City Council

Winooski City Council Remote Meeting Monday, February 1, 2021, at 6 PM Attend online: https://zoom.us/j/92060315390 Attend by phone: 1 646 558 8656 Webinar ID: 920 6031 5390 I. Call to Order II. Pledge of Allegiance III. Agenda Review IV. Public Comment V. Consent Agenda a. Approval: City Council Minutes of 1/25/2021 b. Approval: Accounts Payable Warrant as of 1/29/2021 and Payroll Warrant as of 01/10/2021-01/23/2021 c. Approval: Gentrification Report d. Approval: Pool Project Completion form for Bond Bank VI. Council Reports VII. City Updates VIII. Regular Items a. Discussion: Lot 9 Act 250 Permit Amendment Application Process – H Carrington, E Vorwald, J Baker • Potential Executive Session under this item Pursuant to 1 V.S.A. §313 (2) the negotiation of real estate purchase or lease options b. Approval: Vermont Economic Progress Council Tax Increment Financing District Annual Report – A Aldieri c. Approval: Grant: Assistance to Firefighters Grant (AFG) & CIP (SCBA) Fund Request – J Audy d. Approval: Grant: VTrans Small Scale Bike- Pedestrian Program – J Rauscher IX. Executive Session: a. Executive Session Pursuant to 1 V.S.A. §313 (2) the negotiation of real estate purchase or lease options X. Adjourn Mayor Kristine Lott - klott@winooskivt.gov Councilor Hal Colston - hcolston@winooskivt.gov Councilor Jim Duncan - jduncan@winooskivt.gov Councilor Amy Lafayette - alafayette@winooskivt.gov Councilor Mike Myers - mmyers@winooskivt.gov Jessie Baker, City Manager - jbaker@winooskivt.gov  MINUTES The Mayor called the meeting to order at 6:00 p.m. Councilor Colston led in the Pledge of Allegiance. Members Present: Mayor Kristine Lott Councilors: Amy Lafayette, Michael Myers, Hal Colston, James Duncan Officers Present: Jessie Baker, City Manager; Carol Barret, City Clerk; Angela Aldieri, Finance Director; John Audy, Fire Chief; Jon Rauscher, Public Works Director; Paul Sarne, Communications Coordinator; Heather Carrington, Economic Development Officer; Eric Vorwald, Planning and Zoning Manager; Robert DiPalma, City Attorney Others Present: Steven Berbeco, Dave Marshall, CEA; Adam Dubroff III. Agenda Review - None IV. Public Comment – None V. Consent Agenda MOTION by Councilor Myers seconded by Councilor Lafayette to approve the consent agenda as presented. Voted and passed 4-0. VI. Council Reports Councilor Duncan – said the Housing Commission had a full agenda and Chief Audy gave an overview of the Public Registry. We also received housing incentivized options laid out and this data will be collected at our next meeting. Councilor Myers – None Councilor Colston – None Councilor Lafayette – said Safe Healthy Connected People loss some folk and we are now recruiting Youth, BIPOC, and New Americans. She said this would be posted on our website. She also said the City Manager’s evaluation is due back by Wednesday. Mayor Lott – she said the Planning Commission is back to two meetings a month. Going over statutory language, expanding conditional use. She also said there is a Public Hearing on Thursday, February 25, 2021. VII. City Updates • COVID Update  o Our Lady of Providence – Outbreak is considered resolved o Last week, we had 6 new cases (compared to 10 last week) in 3 new unique addresses. Thank you to residents who are making this difference. o Testing daily for the foreseeable future and at least through February. This week shifting to more evening hours. ▪ At the OCC ▪ 2 to 8 on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays. ▪ 9 to 3 all other days including Saturday and Sunday. ▪ Daily – can sign up at the VDH website or walk in. All information is on our webpage ▪ All materials are translated and there will be translators on site. o Vaccines for 75+ started today ▪ NO walk-ups. You must register in advance. ▪ First Winooski clinic tomorrow at the Armory ▪ Winooski’s clinics will be on Tuesdays starting on 2/2 at the Armory. ▪ If you or a loved one over 75 needs assistance registering for a vaccination appointment, please call ▪ Healthvermont.gov/MyVaccine or 855-722-7878 ▪ If you are having trouble signing up on-line, the Senior Center can help. Call 655-6425 and we can help. You can also sign up for appointments to use the public computers by calling the Library at 655-6424. o Working with VDH on opportunities for LEP/BIPOC folks to be vaccinated o The most important thing you can do is: ▪ Not spend time with anyone outside of your immediate household ▪ Wear a mask when in the presence of others ▪ Socially distance ▪ Wash your hands • Town Meeting Day Prep/education – www.winooskivt.gov/townmeeting o Ballots – By the 10th o Postcards – in the mail next week. o Town Meeting TV – Wednesday at 5:30 o City/School presentation on 2/17 at 6:00 pm o Night before – March 1st at 6:00 pm Community Services • The Skating Rink in Rotary Park is up and running, and we encourage residents to check it out! We ask that all users wear a mask, and work to maintain physical distance. The rink is open from dawn until dusk. • Join Winooski Recreation and Parks for a night of virtual trivia hosted by Catch The Mania! ▪ Saturday, February 6, 2021, @ 6:30 PM ▪ This special event will be hosted via Zoom. Virtual Trivia is an opportunity for families and friends to work together to show their mastery of general knowledge topics. The gameplay will consist of 6 rounds of 10 questions (see below). After each round teams will have time in their breakout room to review and finalize their answer sheet. Awards will be given to the top 3 teams! ▪ Registration is free for Winooski residents - sign up on the City Website! • The Winooski Memorial Library invites community members to join Winooski Reads, a book group for adult readers (18+)! Join us virtually with friends and neighbors for a lively discussion of each months' selected title and share your thoughts, insights, and reactions to the book. o Free to join - to register, please email Nate Eddy, Library Director: neddy@winooskivt.gov o Virtual meet-ups occur on the last Tuesday of each month: 6:30 - 8 PM o Our first session will take place on Tuesday, February 23, 2021, at 6:30 PM: o The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead: Celebrate Black History Month with this amazing book! o 10 titles are available for checkout and pick up on a first-served basis • Winooski Library Presents Cook the Book - A Virtual Cooking Series o This program aims to engage our residents in a fun and educational (and delicious) experience that can be enjoyed safely at home. Participants can learn to prepare a healthy and delicious recipe in real-time with a featured local chef while introducing new recipes and techniques for any skill level. Please note: a limited number of ingredient kits will be provided to participants (first-served) and made possible by the generous support of City Market Co-op and our guest chefs. o Our first session is with Chef Brian Stefan from Winooski's own Southern Smoke Foods! o Wednesday, February 17, 2021, from 6 - 7:30 PM o This program is free and only available to Winooski residents. Space is limited and available on a first-served basis - to register, contact Nate Eddy, Library Director: neddy@winooskivt.gov / 802 655 6424 VIII. Regular Items a. Discussion: Lot 9 Act 250 permit Amendment Application Process – H Carrington, E Vorwald, J Baker • Potential Executive Session under this item pursuant to 1 V.S.A. §313 (2) the negotiation of real estate purchase or lease options The City Manager introduced Dave Marshall and briefed the Council on Lot 9. It has been under consideration for re-development for quite some time. Adam Dubroff is the property owner and developer and this is his project to present tonight and in your packet that staff put together in re-action to the October ACT250 draft permit that Adam has submitted. Mr. Marshall said he has a long history of Lot 9. One extends back to the earliest days of the Downtown Development project, which was a parcel of land that was conveyed to Pizzagalli Properties. It is a small lot that is located within the downtown. He said there was a development agreement between the parties. This request before the City Council tonight is associated with a request to enable an ACT250 application be submitted for the project. This project has been seen by the City Council previously, actually two different forms. It was the original form back in 2016 and a revised form back in May of 2017 in which the footprint of the building was significantly reduced and the proposal to expand the boundary lines beyond the original lot lines, as they exist today was reduced. At the time back in 2017, the City Council reviewed and amended the site plan by the Architect and Adam to again present the project. At that time there was a number of discussion points with other parties, parking and things of that nature. In order to enable that particular discussion to go forward without and encumbering umbrella of issues over the top of it, the application of the ACT250 application was withdrawn. Prior to that, the City Council had first approved the original back in 2016 and then the amended one in 2017. We are today seeking a new permission from the City Council to submit and ACT250 application to the District Commission and with that, we didn’t know if there is any particular thing that we could do to bring you up to speed. Mr. Marshall presented a presentation on the land and proposed building. There was discussion concerning the parking garage and valet parking etc. The Mayor said that this particular body of Councilors have not really engaged in this project. This is why we put this item in for discussion. We are not going to be in a position to make an approval until we have more time. I have a couple of questions that Jessie raised earlier about the previous iteration, design resulting in a lawsut around parking. It’s not clear to me how your addressing that now and moving forward. Mr. Marshall said we have been working with the City trying to get to a point where we can get Brian Tarrant on line with regards to parking issues. We asked Brian to provide a waiver and he has no interest in doing that without being legally obligated to do so. We have worked towards these issues. Is it any different from what it was before, the answer is probably not. We do think there is the opportunity to utilize the parking space at night. We would love to have a coherent discussion with the City and Mr. Tarrant. The Mayor said with this information alone, we will want to do an executive session. Mr. Dubroff said the ACT 250 application was withdrawn specifically to evaluate different options. There was some discussion concerning the land swap, parking, square footage and utilities. The City Manager said this is an unusual project with so many iterations, so many unanswered questions. The implication of the agreement should be in executive session. MOTION by Councilor Lafayette seconded by Councilor Myers to go into executive discussion at 7:05 p.m. to discuss this item pursuant to 1 V.S.A. §313 (2) the negotiation of real estate purchase or lease options as presented. Voted and passed 4-0. MOTION by Councilor Myers seconded by Councilor Lafayette to invite Jessie Baker, City Manager; Robert DiPalma, City Attorney, Heather Carrington, Economic Development Officer r and Eric Vorwald, Planning and Zoning Manager in to Executive Session as presented. Voted and passed 4-0. The City Council meeting reconvened at 7:55 p.m. The Mayor thanked Dave and Adam for their presentation. She said we spent quite a bit of time re- acquainting with this project. We want to invite you back to present again and come back with more detailed responses to some of the items that staff raised in the memo that was attached to the agenda. I would ask that we get more lead-time with any documents that you have to share or any designs so we can see them in advance. We also want to have some time to advertise to the public so they can whey in to see how the project is progressing. Mr. Marshall is looking to set some period, specific date and which information needs to be in by. The Mayor said we have not set our meeting schedule beyond March; we are waiting because of Town Meeting Day. Our first meeting in March is on the 15th normally they are the first and third Monday of the month. We do have a scheduled meeting on February 16, would that provide enough time for you to put together a response. Mr. Marshall said yes, but will that you give you time to absorb the information. The City Manager said we would need the additional information by February 9 and if the Council also wants staff commend on the developer details, we would need that by Wednesday or Thursday of this week. This will give our staff two or three days to look at it. We can do that, it seems like a very quick turnaround for the developer. Mr. Dubroff said he would like to meet on February 16. b. Approval: Vermont Economic Progress Council Tax Increment Financing District Annual Report – A Aldieri Ms. Aldieri said as part of the legislation related to Tax increment Financing Districts annual reports on financial and performance metrics are required to be filed with the Vermont Economic Progress Council in February for the prior fiscal year. The attached report indicates activity within the district from July 1, 2019 through June 30, 2020 as compiled by the Economic Development Director and Finance Director. Review by Council is required prior to submission of the final document. MOTION by Councilor Colston seconded by Councilor Myers to accept the report for submission as presented. Voted and passed 4-0. c. Approval: Grant: Assistance to Firefighters Grant (AFG) & CIP (SCBA) Fund Request – J Audy Mr. Audy said the Assistance to Firefighters Grant (AFG) opportunity would allow replacement of existing Self-Contained Breathing Apparatus (SCBA). AGF would cover 95% or $187,217.93 of total $197, 071.50. Existing CIP (SCBA) funds will be utilized to meet the 5% match of $9,853.57 and a request to utilize an additional $27,719.786 from the same will be utilized to upgrade current fill station and purchase additional equipment (options) to enhance operational capabilities of new SCBA. He also said we have been replacing components piece by piece and the equipment is not compatible anymore. MOTION by Councilor Myers seconded by Council Duncan to approve the grant (AFG) & CIP (SCBA Fund request as presented. Voted and passed 4-0. d. Approval: Grant: VTrans Small Scale Bike-Pedestrian program – J Rauscher Mr. Rauscher said VTrans recently advertised this grant opportunity for small-scale projects that will be constructed in summer 2021. We are proposing to submit a grant application for the Hickok Street sidewalk replacement and expansion work already awarded and funded for this summer. For reference, the Hickok Street sidewalk construction cost is $173,000. If awarded, the grant would cover approximately 43% of the cost. MOTION by Councilor Myers seconded by Councilor Colston to authorize the Public Works Director to submit a VTrans Bike-Ped Grant for the on-going Hickok Street project as presented. Voted and passed 4-0. IX. Executive Session: a. Executive Session Pursuant to 1 V.S.A. §313 (2) the negotiation of real estate purchase or lease options The Mayor stated that we are looking for additional guidance and we need to do this in Executive Session. MOTION by Councilor Lafayette seconded by Councilor Myers to go into Executive Session at 8:15 p.m. pursuant to 1 V.S.A. § 313 (2) the negotiation of real estate purchase or lease options as presented. Voted and passed 4-0. MOTION by Councilor Colston seconded by Councilor Myers to invite Jessie Baker, City Manager and Robert DiPalma, City Attorney into this Executive Session as presented. Voted and passed 4-0. X. Adourn MOTION by Councilor Myers seconded by Councilor Colston to adjourn City Council meeting at 8:31 p.m. Voted and passed 4-0. ATTEST:_____________________ City Clerk