BRANDON PLANNING COMMISSION

FEB. 4, 2008

Planning Commissioners present: Ethan Swift, Jon Andrews, Anne Bransfield, Matt Carmolli, Jenny Nixon

Others present: Janet Mondlak, Tara Kelley

Call to Order - The meeting was called to order at 7:05 pm.

Minutes - Motion by Bransfield/Nixon to approve the minutes of the January 21, 2008 meeting as written. Passed.

The board discussed their next steps.

•          Need to set up a process regarding the on-line revisions to the Town Plan.

•          Need to develop another public forum.

•          Need to set up a meeting with the Selectboard. Feb. 18 was suggested.

•          For the next public forum, it is hoped that the Commissioners have town plan revisions ready for the discussion.

•          There was discussion and ideas about the next forum.

•         Hope to have stations on each of the different sections of the plan.

•         Utilize the audience at town meeting to promote it.

•         Have a place available for people to see the plan with a broad summary.

•         Or should the next forum be an open house event?

•         There could be different stations with topics.

•          The last forum was very focused on planning, talking in small work groups about major issues, especially with new development and future growth. It will be good to consider what came out of those work groups in the sections being revised regarding housing and economic development.

•          Issues of interest: energy, growth centers, focus on downtown, second story space, and development bubble out to Park Village.

•          Growth Centers - should Union St., and down by the railyard be included? We should take advantage of re-use.

•          Should we do an inventory of parcels in town? Should we update the parcel data? It is not very current or user-friendly. This should be discussed with the Selectboard and explained that it is a priority for the Commission. There should be an attempt to get an endorsement from them for this type of work in order to solicit grants.

•          Where should our future efforts be placed?

•          At the public forum, the participants stated that growth around McConnell / Route 7 is not a high priority. People were not looking for more robust growth there. The land use district map tags the area as High Density Multi Use. There is a disconnect. If the Commission wants to discourage growth in that area, the zone needs to be changed. The Planning Commission needs to decide how to handle that. Some of that land is in land trust for agriculture land. Can the Commission work on character development to make it clear that development there will be treated differently regarding screening, setbacks, etc.?

•          Also for the Selectboard, the Commission would like to find out about the proposed Land Use Ordinance amendments.

•          The Commissioners need to develop a timeline of the remaining public process. They need to identify areas they feel should be given attention.

•          Do the Commissioners want to pursue designated growth centers? If so, Selectboard endorsement is needed.

•          Parcel data - Need to explain to the Selectboard why it should be updated and hopefully get an endorsement from them to seek funding.

•          Look into potential changes to the Land Use Ordinance. From the public forum, there was strong consensus about the issues of growth and economic development.

•          The Planning Commission would like Selectboard feedback on the process and to find out from them what else the Commission should be considering.

•          Should growth centers be put into the future land use section as a goal? What else is there in the scope of what the Planning Commission is obligated to do? Maybe it is unrealistic to get growth center designation at this point. It could be a recommendation, as could parcel data update.

•          Those items could be part of the work plan for the Commission after the Town Plan is complete.

•          The Commission should also consider doing a capital budget plan to identify infrastructure, deficient roads, etc.

•          The Growth Center Designation application is a very involved process.  

•          The Planning Commission has the obligation to make sure there are resources for future work. If there are strategies in the town plan, i.e., putting in a bike path, the Commission could spend energies looking for a grant for implementation.

•          The Commission will provide a Word document with tracked changes to the Selectboard with the Town Plan revisions. The census and statistical data is not yet needed. Tara said those parts are about three-quarters finished.

•          Tara will read through the Plan with the revisions for conformance with the Land Use Ordinance before it goes to the Selectboard. Tara can make recommendations on formatting to make it look like it was written by one author.  It will be important for the Selectboard to understand the Commissioner’s changes and to see their thinking.

•          The Commission needs input from the Selectboard before moving forward with a forum on the major sections.

Each Commissioner will write a short summary of the changes to their section for the Selectboard. The summaries are due by February 13, as well as the final Google versions of each section.

Feb. 18 - proposed joint meeting with Selectboard

March 3 - Town meeting - no Planning Commission meeting

March 10 - Planning Commission meeting

March 4 - Public Forum - It was decided to hand out information, have presentation boards with information, and to conduct a survey at voting

Saturday March 8 was chosen as a date to have an open house for people who would like to comment but did not do so at Town Meeting. Jenny will organize this.

March 24 - Planning Commission meeting

Tara asked each Commissioner to write key questions they feel are unresolved from their section. These will be addressed in the survey. They should be submitted with the summaries.

Commissioners have not been getting monthly zoning summaries from Charlie. Ethan will check into this, as well as the Land Use Ordinance amendments.

Adjourn - Being no further business, the meeting adjourned at 8:30 pm.

Respectfully submitted

____________________
Janet Mondlak, Recording Secretary