One of the more spirited and specific discussions of the proposed Land Use Regulations occurred Tuesday evening, the result being a board unable to approve the regulations until further consideration. Remaining issues include clarity of wording regarding signs and whether a new district boundary should be in the middle of the road or not.
The board also received an overview of the proposed budget for next year, where they learned that the starting point for discussions is a budget that increases 4.7%, which translates to an increase to property owners of $43.21 for each $100,000 of property value. This, of course, before adding in any costs for funding Police and Fire facilities, if approved.
It’s early in the process and there are areas ripe for discussion before final rates are set, but there isn’t much proverbial wiggle room.
Preliminaries
The option agreement for the Black Mountain Road property has been completed and reviewed, Chair David Gartenstein announced. He said it was just finalized and will be on the next week’s agenda for approval if anyone would like to come discuss it.
Gartenstein wanted the public to know that the Brattleboro has a “demand for mediation” and will enter a mediation process with Sun Energy, a solar firm the town has a contract with and currently disagrees with as to the meaning of the current agreement.
He also thanked town employees for doing the hard work of fighting fires, investigating crimes, and doing repairs at facilities.
Town Manager Peter Elwell said that a boiler had failed at the Central Fire facility and a new one is being put in that will be compatible with any upgrades in the near future. He said that both of the compressors at the skating rink had failed. The hope was to get one working by Wednesday evening so the rink could reopen.
Elwell said the board would be discussing downtown traffic lights and pedestrian crossings in January. He would like the board to engage an engineer to provide an “engineering-based solution” to traffic safety and flow, but is open to changing the current configuration.
For Selectboard comments and committee reports, Donna Macomber mentioned a productive Arts Committee meeting being held somewhat concurrently with the Selectboard meeting, to look at issues around promoting Brattleboro and arts.
David Schoales said that rate reductions from the solid waste district were likely.
Kate O’Connor repeated that Al Roker would be downtown on Thursday at 9 p.m. “Bring a stupid sign that says Brattleboro hearts Al or something.”
Spoon Agave, of the public, participated during Public Participation. He suggested the town visit business owners to remind them of ordinances regarding keeping sidewalks clear during winter months. He felt a couple of visits early in the season could correct some bad habits.
NEA Our Town Contract
The Brattleboro Selectboard approved the official contract with Andrea Wasserman, Elizabeth Billings and Evie Lovett for the NEA Our Town Grant project, “From The River, To The River.”
They receive $56,000 to complete the project which, over the last two months, has been refined and reviewed to conform with all applicable policies and conditions.
During the review, it was found that the additional step of requiring an implementation plan was unnecessary, and the project can simply begin. “The plan is now folded into the contract,” explained Elwell.
The agreement calls for granite benches, a community portrait, projected water, and a river wall.
The project opening is scheduled for July 1, 2016.
Brattleboro Land Use Regulations
The new era for Brattleboro zoning and land use… will begin next week. The Brattleboro Selectboard decided to ponder the new Land Use Regulations one final week to consider new issues raised during a final public hearing Tuesday evening.
The pause is justified by a number of small issues, and one somewhat big one.
A few simple questions came up:
– Do the new regulations add time to the development process (all permitting processes are by state statute, not locally controlled).
– If we find a problem in the new regulations, can it be fixed or do we have to wait five years or more? (New regs can be changed by amendment, just like old ones. Changes are expected as time goes on.)
– Can definitions of smart growth, noise, signs, campus, and local be added to or changed in the document (Yes, some are already there!)
Things were looking good for the assembled Planning Services team, but David Schoales announced that he had identified an error in the document. He jumped up out of his seat, grabbed maps, and started to make a case for leaving a zoning boundary as it has been in an area in the area of Meadowbrook, Bonnyvale, and Pleasant Valley roads.
Schoales said that the old boundary kept both sides of the road in the same zoning district, but that the new regulations would divide things down the middle of the road. He felt this would be unfair for those living there, who had perhaps planned to subdivide their land and sell it off at some point in the future. So he has heard from those living in the area, he said.
Rod Francis said that the middle of the road approach was taken to be consistant around town. He added that most of those properties could not be subdivided under current regulations, and that topography guided much of the building in that area. Wells and septic systems were challenges in many locations.
Schoales felt that the board needed to balance the consequences of dividing things in the new way, and suggested they keep things as they are. “I don’t see that we’ll lose much to change it back.”
Spoon Agave said he enjoyed reading the definitions of “adult activities” and that it “says so much about who we are.”
Kathy Urffer cautioned the board not to make decisions based on personal, individual relationships, calling it a possibly unethical way of creating town policy. “You can’t fix problems piecemeal for certain people. Decisions need to be made with integrity and thought” she said. “Support the work of the Planning Commission and Planning department.”
Monica , a motel owner, had concerns about new sign regulations, particularly the rules about slowly bringing signs into conformity with new rules. She felt people enjoyed the old signs that contributed character and local history, and that it was expensive for business owners to fully replace signs every time an owner changed or a new logo came along.
It was her objections that identified a contradiction in the proposed regulations, a change deemed “minor” to fix. Francis assured her that if there was a change of franchise, the same sign frames and panels sizes could be used.
Tim Cuthbertson felt the sign regulations as proposed might be a bit too loose as written. “If we grant exceptions (for grandfathered, non-conforming signs), when does it stop?” The intent, he reminded the board, was to get to conforming signs eventually.
He encouraged the board to respond to amendments to this document quickly, to make it a responsive, working document.
Questions from last week regarding forestry were answered in a memo, showing that the new Land Use Regulations support farming and rural businesses, such as a new use being allowed for a “wood products establishment.”
So ended the second public hearing. Francis assured them that most everything was a minor change and could be approved immediately, but that Schoales’ suggestion to alter the district line would be a substantial change, requiring a return to the Planning Commission, new public hearings, and so on.
The Brattleboro Selectboard decided to put approval of the regulations on their next week’s agenda, giving them time to review the newest concerns before voting if they want a change.
FY17 Budget Proposal
Town Manager Elwell provided the board with an overview of a proposed FY17 budget for Brattleboro, including the General Fund, Capital Fund, and Solid Waste Fund. Information about Utilities and Parking will come later. And schools are another matter entirely.
He began by noting that the full proposed budget and his comments are available at the town website, if anyone would like to look closely.
Elwell reported that work on a Comprehensive Review of Town Operations was not yet finished, but valuable insights have been gained. For example, the Capital Improvement Plan is now divided into two lists – large equipment and vehicles, and infrastructure. “We want vehicles to become a recurring expense. Short life items shouldn’t be borrowed for anymore.”
FY17 infrastructure projects will include the Municipal Center Fire Sprinkler, library improvements, street paving, sidewalk repair, windows at Gibson-Aiken, as well as retaining wall and swimming pool repairs (see below). FY17 vehicle and equipment purchases will include computers, police cars, and a dump truck. No borrowing for capital items is expected.
Elwell told the board that Brattleboro must start self-imposing some discipline in buying only what can be afforded without borrowing.
Elwell’s FY17 budget asks that the Fund Balance (ie, our reserves) be tapped for two specific one-time infrastructure projects. Specifically, $150,000 for repair of the Bonnyvale Road retaining wall and $165,000 to repair leaks at the town pool. Brattleboro will retain the 10% necessary in reserve, even with these expenses, with a little to spare.
The proposed FY17 budget is $16,266,502, an increase of $731,603 (4.7%) over this year. Much of that increase is because of a new commitment to catch up on capital needs. By tapping the reserves for the two infrastructure projects, the increase in property taxes can be held to a 3.7% increase, said Elwell. “A $0.0432 increase from $1.1585 to $1.2017, or $43.21 for each $100,000 of property value,” he said.
He cautioned the board that the proposed budget had no numbers included for the Police-Fire projects. “It would be speculative to put any numbers in now.”
Elwell reported that departmental and employee costs are close to level from last year, but that he was including a 2% allowance for possible raises after collective bargaining later in the year. Health insurance costs are budgeted to be up 4%. Retirement costs are expected to increase 1.9%. Brattleboro has 118 full time and 14 part time employees paid for through the General Fund.
Heating oil cost savings helped keep departmental budgets to the current year’s levels. Legal fees are going up 1.2%.
Elwell said there could be some additional savings if Brattleboro chooses to have garbage picked up every other week, and that the more that is bought with cash, the more our debt service levels will drop.
There is no new debt (yet) proposed for the FY17 budget, but we still owe payments for previous obligations in an amount of $1,268,900 for the year.
In terms of new costs for the public, there will be increases in some fees (ie, non-tax revenue) in 2017, for Fire Department banners, Police Department false alarms, dog licenses, and some fees for Recreation Department programs.
No service reductions are being proposed. No transfers from the Capital Fund to the General Fund are suggested, either.
Elwell suggested the selectboard avoid a line by line review of the budget and instead focus on the big picture items, such as how to pay for capital expenses and what to do about garbage collection.
He suggested starting by looking at revenues first, then how to spend it. Spending significant meeting time over the next month, he felt, would get them through the budget process by the end of the year. Police Fire project numbers might be more clear in January or February, and everything should come together into final budgets by Representative Town meeting in March.
Elwell also suggested that the board decide on any cuts to services they’d like to see, and not ask the staff for any more recommendations, which puts staff into the role of making policy.
More budget discussions will follow in the coming weeks.
People write this
Here’s the section Spoon was referring to (I think):
“(3) As used in this subsection:
(a) Adult entertainment use means a store, theater, club, restaurant or other establishment that as a substantial component of the use offers: (i) adult oriented merchandise for sale, rental, exchange, loan or trade; (ii) live or recorded performances by entertainers who are clothed to reveal or emphasize specified anatomical areas and/or whose activities include or mimic specified sexual activities; and/or (iii) services by attendants who are clothed to reveal or emphasize specified anatomical areas and/or whose activities include or mimic specified sexual activities.
(b) Adult media means any magazines, books, movies, photographs, recordings or other forms of communication that are distinguished or characterized by an emphasis on matter depicting, describing or related to specified anatomical areas or specified sexual activities.
(c) Adult oriented merchandise means any goods, products, commodities or other wares that depict, describe or simulate specified anatomical areas or specified sexual activities including but not limited to sexually oriented toys or novelties and adult media.
(d) Sexually oriented toys or novelties means any instruments, devices or paraphernalia either designed as representations of human genital organs or female breasts, or designed or marketed primarily for use to stimulate human genital organs.
(e) Specified anatomical areas means: (i) less than completely and opaquely covered human genitals, anus, pubic region, buttock, or female breast below a point immediately above the top of the areola; or (ii) human male genitals in a discernibly turgid state, even if completely and opaquely covered.
(f) Specified sexual activities means: (i) human genitals in a sate of sexual stimulation or arousal; (ii) acts of human masturbation, sexual intercourse, sodomy, oral copulation, or bestiality; (iii) fondling or other erotic touching of human genitals, pubic region, buttocks, or female breasts, whether clothed, of oneself, or of one person by another; or (iv) excretory functions as part of or in connection with any of the activities set forth in this subsection.”
In a discernibly turgid state
When I first read this on Wednesday, namely: “”Here’s the section Spoon was referring to (I think): “(3) As used in this subsection: (a) Adult entertainment use means””…etc, etc. I couldn’t place it in context, as in where did it come from. When I read it again on Thursday, I no longer cared where it came from, and by today, Friday it made me long for the promiscuity days of New York City.
In 1968 I lived in the enclosed environment of the most sexually active world a young person could ask for – Greenwich Village and other parts of Manhattan. Sex was to be had everyday if you wanted it and if you didn’t want it, not to worry it was there to be had when you did. This “section Spoon was referring to (I think):” could have been an open advertisement. All it needed was a list of the “hot spots.”
Those spots you learn to find by following the “human male genitals in a discernibly turgid state, even if completely and opaquely covered..” A lot of it depended on that body language and more. It wasn’t too long before the horny crowd learned to navigate its way to and through all manner of people, places and things.
The sex interests began even before you left your apartment block, before you got to the subway, in the subway bathrooms, especially before work, and all day long, you could find a “known” private stairwell in an office building, make a run to the closest subway station, meet in the office bathrooms, make your way to an easily accessible rooftop, leave work and head for the stairwells or bathrooms again, stroll to a secluded spot in the park called “The Rambles,” or in the old ramshackle empty piers jutting out into the Hudson River, or, find one of many bookstores that had small private rooms past the magazine and tapes sections, drop in at the nearby movie theaters. Much of this involved various degrees (and positions) of public sex unless you sought privacy in the dimmer lights.
Brattleboro, compared to NYC, is essentially an oxygen starved sexually dead zone of prohibited sexual activity, unless you want to take a 55 minute arduous trek into deep woods, wade across a deep stream and disappear into the overhang of wooded growth.
Come to think of it there is no comparison.
If there was ever a need for a red light district, you’re living in it. Will it ever come to a vote?
More computer hardware?
Good on Mr. Elwell for shifting away from borrowing.
That said, a ~4% increase *before* the new police/fire project? Great….
A question for anyone in the know, looking over the capital expenditures list in the budget document, what on earth are we spending ANOTHER $25k on computers for?
When I looked over the budget last year we were spending tons of money on computers, does someone get a sweet contract at the taxpayer’s expense or is there some legit reason we are spending so much on computers every year?
What specifically will this additional $25k purchase and for who/what?
This would be in addition to:
$14.6k – computer – land records
$30k – computer equip maintenance – general
$14.7k – library computer equip maintenance
These line items are separate from tens of thousands of dollars separately listed as “computer supplies”, software, office expenses and copier expenses.
Call it nitpicking, but as computers and their costs are something I am more familiar with, these expenses jump out to me as odd and I never got satisfactory answers when I asked these same questions last year and this budget needs to be trimmed and 10k here and 20k there WILL add up to help relieve the unsustainable tax burden on residents.
T'is the season to nitpick
Perhaps the town needs a Tech Advisory Committee. It’s 2015 and there’s no one that I know of that is devoted to IT for the town.
The group could be like the Energy Committee, and advise on computers, software, and perhaps developing an income stream by providing municipal broadband utility services to every house and business in town. Fiber everywhere would be attractive to newcomers, and could grow the grand list. It’s a relatively low-cost utility to run once set up, too.
….
How about we build up the DPW and devote more resources to paving our own roads rather than putting out for bid? Same with sidewalk repair. This all can be done in house, if we boost resources in that direction?
….
No one mentions taxing marijuana. Lots of money there for lots of needed projects. Efforts at state level could be supported wholeheartedly, or we could keep raising fees for dog licenses. (I can see some arguing that all we need to do is increase the dog population enough and our budget problems go away!) This would bring revenue, business, and tourists, as our craft beers do.
….
Still wondering why the Police and Fire projects aren’t split into the three projects that they are, and spread out over time. West B could have been done by now, with Central Fire underway, and this year we could simply be finalizing details on the police station. Lumping them together as a single large project dooms all three if there are issues with one. Break ’em up, and stagger the work. (Perhaps, do West B and buy the Black Mtn property this year; next year, let Police use unfinished Black Mtn property and Fire Dept use new station. Third year do Central Fire. Year 5 fully outfit new Police station.)
This wouldn’t be to save money. It would likely cost more. But it would divide it into manageable chunks, and less of a sudden burden on taxpayers.
Land use regulations
It’s a vicious cycle. We need more jobs and affordable housing but nobody can create them because the rules and regulations imposed on businesses who would like to provide jobs and builders who would like to create housing are so strict that few Can afford to create either. Now the town wants to make the rules and regulations more strict which will make the problem even worse. The town has been stagnant for many years. Most of the building projects happen with tax dollars. The constant increase in those taxes has decimated the middle class. If we want to get this town moving and create jobs and housing make this impending change in regulations a loosening of the rules, not a tightening.
Those Police Fire Cost Estimates Again
Option A is to move the police to Black Mountain Road, do West Brattleboro Fire as planned, and do the reduced Central Station. This is the lowest cost option and comes in at an estimated $12,750,000.
Option B is to keep the police at the Municipal Center with similar plans as before, do West Brattleboro Fire as planned, and do the reduced Central Station. This would cost an estimated $13,750,000.
Option C is to keep the police at the Municipal Center with a reduced footprint, do West Brattleboro Fire as planned, and do the reduced Central Station. This would cost an estimated $13,900,000. Why would a reduced size cost more? If selected, this option calls for using renovated basement space at the Municipal Center, and those renovations cost a bit more.
Option D is to do all three as previously planned, at an updated-for-inflation cost of $15 million.
Police / Fire location
in the long term, how can it not be the least expensive to put Police, Fire and Municipal services all in one location together?
We don’t need a fire station in West Brattleboro. Sell the existing town buildings, tear out the traffic lights, stop with all the expensive “expert studies”, cut back on the response time by the fire department, use the police dept for essential uses, cut back on the planning and zoning office, let some paved roads go to gravel, have the town build its own nuke plant to create income for the town and jobs for its citizens.