Planning Commission

2/25/2021 - Minutes I. Call to Order Members Present: Mike O’Brien, Chair; Amy Houghton, Vice-Chair; Abby Bleything; Joe Perron; Sarah van Ryckevorsel; Tommie Murray City Staff Present: Eric Vorwald Guests Present: Kristine Lott, Mayor Call to Order by: Mike O’Brien Meeting Start Time: 6:32 PM Minutes Recorded by: Eric Vorwald II. Changes to the Agenda None III. Public Comment None IV. Approve Previous Meeting Minutes Decision: 5 – 0 Motion by: Amy Second: Tommie Approved as drafted. V. Public Hearing on Amendments to Articles I, II, IX, and Section 5.1 At 6:35pm a motion was made by Sarah and seconded by Tommie to open a public hearing on the proposed amendments to the Unified Land Use and Development Regulations. All were in favor of opening the hearing. With the hearing opened, Eric provided an overview of the changes that were proposed and noted items that had been updated since the last time the Planning Commission reviewed the draft amendments. Following Eric’s overview, Mike asked for any comments from the public. No public was in attendance. With no public comments, Mike requested Eric review the additional information on multi-unit development when proposed as part of a Planned Unit Development (PUD). Mike requested this be done during the hearing to keep the hearing open and allow for public comments if applicable. Eric provided information on the proposed change that would permit multi-unit dwellings as a conditional use when proposed in conjunction with a PUD. He indicated the Planning Commission could consider this tonight, or postpone to a future discussion when more detail could be included for review, including details on conditions to be included as part of the review. After discussion from the Planning Commission, it was decided to postpone the discussion to a future date to allow time for additional information to be presented. With no other comments or  Eric provided information on the proposed change that would permit multi-unit dwellings as a conditional use when proposed in conjunction with a PUD. He indicated the Planning Commission could consider this tonight, or postpone to a future discussion when more detail could be included for review, including details on conditions to be included as part of the review. After discussion from the Planning Commission, it was decided to postpone the discussion to a future date to allow time for additional information to be presented. With no other comments or public input Tommie made a motion that was seconded by Amy to close the public hearing. All were in favor and the hearing was closed at 7:18pm. With the hearing closed, Amy made a motion that was seconded by Sarah to forward the proposed regulatory changes, as amended to City Council for their consideration. All were in favor. VI. Review of Article III – Downtown Core Zoning District Regulations Eric provided an overview of the draft regulations and indicated that there were few changes to the provisions of the Downtown Core Zoning District. He stated that this was mainly a reformatting and codification of the existing regulations to better align the standards with the rest of the Unified Land Use and Development Regulations and move the provisions of the Downtown Core Zoning District from Appendix C to Article III. Eric reviewed the information and discussed the changes that were being proposed. He noted sections where language was being moved and also what new language was being included as well as what language was proposed for removal. The Planning Commission asked questions along the way for clarification on several items. Ultimately the Planning Commission agreed with the proposed changes. Eric indicated he would update the draft to show a more complete version of what was changing and bring that back with any other references that needed to be changed. VII. City Updates Mayor Lott began City updates with a follow-up to an email that the membership received. She stated that City Manager Jessie Baker would be leaving the City to become the City Manager for the City of South Burlington. The Planning Commission discussed the impacts this would have and highlighted several of the ways in which Ms. Baker has made the City a better place. Mayor Lott also discussed a training opportunity that would be coming up in March related to structural competency and cultural humility. Eric noted this training was tentatively scheduled for March 25th, the same day as the second March Planning Commission meeting, therefore the Planning Commission meeting would be cancelled to allow the members to attend this training. The Mayor also reminded everyone of Town Meeting Day and provided an update on the City’s COVID status. There was also a follow-up discussion related to the historic resources presentation at the City Council meeting and the proposed development on Lot 9. VIII. Other Business Eric indicated the next meeting would be on March 11th and that the Planning Commission would finish its review of the Downtown Core Regulations and begin the full review of the Form Based Code. There was additional discussion regarding the proposed amendments that had previously been discussed for the Form Based Code related to the siting standards. A desire was indicated at advancing these changes sooner than later to ensure they could be utilized by developers. IX. Adjourn Motion by: Abby Second: Amy Meeting End Time: 8:12 PM