Brattleboro’s new, proposed district boundaries were presented and discussed at the regular meeting of the Selectboard. The presentation was an introduction to new land use regulations the town hopes to adopt later this year. It is a big, important change for the town, and the board was sad that no one was there to report on it, or even attend. No one!
Also at the meeting, Selectboard goals were approved, distillers will be featured at a Heifer’s event in June, police officers were sworn in to new positions, the ADA Committee is restructured, and more.
Read on for more. And don’t tell the Selectboard! They don’t seem to know we do this.
Preliminaries
Chair David Gartenstein thanked firefighters for their “diligence and hard work” extinguishing the fire in West Brattleboro on Monday.
Town Manager Peter Elwell had no remarks.
There were no selectboard comments or committee reports.
There was no public participation.
Gartenstein was prepared to adjust the agenda so that the assembled police officers could be sworn in by the Town Clerk, but Annette Cappy wasn’t there yet, so they moved on.
Liquor Commissioners
Appalachian Gap Distillery, Champlain Orchards, Go America Go Beverages, Saxtons River Distillery, Vermont Distillers, and Vermont Spirits Distilling were all granted special event permits for an event to be put on by the Strolling of the Heifers on June 5 from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m.
Founder Orly Munzing said the group was working hard to have an agricultural Mardi Gras for Brattleboro. Whiskey, apple brandy, bourbon, rye, and other spirits will be served.
David Schoales said he went to the event last year, and they were good about checking ID’s. He said he especially enjoyed the maple bourbon, and bought some to share with friends.
“is Annette here?” asked Gartenstein after approval of the permits. She wasn’t.
Selectboard Goals, and Timeline
The Brattleboro Selectboard discussed their goals for the year at their last meeting. This week, they adopted them along with a proposed timeline for accomplishing items on the list.
With dates, the goals are as follows:
• Determine scope of Police-Fire project by 9/30/15 and obtain public approval by 12/31/15.
• Complete Comprehensive Review of Town Operation by 7/31/15.
• Adopt a Long Term Financial Plan by 9/30/15. Look for ways to increase revenues other than property taxes. Prepare for possible transition to program budget format in future years.
• Participate actively and effectively in distribution of WCEDP (Entergy) funds, emphasizing private sector job creation and retention.
• By 10/31/15, define Town’s role in economic development in partnership with others.
• Implement Pay As You Throw by 6/30/15.
• Convene Regional Hub Committee in May and develop strategy by 12/31/15.
• Adopt updated land Use Regulations by 8/31/15.
• Adopt final plans for a Skate Park and Dog park at Living Memorial Park by 2/29/16.
• Review and update Procurement Polices and Employee Handbook by 2/29/16.
David Gartenstein asked if the Town Manager planned to give an overview of the comprehensive review and financial planning. Elwell said it was on next week’s agenda.
“Is Annette here?” asked Gartenstein after approving the goals. “It’s our mantra this evening.” She wasn’t there yet.
Municipal Center Fire Alarm System
J. King Electric of Vernon received a $36,800 contract for installation of a new fire alarm system for the Municipal Center. This is the first of a series of improvements necessary to bring the building up to the current safety standards and fire codes.
The new fire alarm system will work within the current configuration of the building, but also be ready for connection to a new sprinkler system to be installed at a later date. Town Manager Peter Elwell told the board that the agreement with the state was to work as quickly as possible and have all work completed within two years.
The fire alarm system project budget will be $52,785 in total, which includes the cost of equipment, installation, some painting and patching, coordination with the elevator company, project managing costs, and a 10 percent contingency.
This phase of the overall project is under the $80,000 estimated cost. Elwell said it was “far better pricing than expected” for the first phase of the work.
Elwell said future uses of the building wasn’t relevant, as there would be staff and public inside the building, daily, for the foreseeable future. “A private employer couldn’t have a building like this.”
John Allen asked if the current fire alarm system had ever failed. Elwell said the problem was that the current system couldn’t detect and warn of fires in all parts of the building. He said a fire “ could start in some places and people wouldn’t be warned in time.”
The project should get underway by the end of the month and be done in about four weeks.
After the board approved the project, Gartenstein noted that Annette Cappy had arrived. So, without further ado, he… asked Peter Elwell to talk briefly about Union Hill.
Elwell said work had begun and would continue at Union Hill “for the next few weeks at least.” He said the project aimed to make it safer for pedestrians at the intersection with Western Avenue.
Gartenstein warned that traffic could get bottled up there, and asked that everyone be patient while the work is completed.
Police Department Swearing In
With everyone in place and a short introduction by the Town Manager, Brattleboro’s Town Clerk, Annette Cappy, swore in most if not all of the Town’s police officers Tuesday night.
The occasion was in honor of Officer Jason Hamilton joining the force after graduating from the Vermont Police Academy, and current staff having new ranks —patrolman Carl Warner being promoted to Sergeant and Lieutenant Penny Witherbee being promoted to Lieutenant.
Chief Mike Fitzgerald and a dozen or so other uniformed officers joined in and re-swore their oaths along with the honorees. There was applause, and the police filed out.
Zoning Code and Land Use Regulations Presentation
In preparation for adoption of a newly-revised set of Land Use Regulation, Brattleboro’s Planning Services department is giving presentations to the board on key aspects of the changes prior to their official public hearings. Tuesday’s presentation centered on our new district boundaries.
David Gartenstein wanted it to be known that this was a comprehensive re-write of the town zoning ordinance, which can have a “significant impact on development and property rights.” The goal, he said, was to have them approved by the end of August. The only problem? “There’s no press, and no one here,” he said to BCTV’s microphones and cameras.
Rod Francis and Sue Fillion took turns describing the proposed new zoning districts by taking the board on a tour of the town, via a slide presentation.
You can look at the map of the new boundaries here, https://www.ibrattleboro.com/pictures/draft-brattleboro-zoning-map-2015 and read a full copy of the proposed changes at the Planning Services office at the Municipal Center.
Fillion began in West Brattleboro to describe the Village Center district. She said the overall intent is to protect and enhance these districts, preserving it as a gateway and mixed use area. The new regulations will allow more uses, and tighten the existing boundaries. There will also be building design standards to ensure things are in scale and form similar to existing buildings.
The Rural Business district, she said, is relatively new in Brattleboro, being created in 2010. In the new iteration, there are minor boundary changes, and some building design standards. Gas stations will be an allowed conditional use. Otherwise, no significant changes to the district are planned.
Francis gave the example of the Leader Home Center as a building style that would be encouraged under the new regulations. He said that building preserved the view of the hillside behind, and the style of the building conformed with rural architecture, in contrast to 60’s-era strip malls elsewhere.
Fillion pointed out that the maximum square footage for the Rural Business district was 12,000 square feet.
The board asked about bigger buildings, such as a grocery store.
Francis said West Brattleboro didn’t provide a big enough market to be concerned about a large store being built. “It’s not likely to be a site for a grocery store,” he said. Being in a flood area with static traffic and population, Francis said, gave little reason for developers to risk building something large, and the citizens didn’t want that sort of building. “Market reality complements expectations.”
John Allen had concerns that any restrictions on developers might inhibit building. He asked “what if McDonald’s…”
Francis jumped right in, saying he was very familiar with the economics of McDonalds and that we’re “lucky to have the one we have.” He said there was a low risk of another McDonald’s on Rt. 9. “If they took that very daring step,” he told Allen, they would have to conform to Vermont vernacular architecture and other restrictions.
Gartenstein jumped in to give a warning about finishing at a reasonable hour.
Fillion continued by moving up to Putney Road, and talking first about the Industrial district. She said there were few changes, but it has been simplified and the boundaries, again, tightened up.
Reserved for the Service Center district are larger buildings and large retail operations. The plan calls for eliminating the economic impact study for buildings over a certain size.
Gartenstein added emphasis to the point. “We should say clearly, the big box store ordinance would go away with this new zoning ordinance.”
Also on Putney Road is a Neighborhood Center district, with buildings closer to the road, with buildings of mixed use, possibly retail and residential. Francis said the views from the lower end of Putney Road are a level of amenity that isn’t currently being taken advantage of, and the new approach would solve this.
The tour then moved to Exit 1, showing the Service Center, Mixed Use Neighborhood, and Neighborhood Center districts. “It’s an important gateway for travelers, and could use serious rejuvenation,” said Francis. It is also near the hospital, shopping, and schools.
Part of the problem is that Canal Street acts as a river, he explained — a barrier to cross. “Frequently people drive from one side to the other in preference to walking.” Some hypothetical improvements were discussed.
The board seemed surprised that, according to the data at hand, the seemingly chaotic traffic had resulted in few, if any, accidents.
Fillion said the Mixed Use Neighborhood district is meant for transitional areas between downtown and residential neighborhoods. “We want to recognize the mix of uses and allow for it to continue, but in return we’re more concerned with scale, landscaping, and quality of life issues.” Canal Street near downtown, the Birge-Frost-Willams area, and the area surrounding the Common are examples of mixed use neighborhoods.
The Urban Center, explained Fillion, maintains downtown Brattleboro. The boundaries have shifted a bit. Up to six story buildings will be allowed, with restrictions.
A new district, Water and Recreation, accounts for areas along the rivers, the Whetstone, and many of the public parks in town. Depot Street and Rt. 30 are examples of locations. This district will allow for residential and offices, but will encourage development that takes advantage of the public water asset, both the views and access.
“We want to encourage access to the water with a more responsive and sensitive read of the landscape,” said Francis.
Schoales asked if the Farmers’ market would be allowed, as it would be in a Water and Recreation district. He was assured an open air market would be allowed.
The Industrial district near Exit 1, surrounding the Delta campus, was covered, as was the Institutional district, covering places of education or healthcare.
Existing Planned Unit Developments, said Francis, were their own little zoning districts. The new PUD process would be taken up at a later date, but he said it would be much more simple.
The final district to be discussed was Residential. The major change here being a change in density of housing. The new goal is to give everyone a bit more space, and a 12 unit per acre limit will be the regulation.
With that, and rather than proceed with a second slide show about preserving the rural character in West Brattleboro, the board and guests decided to pause, and schedule more presentations for future meetings.
In doing so, they added one more meeting for themselves, making it six meetings in a row.
Schoales asked if there was anything else they could do to get the information out to people. Fillion reminded him that people did, in fact, watch BCTV.
The selectboard all waved to the cameras and said hello to an absent reporter.
Francis told the board that people don’t focus on things until they need to focus on them.
The next presentation will focus on design standards and development review procedures.
Gartenstein said he expected professional developers to get involved at the public hearing stage in the process.
ADA Committee Restructured
The ADA Committee went through a bit of reorganization Tuesday evening. The Brattleboro Selectboard set the number of members at seven, comprised of 2 three-year seats, 2 two year-seats, and 3 one-year seats, and voted to allow non-residents to be on the committee.
With the organization of the ADA Committee established, Elizabeth Snyder was appointed for a three-year term, Bob Sisler and Gary Snider for two-year terms, and Missy Boothroyd, Candace Stoumen and Whitney Nichols in the single-year positions.
Regional Economic Hub Committee Appointment
A bit of housekeeping ended the meeting, with Town Manager Peter Elwell being appointed to the Regional Economic Hub Study Group, replacing Interim Town Manager Patrick Moreland. The group will be holding its first meeting on May 7.
The committee is set up to “investigate the impacts on the Town of Brattleboro of its role as engine of the local economy and host of local businesses and service providers, and to look for potential solutions to those issues.”
Currently serving are Jane Southworth, Spoon Agave, Paige Martin, Paula Schwartz, Michael Bosworth. The Planning Services Director and Town Manager also participate.
The End
Gartenstein ended the meeting by thanking the press that were not there.
Wow, Chris...what an active
Wow, Chris…what an active and precise imagination you must have to be able to create such an in depth report of a meeting you didn’t even attend! Well done, sir!
I know you were being facetious when you said the SB “apparently doesn’t know we do this” but it does seem as though they don’t. ibrattleboro is a perfect way for them to get a handle on what their constituents are thinking about any particular project or change in the town – public input without having to hold a meeting. Yet, it seems that they don’t read the comments on this site or surely they would address the frequently stated concerns of the people they represent. Wouldn’t they? Yeah…probably not.
another excellent non reporting job though.
The Scarlet "i"
Ha. The board seems to like some media in town more than others. Their bias is quite evident, and noticed.
I’m pretty sure at least a few of them do check in and read things here. But no one in the room thought to mention the site. We’ve covered just about every televised meeting of the board for a decade. 200 people read the story within 24 hours.
Rather than being embarrassed or ashamed, or whatever… it wouldn’t be that hard to be, say, proud. Brattleboro is on the map for citizen media – BCTV, WVEW, and iBrattleboro. iBrattleboro has been written about in books, is a subject of study in many journalism classes, and is something other towns would like to have for themselves. Lise and I get invited to lecture and teach others about how to do this, students write papers, and so on.
How hard is it to say – “There’s a good chance iBrattleboro will have coverage.” One could even go further and encourage people to contribute thoughts here in the comments, as people are encouraged to write letters to the editor.
….
The new zoning districts are interesting. I like the discussion of Exit 1 and Putney Road. Not sure how the design standards will go over once developers realize they will exist, but from the basic presentation it seems like there is some attempt at logic in the regulations. The simplification and removal of confusing or conflicting rules will be a boost to builders in the long run, I think.
I especially like the latest thoughts about views and water access. This could be a good step to take following the Town Plan process, when natural assets ranked high among residents.
Devil in the details, of course, but the introduction made sense to me.
iBrattleboro has been written about in books...
“iBrattleboro has been written about in books, is a subject of study in many journalism classes, and is something other towns would like to have for themselves. Lise and I get invited to lecture and teach others about how to do this, students write papers, and so on.”
I wonder how many readers and contributors knew this. Very impressive. From the little I know about your and Lise background it is fitting to the task.