Planning Commission Minutes 6-26-2020

Publish date: June 26, 2020

Planning Commission 6-25-2020

TOWN OF RUTLAND PLANNING COMMISSION

MEETING MINUTES

 

DATE: June 25th, 2020

Publicly accessible conference line

OPEN MEETING 6:30 P.M.

 

Present: Dana Peterson, Howard Burgess, Andy McKane, Mary Beth Poli, Jerry Stearns and Norman Cohen

Approval of the Agenda:

Mr. McKane moved to approve the agenda. Mr. Cohen seconded the motion. The motion passed unanimously.

New Business: Review recent Act 250 project review sheets

  1. Peterson reviewed the sheets. One is for a horse pasture on East Pittsford Road and the other for a small sawmill project on McKinley Avenue.
  2. There is no action needed for the group currently.

New Business: Review the plans for the Center Rutland Pocket Park for recommendations

  1. Otter Creek Engineering has agreed to provide one additional set of drawings for this project at no cost to the town. Mr. Peterson thanked Ms. Poli for her help to move this project forward.
  2. From the first site visit, there are some neighbors who are interested in being part of the committee to help develop the plans for this park. They will be invited to future planning meetings.
  3. There are two concept plans. One is an early set done by Green Mountain Power. The other is a more recent version done by Otter Creek Engineering. The group needs to review them and discuss which one is more feasible and decide if the two should be merged, to provide a final recommendation to be drawn by OCE.
  4. The GMP map was reviewed first. It shows new parking spaces, near the corner, and new tress and plantings. Parking on the corner would be blocked by trees and shifted into the new parking spaces. Ms. Poli expressed some safety concerns for the location of parking on the GMP map. This should be reviewed at the site visit.
  5. Discussed the possibility of putting a pedestrian bridge across the river, connecting to Old Falls Road. The town has an old covered bridge, but it is not long enough to cover the distance. This would need its own review and engineering. The group decided if there was interest in this, it should be treated as its own project.
  6. The committee discussed the possibility of closing Simons Avenue so parking and useable space for the park could be increased and would reduce traffic and pedestrian interaction. Several options were discussed, and the committee decided to discuss this on the site visit and future meetings to see if this is possible or necessary.
  7. Reviewed the plans drawn by Otter Creek Engineering. This has parking split in 2 separate areas with a gravel path connecting them.
  8. Also discussed the topic of a boat / canoe launch from the beach area.
  9. Mr. Cohen asked who will own the land. A definitive answer was not known at this time.
  10. Discussed the possibility of moving a historic marker, a water trough, from the corner of East Proctor Road and Business Route 4 over to the park with a sign with information about it.
  11. Discussed adding accommodations for portable restroom facilities in the final design. Dewey Field was discussed as an option, but the building is not left unlocked and it is to far from the park site to be a good solution.
  12. Discussed doing a visit to the site to get a better idea of the layout of the area and invite the neighbors to the meeting, before a final list of recommendations are made to the Select Board. Mr. McKane asked for some large printings of the area available for this visit so it can be marked. A site visit is planned for July 9th at 630 PM. This will be a warned meeting.
  13. Recommendations from the site visit will be compiled at the regular meeting on July 16th.
  14. An ad hoc committee will be created for this project. Most of the committee members would like to participate. These meetings will be warned like regular meetings.

Announcements

  1. Reviewed a message from Barbara Noyes-Pulling. She updated the commission on the Otter Creek Solar issue. The Town Attorney will be drafting a letter to the Public Utility Commission. This will clarify the position of the town to the PUC. Ms. Noyes-Pulling has provided all the supporting material to the members via email.
  2. Members of the railway museum contact the town office. Since they do not own the building they cannot approve or deny any requests for the building in terms of relocating it. They suggested we reach out to the state to discuss it with them.
  3. No progress yet on updating the storm water map tool.

Approval of minutes June 4th, 2020:

Mr. Cohen moved to approve the minutes. Ms. Poli seconded the motion. After some corrections, Mr. Cohen moved to approve the minutes as corrected. Ms. Poli seconded the motion. The motion passed unanimously with Mr. Stearns abstaining.

Adjournment:

Mr. McKane moved to adjourn. Mr. Burges seconded the motion. The meeting adjourned at 8:05 PM.

Respectfully submitted, Bill Sweet

 

______________________________________

Dana Peterson

Rutland Town Planning Commission Vice Chair

 

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