 I like you Well now I'll you know in a rather masculine way hit the Where we are we are in In session from an executive session that we had and the first order of business is the Minutes of September 5th. Is there a motion with the approval? Minutes of September Go through it page one Under the approval of the minutes from the last time I think we actually didn't make a correction because I think it was correct in their Originally as Burmy. Yeah, we did not so Correct the corrections Page two page three Hearing no further corrections all those in favor of accepting the minutes say aye Was opposed nay the eyes have it and it's our approved Next on the agenda is public comment. This is a moment for anybody in Attending or anybody on Attending remotely to speak it's pretty much on any issue We do have an agenda and so if there is an issue That is going to come up later You may choose to speak at that time Although legally you don't have to you can speak now if you want and you can speak about anything you want Is there anybody who wishes to make a public comment? Okay, seeing nobody Eric is there anybody online? No, no one online next on the agenda class 1 reclassification pilot study Matt and Bruce are you going to be presenting or Okay Thanks for having us tonight to talk about this I've provided the board with a very brief memo just started providing a little bit of context for the presentation You're going to hear from the CCRPC and consultant team tonight about class 1 highways This is a follow-up activity from the tap corners project in some regards because one of the things the tap corners vision talked about Was the potential evolution of the state highways in the tap corners area? those those roads as you experience them today are primarily designed to Vehicles and they are certainly by by no means the kind of streets you might find in a City center or an or a town center or even a village center Class 1 town highway is processed in Vermont by which communities can take over Responsibility and greater design control over state highways in certain areas And the pilot study you'll be hearing about tonight looks at That for different Vermont communities, but using Williston and particularly route 2 as an example So as I say my memo This is a follow-up from the form-based code It's something Williston was willing to participate in because it would give us some additional answers about The path forward and tap corners and particularly some price tags I think as I said at the time we some of the decisions about tap corners and Williston come with price tags There's no action requested by the staff to the select board tonight It would be good for the consultant team to get any feedback from the board that could go into the final report that the presentation is about I would expect further conversations about Transportation infrastructure particularly in tap corners and related to class 1 to come up in the transportation section of the town plan That we'll all be riding together over the next 18 months or so That's all I'm going to leave you with that and let the team take it away I think Sae Yeah, Sae's all set Yeah, good evening everyone. My name is Sae Sarapalli senior transportation planning engineer at Children and County Regional Planning Commission So this project as Matt explained It was like a actually a regional study the we trans expressed interest in evaluating and investigating Like you know reclassification of state highways to class 1 and understand like you know And investigate like what are the opportunities and challenges in reclassifying? you know state highways because there are studies in other areas in other municipalities as well for example like I worked on Route 116 through Heinzburg. So they also looked at Like you know converting like reclassifying state highway to class 1 So so so there was other study done like in the past so in the So we approached Williston and we asked if they are interested in participating in this study Because you know, there are there are a couple of projects coming online from the state One is the us2 corridor study and the other is the us2 route to slab removal project So we thought that you know, this would be a good opportunity to To investigate and maybe like a conduct like a case study using this segment So that's how we started this project and the study and we hired a vhb to To investigate The opportunities and also challenges and then you know Transferring responsibilities So what are all the things that are involved in this and also come up with like a cost estimate for like one mile segment Through the traffic corners along route us2 So yeah with that I will hand over to Dave Um Yeah, I'll take questions later. I guess Yeah David Saladino with uh vhb a transportation planner. Um, also a resident of Williston Um, see do we have to get this slide? I can I know we have a relatively limited window here on the agenda So I um, I'm gonna try to go through the slides fairly quickly so we can maximize the amount of input and um conversation afterwards And um, just to reiterate, I think it's been mentioned twice, but I'm not looking for any action tonight Ideally we're looking for kind of two sets of two buckets of comments one specific to Route two in Williston. We'll talk about, you know, does that seem appealing? Is it if not, why not but then also thinking more statewide? This is a pilot study other communities will be utilizing this report for some guidance if they're considering a class one and So be looking for, you know, how a select board considers, you know, this kinds of questions What things are important to you as the legislative body of a community? Hey so, um We'll just jump right in. Um, I think we'll go through the project overview We'll skip that we've pretty much covered that a kind of regional planning commission We're looking both locally in Williston and then kind of generally statewide Uh at the class one town highway transition project schedule here We started at the beginning of the year in january Move through those the steps that are shown in the schedule here tonight We're just about we've got essentially a draft report and i'm looking to integrate any feedback or conversation from tonight and then into the final report So, um, the area that we're looking at, um, hopefully you can you can see, um, hopefully those at home can see The blue line here is the section of route two that we're looking at and so on the right hand side We go from the fire department fire station west to Goodwill or um, uh, the entrance to Blair park So it's a little bit over a mile about 1.07 miles You can see on here where the traffic signals are If you look at the bottom, you can see kind of average traffic volume So we're right about 10 000 cars per day through this this section of route two Um, and then just a couple other facts about the the corridor itself. I mentioned one one mile The right-of-way width so the air the width of roadway that the state owns varies from The narrowest which is four rods or 66 feet up to 132 feet As anyone who's driven it knows the width the pavement width widens You know as you get closer to 2a and the narrow is back. So it's between 30 and 56 feet Um, we've got two to four lanes. We've got a number of traffic signals and one unsignalized intersection About 10 000 cars per day, uh, 35 mile an hour speed limit Um, there's a designated high crash look intersection. So route two and two a maybe not surprisingly just given all of the movements There that is a designated high crash location Um, and at least 70 small culverts, um, you wouldn't guess it driving over it But there is quite a bit of infrastructure under the roadway as well Just a typo, but I think talcott is signaled says unsignaled Uh, the eastern uh talcott, uh, okay, the other end of the horseshoe Um, so matt matt, um, I mentioned form-based code Um, I know you are all very familiar with that But those who aren't on the left hand side is the street typology map So this shows the the types of roadways that the form-based code is looking to encourage within the within the growth center Uh, highlighted under the block the box there around route two that same section You can see it's a light green Roadway type and so on the right hand side shows what that cross-section would look like Obviously the upper the upper half is the existing roadway that's looking west towards Uh, towards the new hotel, uh, and then on the below it is superimposed on that What the form-based code cross-section would look like in that area So quite a departure right above it's more of a suburban, you know, artillery roadway down below. We've got, um On-street parking got sidewalks on both sides street trees bike lanes and so forth so Fairly big departure from us out there now, but that is what the form-based code Street typology calls for on route two So then looking at what what the form-based code is recommending for route two Uh, there's several things that cannot be um cannot be implemented as long as it's a state state-owned roadway So a couple things that are noted here things like curved bump outs, which we see the number one Any on-street parking number two, uh an 11 foot lane So narrower lanes at those bulb outs, uh, so going down to 11 feet Which is what the form-based code calls out for that's not allowed And then something as simple as street trees is is highly discouraged within state rights of way So all of those things, um are not allowed today If you wanted if the town wanted to get any of those on route two Be hard pressed to convince v-chance to do those When I look at this here in 10,000 vehicles a day What does wooliston roll from say the airport parkway to dorset street? What does that approximate one mile stretch out for a day? Dorset street, it's about 15 to 20,000 east of the airport. It's about 10,000 And you get up to about 20 as you get close to exit 14 We have any other comparisons of highways of 10,000 vehicles per day to have parallel parking on both sides in the road We've got a couple examples. We'll go a couple slides ahead. I'll show you One that comes to mind is woodstock downtown woodstock that's on route four that's setting 12,000 cars a day Very much that is a class one town highway. It's also, you know, us route four Okay, thank you Um, I won't go through all of this in detail This just shows what the difference is between a state maintained highway and a class one town highway On the left hand side are the x's designate who's responsible for various maintenance responsibilities. So traffic signal maintenance street lights and so forth Under state highway jurisdiction You can see that most of the x's are under the v-trans column With bruce and his team responsible for just a few things that are noted there on the left hand side If they were to transition to a class one town highway Most of those x's then move under the town The town column with really the the v-trans maintaining just striping of the center lines of the two yellow lines And then major resurfacing every seven to ten years So other than that, it's really everything all of the maintenance responsibilities move on to the town under class class one designation Um, this we can go through pretty quickly. I think one to the extent that you can see on the right hand side It's it's very small, but those red, uh Squiggles or all of the class one town highways in the state It is it is a bit hard to see did look at just, you know population in terms of looking at population And miles of class one town highway So wilson is the 11th largest community in vermont just under 10 000 People as of the last census and you can see zero miles of class one You can see the other communities around it with some some with some without class one town highways Uh, the next one it just looks at it a slightly different way It looks at the the ratio of uh municipal property valuation to population Looking at property value per person roughly In that metric wilson is number two right behind shelburn in the state And you can see both shelburn and wilson both neither have any miles of class one town highway Um, I guess I would just note on the right hand side there the that is uh median household income darker blue is Higher income uh lighter is the lighter shades are lower And you can see the red squiggles kind of across all Medium income levels. So it's not really just the chitin county. Uh wealthy communities. It is really across the state Um And uh, here are some examples, uh, as as you're just referring to we've got um, just a few here This is uh main street in st. Albin city Folks are probably familiar with that uh route 15, uh pearl street in sx junction Route two wilson road not not necessarily the best picture here But that is also class one and uh route 100 and stow Oh, i'm sorry. I guess and wood stock as well. I would stock is out on here, but um Similarly root 100 uh through stow has about 10 000 cars as well It seems like we have a lot more Yeah, it's about the same about the same traffic lines um So, uh, just to get into a couple some numbers here We did put together the cost estimates of shifting from kind of going from the left side state maintain maintenance to class one town highway Specifically here in wilson again We're also looking at this generically statewide uh to see what um what implications are but for Well, since specifically we did look at some cost estimates for each of those additional maintenance responsibilities that would be transitioned to the town We use some information really helpful information from bruce. We got some from vtrans district five and and uh vtrans average bid pricing Adding up all of those costs. You can see here about 24 000 dollars per year additional cost Again, this is a ballpark That's where we landed in terms of additional maintenance costs if this transition were to happen And the town were to take over the roadway You can see it's about 23 000 of maintenance costs and then about a thousand dollars of Unmet municipal labor Obviously, you can't hire a tenth of a person and so that that gets a little bit dicey You know in terms of how you actually cost that out, but that's you know It's it's it's a portion of a person an fte that would be needed for those additional services Um just to note there that is the 24 000 dollars per year is about one percent increase 1.4 percent increase in the dpw budget Which is 1.7 million this year All right home stretch here. These are the last last two slides here really just wanted this is kind of more generally Well, I guess specific and general these are some of the recommendations that we've come up with through talking just different stakeholders vtrans the ccrpc a number of different communities that have class one town highways And i'm just curious in from willisons perspective, which of these kind of resonates if any in terms of enticing enticing a community to to take over a state highway So the first two are really sharing increased shared maintenance responsibilities things we heard most Most frequently talking to public works directors around the state is that uh traffic signal signal contractors and pavement marking contractors are really hard to find There's one or two in the entire state really hard to get Competitive bid pricing hard to get just to get their attention to get them out here And so vtrans has kind of the the ability to do bulk order, you know Precure them at a statewide level and so vtrans can hold on to those two pieces which happen to be very expensive maintenance responsibilities That would cut the cost and i'll show how that that affects the cost going forward So those are those are ways to kind of keep some of the maintenance responsibilities on vtrans is On their on their docket and then the the next of Ones are more in terms of incentive. What can vtrans do to incentivize this reclassification? Um, first one here, and i apologize for the language being a little bit small First one would be to transfer the roadway in a state of good repair. And so that would mean going through and Uh, you know making sure that the roadway surface is in good condition all the culverts are are in good shape All the traffic signals are are in good shape basically making sure any kind of deferred maintenance is Is uh completed before transitioning or transferring over the ownership um The second one is uh that a lump sum payment. So vtrans would provide that lump sum payment Uh to compensate for uh the road bringing that roadway up. So rather than actually fixing or resurfacing fixing culverts There's just a a lump sum payment and then the town can do as they want Because it may be the case just hypothetically that um a community would want to totally redo the roadway and make it You'll put on street park and put street trees in would make sense for vtrans to come through and you know Repave the roadway if the the town just wants to rip it up and do something different. So this would be providing a lump sum payment um number five would be to uh for vtrans to accelerate any programmed Construction projects on the corridor. There's only one here on this section of route two, which is the um Uh trader lane traffic signal. So that would be if vtrans were to agree to accelerate move that signal forward Is that something that would be of interest to uh to a community? And then just two more here Three more, um Number six gets a little bit in the weeds But there is a formula statewide formula based on per mileage of class one two and three highways We're just focused on class one But right now it's a standard formula if you've got a mile of roadway you get um $11,000 uh per mile. So it's a fixed cost Depending on how many miles you have There's an opportunity to adjust that um that formula or the suggestion here So that it takes into account some of the other things that are happening along the roadway. So if the road is in an urban area It's got more maintenance costs than a section of roadway out in you know farmland Uh would cost less to maintain right now that is not getting taken into that $11,000 per mile regardless of where you are in the state Um number seven is just adding more money into the coffer So that $11,000 per year is it possible to go up to $20,000 per year $30,000 per mile Which would in wilson's case completely cover the cost of the additional maintenance Um, and then number eight is is to basically re look at the entire program itself Determine how many miles of roadway the state actually wants to maintain and then work from there to see how they can Do uh, uh, move the the rest of the roadway miles onto uh municipal uh in municipal roles So that's a little that's a little bit bigger uh program actually looking at the entire program itself uh So those are uh, the recommendations. I guess just one last slide here just to show some of the costs So under scenario one that we're showing so 24,000 was roughly per year the additional costs Uh under scenario one where vtrans maintains the signals that drops down to 16,000 sorry 16,000 per year If vtrans maintains the striping we're down to 14,000 if vtrans agrees to maintain both signals and striping You can see the cost goes down by a third so down to 7,000 per year So those are just some potential scenarios not anything we're necessarily recommending but um, it's kind of where we are um, really curious thoughts on this is this All interesting is this um You rather vtrans continue to to maintain the road and and just move on If you're if you put yourself in uh, other communities, uh, slot court chairs Are there other things that you think would be enticing to a community that isn't on this list of recommendations comments well, I have to say when I saw the uh 24,000 I was I thought was zero was missing because I thought it would cost a whole lot more I mean, that's the busiest interest one of the top 10 busiest intersections in the State I think Bruce would have somebody out there during snowstorm plowing at every 15 minutes It's not kind of it's not going to be a one one and done. Um, so I was a little I think that that's a very optimistic number. Um, unless Bruce has got people sitting around nothing to do during storms snow storms or something, but um So so I'm a little hesitant on the on the dollar value. It just it just seems to Minimal um to add such a huge and busy intersection. Um, the other thing just for just for the um, I did I did Like that you address the the stoplight of them maintaining the lights because that was the first thing I thought of when I was reading this is like, we don't have anybody who does lights So we're going to find someone to be full-time to repair five lights. I mean, that's silly Um, so I so I think that would be a Obvious, you know, we have that back to the state. Um As I started peeling back the numbers I started saying so exactly why is the state so incentive Why are they so excited to get rid of This if it doesn't really cost anything You know, I mean, I guess they bring the plow up route to they're going to lift it up when they get to the fire station and Not plow until they put it down on the other side and then go a little further And they sell broke who will lift the plow up and go a little further and put it down. I mean Yeah, it's um It seems it seems uh, it doesn't make logical sense to me that It'd be so the state would be so excited to get rid of the intersection if it's really doesn't cost anything to maintain so Just to clarify so it's more than just one intersection. It's it's about a mile. So there's several intersections. Just Yeah, I know I can stop through all seven stop lights every night Yeah, no, but it's really the I mean taps the the main intersection is the one that you can't let the snow build up there You'll have the fire department will be out there every 10 minutes. So yeah I mean the only other thing and this is really be if it were to come back for a decision Like I just can't quite visualize what we would do With it because our town doesn't that section of retreat doesn't look a lot like these pictures Or at least it doesn't look like the pictures that I would need to be able to envision. Okay This is what it's going to look like. We're going to put trees on this side We'll put parking on the side. Well, you know, I'd need to have something to know what I'm getting for But what I think is probably closer to probably $50,000 of Their questions are come Always Yes I have a question and it's it's um It's a simple question and I mean that in a pejorative sense about me um, but what Why would the town want to do this? I mean, why would we want to take over a cost? and the management and maintenance and expense and everything else of highway that Seems to be working just fine with the state doing Hey, I guess one response But the I mean the form-based code does envision some Uh, additional things along with two it does have that in the in the code So there is on-street parking. There are street trees. There's curb bump outs that are in the code and so Um, you can't really implement that without taking over the street. So that you know, that would be one one reason Yeah All right, that was kind of my thing too was like I need to see what it You know, what it would what it would look like because it's because we don't have We don't have buildings right up to the side in front of shawls, right? So I think in the form-based code discussions that was kind of one of the taking points for us though was that um Or in terms of walkability was that that that intersection two and two a That's a big intersection. It's hard to you know, if we're gonna make You know the one area walkable and then the other area walkable You still have to cross those intersections. And so I think this is Essentially could potentially address that if we wanted to Make those streetways more walkable to connect to each other This is how we'd have to do it. It's my understanding Yeah I just wanted to add one more thing two more things to what they've said about why would the town want to do something like this um one is When we're when we're dealing with somebody who's building on existing right of way or for building a street in the form-based code area that Would be under the town's control We're prescribing very heavily what that street section in front of that new building and site would be like And it does include all of those amenities that cannot happen in a state highway right of way but for class one The other thing is that the overall official map and street layout map For tap corners envisions a grid of streets that Intersect with by necessity of the state highways Without town control over access to those state highways We've we've received pretty firm feedback from v-trans that those streets Cannot be built as sort of normal intersections with those state highways You get a lot of write-in write-outs like uh, bishop avenue or a few others you might you might remember That makes it a little harder to have things like signalized crossings of the state highways and get to that sort of granularity and walkability so These are long-range goals We did anticipate in the development of the zoning code that we would have to deal with Structures and sites being developed fronting on state highways that were not under class one that were under control Of the trans as they are today We do have provisions that give us the flexibility to approve buildings that way and to push some of that Sidewalk and street tree infrastructure into the private land Because we still want the sidewalk in front of the building even if somebody cannot put it in the v-trans right away We still want the trees in front of the building But over time if we build out that way Buildings across those state highways from one another will be further apart The pedestrian infrastructure will be further apart the street the trees won't be close enough to shade the road So all of those other sort of walkability livability things Get harder to do Certainly, we wouldn't have street parking Street parking both reduces demand for creating parking on site And tends to calm traffic because it creates this rough surface at your edge when you're driving down the road that otherwise you don't have so Bunch of things. I referred to the tap corners vision Document in my opening statement tonight. You can go back and kind of look at the pictures of what was talked about there in a very conceptual way That's why the town might consider this at some point But it's really important to me that anytime you're considering that you have an understanding of cost This is a great step forward in doing that. So that's our most I do like having the option of having either Having letting a town decide we'd fix the road and we'll take it over or give us the money and we'll fix the road We way we want to I think that that's that's good forward thinking Yeah Oh It's not a what new program. Yeah, right. No, but I spent the incentive having a choice in the incentive I think because because it could be different if the town has no real plan That's one put some trees Yes Got it Okay I'm shaping you Chapin caner's on the planning commission And I wanted to just mention in case it is an obvious that root this study was for root two Root two a has the same situation And for other reasons I have a lot of interest in this for the village Because the traffic calming that could happen from having street trees next to the road and having parking and a curb would Significantly calm traffic through the village You probably also want to left turn lane at the school and so forth, but I So to me there's three things that are interested and are you able to bring up slide five of Dave's presentation? Is when you are talking gene about visualizing If you if right now there's no curves, there's no trees And things are way back away from the road So the lower part there is the Specification in the tap corners form-based code for those roads But in the disc And just something that's similar but without the parking if you were to go and turn left on kennedy drive when you get to the airport road that section of kennedy drive until you get to root 116 hindsburg road is four lanes with a curb and with Pedestrian facility inside it is a little bit in this direction and Instead of having bump outs, which I think might be on the next slide To get pedestrians be able to cross more meaningfully Another option that we discussed and I think would come back up if we get into this discussion is having what we were calling Boulevard If you picture dorset street from trader lane down to the high school It has that center median that can have trees in it and left turn lanes And it has a much feeling of being much closer and pedestrians can cross just two lanes of traffic in one direction And then they get to the median And so there are other options besides that it doesn't have to be that exactly. I just wanted to make that point Great. Thanks. Thank you Thanks for the examples Anything further from the board? I hope we gave you a little bit of a statement. Yeah feedback. Thank you. I appreciate your time. Thank you And I ask everybody a lot of questions. So don't worry I'm going to be taking the planning commission next door. They're meeting out. They're not leaving Next sidewalk winter maintenance policy amendment So you're going to be given overview of the board. Um, last one are the select board allocated ARPA funds to purchase a second sidewalk plow Pledge it a new position in the DPW Budget that will be among other tasks operating that that plow is coming winter This creates Our current select board policy outlines procedure for residents to request segments of public sidewalk Or multi-use path to be added to that policy each december For the select board to consider providing services the following winter So you can budget any increased expenses accordingly Given this change with the second plow and the approach decided last winter Looking at this policy will need to be be changed because these these Measures would no longer be necessary. I consulted with the town attorney on this staff suggestion With the town attorneys for the select board to consider rescinding this policy There are service standards outlined in the policy We've included those in our department of public works operational procedure for snow and ice removal This is something that bruce's public works director Updates every year. I review it with him and my role as road commissioner Under my duties and this is shared with the community so that they understand the the service standards that better out there so at bruce here this evening the board has any any questions about into that operational procedure and On your gender to consider whether you want to rescind this sidewalk policy Thanks Bruce anything to add No, I mean the biggest thing is what eric just said to get rid of the policy since we don't really need it anymore And it's been wrapped into the winter operations plan that we have right now anyway Questions or comments from the board Really quick. I just just declare technical clarification It says something like all sidewalks and then I know this is not all the sidewalk So what's the what's the difference between the sidewalks that we plow now and like something going through a neighborhood or? Right now we don't do neighborhood sidewalks partly at all, right? So this is going to be doing all the neighborhoods all the public sidewalks brennanwood south ridge You know any any place where there's public sidewalks The way we've been doing it is mostly the sidewalks that have been being done are ones that make connections or Would like around the schools those kind of things So we've only done in the past about 15 miles But now that's with the second machine We're hoping that we'll get all we'll get them all just a matter of The public To be real as I just moved to a house that doesn't have a sidewalk in front of it for the first time And It's amazing I saw 62 miles of sidewalk Anyway, quite a bit. It's good. You know in a way it's going to actually be Obviously it's more work and that's why we got the second sidewalk machine But in the long run it's going to bring us more in line with what the communities around us are doing Which they just plow all the sidewalks. They don't have a policy that says Listen your sidewalks been built People move in Muhammad is an example when asking us for years to plow the sidewalks And the answer has been not The neighborhood sidewalk doesn't make a connection to a bike to a school or any of those kind of cities So that's going to do away with all this south ridge A lot of four-foot wide sidewalks So that was always a consideration and we weren't doing them anyway because it was mostly in a neighborhood So we were just doing the ones like I said that connected that like the bike path to get you to the bike path the rec path, whatever you want to call it or The whole thing around the village here. We always did because in a school so stuff over around our school we've done a lot of so It's going to be easier on our part and that You know little selfish i'm not going to have people calling up and crying and yet We're not plowing our sidewalks The answer to that's going to be If it's a private sidewalk, we're not plowing Public sidewalk, we're plowing it. So and right now we're still down a person It's going to make it a little bit more challenging. Hopefully we won't be going in the winter, but We'll get to just make So a public sidewalk is a sidewalk that's on a public road Anything the town has accepted So private road things like that or not uh, quite honestly over in front of On williston road Not on willson or in two-way in front of jail davis's properties that come up toward Root two-way. Those are all private sidewalks. They're not in the town's right of way We've never taken those over they take care of them now anyway, but that's just an example We'll come up to right avenue basically Almost all way to bishop But then we won't be doing in front of those stores right now because that's just they're just not our sidewalks So that property owner will still be responsible for clearing those. So that's just an example of But if it's a public right-of-way, which remember and we just heard williston road in route two-way or not town of williston roads Although we do have some sidewalk and rec paths along that are that are Fours Other questions or concerns Not there is a proposed my only just my only Spot was it did you think about just I don't know if there's a way to suspend it or Just do something rather than get rid of it. Just in case this turns out to be You know with the new developments and everything else all of a sudden you're coming back and having to ask for another person to Drive plows or a new plow. You know, is it how would you go back if you found out that didn't really do a bullish thought? I tried to make that clear when I when we were Given the second sidewalk machine that That any new sidewalks that come in we're going to be looking at another person and another Another piece of equipment Because we can only extend them out so far So just because we just got that second one that second one was just to take care of what we have now Not new stuff that's going to come online, but you're going to hear that in my budget proposals anyway that You're going to be looking at a new truck in a new truck or another person in Another two or three years. We got three miles worth of road out there that are going to be getting built in the next That's already stuff that's approved So those are just the kind of Decisions and things you're going to have to talk about whether you whether you go back to sand Doing a policy like this It wouldn't be my recommendation, but once again, it's it's truly it's If we want to in court if we want to tell people that we're encouraging walking and all that kind of stuff And how can we say in the wintertime? Well, guess what? Yeah, walking So that's all being a select board policy It's at your discretion You know if you were to decide to rescind it this evening to bring it back for Re-adoption consideration in the future as well Removing it with a town attorney the sections that had to do with standards of care in the roadway The suggestion was to certainly move that to a operational procedure as them That should be something that that staff overseas as opposed to the board in a board policy So because it's not an ordinance we could we could take quick action if we need It just is a difference between like well, we think now with the equipment and people we have we can do all the sidewalk So let's do that that's different than we're committing the town to doing all the sidewalks for the rest of The future Doesn't that go and I'm just Trying to think out loud doesn't that go along with when we accept new roads? We're saying we're going to plow those roads We're doing with the same equipment we have and the same people But at some point we just got we reached our limits We've got to go for more people and more equipment But we don't go back and say well, we're not going to plow those roads now So I mean it's just just food for thought. I mean it's the same kind of thing either we're doing it or we're not And we're going to need people and equipment one way or the other so I think part of our goals and part of the reason we want to be an other plow and the other position too was for the Again back to the walkability issue But but to walk abilities and to further our town energy Goals um in terms of you know more pedestrian Traffic year-round and those kinds of things and so it You know This holds us a little bit to be accountable for that Going forward and to Looking for you know budgeting processes that you know with that in mind that you know, we may need to add additional um plows or whatever To continue our energy goals and to continue In this vision And one of the other reasons that you guys were nice enough to provide that second machine was When you have one machine, it breaks down. You're done. I don't care how many miles inside what you have Yeah, you know, that's just to even have a backup this Who would obviously slow us down considerably, but we can get through it at some time Unless god helped us out. I didn't start at all So So there is a proposed motion I'll move to rescind the sidewalk winter maintenance policy as adopted by the select board on may 18th 2015 Is there a second? Is there a further discussion on the motion? All those in favor say aye. Aye Supposedly the ayes Next thank you. Thank you. Thank you Bruce I was in committee interviews Got a lot of people hope you have a plan for this kid Literally just my back So I'm I would ask the board what your Preferences are I think you know one one possibility is that we have all 10 people Up Are there actually tenors of nine? Yep. We have a bruce followers is joining us on Okay Or we just arbitrarily take half and half I will say that this is you know, they're Interviewing this many people we've never done before in one meeting So it would be great if we could get this done tonight, but if not it's we're already considerably behind Um, and I'm wondering if it might make sense to you know, see how it goes and then maybe Come back for another ask people to invite them back for a second Second around I don't want to do that, but Almost to that but um, so all at once or five and five just a consensus and then I'll Look, are we do we have a? We haven't really talked about a set question So it's just going to be bringing somebody up and asking random questions of people Well, I don't know that I'd call them random Questions at the discretion of the duly elected members Yeah Five and five works for me. Yeah, okay, so um Let's have if I could I just wrote the names down as they appeared bruce fuller, um charlie mcgill debbie Lisa braden harder and marlon mcqueston Um, could you come up and bring extra chairs and we'll have five of you at the table Any three extra chair? Nope. Yes. Well, we'll be on zoom. So sure, but we'll need that extra chair. It's next five come Planning ahead Bruce if you can hear me, um, I see you join as a panelist you just need to um Enable your camera and microphone Can you see me now? Yep Yep, can you hear us? Okay first? Yes, sir. Okay. Thank you I gotta read my head. So, um, welcome. Um, I think what I'd like to do starting off is um, we we do have the applications that were filled out by all of you, um, so um, but if I could ask for a Very brief 45 to 60 seconds of introduction if you state your name and um A little bit about yourself and your interest in the committee That might be a great way to Get the ball rolling. So if we can do the people here, uh, first, um I'm marlon mcqueston Willochton I'm living on the committee I'm part of a group of parents in Willochton So I would Are interested in living in Thank you, um, Debbie. I'm Debbie Ingram. I am um Well, a resident of wilson 21 years now I've served in many different capacities and public service including on the planning commission select board as state senator I chaired two, uh, the, um, affordable housing task forces that will assistance had Um, I'm currently in justice of peace. Um, and then during that time I've also been the executive director of the non-profit helpful for my interfaith action, uh, which chooses It's work on social justice issues by using a grassroots methodology is listening um to everyday people and, um All 16 years that I have been doing that job affordable housing has been the number one issue Uh, that people have picked, um You know all across the state really I I think that, um Vermont's housing crisis is uh, is real I think that it's the probably the biggest single problem that we have in the state and It's it's a problem. Um, you're in wilson But I I want to be part of the solution. Uh, I don't want to just complain about a problem I'd like to contribute to to solving it and I think we have a lot of different options, um available to us To to lower our housing costs and to really lead lead the way i'm very bullish on wilson Being a municipality that can lead the way for the rest of the state And I I envision a community in which we have mixed income housing We attract a diverse um group of people. Um, we have We have character and and um walkability and all kinds of great things and um, I think we can be the best Best talent in the in the whole state Okay, thank you. Um, Bruce if I could ask you could you mute your your microphone? I think we're getting feedback from you um Thanks, um, and we'll we'll get to you in a second. Um Charlie I'm charlie McGill. I've lived in wilson for about 47 years for about 35 of that I've been involved in in low cost and very low cost owner occupied housing Through a habitat for humanity where i'm still a board member I have a very strong feeling that that the way out of poverty for For very poor people is through a home ownership and and I'd like to see wilson find more ways to be involved in that i've been involved in in two committees that the town has had On on working on low cost housing and I'd like to continue that work. I know i'm at a disadvantage because you all know me Lisa I'm lisa braden harder and I've um been in the town for about five years. I have a background in technology And I grew a tech company to be very large very quickly and took it all the way to the ipo But more recently I've been interested in this problem To pull people out of poverty and also I think I'm excited about this housing committee because it's building on the great work that you guys have already done Which is around changing some of the bylaws and starting that work and then also the values around inclusion So to build the kind of inclusive community that Been talking about here housing has to be addressed so I'm very excited about that and that possibilities that wilson has around that Great. Thank you. Uh bruce Can we answer? Yep, go ahead Sure. I'm a 48 year old veteran I raised my first family over on just off old stage road back in the The 90s, uh, I just recently moved back to willis then this last winter I found myself In need. I've never utilized help from the state or Or whatnot. I ended up Getting in touch with um support services for veterans and families and vet zinc and ended up getting housing in a separate place I've been asking myself this question How can I help enrich the experience Of willis then for its visitors and the residents here Because when I was younger and I raised my first family here. I wasn't thinking that way. I also um Was an inmate. It was the first inmate in vermont's history to get accepted to vermont law school I passed the bar in south carolina in 2020 court for a law firm um mostly working on family law and contract practice in my my my need or To be able to express my need is to help those in your position Understand not just the mentality of folks coming in But there are many people that are just barely starting to scratch the surface of the problems You know, there's a lot with the housing crunch here in vermont There's a lot more going on than just getting housing as being able to attain it and then maintain it once you get here There's not a lot of services out there that are helping people retain Or the housing retention programs. There's not a lot of oversight with that And I see a lot of problems that are just starting to bubble over with crime and increased break ins and that kind of thing And i'm hoping to be a voice to help Not guide but maybe help instruct and show you what you're looking at in the future if you're doing things a Certain way because i've been on both sides of this table Uh as a business owner and a homeowner here in town And then also, you know being a recipient of getting help There's just a lot going on that folks aren't aware of and i'm hoping to bring some of those things to light and Start curbing some of those issues the ever rising recidivism rate of you know, vermont prisons And mental health issues that go on diagnosed or untreated in this area Unfortunately Willis than starting to pay for it So that I guess that's where i'm at Thank you questions from the board I guess for all of you and i'll ask the second group the same question So you'll be at an advantage because you'll you'll have the time to to really think but In obviously that the needs of housing Are many and and encompass A broad range of of income levels and You know housing types and You know, this is not a short term solution kind of situation But so thinking of this as a brand new committee What would you prioritize as kind of the first work of the committee? And we'll start maybe with bruce since he was the last to introduce himself and work backwards from the way we So bruce I don't know if I've got a lot of the answers I know I got a lot of questions and I know that because I've got experiential knowledge and bring a little bit More insight in some areas than others um I think that my answer is going to be too prone the addressing At least the folks my neighbors and my neighborhood over here at zepher place There are a lot of folks here in a in a small area That are continuing to engage in activities that got them homeless in the first place So we've got them in trouble with the law or had them have to enlist the help of various nonprofits in the area just to be housed and Having a a little bit more oversight and a little bit more accountability in that area. I think would be first and secondly Addressing the ever rising crime issue that's that's starting to just like I said barely scratched the surface and the reason why I say that is just firsthand knowledge of some of the visitors to this area that I've seen that I knew in my previous life and uh it's it's alarming to see that people are hurting and Continuing to hurt themselves and inviting that kind of stuff to these neighborhoods that I'm sure when you guys planned and approved Champlain housing trust To build here at this former hotel. I'm sure it wasn't in the forefront of your mind You know the clientele that would be enlisted to live here and the issues that come with that and again wanting to address those problems head on I believe is what really spurred the action for me to apply in the first place And I said Well, there's a Others have said there's many parts of this. Um, I mean, I'm excited about the workforce housing issues as well and engaging with employers Um, so I'm one thing I do in rattlesboro is work with refugee housing down there. And of course, that's a very different town They're very excited about refugees And well because they need to grow their population But they also have a lot of properties that they can reuse But from that, you know those partnerships that they pull together and like 15 different partners So these kinds of projects bring in everyone But I think it'd be great to engage business because our business leaders are absolutely filling the pinch as well I told you in the first place that I I see home ownership as being the The avenue out of poverty So I'd like to see changes in the the permitting permitting regulations in ways that encourage more home ownership In addition to the rental that that seems to get equal weight today. So I think finding ways to Change the regulations in ways that are more encouraging of of home ownership is is something that we ought to have at the forefront Of well, I start with the data We'll let you're looking at what are the home prices? What is what are the median incomes in town? What are the rents? What are How much do you have to earn an hour to afford them? You know looking at all the different housing the different parts of town and we have So that we have a common set of facts. We actually know what we're dealing with and then I would want us to look at What the options are there are lots of great folks That we can use as resources the online housing finance agency that folks at the front housing incarceration board People the housing kitchen and housing trust champion housing trust, you know all the Different folks who can tell us You know what what we can do with our housing trust fund that you know that has been set up what? Um, uh, what we what can we do to have denser housing? Focus in certain areas of town. How what ordinance should we change should we? Decrease fees so that we can lower my housing cost build you know building costs of housing So you know go I'd like to go very methodically and and base everything on on the actual data And the and the choices that that we could make to make the changes we want I'm mostly concerned. I mean with our parent group. We've been We've been developing block grants and it's available to the state and things like the community fell out of block grant at the time We've sat in on a lot of Everybody's coached and supplemented. So um, you know, we'll be aware of What you know the situation in the most And see that there's a lot of need and see that there's different avenues depending the team My food Seeing something happen, but Who is pretty representative I So I hope it's a short answer question Last meeting we decided to call upon the hearing and proposed bylaws that wouldn't increase the opportunity for affordable housing And question is are you aware of that and do you support it? And why I have to say I haven't followed that very very carefully so Yeah, we certainly I certainly support anything that will get us further along the road This is inclusionary zoning. Oh the inclusionary zoning. Well, you know the the Experience in Burlington has been mostly positive So I think we should definitely look at what at what they've experienced and then they did make some changes recently And we might want to consider those so yeah, I do generally support Include during zoning. Thank you. Charlie. Well, I I appreciated the fact that that you Put in a requirement for 15 percent of the housing being at Or below the median income and an increasing it If they were at at or below 80 percent, they wouldn't have to have as many houses I've been concerned that that at the median income I would have a hard time considering affordable I would have I would have preferred it if you'd had 80 and 60 with those same numbers But I thought that what you put in was was a big step forward and I appreciated it Yeah, I agree. I mean the work on the fees and the requirement for Affordable housing and some potential funding for this fund that we're talking about What To be totally honest, yeah, I've been dealing the last few weeks with some family stuff And I haven't been up much on what's going on specifically in the town, but I can tell you this that What I do know is that Being a new fellow coming back into the city of Williston or being a new Person that's going to come to the city of Williston and going into affordable housing or You know at cost housing The last thing that they're thinking of unfortunately is if the city is going to need a second plow machine And the only reason why I speak that way and I don't mean any disrespect is that there the issues that folks are facing right now are much deeper than Whether they can afford the rent or not they're just looking to get off the street and have a comfortable warm place shelter at night and You know for some of us that have utilized this these programs various programs to get where we're at today It took a lot of hard work to get here But it hasn't there hasn't been a lot of hard work to keep it There's not a lot of people in my life now that are trying to keep me on track. It's all up to me And by by rights, it should be but if I was teetering on the edge or you know drug use or alcoholism or Various other things in folks lives. I could be very I could be one of those guys throwing needles on the ground out here And I wouldn't give a damn about a plow My hope and my vision is to follow through and and try to change the legacy from my kids first of all But secondly, you know, uh tried to enrich the lives of other people that are coming here and and Really trying to buckle down and get them focused and laser focused on what life has to offer here in town So I apologize for not knowing or understanding what you're talking about But again, I'm I'm pretty passionate about what I'm trying to do with my life And hopefully steer other folks to do the same at some point Many developments Other questions from the book, okay, um, we thank our panel I Invite the next people up Michael Monica Scott Todd and Scott So again, if you can please State your name and very briefly 45 seconds to 60 seconds Give a little bit of background about yourself and why you're interested in the committee I'm an engineer and the boys Creative fire At first and experience moving to Just not challenging it. It's kind of a theme that we're engineering challenging to meet the requirements to fail the mortgage and Everything else. I don't imagine not challenging this for those who are much less fortunate for me. So That's a big reason why Just a little bit background about the song and that's just A lot of great degrees and that's engineering and biology and also Also And uh, so You hide it well Thanks I I've lived in wilson pretty much my entire life. I hopefully will live in wilson for basically the rest of my life But wilson will probably stand Uh, a lot of them are due to our dependency. Um, I think a lot of new problems are adjustable and they're They may take time to address but the changes are Straight forward, uh, if we you know work together, um and update the the laws that are For driving people in hard tendency Um, so I hope to you know be a part of that change and make wilson more walkable and livable place forever Thank you Uh video everyone, my name is scar rogers, uh, i've lived in wilson My wife who's a local veterinarian and our 11 year old son who goes to bolistan central school Um, we've been wilson for almost a year now. Um, we love it here Uh, my background is Uh, generally a local government. I currently work for a local municipality as a community development manager I did my master's degree work, uh in me and housing at the university of florida where I Engaged in the evaluation of the jacksonville housing authority and I did my master's policy work on the information of Section eight housing vouchers in jacksonville as well um Housing has always been a passion of mine. I believe it is right and I believe um Is it becoming more and more difficult for working class people to get a home and build wealth? Um, I also work in my day job at the immigrant refugee community and they're having a very hard time right now It really breaks your heart So I want to make sure we have a world, you know, that's equitable for them as well Additionally, um, I served as secretary of the election county housing finance authority where we issue bonds um to develop and we have new new new properties, um I further um, I've lived in Eugene, Oregon for a time where I was one. I was co-chair of their Um housing trust fund and we worked with city staff to build that that committee up um, and then I was also co-chair of the Eugene, um in double acp's Housing committee, which I was asked to form by their executive director But again housing is a passion of mine. So that's why I'm here tonight. Thank you. Great. Thank you Hi everyone, my name is Monica Rivera. Um, I'm a relative newbie. I guess to willison living here five years um 10 years total in vermont, um I uh, I'll tell you a little bit about my I guess household composition since it kind of You know makes sense here. Um, I live with my partner and um his daughter who is uh now back after college, um, so we're kind of a mixed household and Throw in a little bit of uh, you know, mother-in-law often coming over. Um, you know, we experience all ages of um different housing needs um For um the kids sake, um, it would be really great to have opportunities for younger people Um to be able to stay live and work in williston um, which um is a great place to live and um I suppose you all know that uh, you know doing what you do. Um, I am a neighbor to um suffer a place I I rent next to next to there and um, I'm thrilled that Williston is offering those types of housing opportunities. Um I uh in my day job. I work for a small nonprofit. Um helping people with uh criminal justice involvement substance use disorder Experiencing being unhoused I often visit the elmwood community pause in burlington. Um A little bit different obviously like experience in the city of burlington than here but uh, nonetheless like you're seeing we're seeing growth here. Um, and um, I would like to see it Be you know responsible where everyone can have a healthy and safe place to live. Um If you know two adults with As close to living wage as we can expect I have a hard time renting in williston. Um, I can only imagine what it's like for um people with a single income or You know older people or you know people who have health issues that you know are limiting their ability to Make a living wage. So um, in general, I'm just here to hopefully be supportive of um Ideas that work to kind of form a safety net around those. It's kind of like what bruce said. It's not just about getting housing it's maintaining people in housing and um, you know how the neighborhoods kind of develop in that way So It's hoping for um, just connecting with the community a little bit Hi, good evening. I'm Mike Lucy. Um background for several years I used to own a hospital in burlington. Um, so daily People coming in the housing area seeing that but it's difficult with that. Um, very much a resource for housing Covid I'm not doing but we pivot from law school studying my new stuff. Um, I think I was doing the Jason kind of why I went down that road And then I think global housing and housing in general, there's a lot of like everyone said there's a lot factors that go into it and A town can't pull all those levers. Um, but So I thought maybe then see what we could do Thank you questions from the board So same So obviously new committee, um and with there being so many variables What do you see as one of the first priorities for this committee as we stand it up? So, yeah, basically what I was saying, I think there's a lot of variables and like we were just seeing with the zoning and the state being in charge of the right of way, there's not I'm not interested in what we can do from a town's point of view that isn't step on someone else's toes We're like doesn't understand jurisdiction on so I guess first kind of want to do is say What can we do what are sort of our? Uh her view and get a sense of what the options are first At a rise that you spring from Um, kind of piggy backing off of that. Um, not knowing, you know, exactly the scope of what we're able to accomplish without, uh, you know, kind of other jurisdiction Uh, taking over but um, like we read in last or maybe this week's Wilson observer Um, kind of instead of incentivizing certain things requiring them Um, like, you know, obviously there's a fine line with scaring off builders that have a lot of capital to to build Um, but uh in general It seems as though, um There's a lot of money to be made and I think that some of that should be reinvested into the community That's helping them be able to grow So just kind of working off of that and hoping to You know develop a relationship that benefits more people Yeah, um, haven't gone through this before in uh, Eugene, Oregon One of the first things that we did was one get to know each other as is as committee. Um Beyond that, um, we established our own procedures of how we would vet and view things We would bring in also, um Speakers to come in and educate us on certain things. We've got with, you know, Eugene's planning commission Um, we met with quite a few of stakeholders in the area Um, you know, the cht would have been a big one. We'd want to meet without here You know, a big is big thing to make this proper run properly is is all the work We're going to have to do to set up how how the committee runs and that that really is a big thing before you really get into The what is is is is or how are we going to approach it? uh, so the biggest thing I would look at for me is Changing the zoning laws wilson. Um, currently I think it's illegal to build Uh, commercial, uh, building almost anywhere except by So changing those laws and you can build a debt multi-use multi-use being commercial Uh All those uh, to be built all over wilson so that people Walk to a small grocery store nearby that or walk to a daycare walk to their job, uh, you know When you talk about walkability, it's not just sidewalks. It's proximity. You need to have things close by If the grocery store is five miles away, that's not walkable. Even if there's a sidewalk there You need to have things close by And I think that is a huge Probably the number one thing to attend uh, the committee who needs to tackle it. I'm not sure how another would be done, but That it's the Number one thing that needs to be done Well for me the first thing that I should do is to better define what the problem is things that I need for So So that would be the first thing I do is uh, it's define what it is that we're trying to And then do it for it and people mention all sorts of great things and explain that Although Other question my turn This will be a surprise Now before I ask the question, um, wilson's very uh fortunate to have 10 qualified candidates here tonight the decision to select just nine out of the 10, but Anyway, my question that you heard it before is that uh, we should all be called for a case a meeting of the uh, the town to talk about the uh, the new bylaws for Essentially affordable housing and other housing in the town And the question is uh, are you aware of it? And do you support it? And if so, why? And I'll start with uh, Todd um Strict cut off like how you make now you've gotten a promotion at your job and you made $40,000 That's like property traffic for a lot of people It's I think how do you advance today more like tax you? When you reach a certain like more like middle middle-class wages, you can tax more so you're encouraged to leave lower the affordable housing so that people don't really start But what's uh, I think more important to focus on that affordable housing is kind of full housing So, you know, if you say like, oh 20 percent of all housing to be affordable like great, but if you're only There's only like so so much housing Then that's not there's a lot of people I need housing. So we need to focus on developing uh a lot of a lot of Dead multi-use More places Yes, there are a lot of luxury options in Burlington if you want to lay it or whatever with the studio Cheap because there's a lot of housing in the market and if there's not enough it's high and low the man is high So we have to increase Scott Yes, I am aware of the the bylaws. I've also I read quite a bit of the local news. Um And of course housing's passion. So I do follow this and I do support conclusionary zoning I think what's exciting for the town of Williston is that The town's taken a very proactive role in housing and this made these made these Changes and I think they're going to be for the better which is exciting even for this committee here Is that we can watch and see how this is implemented over the next several years and what happens And then following a period of data collection, we could then go back and evaluate Um, how these how these new policies of work, which I suspect they will they will work quite well. I've seen them work in other communities But at the end of the day, we'll have an option to evaluate and then maybe even propose additional Different options is things grow. But you know, I think with form-based code I think with the new bylaw changes inclusionary zoning I think Williston has has put the right foot forward Thank you In theory on paper, it's obviously like an appealing Development for those of us looking for affordable not just in the sense of having like a housing agency like cht Run affordable housing like programs but actual by you know ownership of of of real estate like somebody was saying earlier Is kind of a lot of people's way out of poverty But I think and maybe I misread in another article or something but Some of what was being discussed was These new developments being capped at what they could be sold for And so that to me is appealing in the sense that Sure, it might be a gateway out of poverty But like a volatile real estate market You know can cause things like we saw when everybody moved for mock during COVID and raised the prices to double So having some of those caps isn't going to be appealing to people looking to maybe have a What do you call it starter home or like flip up, you know, so yeah, I think it's Something that we need to have in code So that it's not just One generation's wealth So, yeah So I'm not aware First kid Generally speaking theory inclusion or zoning sounds good. Um, I have any details As I said about the photos and incentives for affordable housing I'm a little weird those systems generally not said they don't work, but I think that they're not The only thing that should be done or they can't be kind of a crutch Kind of like identifying why they needed the first place Hopefully eventually the best it goes Long-term goal, but again, I don't think that's Yeah, Scott. Yeah, well, I think zoning definitely plays an integral or shouldn't they They're pretty much has to play an integral role and um In the housing committee Just as I had such a huge impact on Development and housing in general As far as uh, that's specific inclusionary zoning, um I didn't see the newspaper article It haven't gotten around to me to get It's not yet, but um, but I'll definitely definitely something that needs to be strongly considered as the zoning regulations Really not just housing but business and the whole town in general plays huge impact Well as than today, but also Going forward future generations as well Um in these zoning regulations that'll outlast all of us Um, at least impacts probably lost definitely something that That's exciting to learn more about just because of the impact that I mean Um, one question is Not sure how to ask it maybe but Would you plan how would you plan on increasing or would you agree on increasing the building of low-income rental? units and most Feel about that In general, yeah, I mean, I think that building in the brick community with different income levels That's very important I think we need them for our restaurants for our stores for the jobs that you know, no one else wants to We need those people in those So I think that Uh in general we're hearing more specifics about it. Certainly Certainly something that it's Yeah It needs to be Before to be affordable, it needs to be flexible again It's not going to be if a lot of people are buying for the same space They're going to be nothing to and it is I believe that all The development should be multi-use of a people don't force to buy a vehicle They are able they can get by without by by walking to to go about their daily lives that way. They're not forced to buy it at $30,000 Expensive I think that will only lose value over time. They can If I Other to something So, yes I uh, I strongly support the creation of low-income housing in willison. Um, I I think it's a matter of fairness and I think it's I think it benefits our community as well even even beyond people able to get jobs here. I think Having a first group of people living in williston is good for us. Um, what I would say on that is The best way to do that is not to Concentrate low-income in one area. You want this first you want people of different financial backgrounds living and working together and going to school together So, um, you know, for me if I'm on this committee, I'm going to advocate for low-income housing And I'm going to advocate for low-income housing in a way that is dispersed through the community Um, bill had a high enough level that people don't even realize this low-income housing Thank you Um, I absolutely support Development of more affordable low-income housing um, kind of also like like you said, um, not concentrating it like, you know When somebody gets a housing choice voucher, they can go to any landlord. Um, and by law they cannot Uh outright say they want to accept it, but many will find other reasons not to Um, so, you know, I work sometimes in in burlington trying to find people housing people who have vouchers from burlington housing authority or Vermont state housing authority and landlords are turning down money from The federal government, um because they can because they can Charge double that and then they don't have to Have the repairs needed To get it to be to the standard of the housing authority so Obviously, these are some things that are beyond our control of what we can fix right now, but um, you know, we've seen a lot of hotel Buildings turn into affordable housing like, um, zephyr plays and now we're seeing in south burlington the braver Um, it's going to be opening up at the end of this month. So maybe, you know I'm not saying we don't need hotels Um, and you know the studies the the data show that we do and that they will be utilized I live across the street from one. It's always busy. Um, and so in that regard, you know, um, maybe turning some existing situation, you know housing situations that aren't maybe Built out that way, you know, um, I read st. Michael's college is going to be using some old dorm Buildings and developing those into housing specifically for currently unhoused people. So I guess You know to to say it bluntly like once you're unhoused, it's super hard to get back into housing Nobody runs to rent with you even if you're throwing money at them. Um, so You know, kind of incentivizing Landlords that have existing properties to work with folks who need housing and keep them there. Um, In addition to building specific sites, you know, like building specific opportunities for people to Be housed. Um, you know, I never understood kind of the thinking of some neighbors, not just Charleston of affordable housing being kind of like an eyesore or like taking away value from their Properties and it's kind of like all those people have to exist somewhere Um, if not if they're going to be outside. How is that better? So kind of just facing the fact that We can preemptively, you know deal with a homeless Um, you know situation that we're seeing I think, you know in the last five years 30 percent increase in homelessness in the nation so You know Working in Burlington has has shown me that um, you know There's not a silver bullet to any of this and so attacking it with all the tools that we have Would be the best way to do it. So more affordable housing More options for smaller unit housing mixed use all of that. Um, Can't hurt Thank you um so I'm again, sort of kind of a creating things that are designated as low income Designated as affordable just because it complicates the system as downstream issues Um, for example, my hostel was in Burlington hotel rooms from and probably I'll know hundreds of dollars a night But we were able to charge 40 points tonight because instead of offering a hotel room We have to bump an a bunk bed and a dorm room And that works for a lot of people and it's able to Let them ask for a set that's affordable For many years I live in Burlington at 300 foot studio. Um, that was great. Now that's the only factor really important to be there so again, sort of instead of finding a way to build affordable housing kind of by the way that like We think how we're doing things to just make housing that's affordable and that's I mean a lot of times with zoning and code the wastewater stuff again. You can't touch everything but Sometimes we sort of like regulate our way out of affordability and looking at some ways that we could scale back those assumptions and see what else we could do But obviously that's a long process and difficult Sometimes that just to say this is what we need for now or for something this way we gotta do Thank you any other questions Okay, um, thank you to the panel number two. Um We're gonna move on to other items on the agenda that we do expect to take up a vote tonight You're welcome to stay. You're welcome to the not stay. It's uh, whatever Whatever suits your fancy Thank you all very much for I I will say I think when I saw that there was so many Of you who had applied and that that um, it made me very happy and and very hopeful for our community Um, that so many people were invested at this level. Um in making these changes. So thank you Thank you. Good night Next item of town manager contract extension The proposed contract was sent out by email earlier this week. Um, and I think I'll the Eric you can comment on it if you want, but I think I'd say Select board is asked to consider an extension of the town manager's contract. The draft extension has been shared with the select board um It was also a copy of the old contract just Movers the purpose is also Um, this is an issue that we discussed in the executive session previously Uh, but uh, we're in public session now. So feel free to Make comments questions suggestions or God forbid a motion folks There's no questions. I'd move to approve a contract extension with the town manager Eric Wells Can authorize select board chair Ted Kenny to sign the extension on the select board's behalf Is there a second? second Is there discussion on the moment? Hearing no discussion all those in favor say aye. All right, I suppose nay the eyes have it Thanks for the board and just want to say it's been a pleasure to serve the community needs uh three years at the blue Bye Looking forward to the work ahead with the board Thank you. Thank you Appointments consider appointments to the housing committee Um, that's the select board made a point seven to nine members of the committee We have 10 candidates And so uh And I have no uh formal way of proceeding here Can I just ask is there any um Is there any opinions on the board should we appoint nine or should we Because this because I was just reading over we don't have the breath that we had hoped for in the committee So I don't pretty good, but um, do we want to appoint nine and leave one person off? I'm going to point eight hoping that we could recruit somebody who doesn't you know who meets the um sort of missing Pieces I just I haven't made it my own mind. I'm just looking for what people are thinking I think one of the things we have, you know talked about certainly was as you said getting a wide range of people who are representative of all various housing needs um and possibly also uh with Community parks as well And so I think that's the one piece that I there are some folks who do represent community agencies and things like that Or not represent because obviously they're here on the on a personal level, but um who do do work for different community agencies and partners um, but but there doesn't there's nobody kind of specifically You know, um as a designee of that and so I that would be the one thing Maybe would be missing. Um We might want to round out the committee with We are missing the developer or a builder We did not check all the genes and we did not check all the boxes This is for a three-year term, correct? well Yes, but um Maybe staggered. Yeah, well staggered. I'm so some of them will technically be one year and then renew in a year so developer is The person that you've mentioned um gene What kind of category would you be? Looking for and Greta you said somebody who actually represents is is acting as a representative of Community organization or yeah, I mean, I think that was you know, yeah Yeah, I mean if you see there's there's um the criteria membership one representative from the planning commission We don't have One member from a housing nonprofit organization, which is kind of what I'm indicating um one private sector landlord or housing developer, which is what Um mic is indicating one render of affordable housing, which we do have a candidate who's um in that population and then other members obviously so It's just I would hate to tie our hands for a whole year in case someone did so I I hate to leave talent on the you know, the enthusiasm and talent, uh, you know waiting as well, but I but You know eight might be a good thing to shoot for and well, so so I mean there's there's Just looking I mean there's at least three kind of targeted categories that we haven't hit at all Um, and and I do think that especially having a planning commission member Um would be really important Around that that committee so without there were a lot of they like it's been a lot without having that direction though They'll have um melinda, right? Yep. Melinda scott will provide staff support for the committee And I know processor as we open this up for everyone in the community. Um We didn't uh approach the planning commission specifically at this point Have how we've handled this in the past with committees if the select board wants, you know, that representation from another body If you decide you want to reserve a slot for a planning commission member, no one's Kind of raise their hand at this point Typically those would go to the commission and then the commission would have that discussion among itself and hopefully find Someone who people need to serve in that role. That might be a good idea. Let the planning commission Basically pick somebody Yeah, you could say you've designated a slot for a planning commissioner and let us know who Yeah The town currently only has two vacancies on the town boards So would we do Seven and then leave one for planning commission and make one for a developer or a developer or a housing authority Yeah, I mean, there are certainly people who have there's a touch on them with them, but but they don't Yeah, there are certain builders that Think of the word here, but they they're target renters are people, you know section eight You rent a lot of section eights Maybe we I don't know how about the next step is but let's say seven and if we get really stuck we can go to eight But I like seven doesn't get one for planning commission one for Some of the missing and seven is enough to get the board up and running So that's true. We don't have to wait wait for that. Thank you. That's a really good point. Yeah Yeah, I think that's a really good idea. The only bad thing is that we have to make choices Because these are all great. I was really impressed with every single one So um So if if we are with a consensus that we're going to appoint seven tonight, Terry Are you would you be able to I just happen to have a chart? It has all 10 people on it and all five of us So if we go for our top seven, um, we can Total them up and see who are the directors on that Okay, and if you would when we when you follow your names if you use their their last names that would be helpful Oh, okay I'm gonna have me up until then I'm gonna take a moment of silence to Get the go to silence. I'm ready when you're ready. Let me go. Sure Fuller starting out. I'm going okay fuller Pardon me fuller Bruce Fuller. Yep, Charlie McGill Debbie Ingram Yep, Marla McQuiston Marla Yes, Monica Rivera Monica. Yep Yep, Scott Rogers And Scott Stevens Scott Stevens, okay All right I got Debbie Ingram Charlie McGill Yep Lisa Lisa Brighton Yes, sorry. I didn't break the last name down Bruce Bruce Fuller. Yep Scott Stevens Scott Stevens. Yep Scott Rogers. Yep And Mike Lucy Which one Mike Lucy Lucy Three two, it's only six You don't have to vote for another one. Well, I had Debbie, Charlie, Lisa, Bruce, Scott, Scott, and Mike That's seven So I got Bruce Fuller Debbie Ingram, Michael, Lucy, Charlie, McGill Scott Rogers and Scott Stevens. Who was the other one? Mike Lucy Oh, I got it. Lisa. Yep. Sorry I got it. All right. I have Fuller Rogers Scott Rogers, yep Scott Rogers. Yeah Charlie McGill Yep Debbie Ingram Yep Lisa Brighton Harder Marla McQuiston And Monica Rivera I love it. We're all similar and different Good. I have Bruce Fuller Charlie McGill Yep Debbie Ingram Yep Lisa Brighton Harder That's four Oh, yeah. Marla McQuiston Monica Rivera Scott Stevens Okay, and I had Lisa Brighton Harder Debbie Ingram Michael Lucy, Charlie McGill, Marla McQuiston Monica Rivera That's six and Scott Rogers Two, three, six, seven. Okay. So we have So we have eliminated Michael Lucy and Scott Stevens Everybody else had either five or four votes But to Todd Cook So we have elected Wait, wait. Todd Cook is Lisa Brighton Harder with four Bruce Fuller with four Debbie Ingram with five Charlie McGill with five Marla McQuiston with four Like Monica Rivera with four And Scott Rogers with four I'm gonna need to Todd Cook get Amazing. Nobody got three Todd Did you You had a question or about I thought you said we only looked eliminated to but we eliminated Todd Cook as well Yeah, okay. Yep. All right. Okay So, uh, with that being set, um I don't know that we need formal action on it But maybe we do to get the past the planning commission to a point Remember? Yep, um Yeah formal action or I could um transmit a memo to the planning staff at the slack board and With um like technically we'd have yeah technically we'd have to get them to uh recommend Not really a point And then I mean the planning commission will pick one of the One of their own That are not on this list. Yeah. Well, none of these people are on the planning commission So, yeah I just please it was on the BRB Um, and then recruiting Other Maybe Melinda maybe look into reaching out to some partner agencies maybe Representative for that And I was reviewing the charge that I don't think it's necessarily limited to wilson residents to serve in the committee. Um Wilson residents was like we'd like to have wilson. It's like a maybe. Yeah Yeah, so it's certainly broadened that Try to find one of those agency partners. So just in order to make a motion. Yeah, so Which scott did we hold scott's or one scott Which we who won again, so yeah Scott rogers was the winner Scott rogers. Okay. So scott rogers and then bruce fuller or no Yes, okay bruce fuller. Yes. Okay is is on bruce fuller shot. Yeah. Yeah. Okay The bruce fuller, okay That's okay. I'm gonna do I'm gonna I'll make a motion, but I'm gonna make two for the first one year three for two years and two for three Okay Here we go. Let's I'm gonna move to a point Charlie McGill and debbie ingram to the housing committee for an unexpired three-year term through june 30th 2024 I'll also move to a point lisa braden harter marlo mcquiston and scott rogers to the housing committee for an unexpired three-year term through june 30th 2025 And I'll also move to a point scott rogers and bruce fuller to the housing committee for an unexpired three-year term through june 30th 2026 If there a second Is there further discussion on the motion please god no All those in favor say aye. Aye All those opposed no the ayes have it Motion carries Greta, that was a great question by the way. Thank you for coming up with that Yeah, I think that's the way we should do these third person for the second group. I have read in the hard room a question Monica oh did I did I did Monica I did write a phrase is Monica Rivera would be For your term. Yeah for your term Monica Rivera expiring in yep. Yep. Monica. Okay. It's Lee. I thought I heard rogers twice It's ours and that's an administrative correction. Yes. Thank you Okay, all right very good. Okay, um Give you a chance to finish writing Eric and then manager before you I'll be I'll be bird. It's late. Um, okay It's a 12 park and ride. They have all their permits from the town. We're just waiting We're going to open and when gmt bus service will also Um, be starting there. Um, try to see if we can do some kind of event ribbon cutting or something that It's been over 20 years in the making. So I think it's a good idea to do something Definitely invite you for chatting. Maybe maybe chef beers can maybe ceremonial first car that parks Considering this is originally supposed to have thought of maybe even going behind skate land So it's been a while a long time. Yeah, our town manager doesn't even know what skate land I've heard stories. Yeah, I went I rented skates I hated skate So that if you haven't been by there, um, you know, the site looks looks good in my opinion In a plant department agrees game with permits It looks good. Um, our paving program is up and running. Okay, roads complete north wilson road is is complete All the roads surround out the uh The shear's paving So the board knows a planning staff is going to hold a public information session on the proposed, um Inclusionary zoning and other bylaw amendments coming up. Um later in october They're going to hold that thursday october 12th here from six to eight We'll record it matt and I are going to tape a what's up wilson show tomorrow at noon time that we can also share with that New fall season kicking off Trying to think of different ways to get the information out So we have well informed residents leading up the public hearing some other outreach as well So folks can't make it. We'll hopefully have it taped and reach out the planning office That's coming up on october the 17th during your meeting um The community center and library assessment steering committee report is nearing completion i'm working to um come up with a evening for a special select board meeting to have that presentation to This board along with the library trustees the steering committee and members of the community To try with ted and we think would be good to hold that up wilson central school auditorium I got dates from them first ran it by the library trustees ran it by the consultants come to you tonight that Probably some dates to think about our october 30th November 6th and november the first I'll send you an email tomorrow if you would mind checking your calendars this week and letting me know your availability I'd like to one night all five board members are are available for for a special meeting there Is that going to be a regular tuesday night meeting or is it a special meeting? It would be a special meeting in addition to the the regular meeting scheduled Because I usually take the first week of november all over here. Okay Yeah, the 30th that's a week that doesn't have any meeting scheduled right now And the first is also last Starts on october and ends the first so I can I'll send these around and Get that Also be trying to find a day for your retreat coming up as well just Working on just some logistics for that meeting Then a reminder the next two meetings like tonight will have a facility tours Next will be at the public works facility. I'll send out the address everyone's aware of where that is Start at 5 30 Try to do an hour or so to allow time to travel back here and then And then fire station on october 17th All I have to say Questions for eric Other business Two catering permits this evening. The first is an october fest event at goodwater brewing off marshall avenue Staff's reviewed this it's also going to need a temporary event permit So this is a brewery. Um, we haven't had any issues with this facility Staff's suggestion is for the board to consider approval pending approval of a temporary event for the staff And the date of that is October the 7th The saturday in the afternoon Questions Motion For approval second is there a second second For the discussion all those in favor say aye Just really wanted to vote And finally you may recall you You approved a cycle class event at catamount community forest. Um, it's going to be taking place on september the 30th Um, they're looking to have alcohol service there after a caterer. They've done this the last couple of years And they're cycling and they have a designated area where it would be roped off and falling. Um all rules for consumption They've identified a caterer. It's the the pinery. It's called on pine street. I know they've done the um, the truck stop I forgot its new name this year But uh, 10 of that a couple times and I know I saw they they did a good service just for personal perspective here Um, I chatted with the event organizer reiterated that need to follow the site plan and and make sure it's contained and Select board has has discretion under our local alcohol ordinance to allow things like this on town property at your discretion for a catering permit Questions I don't know what the event was called. It's a site cycle cross. It's at catamount. It's kind of um, altering bike race. Um on the um south side of of the town forest And there was no from the previous year's events when they've had the um The alcohol styles there's been no incidents. Nope. So nothing reported. So we we know it's been I think mainly people who may have a beverage shot at um, while watching the race Is there a motion Is there a second second for the discussion all those in favor say aye That it for other Yes, no other other business. Okay. Um final thoughts on agenda items from this meeting. Are there any follow-up thoughts or requests? Eric, do you email everybody and let them know If they're now on the committee or not or how does that work? Yep. Yep, typically, um, erin dickinson. Well, she's been Did a great job courting all these folks to try to see if we could find a night here that work everybody to What we do is we do appointment letters for everyone who's appointed that folks who aren't appointed We follow up with a email as well. Um, you know, let's I usually pass on sentiments in the board I get the sense, you know all we're strong applicants, but we've had Many could only pick a limited amount and encourage them to stay updated with other opportunities in the future to to reapply for other positions Hearing no other final thoughts, uh I declare that you are adjourned. All right