the Certificate of Compliance. All in favor. So approved.
 
The Board is withdrawing the approval of Zoning Permit pending legal review.
Access Permit:
 
Julie reported at the 4 Corners of Fern Lake, Shackett & Delorm a permit is requested from Michael Pearlman to do a round about coming out onto Delorm. Arlan went out to review and doesn’t see a problem.
 
Permit signed and approved.
 
BUILDING NEEDS:
 
Heat Pumps:
 
Julie reported that GMP is supposed to be coming tomorrow to tell us what we need.
 
HIGHWAY CONCERNS/NEEDS:
 
Town Shed:
 
Julie reported there wasn’t enough time to get bids for this meeting. The Board extended the time for bids to September 29th for review at their next meeting on October 5th.
 
The bid for the Meeting House foundation was awarded to David Peters who is unable to proceed.
 
Ron will contact Jerry McCray to see if he can begin as soon as possible.
 
Limited Public Opinion: None
 
Executive Session: None
 
Motion by Tom and second by Ken to adjourn at 7:40 p.m.
 
Next Meeting: October 5, 2015
 
Respectfully submitted,
 
Sandra L. Trombley
Selectboard Secretary