Planning Commission Minutes

Planning Commission DRAFT minutes 
Wednesday, March 15, 2023 6:30 pm 
236 School Road, Guilford, VT 

Planning Commission members in attendance: Jethro Eaton, Julie Holland, Jeanette Tokarz, Zon Eastes (Selectboard liaison) 

Call to order: The meeting was called to order at 6:40 pm 

Recognition of the Public: Christina Belogour, William Jewel, Energy Committee ad hoc member, Dan Mallach, Dubois and King 

Rules of Procedure: The meeting is conducted in accordance with Roberts Rules of Order and civility 

Changes to Agenda order: None 

Approval of minutes 2/21/23: Jethro Eaton moved to approve the minutes from 2/21/23; Julie Holland seconded. Motion carried unanimously. 

New Business: 
Julie attended the ‘Coffee with Coffey’ 1/14/23 in Vernon. At that meeting Sara highlighted ongoing work in the Legislature to address transportation issues, child care funding, and advance the Clean Heat Standards bill among others. 

Regarding transportation, the app ‘Go! Vermont’ is a rideshare app that could be very useful if widely used. Vernon owns a van to transport seniors; Guilford has no wheelchair accessible vehicle to serve the same purpose. 

Vernon and Guilford encourage residents to sign up for VT-ALERT as part of their Emergency Management Plan. Members in attendance didn’t know if Guilford has a ‘phone tree’ to deploy in the event of an emergency. 

The graphic guide to civics and democracy in Vermont ‘Freedom and Unity’ was mentioned as an excellent resource and is available for download: https://www.cartoonstudies.org/css-studio/cartooningprojects/freedomandunity/

Jeannette gave a brief overview of the whitepaper Identifying Planning Solutions for the Connecticut River Migration System of New Hampshire and Vermont. It discusses anticipated ‘climate migration’ to the region and emphasizes the importance of planning for related housing & infrastructure demands while wisely managing the ecology of the region.

Ongoing business: Why start a housing committee? | HousingData.org 
Dan Mallach from Dubois and King shared his firm’s Strategic Planning Process Public Participation Overview. Robust exchange of ideas ensued. A suggestion was made to host a “Business Breakfast” that would be open to any Guilford business to attend. It would function as a focus group and a networking event. Other key strategies include ‘place-based’ events to involve land conservation-minded residents and an ‘open forum’ type event. After the conclusion of the focus group events, Visioning workshop(s) would be held, which is intended to be immersive and multi-modal. 

The outcome of the process is intended to be an actionable, fiscally responsible, and achievable plan for Guilford to address housing, business growth and land conservation in the near, medium and long term. 

Emily and Dan from D&K will be in Guilford on 3/22/23 for the Town Tour to be organized by Jeannette and Zon. 

New business: 
The proposal to form a Housing Committee was discussed. (See: Why start a housing committee? | HousingData.org). Members were in agreement to move toward the formation of such a committee. First step will be to host a meeting open to interested individuals to discuss the concept and begin the process of committee formation. Jethro agree to lead that effort. Bill Jewel agreed to participate and lend his expertise, especially pertaining to new regulations regarding septic system requirements. 

Adjournment: Julie Holland motioned to adjourn the meeting, Jethro Eaton seconded. Motion carried unanimously. Meeting adjourned at 20:07 

Next Planning Commission Meeting: Wednesday, April 19, 2023 at 6:30 pm

Planning Commission DRAFT minutes
Thursday, December 29, 2022 6:30 pm
236 School Road, Guilford, VT 

Planning Commission members in attendance: Jethro Eaton, Julie Holland, Charles Light, Jeanette Tokarz, Zon Eastes (Selectboard liaison) 

Call to order: The meeting was called to order at 6:42 pm 

Recognition of the Public: Paul Belogour, Linda Hecker 

Rules of Procedure: The meeting is conducted in accordance with Roberts Rules of Order and civility 

Changes to Agenda order: None 

Approval of minutes 11/30/22: Jethro Eaton moved to approve the minutes from 11/30/22; Julie Holland seconded. Motion carried unanimously. 

New Business: Adoption of proposed change to the Town Plan 2022-2030. Proposed changes reviewed at the Public Hearing held on 12/27/22 were listed by Jeannette. Jethro Eaton moved to approve the changes; Julie Holland seconded. Motion carried unanimously. 

Jethro motioned to adjourn the meeting. Julie seconded. Motion carried unanimously. The meeting adjourned at 6:47 pm 

Next Planning Commission Meeting: Wednesday, January 18, 2023

Planning Commission DRAFT Minutes
Wednesday, October 19, 2022, 6:30 p.m.
236 School Rd, Guilford VT

Planning Commission members attending: Julie Holland, Charles Light, Michael Szostak, Jeannette Tokarz, Jethro Eaton Zon Eastes (Selectboard liaison)

Call to Order. The meeting was called to order at 6:30 p.m.

Recognition of the Public: Dolores Clark, Bill Jewell (Conservation Commission liaison)

Rules and Procedures: No changes. Follow Roberts Rules and basic respect and civility

Changes to Agenda. None 

Approval of Minutes:  Michael Szostak moved to approve the minutes from the September 6, 2022 meeting and Charles Light seconded. The motion was carried unanimously.

NEW BUSINESS

FYI Discussion on the Guilford Community Church Act 250 filing re their proposal for a pavilion and other amendments and changes to their original Act 250 filing from when they moved the church and re various water issues. The notification was meant as a heads up and no review will be required until it is formally submitted for Act 250 approval.

FYI Discussion of : Municipal Planning Grant opportunities Bylaw Modernization Grants and Municipal Planning Grants. State priorities for grants include equity and housing. Zon spoke about a recent meeting on housing with other Windham County towns to discuss possible joint efforts. Bill spoke about sewer and waste water issues as well as the need for low income housing. Dolores asked if we will be guiding these housing priorities or promoting them. 

FYI Discussion of: Downtown and Village Center Tax Credits. Commission discussed the best way to disseminate this information to the public and possibly interested institutions in town. The money cannot be used for town buildings.

OLD BUSINESS

Missed Reformer deadline for warning on public meeting re town plan updates and changes. Those changes to the TP concerned updating maps, and changes to history tax abatement sections and changing the language in the waste water portion. A public hearing will be scheduled for November.

There have been eleven emails responding to the RFP proposal for a consultant. One actual bid has come in. RFP was distributed as per WRC recommendations and we have encouraged local planners and companies with experience and expertise with rural Vermont towns to apply. Dolores asked: why do we need this consultant, where is the money coming from and is there a cap on the spending?

Jeannette talked about need for a strategic plan as a vision for the town in broad terms, but a consultant will help make it happen. Planning Commission and Town Plan provide guidance, but a consultant will help us identify priorities and implement solutions. Other reasons for hiring a consultant were: the lack of expertise in planning on the Planning Commission; good to have outside perspective, especially from someone who has experience and skill in working with small, rural, Vermont communities; an ability to leverage an initial investment of $25-$40,000 into much larger grants to implement the projects that are identified as priorities to the town; in short, not having to reinvent the wheel. The most likely source of money to fund this position would be ARPA funds.

The group also discussed the qualities we wanted in a consultant:

• Local experience and references from towns like Guilford
• Competent communication skills
• Familiarity with state, private and federal resources

The deadline for response to the RFP is 10/31/22. We all agreed that we should feel free to reject all of the RFP respondents if none seemed appropriate.

It was noted that it is the one year anniversary of the present Commission membership. The group discussed immediate goals and issues: hiring a consultant; working on Local Hazard Mitigation Plan; budget due on 11/18; the need for members to renew membership on a three year basis as we are now properly aligned so changes in the Commissioners does not all happen at once; whether to expand Commission members. By law, the size can range from 3-9.

Bill spoke about work the CC did for town plan. It was agreed that the CC section was well put together and something of a model that the entire Town Plan should emulate. Discussion about how to do this included: Expand, reformat and unify sections so that the TP works better as a whole and is more cohesive; change goals and actions where they sometimes don’t mesh; add more about the creative and art sector and beef up the historical section; and prioritize 3-5 items in the TP to implement.

This lead to a discussion of the limited authority of the Planning Commission, that can only can only influence policy in town through the agency and within the confines of Act 250, because Guilford lacks zoning or any effective land use planning and enforcement provisions. Perhaps a solution might be to develop a land use ordinance that a majority of the town would support instead of exploring a more ambitious land use program at this time.

Mike motioned to adjourn the meeting, Jethro seconded and it carried unanimously. The meeting was adjourned at 7:42pm.

Next Planning Commission Meeting: Wednesday, Nov. 16, 2022 at 6:30PM. 

Planning Commission DRAFT Minutes
Wednesday, August 17, 2022, 6:30 p.m.
236 School Rd, Guilford VT

Planning Commission members attending: Julie Holland, Charles Light, Michael Szostak, Jeannette Tokarz, Zon Eastes (Selectboard liaison)

Public: No Public

Call to Order. The meeting was called to order at 6:33 p.m.

Recognition of the Public: No Public

Rules and Procedures: No changes. Follow Roberts Rules and basic respect and civility

Changes to Agenda. None

Approval of Minutes: Michael Szostak moved to approve the minutes from the July 20, 2022 meeting and Charles Light seconded. The motion was carried unanimously.

Proposed Town Plan Revisions Members discussed additions and changes to the Town Plan sections re:

• Abijah and Lucy Prince narrative in the historical section
• Definition of abatement
• Sewer/Wastewater
• Revised 8 maps to replace outdated maps.

Mike moved to accept all of the changes and additions, Jethro seconded and the motion was carried unanimously. It was also decided that the Planning Commission would try to create hyperlinks from map references in the Town Plan to the individual map mentioned.

Followup Discussion re Joint ARPA/PC/FAC meeting of August 3, 2022 The PC members thought the August 3 rd meeting was very productive and served to clarify that the ARPA Committee would be focused on surveying the town re: the general needs and desires of the citizens re spending the ARPA funds while the Planning Commission would focus on strategic planning, both using general funds as well as seeking to leverage ARPA funds for long term planning needs. Ultimately, the disposition of ARPA funds is at the discretion of the Select Board.

Review Request for Proposal for Strategic Planning Consultant The PC members discussed the RFP and made specific changes and additions to the document. We discussed the benefits of a professional consultant vs the PC trying to do it as a DIY project–consulting with various specific experts on individual pieces, ie a wastewater engineer on sewer questions, but the consensus was that we needed a strategic planning consultant to tie together, prioritize, and most importantly, help the PC define a vision and a plan for Guilford, 5, 10, 20 years in the future. Mike motioned to accept the RFP, as modified, and Jethro seconded. The motion carried unanimously.

Because of scheduling conflicts, members changed the next meeting to Wednesday, September 7 at 6:30.

Mike motioned to adjourn the meeting, Julie seconded and it carried unanimously. The meeting was adjourned at 7:53PM.

Next Meeting: Planning Commission Meeting, Wednesday, September 7, 2022 at 6:30PM.