 This is the August 4th, 2022 meeting of the City of Essex Junction Planning Commission public hearing. Okay, first up on the agenda is a audience for any members of the public that want to talk about anything not in the agenda for this evening. Who's a hen? Nick. Nick, yeah. Okay. I don't see anyone. No. Nick is a member of the public. If you're remote, is there anyone remote? Nick's got a hand up, I think. No, it was my hand. Sorry, Nick. Are there any additions or amendments to the agenda? Yes, we have two maps, which are basically representatives of the Burbage. Three maps actually in the amendments to the code. One's the new City of Essex Junction zoning map. The changes in that are the design of a few districts in the five legs coming into the five corners. Then there's cannabis regulation map, cannabis control map. It shows that retail cannabis is in the highway arterial in the TOD district. There are only two districts in the city where retail cannabis can be sold. We also have a home occupation criteria, which can occur anywhere where home occupation is permitted in the city. I should explain that this home occupation is for what they call tier one manufacturer. Tier one manufacturer may purchase, process, transfer and sell cannabis as well as finished and in-process cannabis products to other licensees, but not directly to consumers. A tier one manufacturer may not produce cannabis projects using the same methods as a tier two manufacturer, but not a tier three manufacturer. A tier one manufacturer must be a home occupation business with no more than one employee and under $10,000 a year gross. So it's maybe my considered a part-time job. So it would come under the same criteria as all the other home occupations. There can't be any sign outside the house that would differentiate it from any other house in the street. The Light Industrial District permits processing and the only place that permits cultivation is in the Plant Agricultural District. So it's tier two and three manufacturing laboratories to be permitted in the Light Industrial District only, which is basically the Hope Foundation. So if someone's growing their own, it's for their personal use in their backyard. And we should remember that according to the state, cannabis cultivation is not agricultural. It seems to me the main reason for that is then so they can't get the benefit of any tax benefits of anything that different types of agriculture can at the moment. So can you tell us at the top of your head, you mentioned the Global Foundry's property. What's along Cascade Street in the south of there? Remind me, there are just lots of these. So those are the additions. Yeah, and you can see the pinkish red is the buffer zones between schools that no retail cannabis can be sold. But, you know, it's a moot point really when you decide that it will be sold in the EHN, the TOD districts. Yeah, I think Cascade Street. Yeah, I think that's what here, Ways Water Plan and then the South of the Dam. I think that's Ways Water and Idle Plan. So along South of Cascade Street there that you're looking at. So the Hiawatha School property actually goes in front on West Street. I see that this only goes to Hiawatha. It actually has a driveway that goes out to West Street in that big empty space. That used to be a farm there and the school was beaded that property. Like I said, in some ways the pink zones are a moot point because none of them are overlap with the EHR, the TOD district, which is only two or as you can sell retail cannabis anyway. Now what would be really nice, either this time or next time, that school district properties instead of being residential one, we're actually noted as being schools. It's supposed to be residential one. Isn't that our residential one spots, which on Able Street where they're an educational drive would be not so large? It might reflect. Someone goes and says, oh, there's always residential one space, but it's not residential one. Strangely enough, we're still on the map thing. I got a note yesterday that said that the state had bumped up the date they were going to give out permits for retail cannabis to September. That's just the money. But we got good through tonight. It's going to be advertised for the City Council. They've got to review it and approve it. It's going to be very tight. All right. So no more additions to the amendments or the agenda. So we're up to the elect chair and vice chairperson portion. Does anyone put their name forward for chair? I'm putting my name forward for chair. Send an email out. Anyone putting their name forward for vice chairperson? I'd like to put my name forward for vice chairperson. Any seconds for either? Second. Both. Thank you. It's one sweep of the hat. So we vote now? We vote now. Okay. Is there a motion to vote? Yes. Do I have a motion to vote on vice chairperson? I moved to vote on the vice chair. Is there a second? All right. All in favor of voting for Patrick for vice chairperson? Say aye. Aye. All opposed? Motion passes. Patrick will take over. Is there a motion to vote for chairperson? I'll make a motion. All right. Is there a second? All right. Move the vote. All in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed? All right. Congratulations. Congratulations. Thanks, chair. Thank you. Okay. I think this might be... Continuing. So now we'll open the public meeting. Public hearing. Yes. I'm happy to start off the public hearing with a little bit of a presentation. If that would be helpful. Great. Awesome. Yeah. Okay. So let me share my screen here. Oh, sorry. I should have done this before. Robin. I need to be enabled to share. I'm going to make you the co-host tonight. Here you go. Awesome. Thank you. So I'm just, I don't have a ton here. It's just about 12-ish slides, I think. So really just going through the sort of top highlighted purpose of why we did the amendments to the LDC. There's a lot of, a lot in that full document. And you can tell by sort of reading through the written report, all the real specific changes that are in there. But in terms of sort of big picture, why the amendments are there. It's basically under these seven categories. So you've got the 2019 comprehensive plan. We want to make sure that we have a, we've got the 2019 comprehensive plan. We want to make sure the concepts that were in there are then incorporated in the LDC. And one of those big ones is the design five corners project. So we made some amendments that I'll go over. In association with that. Then also just generally speaking, we've really got a housing shortage. We've got a lot of, we've got a lot of, a lot of, a lot of, a lot of, a lot of, a lot of, a lot of, a lot of, a lot of, these are some changes that we made prior to getting sort of formal recommendations from the housing committee and where they're going to land on their work, but in terms of we wanted to really get this wrapped up and moved forward. And so we've got some other amendments in there that I'll go over. So I'll go over the, I'll go over the, I'll go over the, I'll go over the, I'll go over the permits that the city is responsible for adhering to. Then just general state statute changes that have changed since the last time the LDC was amended. Then the switching from the village to the city and all of the changes that are associated with that and the new charter. So we've got some changes that have been associated with the new cannabis uses that will be soon permitted at the state level. And then just some other, just real cleanup, typos, correcting redundant, eliminating redundancies and that sort of thing. So design five corners. So we made a number of changes. We made a number of changes. We made a number of changes. And then we cut off some of the sections of the plan to really try to bring this vision forward. So much more pedestrian, bicycle friendly. Really trying to make the streetscape. A more welcoming place and how that kind of marries with the, the buildings that are going up. Right along the, the sidewalk. And then we cut off some of the other sections of the plan. So we made, we made a number of changes. So we, we did. The comprehensive plan also called for, this is probably a little bit difficult to see here on this map, but essentially. In your village center district. You have always had design review and historic preservation standards. and historic preservation going all the way out the trunk routes on the way into the village. So it's 15, 2A, Main Street, Maple Street and Park. Did I say that right? Oh yes. All right. So those are done as overlay districts, which means that the uses and the dimensional standards and a lot of the rules that govern what can happen in those overlay areas are still on the table. This is just an added level of review, really to ensure that the developments in those areas are getting sort of the same level of scrutiny that has been happening in the village for a while and really with some emphasis on trying to create that more vibrant streetscape. Along with this, again, both from the comprehensive plan and the design five corners concepts is really to improve bike planning and amenities as well as trying to improve the connections for bike access throughout the city. So we brought in reference to map six from the comprehensive plan, which has both existing and future plans for bike lanes and bike paths and shared use paths. So that's incorporated into the LDC. Also, we added in some requirements for bike parking, both for short-term and long-term and a pretty comprehensive section on really enabling folks to really have this option of biking. For example, showers in commercial buildings so that when folks are biking to work, they can have a place to change when they get there. So housing, the package of amendments include a couple of different things. So first is the accessory dwelling units. The standards for that have been changed to align with state statute because there were some changes made last year or the year before. And so ADUs have to be either 30% or 900 square feet, whichever is greater or they can be up to that size. It has been changed to a permitted use as opposed to a conditional use. So essentially that means it just needs a zoning permit from the zoning administrator. It doesn't go through a more burdensome process through the development or review board for conditional use approval. The owner occupancy requirement is still there, but it's been clarified that the owner of the property can either live in the primary larger dwelling or the accessory dwelling unit. Great. Also, we looked at increasing the density in the multifamily residential one and residential two districts. We also really just sort of simplified how the density calculations in those districts work as a reminder to folks and as new info for new planning commission members. For the most part, the MF1 and MF2 zoning districts are pretty built out. So it's not likely to see major change there, but it is possible that you can see some more units over time. In the R1 and R2 residential zoning districts, duplexes and triflexes have been added as permitted uses. Prior to this proposal, it's only been single family homes with the option for that accessory dwelling unit. So that is still the case. You can still do a single family home with an accessory dwelling unit or you can also do a duplex or a triflex. So that change does have some parameters on it. Essentially the type of the structure still has to have a detached single family home style to it, but it really, again, I would say for the most part, it's not likely that you're gonna see a whole lot of single family homes converting, but it's certainly a helpful piece of the puzzle. Going forward, then the planned unit development regulation that has just really been kind of minimized where it's necessary. A lot of multifamily housing had to go through that planned unit development process. And so we've really simplified that and you shouldn't have to go through a planned unit development unless you're actually doing a subdivision of land. So made a couple of different changes in there. Then last, I'm not sure I'm gonna say last, but not least, because there's probably other stuff really in here that hopefully will help the housing issue, but the planning commission decided to reduce the residential parking requirement from two parking spaces per residential unit down to one space per residential unit. And also there is an inclusion for shared parking provisions. So that can be very helpful in a mixed use kind of area where you might have a pretty big need for residential parking in the evening, but when folks leave that parking can be opened up for other uses during the day. And so if an applicant comes forward with a concept for how shared parking would work, we've got a guide in there to help them figure that out. Then it would be up to the development review board to decide whether they're comfortable reducing the parking required based on that shared parking concept. Other changes that were made, this is probably too many words to read, but essentially a number of different changes were made from the wastewater treatment plant folks and the water quality superintendent to really try to minimize stormwater being managed with pipes and real infrastructure, real infrastructure like we think of real infrastructure, pipes under the ground and all of that kind of thing. The concept really is more to sort of move to a place where stormwater is managed onsite with natural processes like this rain garden that you see here on the picture and really try to minimize how much the city itself needs to collect and treat stormwater, whereas instead it should really be done onsite through some better techniques. So there's a number of changes in the LDC for that and to meet some of the other permit requirements that the city has on water quality. There's also a number of state statute changes that have happened between now and when the last time the village updated the LDC. So there's just quite a few things in that. We already talked about the accessory dwelling unit changes. One other change is that Essex Junction had a one year expiration on site plan and conditional use approvals. So that essentially means if you get a site plan approval or a conditional use approval from then the planning commission, now the development review board, if you didn't build that project within a year, that approval went away and you had to sort of come back to the table and start again. State statute has changed that that expiration timeframe has to be, can't be less than two years. You also could have no expiration date at all but if you're gonna have an expiration date can't be less than two years. So we made that change. There's alignment with B-Trans Highway Access Permits. So for any development that is happening on a state highway, those applications when they come forward to the city they have to include a notification that they had already talked to B-Trans and beginning some conversations about how that access is gonna be managed by the state. There's a minor existing small lots provision that we amended. There's also a very minor hardly ever gonna probably come into play. Planting project exemption that was in there. There's some slight definition changes of a plan unit development that we made. And then lastly, the plaque recording fee has been increased. So that's added there. So just a note on this slide for the new planning commission members. We in Vermont were in a Dylan's rule state. That means that municipalities can't do anything unless you're enabled to do it by the state. So that means anything that they change in the zoning statute, it's Title 24, Chapter 117, you don't have much choice. You have to sort of make these changes. There can be lots of different ways to do it, but for the most part you've gotta be in line with state statute. So that's why these changes are here. And that's the case not just in zoning it's the way the whole state works. And a great example of that is your charter couldn't become a city until the state said it was okay to become a city. Yay. Yeah. So other changes in the LDC throughout, this is basically every single page has been changed because of this is village been changed to city. And then prior to the city in your old charter you had a planning commission and a zoning board of adjustment model of development review. Now you've got a development review board. So all of that has been changed in the LDCs including how different approvals are appealed. So lots of different changes came into play for this. So then Robin, I have two slides on cannabis. One is the use table itself and then the second is this map. So which would you like me to sit on first for you to talk through it? Well, we have sort of talked through it a bit anyway but let's start with the cannabis regulation map. Everybody's got it. Should have a copy. So retail cannabis is only permitted in two districts. VHA district and TOD district, they're both on Pearl Street just starting slightly west of the Champlain Valley exposition. The state requires that you must enable retail cannabis if it's been voted for in your community. We have done that. We've excluded to those two areas they're the only two areas that can happen. We've also on the map, we have the 500-hood buffer zone around schools. You'll note that none of the schools are within 500 feet of the HA or the TOD district. The other categories of cannabis, the one that probably is the most expansive potential in the city, although the smallest impact is the one per home occupation. That's it's referred to say this tier one manufacturing where someone can purchase, process, manufacture, transfer and sell cannabis as well as finished and processed cannabis products to other licensees, but they can't sell it to consumers. They also cannot earn more than $10,000 gross in a year. So it really is part-time occupation. In the use table, you'll see, do you want to throw up the use table? Yeah, it's sort of impossible to see here, but. Yeah, that's good. That the tier two and three manufacturing and laboratories are permitted in the light industrial district only. Nowhere else are they permitted. And cultivation is only permitted in the agricultural district. So we've given opportunities, but restricted where those opportunities can occur. Did I miss anything, Regina? I don't think so. Just that we also did put in chapter two, the definitions section, there's a definition for all of these uses. It is the same definition that the state uses. So just putting it here for convenient location. Just a note in terms of sort of the public hearing and the warning for tonight, this particular map is a really helpful and useful map for everybody to understand what's going on, but it doesn't need to be incorporated into the LDC itself. So this map on its own wasn't within the warned hearing documents, but that's okay because it's more informative and it's including both state rules like that 500 foot buffer that we don't have written into the LDCs because they're going to enforce that. And the definitions and this table itself is what you have in your LDC is that really are the sort of backbone regulatory rules for just how it would play out is just simply depicted on this map, if that makes sense. Yes, that's makes sense. Was there anything included on the website? Absolutely. Okay. I think that's important actually. Gives people a sense when you're doing your due diligence of what can and can't happen more. I know we're trying to move with rapidity, but as a new member of the planning commission, can someone give me a quick explanation of the various zoning districts? Why the two that were selected were selected with the rational rules? Well, that was, well, once the residents voted to permit retail, then we had to have retail. I'm going to paraphrase this. State rule says that you cannot purposely obstruct the ability for someone to sell retail cannabis. So then there was a cannabis committee to city consulates. One of the interim city managers and myself, we worked through where they thought it would be best to have retail cannabis. And these are the two districts that they came up. Where's the use table on this thing? Very back. Very well. Okay. I believe we also mirrored other commercial uses, right? Yeah. In the allowance of why we chose. Yeah. Those ones, it matches other commercial businesses too. Yeah, it has to be a retail commercial entry level, a residential bond that sort of worked into the system with like disrupting it. Thank you. So I just have one more slide if you want me to finish up. And also I meant to mention under the sort of broad category of just design five corners also that we did incorporate comments from the tree advisory committee on the landscaping section. So not necessarily because of design five corners but just want folks to know that there's much improvement in that section from the tree advisory committees thinking on how the landscaping and trees and the public right of way all works out. Very good, very good changes. Excellent. So just for you folks, next steps. So essentially tonight is to receive public comment then you can close the hearing. Then it is up to you to incorporate whatever changes you would like in the LDCs. There, I just wanted to point out there are definitely some typos that still need to be addressed. I think I got half of Diane's edits in there but they're still another half but they're really, they're very minor, grammatical type of kind of things. So once you make that decision whether you're gonna make amendments or not whenever the product is final, as far as you're concerned you then hand it over to the city council. So you would need a motion to forward it to the city council and that will also incorporate any amendments that you need to your written report. Then the city council will hold their own public hearing. Regina, a quick question on technicalities. Is this technically two public hearings? One for the LDC and one for the cannabis use table and definitions? Yeah, they are, we specifically warned them as two separate. So you could, I think at the end of this you can just, really it's only in place that way so you can forward them separately if you feel like you need to forward them separately. Okay, we need to open two public hearings and close two public hearings though. No, I think you're okay because both are on the table for a comment and then it's just really when you decide what you're gonna do with these amendments and forward them on, you can do it separately if you would like. Okay, just wanna make sure I'm doing it right. Yeah. It's the first time. So I have a question about, I was a little bit confused about the report that was on the website that was printed out for us tonight versus the July 11th report or LDC which was more comprehensive. Robin explained to me that this report only covers the changes, not necessarily all of the content that was in the July 11th LDC. Which one goes to the city council and for their public hearings? So yeah, the full LDC with every single page in it, I don't even know how many pages that is. It's a lot, a lot, a lot of pages. It makes sense for the document that's put up and warned for it to just be the amended pages. Otherwise it's gets kind of problematic for everybody to work through. But there's really no reason why we couldn't put both up there on the website because sometimes it is helpful that some people want to read the entire thing and figure out what section they're in. So it could be done both ways if you would like. It's not a question of like, it's just a question of what's more clear to... For example, if I was a person from the public who wanted to read the LDC and I saw on the website today just the amended version or the changes, I would be confused as to what the requirements were for various aspects of the LDC. So it's the audience that you're looking at. If you're looking at the public, even though it's 245 pages or whatever, maybe that somebody's interested in reading all 245 pages. It's just, for me, it's a question of clarity for whoever wants to read the LDC. Yeah. And I will say it's the real benefit of the written report. That's also in the first few pages of that full document that's on the website because it really describes what the changes are and where and what the purpose of them is. But technically for the warning, you need to have the tracked change version that just has the track changes in it. But there's no reason why it can't be the full... Full LD. The whole entire document. It's right under the planning commission page. Well, the old one does the 2016. Yeah. And so you're just saying that the amended version was what was attached to this public hearing. Just the changes. So what we got on the 11 was the whole document. Yeah, yeah. But if I was new to understanding what was in the LDC, and for example, I wanted to know what you need to do for a tower under telecommunications, all that old stuff that was in 2016 is not in the 2022. So if you're relatively new to the city and you want to know, you'd have to either pull up the 2016 and look at the changes of this one. As opposed to having to comprehend some document knowledge. You understand what I'm saying? Yeah, I do. But I guess what we've got put forward for this is just the amended changes so you could see it. And then you could... The LDC still exists, the 2016 version on the website. And you could go back, find that and reference that off the planning commission page. I know, but yeah, it's just a question of what's easier for a person that's looking for it. If you're updating the LDC, why not have a final version that replaces the 2016 version? That's probably easy to do for when it goes to the city council, right? Put it up on the website. Yes, but I mean, we don't put it up until it's approved, unless it's something we're working through. It's like when we have a master plan for something, we post what's coming in front of the DRB at that time. I mean, it has to have the track changes in it so it's clear that it's not a final document, but it can totally have all of the pages so a person could actually read through it and understand what's what. Yeah, I mean, it's just a suggestion. I think it would be easier for public comment as well. Somebody didn't have all the information. We have no problem putting that out. I'll get Terry to put it on tomorrow. I mean, even I got confused when I first started looking at the document, I was like, wait, where is this? What happened to the definition? And I realized it was just the chance. Yeah. What happened to definitions one through eight? Yeah. So I think is that is that it for the presentation? Yes. So now we will open it up for public input. I don't see anyone here in the meeting room. Is there anyone remotely that would like to speak? I don't see there. Robin, do you see if there's anyone? There's I'm looking. There's there's Nick and there's Wendy, but there's no there's no handout. I can see. No, there's a RDC phone or something. Who's that? That's gone. OK. What's there? What's what's going on? I was wondering who that was. I think we can close the public input section. We need to vote for that. Make a motion to close the public hearing. Second. All in favor. I public hearing section is closed. So now we can discuss as far as if we want to make any. Changes of Diane have a number of. Well, actually, Regina's got just working through my numerous selections. And I have every call selections. Yeah, well, I have every confidence that Regina will clean that up and have that ready. But I agree with Scott that it might be best if that track change piece is up because public might want to see all those changes and the counselors will essentially see that as opposed to just the track changes or the changes you have here. Let's see what the document is. I don't think that changes any content for the recommendation to put that up. Right. Well, for our new counselor, Scott and Elijah, OK, who didn't walk through this for months. Yeah, like I said, I also was confused at first. You're telling Scott earlier he gets like gold cup just because he came in at the end of the end of the game. But for these guys, you know, it might be helpful for them to see all the work that we've been doing. And get an idea of where it was and where it's going. Well, I have to I have to say congratulations. I mean, this is an enormous endeavor. I'm still trying to learn everything that's in it. It was, I would say. Yeah, I'm definitely eager to send this off. It's been a long year and a half. I'm done discussing. I just have I have hopes that Regina will do almost high buzz. Well, it's been a lot of effort to to get for me and Regina and Regina. Excellent. So do we have a motion to send the documents to the city council with all of Diane's grammatical checks correcting as well as the cannabis use table and definitions? And the new zoning map and the new zoning map. Oh, I have a question. Before we move on, in this, I'm assuming this line down the side of the left in these. Oh, I think it's a printer thing. Yeah, I'm assuming that the formatting thing. Yeah, you know, Terry and her formatting. Okay. Can we ensure that that the city council is those has he a clean copy? Yes. You'll get confused. All right. I make a motion to send the. Amendments to the land development code to the city councilors as well as the definitions of cannabis, the end use table as well as the updated zoning map as well as the updated zoning. And the cannabis map as well. No, the cannabis map is not included. It's going to live by itself on the website. Okay. I will second that. All in favor. The motion passes unanimously. Thank you. Thank you, Regina for all your help. Thank you very much, boss. You're welcome. So, um, I would recommend that you do make a second motion to forward the cannabis pieces individually just in case the city council wants to take them up separately. Fair enough. Would you like to motion. Yeah, and you're recommending both the use table and definitions together. So the cannabis is packaged together. Yes. I make a motion then to approve just the definitions of cannabis and the use table to include cannabis. Second. All in favor say aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. does that mean like that was in the charter right when we meet does that need to be changed that's it was in in the charter that it's specified day or just or maybe yeah it's just specified when I was meeting yes twice a month on center center the zoning board the DBA on the other hand the V8 letter is they were not they were not earmarts they are flexible as the one they meet so one person so yeah yeah and they meet they meet when they have an application or when to decide they should meet Tuesdays is fine by me if it works out I know we're supposed to meet twice a month well we would still be on Thursdays with the zoning CBA would have been choosy so you leave me and yes our muscle John thank you yes okay okay so we're gonna stay Thursdays with PC so well there'd be another meeting now this is a matter of when you want to get started well well there we have an unofficial meeting in September when we do have an official meeting in September on a Saturday wait have we stopped now so we can stop the recording Scott we have an adjourned it I think according to the charter we were meeting the first was the first Thursday of the month so I guess we're are we agreeing that we're meeting on the first Thursday not which doesn't conflict with Labor Day be September 1st okay so happy days are you are you saying charter or the LDC oh actually I think both I think yeah I said charter I think it's in the charter I think it's in the charter I also think it's in the LDC I'm more restricted but they think it was it's in there I think we should have get back to us on what we're supposed to do we'll do we're all gonna figure out because I thought was a little strange that we would be designated to me yeah but it's day of the week that we were on the website as well but either way some or yeah maybe right but it didn't go as far to say it must be the first and third Thursday I think just it just speaks to frequency that it should have that is it twice a month I'll work it out we'll work it out I'll email everybody but one thing I do want to say is everyone at Robbins on 11 17 17 17 one thing I do want to say though mass emailing over discussion we had about 17th is fine but generally speaking just being a safe side because sometimes you click without thinking you want to send anything to do with the planning commission send it to Terry and myself then we'll forward it out we don't change it we just pass it on just keeps us on the very very safe side of opening up just in case because sometimes she just don't think it's click the charter does not say when you have to meet okay I guess it's the only see them okay but I will get back to them on that after they close out this meeting you need a motion to make a motion to adjourn on favors meeting adjourned