Planning Commission

SOUTH BURLINGTON PLANNING COMMISSION 8 APRIL 2025 The South Burlington Planning Commission held a regular meeting on Tuesday, 8 April 2025, at 7:00 p.m., in Room 301, City Hall, 180 Market Street, and via Zoom. MEMBERS PRESENT: J. Louisos, Chair; M. Mittag, D. MacDonald, P. Engels, D. Leban, C. Lawrence, H. Riehle ALSO PRESENT: P. Conner, Director of Planning and Zoning; K. Peterson, City Planner; N. Atherton, Planner; K. McCarthy, CCRPC 1. Instructions on exiting the building in case of an emergency: Ms. Louisos provided instructions on emergency exit from the building. 2. Agenda: Additions, deletions or changes in order of agenda items: No changes were made to the agenda. 3. Open to the public for items not related to the Agenda: No issues were raised. 4. Planning Commissioner announcements and staff report: Ms. Leban reported on a trailer-size module that can be added to a house as an accessible addition. An attempt to install one in South Burlington met with a neighbor’s objection. The company had to come twice to the DRB from Massachusetts, which they had to charge the resident for. Ms. Leban said the Commission makes rules that often make a lot of good things difficult. She suggested the possibility of an administrative approval for this type of unit and added that “I don’t like it” shouldn’t be able to stop something. PLANNING COMMISSION 8 April 2025 PAGE 1 Ms. Riehle thought the Economic Development forum was excellent. There was some fascinating data that says South Burlington is getting younger. Mr. Engels said he thought the presentation was over-optimistic and didn’t take such things as downturns into consideration. Ms. Riehle said they were just laying out what could happen, and it is up to the City to make choices and to take the peaks and valleys into consideration. Ms. Leban noted the consultant is from Texas; she also cited the problems with “yes-no” questions in the survey. Mr. MacDonald said he talked with the consultant who recognizes the problems facing the economy and is anxious to help. Mr. MacDonald felt it was great that the City is doing this. Mr. Conner: Town Meeting TV is now doing Planning Commission meetings and providing recordings for future use. 5. Form Based Code: Heights: Ms. Peterson said what she has provided has a maximum of 12 stories. She asked about 14 stories and was told that would require more feet than staff had thought. The consultant was not asked to build out every building to the maximum. There are different types of rooftops provided (e.g., towers). Stepbacks are shown in the visualizations. Mr. Conner said that in this draft they tried to find a sweet spot between “amateur efforts” and something very complex. Members did want to see visualizations for the higher buildings. Mr. Conner showed visualizations with 2 added stories. Ms. Leban said that on a visit to Montreal she was impressed by how different all the buildings are and how it all works (e.g., different materials above the podium heights). Mr. Conner noted that mass timber is becoming more common and wouldn’t require a podium. Ms. Louisos said she still likes the setback idea. Ms. Leban noted how expensive it is to build these types of buildings and wondered if they would ever get built. She also wanted to hear the Fire Marshall’s input. Mr. Conner said there are a lot more codes for taller buildings. He will ask the Fire Marshall if additional/other equipment would be needed as well. PLANNING COMMISSION 8 April 2025 PAGE 2 Mr. MacDonald said there would be a lot of concern from adjoining neighborhoods. Ms. Leban said this would be from both heights and footprints. Mr. Engels cited the need for building envelopes with setbacks, landscaping, etc. Mr. Conner noted that would be expensive. Mr. Engels said he would do it for free. Mr. Mittag asked if something like this could be done on the north side of Williston Rd. Mr. Conner said they picked San Remo Dr. because the lot ownership is simpler. Mr. Laurence said he didn’t want to go too oversize with this because people will assume this is what we are going to do. There is also less room for imagination and creativity. He added than an angle looking down toward the street would also be helpful. Mr. Atherton said he spoke with building designers, architects, etc., regarding issues they have been having. One big problem is how to establish grade from which to measure height. Using “preconstruction grade” is a common issue. Mr. Atherton said this could be solved by going to “finished construction grade” which is more standard in the industry. Mr. Mittag said that could lead to building a house 10 feet above grade to get a good view. Mr. Atherton said there are legal and practical things that limit that possibility such as the limit on the amount of fill that can be moved, and where that is likely to happen, there are already height limits (e.g., Scenic Protection Zone) that can’t be violated. Cost would also be inhibiting. Mr. Mittag cited the model home at Spear Meadows which was built above grade and “sticks out.” He said there are also changes in topography, such as on Kimball Avenue, and there is no way you can determine the grade there. Mr. Atherton said you can align grade to an adjoining street. This has been successful in the Form Based Code area. Ms. Riehle cited the potential for flooding issues and how that would be addressed. PLANNING COMMISSION 8 April 2025 PAGE 3 Mr. Atherton said the next part of the project is to determine how proscriptive the regulations need to be and to use that information to determine minimum/maximum heights while not setting things up for flooding. Mr. Laurence asked about new height limits for duplexes, etc. Ms. Leban said Montral has good examples of “stacked” duplexes which require added height. She also asked why ADUs are limited to one story. Mr. Conner added you also can’t do an apartment over a garage because it would be above the height cap. Members asked Mr. Atherton to research what was discussed and include extra height allowance for ADUs and apartments over garages. Ms. Leban asked to include sloped roofs. Mr. Mittag said allowing addition stories for ADUs would require redoing the whole ADU issue. Mr. Laurence noted the regulation prohibiting building more than one story above other homes in low scale neighborhoods. Mr. Conner said that applies to a building within 150 feet. 6. CCRPC Housing Targets and Act 250 Tier 1B Presentation: Ms. McCarthy said CCRPC has released a potential land use map to the public. It incorporates comments received from the Planning Commission at an earlier meeting. They have been getting some public feedback and are reaching some people who don’t often participate. Members agreed the map looked like what they had asked for. Ms. Louisos asked about the one “orange” area on the map. Ms. McCarthy said if represents a transition area which could merit further planning and brings focus to that area. The area has sewer and water, but it lacks connectivity, so it was a “dilemma.” Mr. Conner noted that Wake Robin in Shelburne has the same situation. What is tricky in South Burlington is that the area is already built out. Mr. Engels said anything outside of that neighborhood is flood plain. PLANNING COMMISSION 8 April 2025 PAGE 4 Regarding using the map, Mr. Conner said it enables communities to make permanent a number of current Act 250 exemptions. He showed a map of those exemptions and the new Tier 1B exemptions (which will expire in 2027). Tier 1B exempts from Act 250 review 50 or fewer homes on 10 or fewer acres; however it does not override local zoning (e.g., habitat blocks). Mr. Conner noted that staff is recommending the City seek Tier 1B status. Mr. Mittag moved to forward the CCRPC potential land use map, housing target and Act 250 exemptions information to the City Council with a recommendation that the Council seek Tier 1B status. Ms. Riehle seconded. Motion passed unanimously. Ms. McCarthy then showed a map indicating new housing targets. Ms. Riehle noted that South Burlington’s targets are the highest in the County and asked why. She noted there is a lot of undeveloped land in Milton. The numbers for South Burlington run counter to the city’s values. Ms. McCarthy said they worked with the Planning Advisory Committee whose aim was to place housing in “cities.” The issue with Milton is infrastructure which puts them in a suburban category. Mr. Conner said he didn’t see this as having to reverse any of the conservation elements the City has in place. Mr. Mittag asked where the 7500 number comes from. Ms. McCarthy said the aim is for this to be put into the municipal plan, and the City would have to demonstrate what they are doing to achieve the number. She noted that South Burlington is already far along. Ms. Leban said what the City doesn’t have control over is transit which goes along with moving people who don’t have vehicles. She noted that Green Mountain Transit is in the process of eliminating bus routes. Mr. Conner said staff has been working with GMT to improve the transit system. He acknowledged that transit needs to catch up. Ms. Leban said it is hard and expensive to park in Montreal, and South Burlington hasn’t begun to address that. It is also cheaper to develop without on-site parking. Mr. MacDonald asked if any weight was given to the type of homes. Ms. McCarthy said “not yet.” They hope to get that information in the fall. PLANNING COMMISSION 8 April 2025 PAGE 5 Ms. Riehle spoke to the need to address the “missing middle.” Mr. Engels cited the issue of education and noted South Burlington already has students in modular units because of school overcrowding. He questioned how many more students would result from 7500 more housing units and suggested it might require a new elementary and high school. He didn’t feel voters would pass bonds for that. He said places like Charlotte have a lot of space for housing. Ms. Louisos stressed that South Burlington has been doing its part. She asked how the city would pay for more schools, fire protection, police protection, etc. She said this feels unfair when other communities won’t have to face those costs. Ms. Leban said building brings wealth. Mr. Mittag said this plan will not increase the tax base. It will increase taxes, and the additional taxes from the building will not cover the needed additional services. Mr. Engels agreed. Mr. Conner said this is an opportunity to challenge the Legislature and tell them they need to help with the resources to build a new school. Mr. Conner showed a graph of the City’s growth rate over the past few decades. He said those 7500 homes are not much more than what the City has been doing. Ms. Louisos said it seems irresponsible for South Burlington to say “sure” while other communities don’t have to deal with this. 7. Meeting Minutes of March 25, 2025 Mr. Mittag moved to approve the Minutes of March 25, 2025 as written. Ms. Riehle seconded. Motion passed unanimously. 8. Other Business: Mr. Conner reminded members that the next meeting will be on 29 April (instead of 22 April). As there was no further business to come before the Commission, the meeting was adjourned by common consent at 9:41 p.m. PLANNING COMMISSION 8 April 2025 PAGE 6 _________________________, Clerk PLANNING COMMISSION 8 April 2025 PAGE 7