 seven o'clock and we have four or five board members so we're in pretty good shape we have the applicants the applicants representative Barbara what is your interest in this application um my husband and I are adjacent landowners okay okay so let me call us mean to order there's a regular schedule meeting the town of Berlin Development Review Board we have one application before us tonight it's an application by Christina Casagrand for a conditional use review of a request on the section 2108c for additional use of rural enterprise associated with existing agricultural land so we're going to hear that application as a conditional use and what I'd like to do is start the meeting off by asking anybody that wishes to give testimony this matter tonight to please raise your right hand hey bob you may want to talk to Barbara about her rights as a well it's good to be out let me Barbara if you uh you're you're here he's a buddy property property owner are you interested in being an interested party to this hearing interested party is a party that has uh the right to testify although we would hear anything you want to say regardless uh and also has the right to appeal a decision of the Development Review Board if you disagree with the decision of the Development Review Board so our interested party status gives you a legal status in the hearing process especially as it applies to appeals are you interested in being an interested party or are you just listening in um I was invited to this um as we are adjacent landowners but I don't think that I have any objection to this I would like to hear what's going on okay well you can always change your mind and and if you want to be an interested party but if you want to testify at all you want to say then I'm going to ask you to raise your right hand and be sworn in okay all those attending all of you that tend to give testimony this matter before the board to wow I'll get it straight here yet no matter before this board tonight please raise your right hand I just want to tell truth and none about the truth and imagine before this board tonight are the penalties of perjury I do Dan it's not necessary for you I know thank you um so um it's our custom to start an application like this by asking for an overview by the applicant and but uh an overview strictly because we'll get into the details when we review the individual criteria and the same thing for anybody that has questions we just want to get a general picture of what's what's what's before us tonight I think we all know but we're going to ask the applicant to give us that general picture Christina are you going to be doing a testimony or will Dan be leading this before your team um I believe Dan will be works yes I'll be I'll be happy to take the lead Mr. Chair okay and the floor is yours if you would give us an overview of this application and then we'll delve into the individual criteria that you've given us sure thank you very much um and members of the DRB I'll start off by simply noting that this application is not seeking to change anything that exists on the ground today with one small exception that I'll get to in a moment so the parking area the building the use the hours are all going to stay as they are have been historically this is an as-built project we're simply looking to do a couple of things one is to come into compliance with the town and to make sure that the zoning classification fits the use as well as create a zoning classification that a fit that fits the emerging and sort of future use that we're projecting for this particular project so I'll start with an overview um Ms. Castigran owns several hundred acres of land but we're really only going to be focusing on and and Tom do I have the ability to share screen you do yes sir great let me share um just because I want to focus on let me stop sharing for a second uh and make sure that I have so I'm going to start out with a a picture of of the particular site that we're looking to uh talk about so as you'll see um this is route 12 that runs across the frontage of the property Crozier Road is a discontinued class uh I believe class three road that was discontinued in the 70s um and there's a parking area here that's been in existence and there's what's referred to as the crush house right here and this is this area is the really the area that we're looking to cover with this zoning application so this is a a mixed use application and let me begin by saying that most of the property is not looking to be reviewed in this application the the the vineyard Ms. Castigran's house the forest land that's all going to stay the same um we're only looking for this particular area right here and under your zoning bylaws under section 2005 it allows for multiple uses on a single property so we're really only looking for this crush house the parking lot and really the immediate immediate area that serves this crush house um so the yard that's around it we're not looking to go up into these vineyard fields that you can see up uh above we're not looking to go um into any other area but this this immediate area that will serve for this rural enterprise use so let me give you sort of a historic overview of the of the use of this which is that um and let me actually let me show you on this exhibit um a little bit more uh this is this is our exhibit and it shows on a section of a survey uh really a good sense of the area you can see there's the crush house right here there's a patio off of it there's a walkway to the parking area the solar panels um and and then the the discontinued road that goes out to route 12 for entrance and exit to the property um so what we are looking to do um is really the historic use of the property um so miss miss castigran purchased this property um in 2002 and it's a 2000 acre property i was understating by quite a bit um and most of it is enforced most and there's a section that has been uh cultivated as a vineyard um there's a portion that uh supports her house and barn um and then um this crush house that sits below um and this crush house was constructed uh I believe in uh the end of 2006 Christina am I remembering that correctly I think it's 2009 2009 I apologize um that's why you're here it's a fact check um but uh the crush house has always been an integral part of the agricultural use of this property uh miss castigran started fresh tracks farm um with the vineyard and has been producing wine at the site uh since since 2006 and that's the 2006 I was thinking of um and this crush house is where the wine is processed where it's stored uh and where there's retail space for people to come purchase bottles of wine taste wine um you know have cheese and uh cracker plates uh have small receptions there um but it has been so it's been a retail space it's been it's a it's an integral part of the actual vineyard agriculture uh space so it's it's always been tied to the vineyard itself and we're not looking to change that um what we are looking to do and when when it was erected our view was that it was part of the agricultural use um and and certainly to the extent that this was built uh to process all of the grapes that were uh grown on the property um you know we felt it was consistent with act 250 um that it was uh an agricultural use but there's always been a small retail component that's been tied to the farm uh she's had uh tour groups come in to do wine tastings um and these these hours have been largely limited to the daytime it's always been uh something that would close at 8 p.m uh might open as early as 10 a.m and that's not anything we're looking to change uh so the back of the the back of the crush house is uh primarily not open to the public because it is a um it is a processing place for the wine uh for it's either processing or storage um and it's really the front portion of that that octagon um that has a reception area and retail space so under your zoning bylaws you have what's known as a rural enterprise under section 3117 that's allowed in this district and it it states that the purpose is to recognize that Vermont's rural areas are characterized by working landscapes where resource-based economic activities have traditionally flourished the purpose of this section is to accommodate rural enterprises that support economically viable farms and or forest lands in town and region by and then at least four things that can do adding value to local farm or forest products direct marketing of local farm or forest products engaging in agritourism or education and or offering goods or services needed for farming or forestry so what has clearly we would put forward that the historic use of this falls under that rural enterprise use and and what miss castigran is hoping to do is you know obviously in this post-covid world um you know she's looking to figure out how does her business survive how does the farming enterprise that she's established survive and one of the things she wants to diversify is the retail offerings potentially at the at the crush house to be offering things that aren't necessarily the the wine she makes or that she um the related items such as corkscrews and glasses that are related to the wine um what she'd like to be able to do is some limited retail in that space preferably favoring um you know the type of Vermont based products but regardless of which would continue to do the crush house function the wine sales in the area but but diversify so given that um we believe that this use would still fall under the rural enterprise in that it would be the direct marketing of local farm or forest products it would be adding value to her farm um and it would be engaging in agriturism uh or education in that anyone who comes into the crush house regardless of what they purchase would still be um on the farm would be you know seeing the oak casks that the wine is stored in um and and be shopping or experiencing uh this as they have been um on a farm type setting so that's that in a nutshell is what we're looking to do and and we believe the rural enterprise designation that um that the town has in its only bylaws allows that um we're only looking for this very narrow uh section of demand we're not looking to change the the 2000 acres and really we're not looking for any type of changes to the uh the structure it's hours the parking lot the entrance the exit you know this has all existed since 2009 um it has worked well we're unaware of any complaints from neighbors or the town as to uh flow of traffic or uh use it's closed at 8 p.m we're not looking to extend those hours um the one change that we are looking to do is um and i'll call this i'll share this screen is the um the the sign the existing sign and and part of our application is to recognize our is to get approval for the fresh tech tracks sign um but if you'll notice here um down below this is bottom lip signage um and i understand that uh in in reviewing the bylaws that's not allowed under the current zoning bylaws um and what we would propose to change is to remove this bottom lip and replace it with a a uh top lip sign so that the light would cast down as opposed to up and be in compliance with the zoning bylaws and so that's literally the one change that we're proposing um we would seek approval for the sign as you can see uh it's a wooden sign um it's well made it's tasteful um you know it's set back from the road um it's in compliance with the size requirements and you know i'm not going to go into necessarily much much more detail i'll ask if the let the board have any questions if they if they have any um but uh you know all of the setbacks and frontage requirements uh we believe are satisfied uh we believe that you know with the entrance and exit with the discontinued road there's certainly wide enough uh size of the right away and access points this simply hasn't been a problem that we're aware of there's a fully established curb cut with this road um and again this is something that has been really road tested for the past 12 years and has not created any issues within the neighborhood um it's certainly part of this ongoing farming operation and looks to continue to do that and that's simply what we look for that approval from this board for thank you Dan welcome thank you um uh i want to ask if the uh board members have any questions uh of a general nature for the applicant i do yes poly go ahead okay so dan just a couple of clarifications so the sign is existing you would just be changing the lighting is that correct that is correct okay the other question is i'm not clear in terms of what kinds of products that that christina wants to be selling sure and i'll let christina talk to clarify this but you know part of this is we don't know um because we're still exploring uh i know christina is still exploring what this is going to look like on the other side of of covid um you know so i think she's looking into partner with people um that would be able to provide that obviously there's the the space itself so we're not going to be bringing in tractor equipment to sell on the on the front lawn um but you know this would probably be an expansion of the retail operations in in logical ways um but we don't we don't have specific items it's not as if she's going to start carrying you know a line of cookware um but she may um and depending on on on really what the market will bear okay but but things like farm products or something like that or we we've looked to the rural enterprise for guidance in that um but i think regardless of the items you know what we're what we are proposing is that this would essentially these retail items would be subservient to the larger function of the crush house as an agricultural site this is this is really um for the vineyard the final final stop on the agricultural product line and so it's still going to be the crush house it's not going to we're not looking to change this into a retail showroom per se the retail is just simply going to support the the crush house functions okay thank you any other questions gen over net general nature because we're going to go through the some of the review criteria but that's a good question balia anybody else have a question uh from the board um i'm going to ask uh Barbara monard did you have any questions for the applicant of a general nature at this time no i don't okay um tom uh mr zoning minister did you have any comments you wanted to add at this point no i'll have some thawing this uh mr richeson's presentation okay in that case i'm i'm going to someone um unless there are issues that people have in having reviewed the material i'm probably going to move quickly through this um since there are no changes proposed to what's there but it's but it's a permitting process uh uh we we know what's there there's so it's not not not you guess it worked here um i think that the issue is does it qualify as a rural enterprise uh that's sort of the first issue that is there i have looked at the standards um uh you're all familiar with them uh does anybody have any question with regard to it being a legitimate rural enterprise no if they're i'm sorry i didn't give everybody a chance to say yes or no no if they don't questions and i'm gonna move on uh to the um criteria you've grouped a lot of them uh dan uh i'm gonna sort of hit them individually just so that we our our background covers them um we um we'll start with the site plan criteria which you also started with those and that really starts with parking um and you've given us a pretty good narrative on that just paraphrase for us stan sure um just the property is frontage on route 12 uh parking lots off crowsier road the former class three um it has approximately 47 spaces that exceeds the minimum parking requirements um by 26 spaces and historically parking has never been a problem at the site uh and the curb cut equals or exceeds the minimum length and the b 71 standard um then there is uh more than sufficient circulation for cars entering and exiting both the lot and the parking spaces um i'll bring up one thing here quickly um and and we have some latitude here our bylaws call for paving of parking of more than 20 spaces um unless there's intermittent use could you speak to that did you notice that in our bylaws here i i um i i did not and i would have further i apologize but you know the use here is fairly light um this is an agricultural setting it is and uh you know it is not a heavily used parking lot by having the sort of uh hard packed uh parking area it allows it to retain a rural character in in conformity with the surrounding landscape as well as um you know more than adequate for for the parking and and simply the traffic is not what i would consider heavy it's very light retail um and there are long gaps of time particularly in the off season when traffic is very long um it does exceed the minimum requirements by as you pointed out 26 spaces but that's not more than double the minimum requirements so um and you know i think that's acceptable from my perspective but is anybody have any questions with regard to that mr chair yes tom i not not for with respect to parking but i just want to confirm that i spoke to mr brian macka boy from uh v trans uh it's a root 12s of state highway and i asked them if v trans had any concerns with the access off of root 12 for this project and he said the v trans has no outstanding issues with that access thank you thank you any any questions for the african on parking it's not a group together parking circulation and snow storage uh which sort of tend to all go together um any questions with regard to circulation which goes to what tom just spoke of which the access from root 12 if none nope so if so i'm assuming this road is maintained by you christina yes yeah okay i i see see former town highway i assume that you must be yeah i was thrown up a long time ago so i maintained that okay you mentioned dan this was thrown up back in the 70s when it was thrown up uh frequently when towns throw things up they throw them up as trails or they throw them up as class four roads or did they just throw it up period entirely they just threw it up entirely and going back i actually looked at the the vermont highway maps for berlin and i believe the last one was somewhere in 1972 that showed this as a class three road and then in 1980 it was marked as discontinued okay others other have been left this class four or have left biggest trails i wasn't sure about this one here it doesn't materially change that but um okay any any other questions on parking circulation snow storage certainly plenty of room for snow storage um the um and we'll probably need it tomorrow stop it yeah we hope not okay and again you've grouped a few things here landscaping lighting setbacks and outdoor space um i'm going to ask you to speak to uh landscaping quickly individually sure um simply the site has been landscape to reflect its agriculture and rural setting um as you can see from uh the exhibits in the pictures um it's largely open field around the building with um some plantings done to adjacent to the building uh but largely mimicking the sort of rural past pasture appearance that's across the road and um alongside in other areas any questions on landscaping you're in none um and and you're you're welcome to barber chime in bar but you have a question thank you um the um lighting sure there's existing lighting uh this includes five 15 foot full cutoff light poles along the edge of the parking area the building has two scots i think i wrote my application scone lights but i'm in sconces uh light fixtures under the roof and small twinkle light strands under the roof over overhang an immediate yard area surrounding the crush house that i think are removed on a seasonal basis um no new lighting is proposed this has been satisfactory if you ever pass by you can see this is a pretty low uh glow lit area um i mean it's obviously lit safely for uh pedestrians and traffic entering and exiting the building um but the lights are of course turned off when the building is not in use and the lighting quite obviously the lighting for the sign is of course the one that we're proposed to change uh to and over a downcast light okay um your your text does not address shut off time for the parking lot lighting um what is your proposal with regard to turning off the lights in the parking lot when close to business eight o'clock yes will that be on a timer or just turned off turned off by staff christina we're working on that one we have a photo eye so it should shut off when it gets dark actually um it's been problematic but um it is possible for us to do it at a specific time but of course we haven't really been open because of the pandemic so they've just been off so this would be a kind of relighting of the light so we can we can make sure that they go off as soon as the staff members you know safely in their car or ready to go yeah so hour after close of business something like that yeah that seems reasonable thank you yeah um i might suggest a timer that's i mean you are really on photo cells so they don't come on they don't come on until it's um dark but you do you do want them to turn off when you're done to the day right if that's acceptable to you it is yeah um the uh the question besides mine with regard to lighting the um are there any other lights besides the pole lights you have lights on the buildings exterior lights on the building entrance like entrance light several soffit lights okay a few downcast lights on the outside and then one light uh string light in the front if you drive by well you could see it when we were open so there are a few like one set of string lights and several soffit lights that come underneath the roof that overhangs the front of the building and then in the back which you can't see is of course a spotlight where ipark or staff goes and that's on a that will just come on when you pull in and that's so you can put the key in the door but that's in the back so you'll have no nighttime security lighting or anything like that it's interior so um so there's some lighting in there to try to see with the camera okay um any other questions on lighting if not i'm going to move on to uh sides and you've already addressed the sides as existing sign and you propose to change the lighting on the side any questions on lighting on the side there are no comments or questions i'm going to move on quickly a lot of pages was there a sign on the building um there's sort of a logo burned into a piece of wood but there's no writing on it on so it doesn't there's no wording on it and it's quite small so i don't know if that would it's about this big not sure that that would count and i should i'd like to back up if that's okay can we return to lighting for a moment i think those soffit lights do stay on at night because the cameras don't catch anything so i was wrong about that the soffit down lights around the building i believe we leave them on or the camera wouldn't catch anything so those have historically always been on at night and i apologize i missed that thank you the so the the logo technically is a sign how how big would you say it is oh probably about 12 inches wood we made it ourselves it's pretty simple you might not identify it as anything but it's it's above when you walk in honestly i don't remember seeing it yeah i i'm i'm glad i remembered it just now it's sort of forgotten about it myself but we'll make that part of your application it's likely a piece of art as well mr chair yeah uh the um you do have some temporary signs uh at your facility frequently and there is subject there are specific rules under this this um air culture uses that there are specific rules on that um uh you you need to observe those i don't know do we permit those tom or are they just soon be followed the guidance follow the guidance that the town is in the process of developing a licensure for that but we're not there yet okay so it's out it's outlined in back in that section 317 or whatever it's 3117 um so um which allows my observation is you have not not succeeded that but um just something you need to watch uh i think it allows up to six temporary signs i don't know they're ever seen six temporary signs there okay um the um you've indicated that you do have wastewater and water permits you've had them quite quite some time and then you've outlined that where your storm water goes anybody question on again they've been sort of moved together but the water wastewater or storm water you have not uh i'd like to move to conditional use criteria and um perhaps Dan quickly if you just sort of run through that for us sure um you're next i'll be happy to do that so uh the can the use uh as it has been and as we expect it to continue um has not impacted the community facilities or utilities won't have an impact on local schools parks water sewage systems or transportation infrastructure or any of the city services uh or town services um traffic of the site has consistently been a low level um as an agricultural retail operation it has 10 years of ha traffic history which have not generated complaints or issues with traffic on route 12 with the surrounding properties the number of trips has been uh and it is expected to remain well below the 75 um that would otherwise trigger a traffic study um i think as as as tom had indicated uh the entrance and exit is in conformance with the state's uh standards or at least as an acceptable level um as far as an entrance and exit off of this um the change is unlikely to affect the care you know any any classification that's given permit by the board tonight is unlikely to change or affect the character of the area as we've indicated it's been operating for 11 years any of the retail is going to fit really within the existing use and unless you go inside would probably unlikely to be noticed by any neighbors or any other individuals in the area um you know it's a modestly scaled business and building it's tied to the agricultural operations of the farm we're not looking to subdivide this off of of the property it will continue to be part of the part of the farm operations the hours of operation are consistent with historic use as well as uh residential use which is you know by closing at eight um it will be quiet presumably you know within the hour if there's any any noise at all um this is generally generated very low levels of noise there's not smoke or other uh effluent in in air um so it's largely been a fairly low impact uh on the neighborhood um and the property itself is surrounded by fields and agriculture there aren't particularly close neighbors nearby to the actual crush house itself um that might be uh affected in a in a tighter net neighborhood or a tighter packed neighborhood um and no significant natural resources impacted by the application the structure is built sits outside of the floodplain and riverfront areas protected by the state of vermont and identified on the a and r natural resources atlas um and the remainder of the the thousand plus or two thousand acres remain dedicated to agriculture and forestry purposes of which this this actually continues to allow uh and support um and there's nothing that's going to affect either solar arrays or renewable energy and as shown in fact there is a solar array next to the building um and certainly room for more if miss castragon decided or any neighbor decided to install solar or other renewable energy systems thank you uh are there any questions for the applicant by members of the board barbara did you have any questions no i think you know i was concerned about what time that's going to close would you answer that so well i'm okay good tom did you have any additional comments no sir dan any further comments on your part no i think we've presented and obviously if there's any questions about any of the materials we're happy to answer if there are no questions are there questions if there are no questions i would entertain a motion to adjourn before we do that i just wanted to commend you dan that was a very thorough application i had a lot of information so that's probably why there are not a lot of questions as a as a former drb member down down the hill from you guys uh and mom billyer i i know the value of providing answers before the questions are so i will move that we close the hearing and i'll second most have been made and second close the hearing uh is there a discussion of that motion no discussion then i would uh all those in favor of the motion please signify by saying aye raise your hands if you would aye aye aye opposed the motion is passed thank you uh the hearing is closed we thank you thank you very much for your presentation thank you barbara thank you for showing up um thank you christina thank you for your time everyone yeah a nice meeting you wish i wish you well with that and a certain hope to see it fully open again thank you i appreciate that i should do not get free samples that's under the graph and corruption yeah i was just gonna say so we have one other item of business tonight and that is the minutes of excuse me barb yes for those who are attending if they if you don't hear about our minutes you you're free to leave now see you know that see you later and thank you everyone i'll talk to you tomorrow thank you everyone thank you it's the only matter we have remaining before the board tonight is the approval of the minutes of april 6th um although i do anticipate we might go into a little recession but we'll do that afterwards um so any any is there a motion to accept the minutes of um april 6th okay tour but thank you for you moved polly you second sure okay discussion of that there were nice brief minutes christine thank you i think it's first time first time we've had a set of minutes on one page i know that meeting sent a lot of records so so okay all's favorite of the motion is through the minutes of april 6th please say hi hi hi minutes of the april 6th are approved um excuse me mr chair just one one order of business i i just want to do uh since christie's here as well that uh yesterday paulie was named as a permanent member of the uh development review board so she's no longer an alternate so now there are two alternates uh tour nelson and josh fits you thank you paulie yes now we just need one more permanent member it's true it's true uh i don't even know when people's terms expire um i intend to have a conversation with select board when person's term expires you basically re-advertise the position there may be other people that want a lot to that's a good idea want to be interested um we we've actually we've actually done that have you yes through front porch form we've done that well i didn't see the uh position of um uh represented the regional planning commission and the transportation advisory committee advertised that's not on my radar that's an annual position really huh yeah i thought it was for life annual appointment careful torque okay um i there's nothing nothing i've missed here i would attain a motion to go into the deliberate session okay so moved second second discussion all those in favor of going to deliberate session at this point in time please say hi hi hi i i need to move some folks around mr chair okay joining shortly mr chair i thought for a minute uh carly you're gonna have to cheer tonight oh oh jake i tried i tried to do myself in today i told the back was hit my head on a pavement oh wow bob yeah that's my first thought was okay you're standing up now but will you be standing up in an hour from now oh my god but i seem to be wow yeah it was a it was kind of a dumb move i was unloading some heavy equipment on my truck oh geez that's dangerous well i got my second shot today so i didn't know if i was gonna be sick but i feel okay great great which would you have the um visor visor yeah yeah we we didn't have any reactions to the visor ourselves so i just i had a fairly mild reaction so my son my son uh who's turns 50 this year he had a pretty significant reaction real yeah because the younger people have better immune systems i didn't used to think that was younger easy easy clearly is i just had i just had my birthday yesterday yeah happy birthday birthday bob you should have judy check your eyes just to make sure yes induction no i don't have to stay awake online or have to be woken up every two hours or whatever it is yeah yeah trust me you get to be my agent happens anyway okay well that's a good thing yeah tonight anyway is there is there any other real business to come before this board tonight hearing none i would accept a motion to adjourn so moved motion made by tour seconded by poly um all those who pay that motion please signify by saying i i the motion and the meeting is adjourned and i thank you all very much for attending tonight not tonight thank you thank you guys good night everyone night