BRANDON PLANNING COMMISSION

May 19, 2008

Planning Commissioners present: Ethan Swift, Linda Stewart, Jon Andrews, Matt Carmolli, Anne Bransfield

Others present: Charles Jakiela, Dayle Ann Stratton

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

Minutes - Motion by Stewart/Bransfield to approve the minutes of the April 24, 2008 public forum as written. Passed.

PC Committee membership

Ethan introduced Dayle Ann Stratton who is interested in joining the Planning Commission. Dayle Ann brings a great deal of experience as a planner and interest in the Brandon community. Dayle Ann has submitted a letter of interest to the Selectboard.

Town Plan updates and process

• Review of final materials from the RPC including (Ethan distributed a CD with these materials):

• Tracks all of the changes as of April (PC's changes, plus any additional things we had done prior to the last public forum).

• A version that accepts all changes and then tracks additional changes based upon the thorough review conducted by the RRPC. 

A discussion of these suggestions ensued and covered the following Town Plan Chapter issues: 

• Chapter arrangement - discussion of chapter structure to ensure good flow and logical progression that would serve as a good road map of the town plan. The intent here is to ensure the ease of readability and most appropriate sequence.

• Chapter 1. Introduction - should the list of projects be updated, referenced as an appendix or simply eliminated as many current projects already appear in their respective chapters? The intent is to avoid duplicative listing as well as not to have the Town Plan appear immediately dated in listing project items.

• Chapter 2. Vision - We need to ensure that overall goals in the vision section are consistent with the goals from other sections of the Town Plan.

• Chapter 4. Public Facilities - updates still needed for water supply and wastewater treatment status. Need to consult with Ray County on water supply issues.

• Chapter 5. Housing - Charlie will look into updating the number of permits that have been referenced.

• Chapter 11. Natural Resources - Ethan will update references acreage in AG and whether a forest management plan was ever developed for the town forest.

• Chapter 12. Transportation - missing "objectives" - discussed the duplicative nature of the objectives and recommendations. It was determined that these could and should be characterized separately, as the recommendations should serve as the implementation strategies for the objectives. Also, there was some discussion about the meaning of "collector roads."

• Chapter 13. Future Land Use - Anne will look to update trends for future land use.

Other emerging issues to consider with respect to changes to Chapter 117 and other matters:

-     Child care section - RRPC has drafted a new section (see Chapter 6) as per Chapter 117. PC members are encouraged to review this and bring suggestions, additions to the next PC meeting. Charlie suggested contacting Leslie Mitrano with more details about the nature of child care in Brandon. We should also look to define terms, identify after school programs, and include in technical references.

-     Issue of Low Impact Development. Discussion centered on including LID language into the future land use section and specifically as it applies to designated growth centers. Discussion ensued about affordable housing and how that may be reflected in projects such as the Neshobe Farms proposed development.

-    Energy - PC members agree that the issue of energy deserves a separate section in the town plan as per revisions to Chapter 117. Ethan suggested forming a sub-committee to look more closely at this issue. Under the new Chapter 117, "energy" is defined as significant enough of an issue that it could merit its own chapter. Chapter 117 says municipal plans should include "an energy plan, including analysis of energy resources, needs, scarcities, costs, problems within the municipality, a statement policy on the conservation of energy, including programs, such as thermal integrity standards for buildings, to implement that policy, a statement of policy on patterns and densities of land use likely to result in conservation of energy."

Anything we decide to keep would need to be input into the version #1 (on the CD) so we end up with a fully tracked plan to provide to the Selectboard and other interested parties.

• Technical update - Chapter 117 and consistency with the BLUO

• RRPC also created a document that makes notations of things the PC should make note of in the documents. Tara has called out areas that were specifically amended for Chapter 117 purposes and any things they’ve tagged with regards to the BLUO (see above notes regarding changes to Chapter 117).

• Updated maps - but not consistent. Ethan will address this with the RRPC - GIS manager.

The Recreation section comments from the Recreation Committee were also briefly addressed.

Zoning Administrator's update

Charlie provided a summary of his work to date. The report was very informative, but lacked some of the detail regarding permits issued, etc. Charlie indicated that he would submit an updated and amended version that would include this information.

ZA Position and Selection Committee (Charlie recused himself from this discussion)

Discussion focused on frustration of not moving forward with ZA nomination. Many questions were posed regarding the lack of meeting by the Selection Committee and unavailability of the ZA applications for review. Ethan thought to try and address this issue with the Selectboard and Town Manager one more time.

Next meeting - Next meeting date has been set for Monday, June 2^nd, 7 PM at the Library. The PC will go back to meeting on the first and third Mondays of each month to stay on task for completing the Town Plan update process in a timely fashion.

Adjourn - Being no further business, the meeting adjourned at 9:00 pm.

Respectfully submitted

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Ethan Swift, Chair