Planning Commission Minutes 08.26.26

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Wednesday, August 26, 2026, 6:30pm, 236 School Rd, Guilford VT

Planning Commission members attending: Charlie Light, Jeannette Tokarz, Marty Ramsburg, Christina Belogour, Michael Knapp, Mike Szostok (Select board) and remotely Jethro Eaton

Call to Order. The meeting was called to order at 6:34pm.

Recognition of the Public:  Michael Alexander, Bill Koch, trails coordinators; Theresa Marcy, Kerri Beebe, Linda and Steve Lembke

Rules and Procedures: No changes, as outlined by Select Board. Basic respect and civility

Changes to Agenda:  None

Marty moved to accept the minutes from the July meeting. Charlie seconded and motion was carried unanimously.

New Business:

We discussed the situation with the cross country and hiking trails in Weeks Forest with Michael Alexander and Bill Koch who over the last three years have created a network of 3 miles of trails within the Forest which is owned by the New England Forestry Foundation (NEFF). The entire tract is 200-300 acres (note: this should be clarified). The are also working on expanding the trail network with adjacent land owners and eventually connecting to the school, creating the “Bill Koch Ski to School” trail.

Michael and Bill explained that the forest had been logged in 2000 and was still recovering from the operation. NEFF plans to log it again this coming winter and has scheduled a walk through with interested parties from 10-11:30am, on September 29th. We discussed then passed a motion to convene a small committee to compose a letter to NEFF, to be signed by the PC, the CC, and the SB, potentially asking them to either:

  1. Give up the commercial logging of the land in the town’s interest. Provide recommendations for incorporating Guilford’s interest in the management of the property.
  2. To pursue less intrusive logging methods, i.e. no skidders.
  3.  If either is not acceptable, to delay the project for another year until a concensus can be reached.

An argument can be made from the Mission Statement of NEFF, as well as the language of the original bequest from the Anthony family stressing how it was to be used for the benefit of the town.

We discussed the Act 250 hearing pertaining to Viking Villages application for expansion to an additional six cabins as well as changing the original application as to the number of events and capacity for public events. There is a site visit at Viking Village at 9:30am on September 16th and immediately followed by public hearing beginning at 10:30am.

Christina recused herself from all discussion and decisions about the matter as it directly concerns her. As the PC has the right to be a party to this proceeding, we unanimously passed a motion for a small committee examine the Viking Village plan and opposition and decide whether we want to become a party to the hearing based on evaluating its impact on the town plan. That committee will report back to the PC for a meeting planned for 9/10 where we will consider a motion to become a party to the procedure.

The next item dealt with the process of updating the town plan which needs to be completed by 2030. Michael Knapp spoke about working with Windham Regional to oriente the town plan toward SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable. Relevant, Timeline) goals–that would translate into software and provide a living management system, capable of change. We discussed how dealing with the immediate issue of the Weeks Forest was an example of the kind of real life issue that would be helpful in updating our plan.

We talked about adding a new statement to the PC charter to the effect that Guilford and the PC are a part of a larger ecosystem of the state and region. A motion was made for Jeannette to write up such a statement and was adopted unanimously.

Marty motioned to adjourn at 7:55, Christina seconded and adopted unanimously.   

Link to video:  https://youtu.be/Qa88Mz86KZc