Planning Board Meeting

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Wednesday, January 8, 2020, 6:00 pm until 12:30 pm
Highway Garage-9 Jacksonville Rd.
A meeting of the Planning Board

Meeting of Planning Board

Members: (Quorum)

• Absent: Betsy Corner, Member
• Absent: Don Kahn, Member
• Present: Sara Wik, Member, at 6:00 PM
• Present: Jonathan Lagreze, Vice Chair, at 6:00 PM
• Present: Robert Slowinski, Chair, at 6:00 PM
• Present: Loren Feinstein, Secretary, at 6:00 PM
• Present: Gregory Olchowski, Member, at 6:00 PM

See original Agenda Final Minutes

Meeting opened: 6:09 PM

Meeting closed: 7:450 PM

0. Meeting Preliminaries

   • Meeting Opened / Attendance Taken (see above).

   • Minutes Approved: Wed, Dec 4 - Planning Board Meeting

1. Old Business

   • 6:00PM: Master Plan Update Process - Distribute master plan references that were too large to send digitally.

     General Discussion...
     Discussed FRCOG DLTA funding proposals.
     A suggestion was made to create a general standing list of priorities for funding to give to the Select Board for them to have on file, should the need ever arise in the future.
     Suggestions for the immediate proposal for DLTA funding in this priorities:
     1. "Older Driver Mobility and Safety Campaign"- with a specific focus on maintaining or improving our public transit connectivity to major hubs.
     2. "Open Space Plan and Recreation Update" - As a component of the work developing a master plan.
     3."Creative Placemaking" - Suggested as a way to assist and incentivize community improvement and economic development.
     Other priorities for future:
     -"Local Official Continuing Education Workshops" - with a specific suggestion to provide more online workshops and distance learning opportunities.
     -An in depth demographic survey for our local and regional population for use as town planning reference.

   • 6:45PM: Bed and Breakfast/ Short Term Rental Bylaw Update

     General Discussion...
     Discussed short-term rentals vs. bed&breakfast, and our occupation limits in our town zoning bylaw use table.
     
     Discussed benefits and detriment of taxation at our town excise level. There is the option to levy a 0-6.5% excise tax at the town level, on top of the state 5.7% excise.
     
     Also discussed the option of a 3% community impact fee.
     
     Discussed the sprinkler requirement at the state building code level, and its applicability to short-term-rentals and bed&breakfast.
     
     Decided to table this topic for today, while we do more investigation, and pass no recommendation at this point.

   • 7:34: Marijuana Amendment Discussion

     General Discussion...
     Johnathan Lagreze indicated his inclination to present amendments to the marijuana zoning bylaw amendments.
     Gregory expressed concern for making any last-minute changes to the amendment, and he would prefer to see the article passed as is, and then it can be amended at a future date, if deemed necessary.
     The impact of this on immediate pending business interests was acknowledged.
     We decided we cannot take any action on Johnathan's proposed amendments as a board, but we can voice support for it at the meeting as individuals, should we decide to.

2. New Business

   • 7:27: Annual Agenda Creation - Proposal to create a Planning Board general annual agenda for the tasks to be accomplished.

   • 7:30PM: Historic District

     General Discussion...
     Tabled this topic for a future discussion.

   • 7:31: Planning Board Contribution to Annual Report

     General Discussion...
     Sara Wik volunteered to create a draft. Gratitude to her and support was offered by all present.

3. Meeting Wrap-up

   • Next Meetings:
     1. Mon, Jan 27, at 7:00 PM "Planning Board Meeting" -- Highway Garage-9 Jacksonville Rd.
     2. Wed, Feb 5, at 6:00 PM "Planning Board Meeting" -- Highway Garage-9 Jacksonville Rd.
     3. Wed, Mar 4, at 6:00 PM "Planning Board Meeting" -- Highway Garage-9 Jacksonville Rd.
     4. Wed, Apr 1, at 6:00 PM "Planning Board Meeting" -- Highway Garage-9 Jacksonville Rd.
     5. Wed, May 6, at 6:00 PM "Planning Board Meeting" -- CANCELLED -- Highway Garage-9 Jacksonville Rd.

The listing of matters is those reasonably anticipated by the Chair which may be discussed at the meeting. Not all items listed may in fact be discussed and other items not listed may also be brought up for discussion to the extent permitted by law.

Minutes prepared by Select Board Secretary

Minutes approved on Monday, Jan 27, 2020