Planning Commission Minutes, 10.25.2023
Planning Commission DRAFT Minutes
Wednesday, October 25, 6:30pm, 236 School Rd, Guilford VT
Planning Commission members attending: Charlie Light, Jeannette Tokarz, , Nathaniel Matthiesen, Marty Ramsburg, Zon Eastes (Selectboard liaison), Via Zoom: Jethro Eaton
Public: William Jewell, Colin Bratton, Transportation Planning Program Coordinator, WRC, Dan Mallach, Dubois & King
Call to Order. The meeting was called to order at 6:45 pm
Rules and Procedures: No changes. Follow Robert’s Rules and basic respect and civility
Changes to Agenda: None
Charlie moved to approve minutes from 9/23/23 meeting, Marty seconded and motion was unanimously approved.
New Business: Colin Bratton presented information about a survey from the WRC and VTrans regarding a possible bicycle corridor running along Route 5 from the Mass border to Canada. The plan would be to encourage local use, promote tourism, and lower gas usage. Colin emphasized that this was a long term project and was only at its beginning phase.
It was brought up that there would need to be places for bicyclists to park their cars for lengthy times and that, in fact, people had been using the Guilford store to park all day and that was becoming a problem for the store. It was suggested that possibly people could be encouraged to park at the church and appropriate signage could be erected.
Colin also suggested that perhaps funding for a scoping study for a bike path between Algiers and Brattleboro could be explored since that would be most useful as a link between the two towns.
The time frame for Route 5 bike survey is November to early 2024.
Zon spoke about the Capital Asset Management program that the Selectboard has embarked upon. While the town’s capital assets are accounted for in a piecemeal manner, a complete inventory of buildings, land, culverts, highways, bridges, etc. needs to be drawn up, including maintenance costs and a schedule for same.
The group discussed plans for the Nov. 11th Public Visioning Workshop at the Broad Brook Community Center. The workshop is divided into six categories: Physical Connections; Business and Economic Vitality; Land Use Planning; Public Facilities and Recreation; Community Communications; and Health and Well Being. The idea is for the town to explore its goals in these areas and to discuss actions and strategies to bring them about.
We discussed each of the topics in some detail and assigned PC members to help facilitate each of the discussions and also to contact members of other Commissions, ie, Recreation, Conservation, etc. to help as well. Dan and Emily from D&K will play a major role in the event which is scheduled from 10-2 and will include snacks and lunch, catered by the Guilford Store.
Charlie made a motion to adjourn, seconded by Marty and carried unanimously. The meeting was adjourned at 8:40 PM.
The next scheduled PC meeting is Wednesday, Nov. 29th , 6:30PM at the Town Offices.