 So I've got 6pm on Monday, May 17th. I will call to order this meeting of the Wynuski City Council. Please join us in the Pledge of Allegiance led by Deputy Mayor Hal Colston. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible with liberty and justice for all. Thank you. You're welcome. So first up is Agenda Review. Any questions, concerns about the order of the agenda tonight? All right. Next is public comments. So this is an opportunity for members of the public to speak if they want to address a topic that is not covered in tonight's agenda. If you are here for an item on the agenda, please wait till we reach that. So if there's anyone who wishes to make public comment about an item not included here, now would be the time and you could use the chat or the raise hand feature to let us know. Right. Seeing no public comment, I'll move to our consent agenda. We have the liquor control and city council minutes from May 3rd, the payroll warrant of May 13th and for the period of April 18th, May 1. P.A.C. appointments and a keeping of chickens, P.A.C. Planning Advisory Committee, sorry, and a keeping of chickens application. Are there any questions or concerns about the consent agenda tonight? So hearing none, I would entertain a motion to approve the consent agenda. So I'll move. Second. Motion by Mike, second by Jim. All those in favor, please say aye. Aye. Aye. Motion carries. Thank you. So we are at council reports. Mike, can I start with you tonight? Sure, I have nothing to report tonight. Thank you. Hal, let's let's move to you. Well, thank you, Mayor. Happy to report that last week, the Senate approved our charter change. So it's now through the general assembly process. Now it goes to the governor's desk. So we anticipate it'll be signed and and we can move forward with our charter changes. I attended the the State Healthy Connected People Commission meeting on May 11th. There was some discussion, and it's actually, I think, a meeting for some of the new commissioners for their first time. And they were talking about the need for filling in a secretary position. So they'll figure that out, I think, by next meeting. The police department reported that they have an opportunity to hire three officers of color. And Chief Hebert is very excited about this opportunity so that our law enforcement staff begins to best reflect the makeup of our community. Chief Audi also reported that he has new recruits lined up for the fire department to be hired and trained in the next few months. The pool has had some winterization challenges and the contractor, I believe, is on site to resolve these issues. The hope is that everything will go according to schedule as has been planned. The creamy vendor has been contracted, as we know. I think we learned that last meeting. And we had a presentation from the Wenduski Partnership for Prevention. It was a very informed presentation about how do we make sure we're doing our best work to make sure our young people are safe from from drugs and alcohol and all those influences. So it was a good meeting. And I look forward to further liaison. Thank you. Thanks, Hal. Jim. Thank you, Mayor. I have nothing to report. Thank you, Bryn. Hi, thank you. Good evening. I don't have much to report on. We some of the agenda items tonight will be covering alternate candidates for Chin-Ninstall Waste District Board of Commissioners. We had to interviews last week and the panelists have selected a candidate. So we'll talk about that soon. I attended the South Burlington Energy Committee meeting last Wednesday just to sit in and see what their structure is, what their agenda and format is and doing a little bit of research on on energy committee meetings to explore some opportunities for incorporation into the infrastructure committee this next coming year. And I have a call set up with John Rauscher and the chair of the infrastructure committee meeting on Wednesday night. So that committee has not that commission has not met yet. So nothing to report on that at this time. And that's it for me. Thank you. So last Friday, we wished a fond farewell to city manager Jesse Baker and would like to just call out for the public that we now have our public works director John Rauscher and our HR manager, Phoebe Townsend, filling in as co-managers for the interim while we are in our hiring process. For council's reference, they're going to sort of split city updates based on the roles that they're overseeing and we'll have their various agenda items to them. So essentially they'll both be here for every council meeting and supporting us. The search committee, the city manager hiring search committee is currently working on interview questions to ask candidates. So we are moving along in that process as expected. We are putting together a bank of questions so that interviews have parity and each candidate has the opportunity to respond to the same prompts. And the last meeting had some really robust discussion about gleaning from candidates why they specifically want this role in the new ski. So it's really good. We are meeting again on Monday at 5.30 p.m. advertising that meeting just like all the rest on the city's updates from Portora and Facebook, everything like that. Since our last meeting, the finance commission continued to work through some of the financial policies including internal controls and risk management. And we will start seeing we have some of those on the agenda tonight. So we will start seeing what they have been approving over the last couple months. The planning commission also continued with form-based code review and they reached the section about the bonus story incentive in our form-based code that aims to incentivize developers to build middle-income affordable housing and or meet certain energy standards. So two years ago at our priority and strategy session, we charged that commission with coming back to us with recommendations to change that incentive because it's not working. Developers aren't accessing it so it's not. We either need a different incentive to offer for those two pieces that we're trying to incentivize or we also might consider what it is that we're incentivizing if those are still the right topics. So for the energy efficiency standards, we're finding most development is meeting those anyway. So maybe we want to look at something else. So I think this is something we will likely take up in the priority and strategy session or coming out of that so we can give some guidance back to our commissions. Last thing, I was invited to a ribbon-cutting for the Vermont Patriots Soccer Club's first home game in Winooski at Landry Park. That's an organization that the city has been partnering with to offer a high-quality soccer program at lower no cost to Winooski residents and I guess this is the first time that they play a game here since they started working in Winooski. So it's very exciting. With that, I'm going to turn it to Phoebe first for city updates. Thank you, Mayor. So bear with me. I have a number of updates. So the first update is around our COVID situation in Winooski. So for the most recently reported week, we saw six new cases and we've seen a study weekly decline in a number of positive cases reported in Winooski. So that's great. In the coming week, we hope to receive community-level data around vaccination rates and we'll begin to assess ways to address any gaps in vaccination that we identify. And also, Vermonters from ages 12 to 15 are now eligible to get the vaccine. So if residents need assistance with registering to get a COVID vaccine, they can call the library at 802-655-642-4 for support. And on Friday, the 14th, the governor announced that because Vermont has already hit its necessary vaccination threshold, with over 60% of the population receiving a first dose, it will move into step three of the Vermont Forward Plan. So that's about two weeks ahead of the anticipated schedule. And there are also a number of changes to the masking mandate along with that new executive order. And people can go to the Vermont Department of Health website for more information there. So I do have an update on the City of Winooski municipal services public access plan as well as our safety plan in general. So we are going to be generally taking a phased approach to public access to city buildings and returning to full service hours over the next six weeks. So a news update did go out about this today with a lot of detail in it. So anyone can reach out to us directly with any questions, but essentially we'll be still requiring masks and six foot social distancing inside any city on the building until further notice. So we do have a phased access plan until June 1st. And then we're expanding some hours for various buildings starting June 1st. And then we're hoping to have all of our buildings and services, excuse me, we're hoping to have all of our buildings and services fully open by July 6th. So as I said, more details are available in the news update, but essentially we are opening City Hall from 9am to 3pm until June 1st. The library is still open for curbside pickup Monday through Friday 10am to 4pm and Saturday from 10am to 2pm. We can still do browse and borrow sessions. You can make those appointments online. And the Senior Center and the O'Brien Community Center are still close to the public, but for bio appointment. Parking is being enforced downtown and we're still encouraging people to use the Park Mobile app as much as possible. All utility disconnections are canceled for the quarter. Code enforcement residential and commercial inspections. We have reinstated inspections with safety procedures in place and we can still process housing complaints. And then zoning permits and building permits. We're still asking people to the extent possible to email those applications and supporting documents. So the Myers Memorial Pool is going to be open to the public on Sunday June 6th, which is very exciting. We'll have initial capacity of 75 swimmers at a time. So that's going to be a combination of about 30% of pre-registered slots and drop-in slots. We'll be about 70%. So we have all of that information available at WinooskiBT.gov slash pool. And pool passes are still for sale and we've got scholarship and payment plans available for all season passes. So we are excited about that and we encourage everyone to get their passes as soon as possible. And that will the pool capacity will increase to 100 swimmers at a time starting on July 6th. And on July 6th, we will return to City Hall being open to the public from 7.30 a.m. to 4.30 p.m. and full opening hours for both community services at the community center and the library and senior center. So keep an eye out for more of those updates and please reach out to us if you have any questions. COVID testing is still happening at the O'Brien Community Center and any of those times can be registered for at bermont.force.com and there are also walk-ups available and that's happening for the remainder of the month on Mondays from 2 to 8 p.m. Tuesdays from 9 to 3 p.m. Wednesdays from 2 to 8 p.m. Thursdays from 9 to 3 p.m. Fridays from 2 to 8 p.m. Saturdays from 9 to 3 p.m. And Sundays from 9 to 3 p.m. So they will continue free public testing in June and the schedule and details for that may change. So we will keep updating the community on that and we have a testing tab on our COVID-19 page at winoskibt.gov slash COVID-19. So that is all our COVID and safety updates. I just have a couple of other updates. North End Studios, the remainder of North End Studios' property is in the process of being removed from the community center this week. We have an update on our working communities challenge grant. We had a full team meeting last week and we also had four members of the team attend an adaptive leadership training, which was really informative. Yasmeen Gordon is our new equity director who will be introduced later in this meeting and she is taking over as the primary point person for the grant. So she's working on scheduling a next full team meeting for July. And then we have the American Rescue Plan Act funding. The staff continues to get more information about how municipalities can use these funds and as we get that information we're just continuing to analyze how we can put those funds to best use. So the deadline for earmarking the funds is 2024. So we still have some time to fully evaluate all of our options. And those are all my updates. Thank you. Thank you, Phoebe. John, take it away. Sure. Thank you, Ma'am. So I just have three quick updates from my end to our construction related. So first one is the V-Trans circulator roadway update. So some of you have probably seen last week they V-Trans sent out an update that work is expected to start this Friday, the 21st. That work is anticipated start in the evening. So they're working from 7 p.m. till 6 a.m. However, that work may start Monday and they're going to confirm that on their next update which will be this Thursday. So we'll be sure to share that with through all our city channels as well. The other construction update is for the 355 Main Street project. So that's the development project that's on the corner of Bellevue in Main Street on the north kind of north end of the corridor across from juniors and Fodang. So they have some utility work. They have to do in Main Street this week tying in a water service. So there's going to be a temporary detour and some flagging this Wednesday. They're proposing do that work. So drivers on the corridor may see some disruption there. So they're expected to do that work Wednesday starting at 9 a.m. just outside that sort of a.m. high traffic area and be done before the PM commute time. So around 3 p.m. And then final update. So kudos to Heather for another grant award. So this is the Women's Fund grant award that we recently received. So this is a $9,000 grant to foster the participation of women and girls in municipal decision making. And this is lined with the City's Working Communities Challenge Equity Initiative. So great job to Heather for getting this grant. I also want to give credit to the mayor for identifying the programming and looking for some outside funding source. So thank you. And that's all I have. Thank you, John. And way to go. We will move on to the regular items of our agenda. So first up is the Chin and Salo Waste District FY22 budget. And we have a CSDW guest with us. Sarah Reed. Great. Yeah, CSWD. Michelle Morris is also with CSWD. And if you can pull her over, that would be great too. Thank you. Great. Welcome. Great. Thank you very much. And thank you, Mayor. And I appreciate your time. And I am pleased to be here tonight to present the FY22 CSWD budget. My name is Sarah Reeves. I am the Executive Director for the Chin and Salo Waste District. And for those who may be tuning in who aren't familiar with CSWD, we are a municipal district and municipality created in 1987 to oversee and manage Salo Waste generated in Chin and County. We are governed by a volunteer board of commissioners and each of our 18 cities and towns, points representative to the board. The mission of the Chin and Salo Waste District is to reduce and manage the waste generated in Chin and County in an environmentally sound, efficient, effective and economical manner. And because I'm here to talk about the budget, I always like to remind folks of how we are funded and how we are not funded. The main way that we are funded are three different, three main ways. We have user fees, which are essentially tipping fees or fees that we charge on materials coming into our facilities like our Dropbox Hunters or the materials recovery facility or compost facility. We have a Salo Waste management fee, which is a per ton fee that we charge haulers on every ton of trash that is brought to the landfill and Coventry. And then the other main third of our revenue is from material or product sales. So things like our compost products, our topsoil, garden mix, and the sale of recyclables and local colored paint. Where we are not funded is we are not funded through municipal tax dollars. We do not assess any per capita fees to our member communities. We don't receive any income tax, property tax dollars, sales tax, nothing directly from the municipalities. All of our revenue is generated by those three main areas that I described just previously. So for this year, fiscal 22, we are anticipating revenues in the amount of $12,954,793. And we are expecting that estimate actually to be a bit conservative, and I'll explain why in a moment. We are also anticipating expenditures in the amount of $12,323,072. But the remaining $860 ish dollars being divided amongst three main reserve funds, our soil waste management, the reserve fund, our biosolids reserve fund, and an operating reserve. So one of the items that I mentioned, why we're anticipating that the revenues will most likely be conservative is we are expecting a very robust year for material sales, both from our compost facility and from the materials recovery facility. And in previous years, I've come and talked to you about kind of the dire straits of the recycling fees, the recycling world. And one of the results of COVID was that flipped on its head. So about 80% of what we process to the MRF are paper products and cardboard products. And due to COVID, a lot of people obviously were working from home, buying things online. So that spiked a great demand in cardboard. And also things like toilet paper, paper towels wipes are made in large part from recycled paper. So those two demands were really helped to spur the revenues last year for the MRF. That demand is continuing this year as well. So we are expecting another strong revenue year there. Similarly, we had a huge sales year last year for compost products as people were staying home. We're either creating gardens, expanding gardens, growing their own food. We're seeing similar sales results this year, and are expecting similar sales results in fiscal 22. So both of those programs will lead us, we believe, to a very robust revenue year, which is good news. That means that we don't have to raise the majority of our fees. In fact, the fees that only fees we are raising this year is at our organic diversion facility at Green Mountain Compost, raising that incoming material fee from $60 a ton to $65 a ton. That'll be effective July 1. And some small increases on the biosolids fees. And that is strictly related to the amount of material being managed. Those fees are passed through. So as more material is generated, higher fees occur. So those are the only two fees that are being raised this year. We are not raising fees at our drop-off centers. We are not raising the fee at the materials recovery facility, nor are we raising the fees, the solid waste management fee. We are anticipating a very heavy capital infrastructure investment year. Despite COVID, we continue with our investments at the compost facility last year. That was phase one. That is complete. We are entering into phase two. The reason that work at compost is so important was because we knew obviously last July, the last part of Act 148, which requires all food scraps to be kept out of the landfill was going to be kicking in. So we were anticipating that need and we're building out that site. We are continuing to build out that site this year. We are also looking at making some infrastructure improvements to a couple of our drop-off centers, to Milton and to Richmond. We're also beginning the process for design and permitting of a new materials recovery facility. I have talked with you in the past couple of years of the need for a new materials recovery facility. We are one of two located in Vermont and our facility is 30 years old, 30 plus, and it is still an all-manual facility. We really need to come into the 21st century, and so we have been researching this for the past couple of years, three years, and now is the time we are ready to bring this to our Board of Commissioners in the next month or two to get their final approval and sign off on this project. If they do give approval, this is one project that we don't have the cash in the bank for. So we would anticipate coming to our member communities for a municipal bond. You have a very brief project overview in your packet. Should our Board approve this project, we will be coming to you with much more information about that project. We will be bringing the bond in November of 2022. We are anticipating it to be about 18 to 20 million dollars. As with any municipal bonds we are not asking you to pay for this project. We would simply need the approval of our voters in order to borrow this money to go out to bond. The bond payments would be paid through a series of revenue sources, mainly through the user fees or the tip fees generated at the materials recovery facility. If for some reason those tip fees aren't generating enough revenue, we would supplement that with the material revenue from the sale of the materials. If for some reason that isn't enough, it would be supplemented by the Sale Waste Management Revenue. So we have three streams of revenue that would pay for that bond payment, so we would not be coming to our municipalities looking for that payment. And one of the questions I've been getting at some of our, the presentations I've done is then asking about the rover. So that is one program that again due to COVID we did suspend for last year, went to an appointment only system at the Environmental Depot. That system is still in place. We are looking at bringing a modified version of rover events back in the fall. I don't have the exact dates yet, but there would only be a few, maybe a handful six or so, seeing how the participation is with the rover events there, evaluating over the winter and then looking again at the spring. But you don't have to wait for a rover. The Environmental Depot is open throughout the week. It's very easy to make an appointment. It's actually very, very fast. You get there your time and you're in and out and you're done. So I do encourage you to look at that. But for folks who love the rover, it may be coming back in a limited fashion in the fall. So I know I've put a lot of information, very brief overview, and I would love to open it up for any questions that you may have on a budget. Thank you so much, Sarah. And for anyone who is unaware, Bryn Oakleaf has been serving as our representative to the board for some years now for Winooski. So Bryn, if there's anything you want to add about the process that you all went through to get to this budget? Sure. Thank you. So CSWD has a standing finance committee. The board chair sits on that committee as well as there's reappointed finance committee commissioners that participate on that. And they meet throughout the year, relatively monthly, but not always depending on items on the agenda. It goes through extensive, similar to the council. It goes through a kind of condensed and extensive meeting periods beginning in January and this year not wrapping up until just early April. Once that moves through the finance committee that comes to the executive committee, there's further review there. And then if it's approved at the executive board level, then it moves to the full board. And this year the full board did approve unanimously the budget. I have complete confidence there was a great deal of effort by Sarah and the team to ensure that any additional expenses were maintained at a minimum and that any fees were also mitigated as much as possible. So I have a great deal of confidence in this budget and in the fiscal year coming ahead. The only other element that I would want to mention or have Sarah touch on is access to America Rescue Plan Act funds as it relates to capital projects. While it is wonderful that we won't, the district will not be coming to the towns for any funding. I think it is relevant to the counselors how additional capital funds may be allocated or advocated for. So Sarah, if you just want to touch on that briefly. Yeah, thank you very much for bringing that up. We did talk to our delegation, the federal delegation about accessing ARPA and they acknowledged that that was a miss, a bit of an oversight because Vermont doesn't have county government. We actually don't have access to ARPA funds. Everything went down to the cities and towns as you know. We are going forward with applying for the separate earmark programs. So we are working with both of our senators on those applications and we plan to have Senator Leahy's application in preliminary application in this week and we were looking at getting Senator Sanders preliminary application in either this week or next week. So we will be focusing those avenues for potential federal dollars. There are also other potential avenues for funding. So even if we, you know, do not have have access to congressionally directed funding at that level for the full project, if there's partial funding that we would take it. There's also other private funding that we would have access to as municipality for specifically for recycling infrastructure. We will be pursuing that as well. So the goal truly is to have, if we need a bond, to have it be as small as possible that we bring to our municipality. So we are shaking every tree we can. Thank you for bringing that up, friend. Well, thank you for the overview. Having seen your last several annual budgets and as you mentioned before, this was a pleasant surprise to see what was in here with what we've heard in the past regarding the recycling and the cost of that. So are there questions from Council about the proposed budget for CSWD? Sarah, you're too thorough. Are there any questions from members of the public? Again, you can use the chat or raise hand feature. All right, hearing no questions or concerns, this is on for approval tonight. As member of municipality, we must approve, we must take a vote to approve this budget. So would someone like to move to approve the Chittenden Solid Waste District FY 22 budget as presented? So moved. Second. Motion by Bryn, second by Hal. All those in favor can say aye. Aye. Motion carries. Thank you again. Thank you very much. Appreciate your time. Thank you, Sarah. Thank you. So moving to item B related, while Bryn is serving as our rep to the CSWD board, we haven't had an alternate. That role hasn't been filled in some time and so Bryn, CSWD folks, city staff, interviewed two applicants for the position and tonight's bring forth a recommendation for Ron Stotten to fill the position who has previously served on other commissions for us and the application materials are included in the packet. Are there any questions from council about this recommendation? Any questions from members of the public? All right. Do I have a motion to approve the CSWD alternate appointment? So moved. Second. Motion by Jim, second by Bryn. All those in favor, please say aye. Aye. Motion carries. Thank you. All right. So item C moving on. This is a resolution on the noise insulation program. So we have been collaborating with the Burlington Airport as they work with an FAA consultant on this noise mitigation program to support residents who are in the 65 day night decibel zone to get some insulation and treatment for their homes to reduce indoor noise from aircraft. So I reached out to several other municipal leaders in the Northeast who have a noise mitigation program in place already and asked for some of some tips like what would you look out for? What would you want to make sure you see? So this resolution includes basically a direct ask to the airport and the FAA that as they roll out this program, we include certain acoustic windows and doors, one to be just a high quality product that will last long, long term for folks with the noise, but also can help with energy efficiency goals in people's homes. And then the second request is about just ensuring that communication on the program is very robust. And so the consultant who carries out this work that they are reaching out to folks and making sure the necessary information is made available to all residents who are able to access this program. We do have aviation director Jean Richards here and I'm afraid I do not know your title offhand. Officially it's the deputy director. Deputy director, thank you. Nick Longo here from the airport. The following item on the agenda for tonight is about an easement for a noise monitoring system. So they will be giving us an update on the noise program and the noise monitoring. But I wanted to first just introduce this resolution if there are questions on that or we can ask them to provide us an update before we consider the resolution. I feel like the latter might make more sense now that I've said it out loud. So Jean or Nick, if you whoever would like to go, you know, we would love to hear what the status is on the implementation of the noise program, as well as the noise monitoring system, which you had received through a separate FAA grant. Great. First of all, I'd like to thank you for asking us to be here tonight. It's always good to be in front of you and to communicate and give you updates. This program is progressing and it's progressing in a favorable way, I believe, because of the collaboration between the communities and the airport. So thank you for the time you put in, not only with us, with the guard and anybody else. You know, I think it's been a real interesting process. So some things I'd like to hit on tonight, if you're comfortable with it, is sound mitigation, sound monitoring, and the DOD process that we've been dealing with at all intermingles. And I guess I'm going to let Nick give the high overview on the whole program, but what I've experienced with just about all of our grants that we deal with, they tell you that it is this way, this is what you do. And what I know we have to do is we have to stick together and we have to ask for what it is that we want. And I have had some conversations with our consultant know about the type of windows that we're putting in and potentially, and she's having a difficult time finding national vendors. And I have a problem with that too, national vendors. I want to be using local. So I really think that if something happens to a window, and I'm jumping a little bit ahead, Mayor, but I just want to let you know it's, we need to tailor this to the program that we want, and not necessarily accept the answer that is given. So anyhow, they're all progressing nicely. I'll let Nick give you some dates, times, and that they're coming, it sounds like this summer, things will be working in DOD, those funds, as you heard when we spoke to them that it's not, there's no guarantee right now about anything. It's very influx. And what I'm finding is that I have to talk to Senator Lee's office often about it, as well as let them know how important it is. Nick came up with an amazing way to use the DOD funds. And so that we could maximize the money that is out there. And I'd like to, you know, we can, you can go over that a little bit with you. But why don't we just start off with noise mitigation, then go to sound monitoring, then go to DOD on the way out, I'll let Nick give his version, and I'll answer any questions that you might have. And one thing I want to make sure is if I don't want to be interpreted as telling you anything, I, you know, many of what we've talked about, we've talked about, and that's how we've gotten to where we are. We want the program that works best for the community. It's not an airport program, you know, we're not putting down runways. This is really what, you know, the community is asked for. And we're delivering that. So if that is not what you're wanting or if it's tweaked, it needs to be tweaked, just let us know that. And we'll advocate for that tweak as much as we can. Dean, that's a great point for context here. And why this resolution has been drafted, it's a way for us to say what we want to see in this program. That's a little bit maybe beyond what the FAA normally would do, but still within the realm of what you can do in a noise compatibility program. And as we always do, you know, as it progresses and things get picked out, I would like to work, you know, Nick and I would like to work with you all very closely and keep the communications very high to make sure that someone doesn't give us what they think we want. I do agree with you. We have to tell them what we want. If we want something different than what we think they're going to give us. I'll let Nick go ahead now. Sorry, I'm just babbling here. Nick, why don't you go on mitigation first. Perfect. Yeah, again, my name is Nick Longo. I'm the Deputy Director at the airport. Thank you, Mayor, Councillors. Everybody really for having us. Mayor, please stop me if I'm going too much. I figured I'd start really high level at kind of giving a little bit of the background of how we got to where we are today and some of the procedural items and then dive right into where we are today and then what the next steps are as far as schedule goes and some updates related to this resolution that you have on the agenda tonight, both the easement and this current resolution. So I think it's important to note that this is a very complex program both administered by the Federal Aviation Administration and how we started was through a noise exposure map, which I believe you all have seen and is online at btvsound.com for those listening. That noise exposure map is then identified in an implementation or a noise compatibility program. That program is exactly what the Mayor and Jean have been speaking about right now, which identifies solutions to mitigating the noise within that exposure map. One of those solutions, of course, is sound insulation. We have moved very swiftly into another document that the FAA requires, which is called the implementation plan. That plan is drafted and has been reviewed by the communities. We are just about completed on a final version of that draft, which we will share with you prior to posting it on our website. The FAA is just reviewing a couple of things, as well as ourselves. So that should be completed very shortly. We're hoping by mid-June to be 100% completed with that, which does incorporate the latest documentation and data from each one of the communities impacted, including Willis in South Burlington, Burlington, and Winooski, of course. I think Erica provided a lot of that through our consultants. Again, we'll be submitted to you for comments and publication. Another item that was part of our noise compatibility program was the noise monitoring system. This system is moving forward quickly, and we'd like to go live with it, if you will, by the end of July or this summer. That noise monitoring is exactly that. It is a microphone and it is related to your next agenda item, and I can speak to it further on that agenda item as well. But essentially, a microphone and associated with aircraft noise through radar data so that they are very much connected so that any member of the public can go onto an online platform, see the actual decibel levels from that single event and associate it with radar information from the federal aviation administration. That part of the NCP process is almost completed. It is fully funded through the FAA right now, and that's why we are moving forward with it this year. The noise compatibility program, one of the large items, of course, is the noise mitigation referencing the addition of new windows, new doors, essentially reducing the interior noise levels of eligible properties. Eligible properties meaning mostly residential properties, but there are other properties that could be potentially eligible as well, such as educational facilities, daycare facilities, warship facilities as well. That is being moved forward. We applied for our first grant as part of this noise compatibility program just recently, just in the past couple of months. We refer to that as our pilot program that incorporates 10 houses into this first round of noise insulation. The reason that 10, the only 10 houses are incorporated in this is we need to perform a required acoustical testing plan. If you recall, we performed our first acoustical testing plan at a South Burlington Educational Elementary School, the Chamberlain Elementary School in the city of South Burlington, and that identifies what the interior noise level is and outlines what we need to accomplish to reduce the interior noise levels of whatever particular building that we are studying. That pilot program, again, those 10 houses are going to be a mixture of houses throughout the multiple communities. That is a percentage, essentially, as the years go on, a percentage of houses from each community. 10 houses in this pilot program, so there'll be a few in Winooski, a few in South Burlington, and Williston. That will incorporate acoustical testing, as I just mentioned, and then some other planning associated documentation required by the FAA, such as historical preservation documentation, outreach. There are some agreements that we are required to have with each one of the property owners. We'd also need to work with each one of the communities, such as yourselves, on any code issues that should be resolved as we continue to the design process, and then some other minor federal requirements and design criteria. So those 10 houses, this pilot program is ongoing right now. We authorized our consultant firm, the Jones Paine Group, to move forward swiftly even before we get the grant in hand. Again, we applied for the grant. We do not yet have the grant in hand, but they're going to be moving forward. They're going to be studying and incorporating additional data that we gained from the Vermont gas systems. If you recall, we also have a partnership with them, VGS, to help fund a portion or the local share of some of these projects, not only this year, but in future years as well. The pilot program, we were lucky enough to, and we're still in negotiation with the FAA regarding some of the funding. The pilot program incorporates 10 houses, not only outreach planning efforts, design efforts, but also construction. So we're going to be able to take these 10 houses from A to Z, installing these windows and doors for these 10 houses as soon as possible. This grant that we applied for, the same grant, also incorporates the next 50 houses within the program so that we can move and rotate into the next 50 houses of designs immediately so that we can again prepare for the construction efforts associated with the 50 houses. And if you think of this as a rotating basis, every year essentially we're going to be designing 50 houses and constructing 50 houses as we design for the next year's 50 houses so that we can apply for a construction grant the following year for the design work that we did the prior year. So always rotating between 50 houses design and construction. This really does set us up for the next point, which is this Department of Defense or additional appropriation that is potentially coming this year as far as planning efforts go and into next year with a substantial amount of federal funding, DOD funding, to really grow the size of houses that we design and outreach efforts are incorporated into. There was a collaborative letter, as I'm sure you are aware of, between the city of Winooski, South Burlington, and the airport that requested $50 million to be put into this program immediately. We are one of, and from as far as I am aware, and I've been doing this for approximately nine years now at the Burlington airport or eight years rather at the Burlington airport. We are very much in front of the line, not only for priority of federal funding, but also ahead of the schedule for the required documentation that I just referenced, as far as the noise compatibility program, implementation plan, noise exposure map, all of these items are lined up for us to be in a really good position to apply for this DOD funding, advocate for this DOD funding, which was appropriated nationwide at $50 million. And again, that is what we asked for collaboratively to move very, very swiftly into implementing all of these programs into the insulation or new windows and doors immediately. And Nick, just let him know that, you know, from our conversations, you know, a mayor lot has been involved in these as well, is there is no program. And so this money, you know, they were requesting, there's no formulas, there's no program, they're trying to figure out even how to spend it. Well, DOD doesn't ever give municipalities money from what they tell us. And, you know, the discussions we've had have been, you know, a little frustrating for me, and I was very thankful for Nick's suggestion on how to use the $50 million and how to use it in our area. So we are being diligent. We don't control, you know, the potential outcome. And I believe that the effort that has been put in today is pushed it ahead. Certainly when we first talked, they did anticipate having any money available for at least two years or longer with a cap basically on the funds need to be spent within five years. So, you know, Nick came up with some very good suggestions and ways to do it and it would best work for our current program. So I just want to make sure that I put that bit of caution in there. You know, the money has been allocated, there is no program. So what they're doing now is creating a program. And Nick has given them a venue on how to best deal with communities like ours and best ways that they can be helpful. You know, the last thing we need is someone coming and talking to us. We actually need tools to fix the issues. So that's what we've asked for. I think we've been pretty straight up. And I think Mayor Locke can back that up, I believe that we're very frank conversations with them. Yeah, sounds right. Nick and Mayor Locke. I believe so, yes. Yeah, if I could layer in, I think I like gave a brief update during council reports quite a few weeks ago on this. Senator Leahy's office, let us know about this potential appropriation from the Department of Defense that could be used to assist municipalities with like technical assistance. So it's, it can't be used, my understanding is it can't, it's not money that we could use to expand construction, for example, and insulation efforts. So the conversations have been about, is there technical guidance that it can offer, that it could cover, or could it cover the initial like communications rollout and program structuring that will support how folks access the noise and home insulation. And it is not guaranteed funding by any means. So there have been ongoing discussions with staff from the three municipalities included about how to potentially leverage this. So it would offset, if it could be used for like the program structuring and outreach work, then that's money that's not, that's FAA money not being used there, FAA money that can go directly into houses. This might be, Nick, unless you had some more high level things about the noise mitigation program, it could be a good stopping point to see if folks have questions. Perfect. Yep. Yeah, absolutely. Can I just say one more thing, Mayor? Sure. What I'll ask you to do is, you know, as we go through this process is whether you like what we're saying or you don't like what we're saying is that you stay engaged to everybody. You know, one thing in particular what I noticed about, you know, your wonderful community is its historical value. And so as we started talking about replacement windows and doors, you know, that were, you know, I've had a couple of discussions with the consultant about this. And we had some pretty aggressive words. And I think I said it's very important that we put a high quality product and one that resembles the product that is there in visual, but obviously is a better window. So historically correct, I think, is really important that, you know, that we do not miss this opportunity to, you know, if there are windows that are six over six or something like this, is that we push for that. And that we, you know, I brought up, you know, Marvin windows, you know, they do a wonderful job, you know, recreating, you know, the historical nature of a window. And, you know, the program, I guess, typically uses plastic windows, but I'm concerned about a window like this is its hardware and its longevity. So I just asked, I don't want to be alone on this. I, you know, I've worked on a lot of homes in my life. And the worst thing you can do is put in a window that is perceived to be better than 10 years later. It doesn't hold up for reasons. And the reason that's another reason why we will want to use somebody local. So if we have a problem, we can talk to somebody local and they can repair the issue. So, you know, I just asked, you know, just join me if you believe in that direction and, you know, and putting the attention to detail on the product that is put in. It's not just putting product in, putting good product in. And I have emphasized that it got a little pushback. It wasn't that they're going to put in bad product. They're going to put in product that, you know, fits the program. But what I know and what I've said before is we have to be diligent on what fits our community, not necessarily the program. And what I've been told is that's going to make the program very expensive. And I says I want to do it correctly. So, you know, those are some of my conversations and very informal. But I just asked you, you know, if you could keep an eye on those things as we progress and hold the program, you know, to the level that fits your community, I think that's very important. Thanks, Gene. So, counselor's questions on the noise mitigation program, where we're at with that next steps, this resolution, Mike. Thank you, Mayor. Gene, I agree 100% with you about local vendors and local contractors. It makes sense. It's no brainer. We want to keep everything we can here in Vermont. And like you said, if a problem arises, it'll be a lot easier to deal with someone locally than have to wait to go down the chain on phone calls and Zoom meetings on national chains. I also agree with you about the product that we should be aiming for. You know, we can all put something in to fix the problem at a short term, but what's going to do, you know, 10 years, 20 years from now. And I'd like the fact that you have said that and that's on your radar. Thank you. And I did ask, by the way, I've asked for a demo to be put up in our baggage area, 30 by 20, like room with all these different windows that they're proposing, so that we can all of us look at them and learn about them and make sure they are right for our communities. Are there other questions from Council? I have a couple questions. So in terms of the eligible homes, I'm curious, will multi-family homes be included in that eligibility? They are. That's correct. Yep. So there's not a unit max or a storage max on that? No. So the general guidelines for eligibility are if you are within that 65DNL or that? average decibel line, you're generally eligible for those windows and doors. The acoustical test will confirm that eligibility by identifying what that interior noise level is, but multi-family, all of that is incorporated in that potential eligibility. And then just in terms of the project, like where you are with the project, so you have these 10 homes across the municipalities, the impacted municipalities, will be two in Winooski, three in Winooski? Probably two houses in Winooski for this specific pilot program, for this year's pilot, correct. And what's the plan for selecting those? So it's a combination of Vermont gas systems has quite a bit of data that we can incorporate already by while the federal intention, the federal aviation intention isn't to lower efficiencies within the property, all of that information is highly connected. So we can incorporate and utilize their information to identify the houses that they've already been in and already worked with some of these homeowners so that we can also identify higher priority houses to involve in the initial phasing of this project. The next criteria really is related to where they are geographically within the contour lines. Again, it's going to be a split among the communities. So within Winooski, whatever the percentages of houses for that particular year, it will be referencing the higher decibel averages within that particular town. Okay. I do have a couple more questions if that's okay. I am curious with the pilot 10 and then another anticipated 50, will the airport be managing an RFP for contractors? Will that be Vermont gas? Will that be the FAA? The consultant will be doing that. Just knowing the demand for a number of projects on the horizon with the ARPA funds as well as some additional ordinances that are coming through our neighboring municipalities, just looking at weatherization contractors and the demand for that. So wanting to ensure the timeline of availability to complete the work blends well with the timing for FAA requirements to have funds expended. And I think if we run into a problem, we will certainly request it. I mean, hasn't ever been this bad in Chittenden County as long as, since 1980s, as long as I've been here, as far as trying to get somebody to do something. I mean, and that's every trade that you're speaking about. So I think we're going to have to be creative. And we might need to talk to each one of our CEDAW departments and see if we can create some businesses. I think there's a lot of opportunities here. But again, we want to be done by skilled professionals so that we have no callbacks. So I can't say that's not going to happen because I know it is going to happen if it continues at the rate that it is right now as far as trying to get subs to do things. Thanks, Jean. Just one final question. I wasn't quite following along and it may be that I missed some of the prior communications, but Nick, you were mentioning design and construction. So I'm not sure how the design and construction work that you were talking about, how that relates to the installation project work. So the design portion or the let's call it the planning and the design portion of this of each phase or each year of the project would really incorporate everything from outreach to the required documentation as I referenced, as well as the design of windows and the doors associated with the product necessary, as well as each unique property that we need to design at four, whether that's historical in nature or just unique circumstances related to that particular house or unit. The construction, I guess I don't quite understand the question, but the construction is would immediately follow right after that with appropriate bids etc to go in and purchase the product and install the product. I don't know if I answered your question. So I think it's a terminology issue. When you say design and construct, to me it sounds like you're building homes. So that's a disconnect when I think of like that's not what I would think that we're talking about with insulation, but I think that's just a terminology disconnect. We use it just design the program and then construct it, you know, just implement it. It might be one that we use more often. So it would be created and then implementation of it. And I think that's what he's trying to say. It really is just a terminology. That's exactly how the FAA identifies it within the grant is first we have a lump sum of design funding and then we have a construction funding. I see. I see. Yeah, that makes better sense now and terminology between agencies doesn't always chime well with what makes sense on the ground. So thank you. Those are the questions I have. Thank you. Thank you. Are there other questions? Mike? One more quick one. So are we just talking windows and doors or what about the insulation? Is that not on this? So part of the acoustical testing plan is going to identify those unique products that might be necessary to reduce the interior noise level. So as we do the acoustical testing plan, if the design of that acoustical testing plan spells out certain products that lead up to insulation, then that might be a product that that unique property might be eligible for. Typically, windows and doors would accommodate or accomplish the work that the FAA requires to reduce interior noise levels. But again, if just windows and doors doesn't do it, then we move on to that next step of insulation, roofing, things like that, that could also accomplish the reduction in interior noise. Perfect. Thank you. The windows and doors are typically the items that people can afford on the insulation. And if they choose to or need it, still may be something that's more affordable to them or have one of the other programs that we offer in Chenning County. But I think initially our first aspect of this is going to just be windows and doors. Thank you. Thank you, Gene. Thank you, Mayor. Thank you, Gene and Nick for being here to go through this. And looking at the resolution that we are considering today, I'm curious if you feel that all the requests around communications, notification, translation, multiple methods of dissemination, if those are achievable with the program you have, or do you need these DOD funds to sign up with the program you have with the existing plan funds, or do you need these DOD funds to make that a reality? How achievable is it to have a robust engagement strategy that's going to work for our diversity? I think they're achievable. I think we have to bring it to the table and ask and request it. I don't want to shoot anything down. If it's a tool that's needed in your community to have this program be successful, I think we need to try to present it and see if we can incorporate it. I don't want to start at this point. I would discourage you to do anything. I would like you to go full throttle and tell us what we need. We really want the whole purpose of this program is to be successful. And so whatever methods or whatever we have to do to incorporate it in the program, I would encourage you to give that to us and we'll certainly communicate back to you if there's something we can't do. But right now I would highly recommend just communicate. It's been very effective so far. I'll just add a piece to that as well if you don't mind. All three of those items in the resolution tonight, I forwarded off to our consultant, which is a very timely resolution because we are in the midst of funding conversation with the FAA right now. So exactly what Gene was talking about, not only the type of products being installed, the communication with the partnership as you outlined in the resolution, and the dissemination of the materials and information and eligibility requirements etc can all be incorporated within our consultant's scope of work appropriately and funded appropriately within this pilot program. Does that answer your question, Jim? Or yep, that does. Thank you. So I think we can open it to public comments. Paul, as you bring over Dr. Acklin, I'm just going to lift up these questions he threw in the chat. So the first question was, how many of our houses, condo units and apartments are in the impacted zone? What number of these spaces will be insulated each year? What percentage of the total does this represent? And how long would it take to insulate all homes? So we have approximately 1,300 housing units in Wenuski that are included within the 65 DNL, 43% of our homes. The program so far, as I understand it, and correct me if I'm wrong, is targeting 50 homes a year spread across the three communities and a 26-year lifespan of this program. Is that still the estimate? That's correct. And 50 houses, once after this particular year, 50 houses will be in the design process and an additional 50 houses will be in the construction portion of the process. So every year we're constantly doing that rotation and all that other information that you just stated is correct. Thanks. And then something I want to make clear too is it's a voluntary program, right? There may be folks that are included in those 1,300 households that don't choose to do this. And as I understand as well, there could be folks who actually acoustically don't qualify because their interior noise level is low. Exactly. If you've recently renovated your house and you put new windows in and new doors, you may not qualify. And it's more about sound. Yeah. Yeah. So that's why there's only way in the numbers. Also, we will continue when you ski Burlington and South Burlington seeking additional match funding. So if we could find 10%, we have the 5 million commitment right now from Vermont Gas. If we found another 5 million, had a 10 million match, we could attempt to get 90 million from the FAA and expand the program. But there are a lot of constraints as well, to the point earlier about how much construction can feasibly occur at one time in our region. So. As well, if I might add, as well as some limitations on funding from the FAA as well. So they've in our capital plan have approved a $5 million a year FAA contribution. And then there were two more questions from Dr. Eklund. Will the installation stop if Burlington stops writing grants for funding? The answer I believe is, oh, go ahead. Yeah, I just unmuted myself. I'm sorry, before we move on to any other questions. I, and thank you all for opening this up. This is a real example of community action together. So the different communities, I've heard three and then I've heard four. So we're talking about Winnowski, Williston, South Burlington, and also Burlington. Is that correct, Nick? That is correct. Okay. So right now there are four communities. And in the pilot, Winnowski is getting two of those 10. Correct? Approximately, yes. We haven't identified the final numbers, but it most likely will be around two houses. So when the 50 houses across those four communities come up, how many Winnowski houses might we just guess? What could you estimate we could get in that would actually be Winnowski houses? So we're hoping to, so it's a complicated answer. In the eyes of the FAA, they pushed us to only incorporate houses that were closest to the airport or had the highest decibel levels, those closest to the 75 DNL. There are no houses in Winnowski at that range. So what we instituted within the implementation plan is a diverse way of accomplishing this by associating a percentage of each one of those annual appropriated funds, as well as the quantity of houses amongst the communities. I don't know offhand, but especially with when we go into the 50 houses per year, but it should be a proportion to how many houses are total within the community. As the mayor pointed out, there are quite a few houses within the Winnowski community. In fact, about half of the total number within the entire noise exposure map inside the 65 DNL. So that that should be an indication of how we appropriate or how the FAA rather I should say appropriate some of these funds and quantities amongst the communities. I can't say for sure because it's going to be really dependent on the FAAs. Thank you. I just want to point out that even if it's 20 of the 50, which it probably won't be, but let's just let's say Winnowski is really, really close to the 75 decibel range, especially after we see what the monitoring is done for noise monitoring. If 20 houses were done in Winnowski, it would take 60 years, 60, 60 years, counselors, to be able to insulate the houses impacted, the homes impacted. If there are 30, as Mayor Lott said, there are 1300 units. I just want us to go into this with our eyes open and to realize that this two houses in the first pilot year, this is, I wish that we could get more. And this is one of the reasons why there was such a public outcry against the F-35s being based here in the first place. So thank you. And if you'd like to address any of the other questions that I put on there, the only other ones that I had on there is that if any of the other communities stop writing their grants for funding, we're talking about grant money. And Mr. Richards, you said that the DOD says that the DOD doesn't ever give municipalities money from what they tell us. So this is an uphill fight that all of us need to be ready for. I just want to say that as a member, I live right on the Winnowski River and I am right outside of the 65 decibel zone. In fact, I think half of my condo is in the zone and the half I'm in isn't. So there you have it. I would actually agree with you it's been an uphill battle from the beginning and meaning we're all working really hard putting lots of time in and trying to acquire as many funds as we can to do the sound program and including the sound mitigation and sound monitoring. I mean, we're trying really hard. It is a lot of work and it is a battle, but it's one that's well worth having. I just wanted to highlight one more thing about the funding. It is grant funding. If the grant stopping written the funding goes away and your other question about will it cost Winnowski? So right now the answer is no. We've committed no money to this. We have found external funding for the 10% match. The other 90% is FAA funded and we have signed a memorandum of understanding with Burlington and South Burlington that commits Burlington to annually apply for this funding and commits the cities of Burlington and South Burlington to chip in money before Winnowski ever does. So we should not be on the hook for any. Mayor, if I can just address one thing, just to make sure it was cleared regarding the noise monitors associated with defunding, if that's all right? Sure. Yeah. I don't want to dig too into those until the next time with the funding. Sure. Okay. Okay. I can wait till the next item. Well, let me just, I see there's this other question from Eric Wins that you could maybe speak to about construction styles. Eric, do you want to go over or I can just read this chat. So will there be a variety of construction styles evaluated like slate roof versus conventional square area of window and doors and high and low square foot areas? Yeah. Can you speak to that process of how the, because you're designing for different homes and different scenarios? So I would say absolutely. There's going to be a wide array of styles of construction. Gene mentioned a few just as far as historical style goes, but in the overall style of construction, whether it's single family, the different types of roving styles, the different types of window styles, ceiling heights, multifamily houses into large multi-unit buildings. So it's going to be a wide array of construction styles for sure. Well, let me just put a caveat in here is, remember, we're not experts at doing this. This is why we've hired the Jones Pains Group. And I don't, you know, I mean, we're doing the best we can. We've never done this program before. That's why I ask for everybody hands on deck on this so that we get it as right as we can get it. I just, we don't have all the answers. We're going to find those answers as we get into this. I think that, you know, Wendowski has a beautiful community that I think it'll benefit that if we, you know, we can be diligent on this and do the best we can. We know right now we don't have all the answers. Jones Pains has many of those and they will be managing the project. Were there other folks who wish to make public comment? Again, you can raise hand or use the chat. I will say this is also why we, a portion of this resolution is about communications and outreach because folks are going to have so many questions like this and we want to make sure that they're addressed in an accessible way. If anybody has other questions after this is done, please write us and we can send them right on to Jones Pains and get people we want to have the information out there. And again, if we don't have the answer, we'd like you to have the answer. So we'd like to send it in and get you the information to make sure that you have all your questions are answered. Thanks, Jean. For the council, so this resolution is on here for discussion, only not for approval. Wanted to see if there is anything you would add or change before bringing this back for approval so we can send it along. So there's been discussion tonight about historic issues, use of local vendors. I had a back channel conversation with staff about insulation ratings, but we didn't come to an agreement that there was a specific rating. We should be requesting. So if you have feedback, if there's something else that you would want to see in this before approval, please let me know. I think we can move to item D then so we can hear the full noise monitoring update and answer those questions for folks. Nick, do you want to share the timeline and next steps for the noise monitor? And you also want to speak to the funding. Perfect. Yeah, thank you very much. So again, the noise monitors are actually being delivered to the airport right now and eventually they're going to be installed. The same situation is happening on the online portal where it's being developed so that members of the public can access that information on a website. Those are expected to be deployed later this summer. We're hoping that by the end of July, these three noise monitors, one in Winooski, one in South Burlington at the Chamberlain Elementary School, and one in Williston at the Department of Public Works facility, and then again in Winooski at the Town Hall, hoping to be live with those by the end of July. The item I wanted to add as far as funding and association with the noise exposure map and I want to make it make it very clear that the information that data collected from these noise monitors actually does not amend or change the noise exposure map. The noise exposure map is the tool that the FAA requires or the map that the FAA requires to identify those that are eligible for that the sound insulation program or any program really within our noise compatibility program which there are multiple options. So the data collected or the information collected will be online, will be available to the public, but again won't be used to amend the noise exposure map. However, the noise exposure map will be changed and or updated in the next few years again with additional federal aviation administration funding and will incorporate and use actual radar data that's collected from the FAA with all aircraft, military and civilian aircraft and will be incorporated in the next iteration of the noise exposure map. So that's just the one point that I just wanted to clarify. Other than that the noise monitors are pretty simple. You have on your agenda items some of the examples of what they look like. Tonight we're we are looking for an easement which is a requirement of the FAA. Any product that the FAA funds has to be associated especially if it's off airport property with an easement that easement is then of course recorded in the land records and then of course, well not of course, but is also identified in another required map called our exhibit A which is which identifies all easements and land owned by the Burlington airport. Other than that it's it's pretty pretty relatively a simple program compared to the rest of things and we're hoping to be online this summer. Thanks Nick and John do you want to add anything about the easement process for us? Yeah I'll just add kind of a description for folks. So it's a four by six pad roughly that's going to be placed on the northern portion of the city hall lot and in between the parking lot and the railroad. So it's all the way of operations in the loan unit solar powered. For the easement language as Nick said it's pretty straightforward. We did have our city attorney look at that. He made a couple of minor comments that were incorporated but other than that no concerns on our end. Thanks are there questions from council about the noise monitoring program or this easement? Mayor if I if I may just add one small piece in there. The picture that you have in the documentation is slightly different than what it's actually going to look like like John referenced it is that that pad but it's it's almost like a trailer. It does have wheels associated with it. It's not necessarily meant to be moved or to be portable but that trailer system will be stationed at that particular location and then on top of that trailer will essentially be that pole system that you see in the picture. So it's not exactly the way that sample is outlined but essentially a very small location and an ideal location too because it's just about right under the flight path. So I think it's a great example of some of the noise associated with aircraft from the departures and arrivals. Yeah so you all talked about installing one here. For that reason this location is good also as the city we can easily give the easement and then I also just want to call out publicly that as part of this easement agreement you know this is not city equipment we are not taking care of it maintaining it paying for it. We are providing the space so that the airport and the program can do so. I saw some count Jim. Thanks and it kind of follows on what you were just outlining there mayor. One thing I didn't see in here maybe I just missed it so I apologize if that's the case but is there how do we deal with security of the site and security of the equipment and the tampering like from that is that because it's on city land are we responsible for the security of that land. I'm just curious how that's being dealt with just in terms of this being an open access parking lot that we may not be there all the time observing. Great question. South Burlington has asked for a fence around there's I mean we could certainly do the same for yours but you know the same with the one that's in Williston I mean we hope they don't get vandalized but we'll do anything we can to help out. Yeah no you're not responsible for it it's 100% airport related. Thank you. Jean Nick one thing I will add too is that parking lot we just installed new video cameras and so there is a video camera that the police department monitors that oversees that area and I know there is a light right into the city there so there is there will be some eyes on it if that helps. If that helps it's great. Any other questions from Council? I am curious about the location obviously being on city property is advantageous. I'm curious how the monitoring equipment will differentiate flight noise from train noise and other sounds from the surrounding area given that you know we've got a new brewery right next adjacent to the city property now. They may be having music events related to that so just curious how the equipment will be sophisticated enough to differentiate sound. Yeah that's a great question and I think Eric also relayed that there might be a new construction site right next door shortly as well so what happens is it is a microphone it does pick up ambient noises with this system like John said it's completely self-sustainable wi-fi or internet and it will be correlated specifically to radar track data so as an aircraft departs and noise is picked up those two events will be logged together and identified together. If you've ever played around with some of the radar applications on a cell phone like like flight radar or flight radar 24 or flight aware it's almost a similar situation where you're almost going to see an aircraft of some sort it'll have some delay to it just like those programs do and then you'll see that aircraft associated with each particular noise monitor as it departs or arrives. And with the flight data obviously that'll be tracking the directionality of the flight as well. That's correct yes. Other questions from council? We can open it up to public comment. Dr. Eklund I know you put some questions in the chat not sure if those were answered or not. Thank you. Many of my questions were about how the data would be used and how and assessed and from what Mr. Longo just said it looks like it's not going to be used to revise the the noise maps. However when the noise maps are revised are they still going to be using the average 24-hour noise rather than the the amount of decibels in a single pass by six different aircraft let's say? That is correct. So all of these guidelines are under what's called 14 code of federal regulations part 150 and the only eligible way to receive any of these noise funding opportunities including the windows and doors the noise monitors etc is to only use a noise modeling system like our noise exposure map associated with a 24-hour average decibel reading and contour map. So those those are the only way the FAA will fund these programs. Okay thank you and I just want to point out to the council and probably you all are aware of how loud each of these passes really are. You know they have been clocked at at least 110 decibels so let's say that this noise monitoring system picks this up in in the three locations that you said. How are we going to we'll then have accurate data at how dangerous these aircraft and the noise they have actually are to residents of Winooski and the other cities. Do you all foresee that this information is going to be useful to in what way would this information be used I guess? I mean from from the local standpoint it's not it's not data that doesn't impact the FAA funding program the noise compatibility or the noise exposure map so I'm not exactly sure what we can or we'll do with it I think we'll cross that bridge when we come to it and see what the data shows us. Very similar from an airport perspective as well Mayor and Dr. Eklene. The data is going to be collected available to the public available to view on an online system but won't be available to be used for future funding opportunities like a new noise exposure map. I'll add a little little fine print in there that the radar data that is associated somewhat with this funding source that information we can use to input into the next version of the noise exposure map meaning every single aircraft that's that's going in and out of the airport that radar information will be incorporated not only altitude levels but also exact positioning of that particular aircraft over an entire year will be incorporated into a new version of a new noise exposure map that decibel levels that are associated with that noise monitor will not. So just to follow up on that Mr. Longo that the at one point the DOD said that that the the actual military aircraft wouldn't be a part of that monitoring but what you're saying is that that radar data that you just talked about it's going to be able to track when four F-35s do a loop around Winooski in order to get in to their their plan for for their landings is that correct? Without diving too much into the technicalities the way the most military aircraft land and depart from the Burlington airport they're identified on a radar tracking device with unique transponder codes when there's multiple aircraft in a flight or a group so so usually what you'll see is two or four or six aircraft within that group the only aircraft that has a unique identification number is that first aircraft so that first aircraft will be able to be associated with the noise monitors exactly as I mentioned before just like all other aircraft at the airport the following aircraft within that same flight won't be as easily trackable on the system but again they're going to be the only aircraft that are landing or departing at that time because there's no other aircraft using the airport during that particular operation if that makes sense so essentially the the lead aircraft will be identifiable and associated with the noise monitors and then subsequently the the following aircraft will be picked up on those noise monitors as well but not as easily tracked on a radar information system and that's that's all outside of my my realm of knowledge as far as security information and other information associated with the Department of Defense thank you thank you are there other folks uh with questions or public comment see one in the chat not something that will be picked up by this program but an interesting thing to consider any other questions I just want to say that I've had the same thought that Eric had about the noise in terms of transition to vibrate vibration impact on stress and structures so yeah kind of anticipating that that's not something that this noise mitigation program will be able to address but is something that I had questions about as well there any questions or concerns from council on this easement agreement would someone like to move to approve the easement agreement don't move second motion by mike second by how all those in favor please say I hi hi hi motion carries thank you um thank you jeannie nick for coming to give us this update for placing a monitor here in musky and thank you to Dr. Ackland Mr. Lin members of the public for participating in this discussion thank you again for having us and again as we the systems get installed if you'd use to come back we would welcome the opportunity if you'd like us to thank you thank you all very much we'll move on to item e to introduce and welcome Yasamine Gordon our new equity director Phoebe would you like to do the introduction wait did we just lose her am i crazy do i not see no i i think i think she might have disappeared oh my gosh unfortunately she was here she was just here maybe just give her five to come back she was on her phone okay let's take a break um oh wait here she is maybe okay let's um take a five-minute recess and reconvene uh 746 brinn if you could go on video when you are yeah all right so it's 746 we will reconvene this council meeting uh with the introduction and welcome of our new equity director Yasamine Gordon welcome um maybe we want to do a quick intro and then Yas you can take it away so we're very excited to welcome um Yasamine Gordon to the city um as our first equity director and Yas started on May 10th just last week and has already hit the ground running and um dived right in from the beginning um and has already made a lot of great recommendations and had a number of meetings um so the equity director position is primarily going to support the city um in making sure that all of our residents voices are represented in our municipal decision-making processes among many other things so we are very happy to have you Yas thank you so much yeah among other things is definitely true um but I'm super humbled um that you all chose me it was definitely um something that I thought you know at the beginning was a bit of a long shot but I'm really excited really excited to be here um I like as Phoebe said I've kind of hit the ground running and I've had the opportunity to connect with and already begin working with uh quite a few members of the community which I'm super excited about um so I just you know I'm here because I want to make sure that the underrepresented are becoming more and more represented on every level throughout our government and throughout the town of Wenuski um so that folks feel like they have a sense of belonging and that they are actually a part of the decision-making process which is extremely key when it comes to equity work um many of you might know that I was uh previously the lead DEI coach one of the lead DEI coaches for the Champlain Valley School District and I had worked there for 15 years so it was definitely a long time to be in one place but I'm super excited to embark upon this journey for Wenuski and uh I'm really excited that the town hall is super close to the roundabout where all the good eats are um except for a few that are you know a little bit outside of town but that's fine I'll just get my steps and go into those places Wenuski has so much to offer and I really feel like part of my work is going to be not just to amplify the voices of the community but to amplify the work that has already that's already happening in this town that I feel like the rest of the state is not quite aware of um I have been really really impressed with all of the initiatives and all of the things that are already happening and I think that Wenuski are real the town is a real leader in this work but I'm not quite sure the rest of the state knows that so that's definitely part of my going to be part of my charge just to make sure folks know what's going on so that they can look to us to be an example of how they can do this in their own towns I think that's extremely important as well. Thank you Yas really happy to have you um and I've already had the chance to work with you a little bit and very impressed so just open it up to counselors if there are any questions for Yas but you did actually a really good robust introduction um great go ahead. All right welcome um I first wanted to ask you know what what do you prefer to be called Yas or Yasmin what what would you like us to call you? Thank you that's actually really nice of you um most people everybody calls me Yas um you know my students just call me miss Yas but I don't expect that of any adults in this situation um so yes thanks Yas it's just fine. Great okay um well welcome we've been looking forward to you uh having you join us for many weeks and are very excited about all this project work ahead of us so please let us know what you need from us as well um and as far as uh you know touching on your last statement I'd love to help in any way that I can to amplify the work that we are doing and partnering with other um municipalities uh to to share what we've been doing what has worked for us but to take lessons learned um from other areas as well um I know that the lieutenant governor does a recurring seat at the table uh panel on Mondays um maybe once or twice a month uh maybe we could take advantage of that opportunity and have you present or speak to your project work there in the coming months um to share with the statewide efforts uh so just an idea but uh I'd love to do what we can to highlight your your project work with us. Thanks I think that's a great idea um is it Brynn? Brynn you go by Brynn okay thanks um and also I just wanted to let you know kind of you know adding on to that just um let folks know that I have just myself and Phoebe are now on the Vermont League of Cities and Towns Equity Committee and so that is the whole focus of that group is to help create kind of a toolkit for other municipalities around the state who are embarking on this work so that is definitely I think an avenue that would be um available to start talking about the the deep dive that Winooski has done over the last couple of years. Awesome welcome. Thank you. Any other questions from Council? Welcome to Winooski. Yes thanks so much. Welcome and I want to say welcome so excited to have you here I've been looking forward to this for many many months thank you for joining. Of course. Are there any members of the public who would like to make comment ask a question again use the raise hand feature or chat. All right well it is great to have you here and thank you for taking the time to introduce yourself to us and looking forward to continuing to work together. Absolutely I'm super excited to meet all of you folks in person one day. Yeah coming soon. Great yeah so we will move then to item F this is for discussion this is Champlain Housing Trust Development Agreement which Heather will introduce. Yeah so this is the first of three agenda items um pertain that are on your agenda just for discussion tonight so I've brought you forward draft um agreements a variety of draft agreements with Champlain Housing Trust all pertaining to the proposed development of 20 affordable home ownership opportunities at 32 Malletts Bay Ab so that's the O'Brien Community Center site and we have been working closely with Champlain Housing Trust for a while now to get this project off the ground and suddenly it is very much rocketing off the ground as their financing package has come together. I do have I believe yep I do have Rob Luke's from Champlain Housing Trust here with me also to answer any questions as they may come up and Rob has been with us previously for some of these meetings but I'm going to try to take you pretty expeditiously through these three agenda items we have them separated so you can speak to any specific issues you have with any of these agreements so as you know at your February 16th meeting you had a deeper dive where you got a full update on the project design development plans and that's where you authorized staff to negotiate agreements with CHT and to co-sign on the subdivision application and any related permit applications that were necessary so what I'm bringing for you tonight is first we'll start with the development agreement um this is just the proposed overarching agreement between Champlain Housing Trust and the city really memorializing what our mutual intents are here and laying out our roles and obligations and this has been a remarkably easy partnership thus far and I really feel that I should knock on wood having just said that um so there was relatively little disagreement about any of this development agreement so this is substantially unchanged from the initial document that was proposed um this is currently a draft but if there are any issues that you see in the development agreement I would love a heads up on that and Rob and I are ready to go forward working out any of those details Christine would you rather that I go through all of them right now I give you a single memo that has all of the documents or do you want to just keep it one at a time um you could just give an overview of all three okay um the next agreement that you have before you is a shared use parking agreement um this is the one that took the most negotiation um this is for use of spaces at the um O'Brien Community Center parking lot that belong to the city and I have to say that CHT has been fantastic about trying to accommodate as much of the parking necessary to meet their zoning needs on the subdivided parcel that will be their parcel ultimately when we transfer that property um so they have accommodated 30 of the 34 spaces required by zoning for that property right on the property so what we are looking at here is a shared use agreement for 24 seven access to four spaces on the O'Brien Community Center parking lot and then based on calculations that were done by Shea Plain Housing Trust they think there may be a need for an additional five spaces um so we have put into the agreement that those five spaces would be from 5 p.m. until 8 a.m. only um and this is not dedicated spaces this is just access to spaces um shared with the O'Brien Community Center and I think we're all trying to be very sensitive to the fact that we do have existing tenants at the OCC and we do have a potential move of City Hall um to that site I would say probably much further down the road so that is not something that is decided but we are trying to accommodate space for that as well and then the last agreement is a preliminary purchase and sale agreement again this is a draft and there are a couple items that we'll bring back to you when we bring you the complete draft the complete package of documents which I assume will be on June 7th we have also to identify the location and dimensions of the easements that are referenced in the purchase and sale agreement so we just really want to make sure that we have those firmly defined um and on uh plan on site plans so that we're all talking about the same thing when we're talking about these easements and there's clarity to what those easements are for and second we'll bring back a municipal resolution that's in a reportable form authorizing the transfer of title to lot 2 to Champlain Housing Trust as the buyer and appointing an individual to execute all the transfer documents um on our behalf and then lastly I'm sorry there's one more thing that I wrote about in the memo that is the subdivision plat that is not something that you need to take action on at this point in time that is something that goes through the development review board but staff has co-signed on the subdivision application and it's been submitted to the development review board for final approval where it will be considered at their meeting this Thursday evening so that's the quick overview. Thanks Heather nice to see this moving forward and to hear that negotiations have been easy standard language agreement the one question I had is that on page two in the development agreement under purchase and sale it references a non-exclusive easement for not less than 12 parking spaces however the other agreements refer to nine spaces. I apologize for that that was a previous agreement and we have completed that so my apologies I must have sent you a late an earlier version of it but we have come to agreement on that. That is great typo. Are there questions from council on these agreements? Jim um this is exciting to see come together um thank you for the quick overview on the documents uh could you remind me what the current uh number of parking spots are and what the remaining parking spots will be in the city lot after developments we're losing is it just the back row of parking or is it back row is it the two back rows of parking? I believe it's the two it's the two back rows of parking and for a period of time we'll be we'll be losing part of that just for staging of the construction but those will be coming back online after construction will be restriped and will be added back into the mix so in those uh two middle tiers I believe there's something and pardon me if I don't have it exactly right I believe it's 36 spaces are available in that middle area and then we'll get more back online in the staging area once construction is complete. Also um CHT did submit to us a proposed plan for how we could restripe the entire property and add more parking on the north side of the site and then in addition to that there are 17 spaces that are diagonal along the railroad easement that are not included in the plan so you wouldn't see those but there are an additional 17 spaces over there. Great thanks that's helpful and the only other question I had references the construction schedule in the development agreement and meeting that construction schedule is that I didn't see the attachment D I assume this is still going to be figured out and then presented as part of the final package. That's right other questions Bryn. All right yeah thanks I also had similar questions about the attachments kind of puts the whole thing in context sometimes so I was looking for those and I guess that will will will those be available in the near future or is it just going to be with the packet right before council the next council meeting? We were we were planning on bringing them back with a completed package um some of those attachments are things like the definition of the easements on plans and those don't currently exist so they're under development John Rauscher is working with the civil engineers on you know putting in place what we can what we can do on the city side for that so you'll see those completed plans clearly I can put on the June 7th meeting it can be a discussion approval item if you prefer so that it's not strictly for approval if there are more questions than we could take it and come back again with it if necessary. Of course that's all with the understanding that CHT intends to be under construction starting in July so we're just trying to move it as quickly as we possibly can and develop those additional documents to bring back to you next time. Okay I'm also curious you know has there been any outreach to the OCC tenants currently or you know just wondering what they're aware of how how much contact we've had with them? Yeah um so we held a meeting specifically for the O'Brien Community Center tenants um and we did have CHT there I was there Ray was there John was there had communication with them certainly um we we've had a discussion with Chris Snyder of Snyder Homes who was doing the construction work about the possibility of holding monthly meetings with the O'Brien Community Center tenants to ensure that they're aware of what's going on and what to expect in the coming month um so Chris is absolutely on board with doing that and I have informed the OCC tenants that we will be setting those up that's something that I hope to set up for um I think June 15th is what Chris Snyder was hoping to have set up so that's something that's on my radar to set up with them. Okay great um what's the estimated timeline for construction like six months nine months 12 months 12 months um yeah so curious uh just about the parking agreement um is this uh and is it sounds like the five spaces are into perpetuity for my understanding of the agreement? Yeah the over the five for overnight hours only yes yeah um and then uh just regarding it mentions like some use uh use and care um I'm just wondering about plowing that's completely on the on the city to manage. Yeah um so part of what we are working on currently is coming up with um math of what it will cost to maintain um and do plowing all the operations for that so that we can then put that into the parking agreement as you know just a straight line cost for the cities so that we're not paying the costs of maintaining spaces that are being used by CHD but instead are being compensated for that cost. Okay those are my questions thank you. Any more questions from council? Any questions from members of the public? See something in the chat? Oh is there any impact on the community garden? I don't believe so um that should stay the same. No there's no impact on that um should we decide to go forward with city hall on the site um and again that's a big discussion and it's not something that we have been given direction to move forward on at all at this point but in the future if we were to go forward with that we might have to reevaluate the site to ensure that we have enough parking for that use as well. Yeah for back longer background context there were conversations several years ago about relocating city hall to the O'Brien Center property but there has been no forward motion on that the entire time that I've been here um and there's it's currently not under discussion at this time um there's also a question about safety fencing at the railroad I don't believe that is in the plans at this point. No wait oh go ahead John. Yeah I was just going to say we did um during the project committee we spent a lot of time looking at um how the construction fencing would be staged for the the building project and pedestrian rerouting but nothing we didn't touch on any of the railroad at that area at all um but it's something we can look into. Is there any additional feedback that would be helpful Heather or Rob as you move forward here? Just I want to reiterate what Heather said this has been a very very smooth process and and the city's been just a tremendous partner and very appreciative. It's great thank you um since these are all discussion items I think it is acceptable to move forward um as we took items F, G and H sort of right in a row there. So thank you for joining us Rob. My pleasure because I look forward to seeing you hopefully in a few weeks. Yeah excellent good night and thank you thank you Heather. We will move to item I this is the final report on historic preservation which Heather you will also introduce. Yeah absolutely um so to give you the very quick overview um this initiative is really the result of conversations that we were having back in 2019 I believe um with the community having concerns about ensuring that we are preserving our historic resources and so uh we went forward and got a municipal planning branch through agency of commerce and community development to hire a consultant to come in and really do an evaluation particularly along the form-based code gateway districts which are Mallets Bay Ave, Main Street and East Allen Street which is where the majority of development is happening in the city now and really the concern was that we were going to lose important buildings without ever having done an inventory of what was there in the first place. So this is um a charge that we put to VHB and Brittaton who was the lead on that is here with us and we asked them to do three things one do a historic resource inventory of the gateways to facilitate a community conversation about our priorities for historic preservation and then three come back with recommendations for potential um policy or bylaws that would support historic preservation in the community and this is really us coming back with a high-level overview of what some of those recommendations are so I will turn it over to you Britton. Thank you Heather and um I just want to say that um I'm really excited to have worked on this project I'm a Winooski resident as many of you know so I have um you know I'm really invested in this community and so it's really great uh to be able to take this deep dive into Winooski's history and built environment and really um come up with a plan um for some sort of preservation um in the future and um I'll just give a really quick overview some of you have heard this information of the um three steps that I took as part of this project um so in the summer of 2020 I did a reconnaissance levels survey of all 220 properties or excuse me 228 properties in the gateway districts um and the purpose was to identify properties that might have some historic or um architectural significance and then warranted some extra um analysis and documentation to figure that out in the fall I looked at 111 of these buildings and I documented them pretty thoroughly and analyzed their history and architecture and came up with um buildings that had some sort of significance um architecturally or historically um really 92 of the buildings I looked at could warrant you know some sort of um significance um with 21 of them or 18 percent having a really high level of historic or architectural significance and um you know I'm hoping that all this work that I did and the documentation and the mapping I did at some point can become available to the public because um it's a really great addition to um Whenuski's historic record and might be of interest to people especially if you own a property in one of these districts I'm sure I've done quite a lot of analysis and documentation of it um so following these surveys I engaged in public outreach efforts over the winter and that included presentations about my research to city council the planning commission the housing commission with a purpose of really introducing what I was doing um and the next steps forward to creating a historic preservation bylaw um and to gather feedback from members of the public that were in attendance and from commissioners and counselors um I also did some targeted outreach um in particular to owners of the 21 properties that I mentioned um had a high level of architectural historic significance to just kind of gauge what um you know take their temperature as far as how they feel about um a preservation bylaw um what questions they might have had um most of the responses I got just in general um from all the outreach was pretty positive it sounded like um there was a lot of interest in this project and um I will say that I had a couple property owners respond to my outreach expressing concern that a preservation bylaw would impede their ability to improve their properties which is a very common um you know point of view about preservation and I will address that in a little bit um so the third phase of the project was to recommend a preservation bylaw for the city that would offer protections for the significant historic buildings um so I will say that Winooski has already articulated its commitment to preserving its heritage both the master plan and the unified land use and development regulations do address the idea of historic preservation and um protecting um Winooski's significant buildings and preserving its heritage so um you know this is building off of that and I think the recommendations I've made are consistent with the spirit um of historic preservation as articulated in the plan and um the land use regulations um you know and really what I ended up doing though is I kind of created um a sort of a four concept for um a preservation bylaw or related to a preservation bylaw and the purpose of that is to kind of separate out different pathways that the city can kind of take or or explore with regards to historic preservation some of which would be maybe an easier approach to sort of planning for preservation others maybe further down the road that the city might be interested in exploring and I hope that it's helpful in that sense to kind of see different options or see how they all might relate to each other and whether you choose to adopt any of these ideas um into a bylaw you know this gives the opportunity to do it as excuse me as a phased approach um so my number one recommendation um and I highly encourage this is um for the city to establish a historic preservation commission in order to become what's called um a certified local government also called a CLG um the CLG program it's a national program that's administered by the Vermont division for historic preservation and its goal is to really encourage communities to engage in preservation planning um and the great thing about it is that there is grant funding yearly um available to CLG to do all sorts of different types of projects like historic resources surveys kind of like what I did um earlier in 2020 um creating design review guidelines and other resources for property owners completing oral histories and heritage research projects and educational programming around heritage or preservation so the most important requirement to have the CLG status is to establish a historic preservation commission um and it needs to meet a few times a year and be staffed by um people who have some you know relation to the field of historic preservation whether it be historians architects um people experienced in public history archaeologists um and other interested community members and um what I included I think in in the report and um a memorandum that you received is draft language for this and that language comes straight from the division for historic preservation as their recommendations for what an ordinance would look like just to establish this historic preservation commission and there are I believe maybe I don't know if I have this right but around 60 15 16 um CLG throughout the state most of them have an ordinance that looks very similar to the one that um I proposed and um because they use the state template and so um that is one of my recommendations um a second one would be the creation of a local landmark and historic district register I'll just call it a local register and to establish a process by which properties or historic districts would be listed in this register um if Winooski chooses to pursue this concept um this is like cutting-edge preservation and um Winooski would be the first community in the state to actually have this sort of landmark register um and the reason for doing this um related to having a preservation bylaw of some sort is that you know a lot of communities um end up using state and national register listing status to enforce local ordinances and zoning and that's really not um best practice because you know state and national register listing and designation is intended to mostly be honorific and it doesn't come with burdens you know to be placed on property owners so suddenly if those listings are used enforce local zoning ordinance you're really kind of um you know going against the spirit of what what these designations are all about it's not meant to put restrictions on property owners of any sort so um you know the division for historic preservation really highly encourages municipalities to explore the use of local designation to um relate to some sort of local ordinance um so I won't get into all the details of of you know the process for how a building might become landmarked or or you know what requirements there are um I would imagine if there was a historic preservation commission established that they would be involved in this process um so the next two um bylaw concepts that I developed um would really pertain to properties that could be listed in this local register um and either individually or part of a historic district um so I I really recommend that um Manuski create a demolition review process so it would have a little bit more teeth um and require applicants to really carefully weigh alternatives to demolition and prove that demolition would be the only prudent and feasible alternative for redeveloping of properties doesn't mean that um you know if you have a significant building that you you can't ultimately um you know pursue pursue that route as long as you can really demonstrate that there is no way to use the historic building in um a redevelopment proposal for a property um this is a pretty common um type of of bylaw that communities have um and typically it's structured um in the way that there's there's an application that requires supporting documentation like maybe studies from architects or engineers showing that a building a historic building can't be rehabilitated and effectively used for new development that um you know possibly um you know a business analyst or someone who can show that the economics just don't work um one of the challenges that we have in the form based code district is that um the regulations um say that buildings I don't know the exact numbers have to be you know pretty close to the edge of the street um or the sidewalk most of the historic buildings are set back a little further so that creates challenges for how to incorporate a historic building into new development in these districts so it's possible that maybe there could be variances um for that to encourage the reuse of historic buildings possibly some other types of incentives um so that's another um idea I came up with you know some considerations would be how do you define demolition does it mean taking an entire building down or a certain percentage of a building um would there be penalty for demolishing a building prior to the application being approved um you know I brought up the idea of incentives and then the idea of demolition by neglect it's a problem um often that people will intentionally let their building deteriorate deteriorate to the point that it can't be salvaged or rehabilitated so how would you address that um and the last concept I developed is um developing a set of design guidelines that are catered very specifically to a new ski with respect to the types of historic buildings that exist here and the financial realities so design guidelines um are used by a lot of municipalities and I know that that does appear in our existing land use regulations um not a lot of detail but um you know they're used to really encourage property owners to explore ways that they can um you know make sensitive changes to their properties or just learn like what are the options out there for um rehabilitating a historic property and um having some sort of publication or a guidebook for property owners could be really useful um if you want to check out some examples Bennington and Shelburne have really great um publications that offer guidance and the idea with the guidelines is that you know these are ultimately they're they're not like um they don't dictate whether or not you can get a permit so um in some places like New York City for example there's a very strong landmarks law and unless you follow his strict historic preservation standards you won't get a permit for um your building project so the idea here is that the guidelines would um you know be um looked at by the historic preservation commission and a project evaluated against them and then a recommendation would be made to the actual permitting entity um granting the permit as to you know whether or not the project you know meets the design guidelines or if there should be some changes or suggestions for the property owner um the development of the actual guidelines was beyond the scope of this project but a lot of communities use CLG funding to create uh publication and to create design guidelines um so um you know I would say that when you think about design guidelines um it's important when reviewing them to make sure you know and this can be part of it is that the most important architectural features of a building that really distinguish it and kind of define its historic character maybe preserve those but allow for flexibility with other um materials and features of the building um so some additional recommendations you know beyond just um the creation of of bylaws and and getting in the weeds with that um you know coming out of this project you know I realize there's so many opportunities for Winooski to engage in historic preservation efforts um if Winooski were to become a CLG um there could be so many great studies of Winooski's history and built environment particularly in the form of surveys research oral history projects um one thing I've been thinking about a lot and I discussed a little with Heather is how the field of historic preservation needs to be more inclusive and equitable and um that means identifying documenting and protecting um historic places and events and people that really reflect the full story of a community um and I know this is an alignment with Winooski's values community values and with some of the feedback that um I heard at some of the um meetings and you know in light of this I would encourage the city and you're seeing this more and more in um you know in um historic preservation plans and communities that um you make an intentional effort to seek out BIPOC LGBTQ and women's histories and ensure that city promoted historic preservation efforts really work to incorporate these histories into the historic and cultural narratives surrounding city um so you know there's I think you received a copy of my report um there's a lot in there it's very long so um good job if you've read it or at least looked at some sections but the recommendation section does have some more details about you know some where can Winooski go beyond just this process of preservation by law creation so that's all I've got and I'm happy to answer some questions. Thank you Bertha so for Council's um context this item is on for discussion tonight I think this is a chance to ask Bertha questions about these recommendations um we're not like deciding yes or no how we want to move forward here Heather. Yeah I just want to suggest that I think that this is um the next steps on this would be to have a discussion about it at the priorities and strategies meeting um and that can push forward you know what we decide to bring forward and how we utilize all the recommendations that we've been given. Thank you Heather. So I I do want to ask um you know when I think about our Langston zoning approach in our gateway districts you know one of the goals of having form-based code is to administratively create like what are the guidelines of what we're trying to build so that we don't have to set up a commission we don't have to go through an an individual process for every project that goes through and I wonder if you considered or if if there even are existing approaches that kind of would bake in some historic preservation into regulations like that in that kind of you can apply this each time way. Yeah that's a good question um you know Burlington has some overlap there typically the historic preservation ordinance sort of um takes takes the lead when you're dealing with um a designated building um so you know however this gets crafted um and this is obviously um discussions to have with Eric is um you know there can be some sort of design overlay district that does cover the entire city and has um you know and really covers though at the same time just those significant buildings that would be local register listed or eligible and then even if they are in the form-based code district just those buildings would be subject to this extra layer of review so it wouldn't be like every every property that is up for re-development and there are not honestly that many so it wouldn't you know have a huge effect across the board on how you know development is administered in the form-based code districts so you know that's my thought I mean there might be other ways to structure that and that would be probably more you know more further conversations um with Eric or the planning commission um about you know is there a better way to integrate this together but you know my thought is that if we could have this overlay district that sort of even encompasses the form-based code we could just look at you know very specific properties that have this um extra level of significance because they're on a local register that makes sense yeah and is the is a historic preservation commission a requirement to become certified local government it is yes and um what is not a requirement is to have a preservation by-law so um you know the the certified local government really the intention is to get a community really thinking about um preservation planning and to engage in historic preservation efforts that do not have to be you know regulatory and nature um by any means um so yeah so this commission and it can meet you know three four times a year um to do other things that are not just looking at um you know by-law so yeah it's pretty there's a lot of options for the work that the commission can do thank you brunette brunette hi thanks um I was thinking that you know with the centennial commission looking at um project work I think they have a meeting this week it's coming up um and that they're looking at additional ideas that it could be an opportunity that uh heather or another city staff person that's assigned to that group um could bring up as an opportunity to share some of this research with them and some um events for that for that uh celebration um I I'm curious about um how historic preservation kind of works or works for works you know maybe in some ways against energy efficiency um you know I I know that there's some properties in coal chester Essex that have some historic preservation elements and it does make it challenging to do um weatherization work um you know and as we're looking at just earlier this evening talk about the noise mitigation insulation work um curious how many of these properties that you researched are within the um 65 dnl exposure zone yeah um and that's a good question in regard regarding the noise mitigation um without having really you know delved into exactly what this process would look like I think it's if you're familiar with the lead program the burlington lead program I think it would be a pretty similar approach is that actually because there is federal funding for the project it would kick in this um level of review that is um always has to happen when you're working with a national register um listed building or eligible building it's really one of the only times that there could be you know some regulatory components of the national register listing is just to make sure that there are no adverse impacts on the historic character of a building so um like the burlington lead program if we're dealing with windows it would be selecting a historically appropriate replacement window for example like um gene talked about that um quite a bit about the you know different options for that um insulation too there are methods of insulating that are um sensitive to you know historic buildings and the way they're constructed um so that would be a kind of that would come into play with the um with the noise mitigation um regarding energy efficiency there actually are a lot of studies um done about how you know historic preservation and energy efficiency really are compatible I mean the one thing that preservationists love to put out there always is that you know the greenest building is one that already exists some of the greenest materials are the ones that are already there um so you know in that in that sense um very compatible but you know when it comes there there are you know windows come up a lot as um a point of almost contention I want to say between um people considering energy efficiency versus preservation there are ways to weather rise windows and to preserve historic windows while creating energy efficiency so um you know I think design guidelines um and the creation of those and and there are models that others uh municipalities are using like and offering assistance to property owners on and how to go about maybe doing weatherization or energy efficiency updates that are sensitive to historic buildings um can that could be a great resource to property owners and there's lots of studies out there and I can I can forward you um I think I put one in the additional resources in the report um at the very end of the list um so um about uh what Connecticut has been doing to um to kind of encourage retrofits um energy efficiency retrofits in historic buildings uh all right I'm leaving it at that for now thank you Jim thank you um thanks for that for this really detailed report um one of the things you mentioned kind of about your outset was that you'd like to see some way to make this work uh accessible to the public and I think the report is one way to do that but I'm curious what you have in mind if there's some other way to deliver or preserve this information so that it is discoverable um and easy to access into the future do you have any uh recommendations or things you would suggest along those lines yeah I mean I think one way um to do that and I know that um because my company is doing this with other projects is really utilizing ArcGIS um has some really cool mapping systems um like a web map where you can you know click on a property and information about the property pops up um which could be the inventory form that was created some baseline information about date of construction um you know whether it's listed on a state or national register so that's a great way because it's a nice visual way for people to access information um you know this requires extra work but you know the creation of say story maps if you're familiar of that which is similar an interactive map that provides information um presented in a really easy to read way um eventually the Vermont division for historic preservation will have this survey on their website they have an online database of all the studies that are that are done regarding historic preservation in the state um it's called the online resource center it's a little it's not as user friendly um to the general public but um but yeah I really think mapping is the way to go and I'm not sure the extent to which the city has has really implemented a GIS system um I know CCRPC has has done some GIS mapping for its municipalities but um that would be a great way to make this information accessible um thanks for I'm just gonna assume that you're gonna say yes mayor lot to let me talk some more um thank you uh that is I think ArcGIS online and some of the open data hubs are really potentially good ways to host that information um another unrelated question do you have a sense of what level of staff commitment and support you need to make a preservation commission successful how much of us city how much city resources will we be not in terms of dollars but just like is it an hour a month is it a day a month like what are we looking at in terms of commitment and time to make the preservation commission succeed yeah um that's a good question um I guess it depends on how often the commission would meet um in the beginning if it's just establishment of the preservation commission to sort of set some preservation goals to explore funding projects through the certified local government um program um you know the commission would not need to meet very often I wouldn't think so so you know maybe there's an hour a month of staff support but it might not even be that the commission meets monthly so um you know I think St. Albans just recently became a certified local government and recently established a historic preservation commission and I think they're meeting quarterly so you know whatever amount of staff support I don't know I imagine probably the planning and zoning director would be a staff liaison and um you know that the meetings would probably start out pretty light I imagine but um so I don't know if that totally answers your question but well I think this is something that we could ask for if we discuss this at the priority and strategy session like Heather Eric what is what do you think the lift is to support this proposed plan um both in getting it you know launching it and then like continuing to support not just a commission but this review process in a similar vein I don't know if pretty you'd be able to answer this or um Eric could also have insight maybe but this application for demolition I would be curious what it would cost somebody to get some of these reports put together thinking about an individual homeowner. Yeah it's a good question um I think if we're talking within the context of demolishing a historic building for a larger development a lot of these reports might you know I might not be too difficult to come by or almost exist and we just need some tweaks to really talk more about the historic building I've worked on some projects in Burlington where I worked with architects and they could you know throw together a memo that you know assuming an architect might be involved in a larger development project they can put together a memo pretty easily and that there would be some sort of financial planner working um with a developer who could put together memos pretty easily so you know for a larger scale development for us you know I'm not sure about you know a single property owner wanting to tear down their historic building and building like another single family house I mean again I imagine that there would be some you know design team involved that could you know put together an extra memo um for that so there are other questions from council we could open it up to public comments um I saw there was a question in the chat but it's really long so Paul do you want to move Eric Lind over Eric hi do you want to share your question um yes thank you just a couple of quick questions I guess as far as you know if you're going to see was a bylaw uh what that would entail for somebody who was a property owner for instance in my particular situation here I am 75 Main Street and single family house in the downtown district which is obviously a non-conforming situation so if I were to sell or want to change my uh a boat in any way um I suppose I would require variance now um as far as you know how the how you craft the bylaw that would impact how I conduct my my business so I just want to get some assurances from the city council that we're not going to be overly restrictive in the way that things are playing out you know on the the gateway in the downtown district as far as you know you can't have your cake and eat it too I mean you can have your downtown and I have all this you know wonderful zoning and stuff um but you can't also have his sort of buildings that are just you know there for eye candy as well and expect for the homeowner just you know you know to sit here and and take it while you know mansion's already been you know built up by you know the developers you know so you know am I on the wrong end of the stick here or what you know I just don't know what what to say is yeah so Eric we those are points well taken and like we're not making a decision about this it's something we're going to have to talk about for a while if we decide to move forward host public hearings because I don't think what we have in this report even tells us how we would address those situations from so you know how we would take in your example you have this historic building and if you wanted to redevelop it right now technically you have to follow the form-based code guidelines so they would have we would have to do some thinking about where the middle ground is for somebody in that situation and we're not at that stage yet of this decision making process so I wouldn't expect to see any action on this for several months right no but I just exactly the point is that that there are these exceptions and I'm not just the only one that that need to be brought in um proactively um to discuss you know really what's going on here you know um yes and and to that point you know the bread of the feedback rate response rate uh for the individual property owner outreach was abysmal so I think I saw that yeah I saw that if we went forward yeah I'm sorry but still I think you would think somebody who has an interest in their property which you're making decisions should show up but yeah if not whatever I will show up yeah I mean I would think there could be additional outreach done yes when this gets you know discussed in greater depth and and more seriousness um yeah I think if we chose as a council if we wanted to pursue this we would need to direct staff to do more targeted outreach to particular homeowners are there other members of the public who wanted to make comment ask questions any more questions from council staff any other anything specific that you would like to hear or are we good to revisit this uh priority and strategy session I would just like to thank Britta for her time it's a really comprehensive report that you've provided and providing it in such a way that we can take a piecemeal um and look at it as a phased option or tweak it is really helpful to us and I think after that priorities meeting we'll have a better sense of what direction to take it so thank you sure and let me know if you have any questions or needs some you know during that meeting or or a more direction before that so happy to help out some more this is great thank you for to help us move forward thank you yep thank you thank you Britta we'll move on to item j the housing trust fund policy Heather sorry I muted myself um so the last time that you all saw the housing trust fund policy was in august of 2019 and we got pretty significantly derailed throughout covid for a couple of reasons one is our commission wasn't meeting from march through july but the other is that our partner opportunities credit union was also putting out ppp loans and was absolutely buried in those and actually are still buried in some of those so apologies for the big delay on that but when we had the discussion of the housing trust fund policy in august council made recommendations for some changes and all of those have been included in this revised draft policy and that's pretty much all the changes that have happened here with one exception the final change was a recommendation from opportunities credit union staff and I've laid out for you in my memo exactly where all of those changes to the document are I'm happy to walk you through them or happy to take questions on them whichever you would prefer I think we all had time with this in our packet and have seen this in the past brinn this might be your first time seeing it um it's not brinn's first time seeing it brinn was very actively engaged in reviewing this um just as a resident previously oh right yeah um then let's make this space for for questions for heather on this policy update brinn uh jim you're on this commission is that right yeah um is there anything that any updates beyond what heathers provided that you've thought about and as far as your work on this commission no the commission is very excited to see this moving ahead it's something that they've been kind of that they had kind of finished and there was that one minor change from opportunities that was discussed around the assets and that's been recommended back and I think they're just really excited to see this thing actually move forward excited that opportunities is still involved um so I think that both of those pieces that we've kind of been able to come back to this after two years is really good um so I don't think that there's any other uh points to raise from the commission's work at this point um and then heather I obviously yeah as has only been on the team a week um has she had a chance to review this at all she has not but she is on my radar to review this um prior to bringing back a final um for approval yes and and certainly there have been a lot of discussions around implicit bias and around equity and accessing this one piece that I will say about the housing trust fund that has not been resolved at this point um is issues um with people who are prohibited by religion by Islam from um incurring interest um so that is that is an inequity that continues to persist in this we do have um some examples of ways that people that communities have overcome that but we have not implemented anything in this it's been a difficult conversation um that we've had for quite some time so I would flag that as one issue that remains unequitable in this process for certain okay thank you any more questions from council any questions from the public all right I will take the relative quiet as um affirmation that these changes are acceptable so we can move on to item k the opportunities credit union mo you yeah and this is the last of my batch for tonight um this again is on for discussion and um as I had mentioned you know it's been a long process of back and forth and um opportunities is currently working on putting together a fee structure that can be included in this document they have provided initial fees but we want them right in the mo you so that we're clear about um what those payments will be and this is um a pot of money that has been sitting with opportunities credit union for I mean at least a decade I think maybe more than that um as the home improvement program so we are shifting from um one program to an entirely different set of kind of three programs under one umbrella um so it does require some significant alterations to what the roles and responsibilities are on each side as well as what the fee structure is and so they have not yet developed for us what the down payment assistance fee structure would be but that should be coming to us I think in the next week so that we can review that and then bring it back to you for formal approval things Heather are there questions from council on this agreement oh I can I just add that I have had Angela review this as well just because she has had experience with the home improvement program in the past so that we could add to it anything that we required that would make administering this a little bit easier so there have been additions made um and Angela was the one who requested that we have the fees directly in this document so we will have those thank you but any questions for members of the public right so look forward to seeing the updated version in the future um legal review and all that in place you will be seeing this full slate again at the June 7th meeting so be prepared for that thank you Heather so we will move to item I financial policies and accounting systems update from Angela it's very exciting updates here um so we currently have a financial policy manual that was adopted between 2011 and 2017 with some minor updates in between um it's very outdated and references positions that the city no longer has and we have put in place some new technologies that are not covered none of our policies currently cover credit cards or um some of the other new systems that have been put into place so this is an effort to rewrite to incorporate the city as it exists today including my position the staff accountant and the clerk's office as it currently exists as well as all the technology that we've changed with um these drafts integrate all of the previously approved policy information as well as vlct model policies and the government finance officers association best practices all of them have been reviewed and commented on by the finance commission and ultimately approved by the commission to bring forward to the council um for final approval there's lots of pieces here these five policies represent the general accounting system for the city including budgeting revenues purchasing uh the reserves and just the general accounting system and financial reporting happy to answer any questions you have about them thanks angela and i'll just add having sat in on those finance finance commission discussions um changes and suggestions were primarily to add clarity um to the language nothing really substantial nothing controversial came off or any like major concerns and we did incorporate a lot of their feedback regarding how we can get public input on the budget process how the community would like to receive information about city finances one of their suggestions was actually the treasurer's report containing visuals which you all saw reason so questions from council on any of these policies brian i just want to say thanks i i know it's kind of dry material but it's really important and valuable to have and um certainly you know getting a packet of updates together can can be a little uh a long time coming but once you have it done it feels really good so thank you any questions from members of the public we are not currently going to accept bitcoin there was a question in the comments field we'll save that for a future we are not currently equipped to set accept cryptocurrency all right hearing no other concerns from council last call for council questions um this is on for discussion but we can bring it back i think for approval in our consensus agenda next time seeing as there's been no no questions raised thank you angela we'll move to item m the community services job descriptions ray hey um so just two more additional teen employee positions here um in the context of the big slate that we brought last week we had a couple positions that we were anticipating filling that were not defined as yet so these are two more um defined positions that we were planning to try to run this summer so um there was no additional fees or costs beyond what was discussed at the last meeting again these are just fleshing out two of the positions that we talked about last last meeting thanks ray questions from council just a quick question i i'm a little concerned about um just one of the city's one of the step positions being employed by the snack bar and uh just is that technically a third party um you know who what how's the oversight going to work i guess yeah yeah so the position would be employed by the city and we so when we were in our teen employee program a number of years ago we had a similar arrangement with from artworks for women where we had a city a city employee teen employee who was our employee we were managing we had a defined supervisor on the city team and then they were being um sort of i guess co-supervised if you will in the work site space by a staff from from artworks for women so it's a pretty similar model to what we did a few years back so it would be a city position they would have a defined staff person within our team that would be their direct supervisor but they would be available to support the work happening in that snack bar at the pool um and i think the other piece that similar to the way it was at the community center with vermont works will always have staff on-site to be available as a support for those kids if need be so it's not like we're sending them to a location that doesn't have um you know city staff person in the same building is it a little different with vermont works for women being a nonprofit um it's a good question and i i might look to phoebe and or angela here on the hr side but it's a it's a good question um so is the question just how the reporting relationship works if if the teen employee is is at the pool working in the snack bar so that was one question um which ray seemed to address for the most part i think there still could be some confusion there um the closest thing i can relate this to is americor and thinking about um americor being host host sites being eligible if they're nonprofit or municipal i don't recall for profit having being eligible for city employment work so that's the element that i'm that i'm wondering yeah it's a great question brendan we can definitely dig a little deeper on that um i will be be honest i that sort of discrepancy between the for-profit nonprofit had not come to my mind so i will definitely look into that a little bit more and see um and i think if it does become problematic it's not it's not a deal breaker if we need to shelf this position for the year and fill that out in a different way but i know the folks are working with through um through little city we're very excited about being part of it and we wanted to try to harness that enthusiasm and create another opportunity for a kiddo so but we'll we'll take a deeper dive on that yeah maybe um one just the kind of the legal point um and then if there's any financial element that angela might need to look at as well but i'll leave that to john and phoebe to decide there are other questions any questions for members of the public staff how how would you feel about approving these descriptions with this needing to do more research on the financial legal side i would feel fine with that and i think if we with the agreement if we find anything troubling there we'll again we'll sort of back off from the the snack bar position i think that's fine um if council agrees with that then i would entertain the motion to approve these job descriptions moved second motion by jim second by mike all those in favor please say aye aye hi i'm here as opposed you would like to have seen yeah all right motion carries and this is a chicken permit for 26 hall street which jim is going to recuse himself from so thank you very yeah yep i'll present this one quickly um yeah so the reason this is uh this is on your regular agenda and not on your consent agenda as with other permits of this nature is because of who the applicant is in this case it is counselor duncan who's the applicant so we wanted to put this on the agenda specifically so that he could recuse himself from the discussion but there's nothing out of the ordinary about this it's a permit to keep keep chickens at the property at 26 hall street there's also a zoning permit included with as part of this which is currently under the or it's currently in the 15 day appeal period um i don't anticipate any issues with that but as with all chicken permits it requires uh council approval so i'll just leave it with that unless there's any questions any questions concerns we're in i was just uh interested why we had one chicken permit in the consent um agenda but not this one right so the primary reason is because of the applicant um because it's because it's counselor duncan he would have we most likely would have had to pull this from the consent agenda so he could recuse himself okay thank you for clarifying sorry it's getting late any questions from members of the public i i do see a question from mr irrick lind we'll hook paul bring it over yeah so i'm sorry to chime in again um as i've seen a lot of chicken uh home chicken people pop up uh throughout the community and uh there actually has been a rise in uh infections regarding campelbacter and salmonella uh in these uh communities um i don't know if you're aware of that i would like you to uh assign the city health officer to evaluate all of the chicken and turkey and other types of animal raising that's going on in non-professional um agricultural settings i do know personally people who have had infections with these organisms and only know that because i'm a microbiologist so uh i just like you guys to consider that before you start proving more and more chicken farms and such around the community i'm sorry please to be clear are you're asking us to have our town health officer inspect the poultry what are you asking for yeah that's correct uh just just so much as um there were rats running out of a decayed building and um they needed to be cleaned up maybe there should be some local ordinance regarding how people raise and handle the chickens and their products even if it's for home consumption i can have a conversation with staff about this and come back to council at some point with whatever our well i don't think it's an odd ball request that's all i'm saying uh right what i'm saying is that we don't we haven't discussed this before and don't so right no so so if someone starts selling eggs out on their front lawn and the community starts buying the eggs and they turn out to be you know contaminated in some way what is your liability you should consider that i think thank you we will have a different conversation about this thank you are there other questions or concerns here all right if someone wants to make a motion to approve this permit now would be the time so second motion by house second by mic all those in favor please say aye hi hi mic i didn't hear you i'm sorry i motion carries thank you so we are on to the item o the goal updates john pb or would like to leave that so we provided the update number eight to our 2020 2021 policy priorities priorities and strategies sorry i'm tired too um so all the updates were in red on the document that we attached to the agenda and just it should be noted that this will be the last one of these updates that we will provide for this year because we'll have a new set of goals starting in the new fiscal year in july after our retreat does the council have any questions about these all looks predictable to me from what we've seen in past updates any questions or concerns from the public this is a discussion item so we will move on this brings us to the end of our regular agenda um we do have an executive session warned about the negotiation of real estate purchase and lease related to lot 7d on abinac way so pursuant to vsa section 3132 doing this negotiation in public would put the city at a disadvantage so i'm looking for a motion to find that we need to have this discussion in executive session so second motion by mic second by brin all those in favor please say aye hi hi motion carries so i would like to enter into executive session inviting john rousher phoebe townsen heather kerrington bob depalma bill necate doug netty liam murphy and ian davis am i missing anyone staff um can i have a motion to move to executive session so oh second motion by mic second by how all those in favor please say aye hi hi motion carries so we are going to move to another zoom line for this executive session we will return to this after the executive session to this zoom line um simply to adjourn we will not discuss anything else during executive session beyond negotiations related to lot 7d um so i will see you all over at the other zoom line