Meeting Minutes - PC
Planning Commission Meeting Tuesday, June 30, 20156:00 P.M.*Unapproved*** See subsequent minutes for any changes Members Present: Peter Fjeld, Chair, Jeff McDonough, Bill Shouldice Members Absent: Donna Swinington Others Present: Mary Anne Sullivan, Tom Barker, Ron Fiske, Julie Delphia, Sandra Trombley, Secretary Call to Order/Roll Call: Meeting called to order at 6:25 p.m. by acting Chair and roll call. Review Agenda: Agenda reviewed. Approve minutes of May 26, 2015: Motion by Jeff and second by Bill to approve minutes of May 26, 2015. All in favor. So approved. Update of By-Law Revisions: Mary Anne was welcomed by the Board. Peter asked where they were at. He thought the revised document had gone to the lawyer. Ron explained that the Selectboard held off sending the document to the lawyer because they had some concerns about material in the document that doesn’t pertain to the Town of Leicester; such as municipal sewer systems, municipal water systems. Ron thought the document used as a template was poorly written. Tom mentioned that there are references to things that aren’t there. Tom explained that there are a lot of dead ends to it. He explained that if you reference something, it needs to be tied to something. Ron commented that it changes some of the districts, drastically. Tom commented that the change in districts doesn’t work. He’s not sure if just changing the wording would help or not. Regional Planning can have a very broad spectrum. Tom commented that they also held it up because they wanted the document to be clearer and the document flows better before going to a public hearing. Peter indicated there were a couple chapters on FEMA. He indicated that if you don’t have the FEMA standards, and you have an issue, they won’t give any money. Tom stated that the State was trying to keep everyone to FEMA standards and all funding is tied to some regulation in one way or another. All grants and money coming from the State of Vermont is tied to these regulations. Peter would prefer to have this word document on a computer and someone could edit it as they go. He explained how easy it would be to reference a subject and delete every reference to it, if it doesn’t pertain or reference a district and it would bring up every reference to that district to see if it all ties together. Mary Anne mentioned a definition for lot coverage in our current regulations, but nowhere in the zoning districts does it say what the maximum lot coverage is. She thinks this could be a problem. Mary Anne noticed under Article III, permit application, #4, that in other towns, their attorney said you can’t do that. Ron explained that these regulations are old; before the town issued exemptions and in the new regulations, it will be eliminated. The State takes total control. Our regulations are being rewritten. Mary Anne had a question about exemption from permit. She explained a situation she has with a current applicant who purchased 22 acres and wants to rebuild an existing cabin on the same footprint. The Board explained that he would not need a permit for this, but there needs to be some documentation for the assessors. Julie explained that she has reviewed the UDO. She explained to the Board what she has done with editing the document. She has a bunch of questions. Julie thought she could send this document out to everyone; indicating yellow highlighted areas of concern with her questions in red to the PC, Selectboard, Mary Anne and Sandy. She thought if everyone could review the document and block out one hour or hour and a half at the next meeting to go over editing the document. Julie fixed some wording and grammar. The chart needs to be reviewed. She has questions about the flood maps, flood plain and subdivisions. She only did a cursory review and took those three pieces out for now and has only focused on the other material for now as it was too overwhelming. The Board was in agreement to meet at their next meeting July 14th to begin this review. Other Business: None New Business: None Public Comment: None Motion by Jeff and second by Bill to adjourn to ZBA meeting at 7:00 p.m. All in favor. So approved. Respectfully submitted, Sandra L. TrombleySecretary