Tuesday, June 13, 2011
Members Present: G.
Heyer, M. Hunziker, D. Brown, R. Wimble
Public Present: S.
Taylor
7PM: MEETING WITH SELECTBOARD AND BRANDY SAXON ON
CAPITAL PLAN
Brandy Saxon(hired by the Town to assist the Selectboard and Planning Commission in
producing a new Capital Budget) updated a joint meeting of the Selectboard and
Planning Commission on the process of putting together and approving a Capital Budget:
-
The
need to update demographics.
-
Update
the inventory of Capital items identified by each department.
-
Putting
together a potential projects list.
-
Prioritize
projects.
Brandy
first distributed preliminary copies of funding requests from each town department
that she had compiled from meetings a few weeks previously. These departments included Highway, Fire,
Town Administration, Recreation, Utilities, and Schools. She explained that there has been a slowdown
in population growth but there has not been a slowdown in the number of housing
units. Housing units determine the
Impact Fees. Currently impact fees
benefit the Highway and Recreation Departments and the schools. There was discussion about including the
Fire Department and a future Municipal Building construction as projects to
include in future impact fees. Impact fees can only be used to expand
capacity, not to replace current expenditures.
The cost of increased capacity can be put toward impact fees.
User-funded services cannot use impact fees.
Only taxpayer-funded projects can.
Brandy
explained that the Capital Budget should refer back to the current Town
Plan. The Town has 6 years to spend an
impact fee on a particular project. If
not spent in that time the fee must be returned.
New
education funding laws will no longer allow impact fees to be used for new
bonds. Existing bonds, however, are
still impact fee eligible (for example the current school construction bond
that will be paid off in 2019).
The
Boards need to set priorities then have a public hearing to get public input
before putting together a final budget.
The Selectboard and Planning Commission will need to review proposals
and set priorities. Brandy needs
feedback from the Boards and will update some of the numbers. She suggested a September deadline for a
public hearing. After that meeting,
final numbers can be set and Brandy will then calculate the new impact fees.
7:55
PM: Information meeting ended.
8:00
PM; G. Heyercalled the meeting to order. S. Taylor presented a
letter from the Development Review Board requesting a change in the language in
the new Development Regulations (approved February 14, 2011) regarding the
definition of non-conformity. Skip
explained that there had been a marked increase in requests for variances due
to the interpretation of a diagram on page 39 of the Development Regulations
that changed the interpretation of the degree of non-conformity in the new
Regulations. It was agreed that the
illustration was the problem. There was
consensus that the caption under the diagram be changed to allow the previous
interpretation. G. Heyerrequested the DRB draft new language to show the PC at
their next meeting. In order to amend
the Development Regulations 2 public hearing will be necessary, one each
with the Planning Commission and the
Selectboard, before the Regulations can be changed. This was preferable to an interim bylaw which would have to be
redone every 2 years. The Commission
preferred to do it once and not have to revisit the subject in the future.
General minutes from
April 12, 2011
M. Hunzikermoved to accept the
minutes; D. Brown 2nd. All in favor.G. Heyersigned the minutes.
There
was general discussion on the Planning Commissions role on forming the Capital
Budget with the Selectboard.
The
next Planning Commission meeting is tentatively set for July 12, 2011 at
7PM. The meeting will include the
proposed change to the Development Regulations (variances) and further
discussion on the Capital Budget.
D. Brown asked about paving projects
in town, specifically the proposed Swamp Rd/Fletcer Rd. intersection.
8:45
PM: D. Brown moved to adjourn; R.
Wimble 2nd. All in
favor.
Respectfully
submitted,
Martha
Varney, Zoning and Planning Assistant
Approved:
______________________________, Date: _____________________________
....
These minutes are
unofficial until approved at the next regularly scheduled meeting.