Ward 1 Neighborhood Planning Assembly Meeting Minutes

September 9, 2009
UVM / Memorial Lounge, Waterman Building
 

Minutes taken by Steering Committee Member, Tom Derenthal

Prior to Welcomes and Introductions, Thanks and Best Wishes were expressed to Ita Meno, CEDO, for her five+ years of support to the Ward 1 NPA. On behalf of neighbors, Barbara Mines presented Ita with a plant and a signed card.

• NPA Steering Committee - Resolution to add Derenthal and Mary Marshall to W1 NPA Steering Committee. Resolution passed.
• Pavers on College Street (Bushor) - Are wearing out?
• Pedestrian crossing near FA (Bushor) - Needs to be addressed
• Public Works (Hillyard) - PW is considering changing the speed limits in BTV. Police have not been consulted.  Jared Wood is on PW Commission.
• Planning & Zoning (?) - Request to replace Mansfield Ave residence siding with vinyl – request denied.  House is considered “historic,” which is defined as > 50 years old. Appeal process is not clear. Planning Dept authority is bestowed direct from state statutes.
• 198 East Ave – proposed development (Neighbors) - Plan updated from condo’s to rental apartments. Developers have addressed only a subset of conditions imposed by the DRB. Key Issues (from neighbors). 
  - Parking: The current plan accommodates 2 vehicles per unit. There is an expectation more vehicles will be associated with the units.
  - Traffic
  - Clients: There is an expectation that 198 renters will be significantly different from adjacent housing residents. Adjacent housing includes owner occupied units at BCH and UVM faculty / staff rentals at Centennial Woods. 198 East Ave is likely to rent to UVM undergraduates.
  - Development layout is different – BCH is based on open spaces while the 198 proposal centers on asphalt.
  - DRB has not kept some interested and subscribed citizens abreast of development (Kirby). Final DRB hearing is 9/15 @ 5 PM.
• School Board (Chasan / Pillsbury) - BSD is moving forward to combine efforts with the City to reduce waste.  Magnet schools are operational – Celebration scheduled for 9/24.  Budget Task Force met this summer.  Plan for the 1st elevator in Edmunds closed.  Funding - $1.55M - $300K from a state grant + $1.25M in bonds. Construction to complete in 2010. Educator Diversity Program started in earnest.  Goal is to have teacher background reflect student population.  Boilers replaced in Flynn and ? schools plus Taft building.
• Colchester Ave Safety (Kirby) - Colchester not safe for cars and pedestrians.  Trucks laden with gravel drive at excess speed. Gravel dropped from trucks is a cyclist hazard. Uphill traffic cannot be seen from the driveway of some north side homes.
• First Student Bus Idling (Kirby) - Buses contracted to move students and workers from Winooski to FA and UVM idle for excessive time at Spinner Place. In addition, the buses may idle 2 abreast, causing a traffic flow interruption. BTV has an idling ordinance. The time limit was not available at the meeting. Note: The BTV Legacy Committee proposed a reduction in max idling time. The reduction was never implemented. Jason Williams to contact First Student
• UVM Update (Lisa Kingsbury) - Grove St. Faculty / Staff Housing ? Trinity Campus – Work toward an increased student presence at the Trinity Campus is on hold pending updates by UVM and meetings with interested community members. A presentation to the BTV Planning Commission will follow the community meeting(s).

• Jenny Davis will be supporting the City's NPA’s. I have asked Jenny to update us on the timetable for Community and Neighborhood Grant applications. Community Block Grants - Grant applications are being solicited. Applications must demonstrate how life of the poor and impoverished will be improved. Grants range from $200-$10K. Schedule: November and December – Grant presentations to NPA, 12/18 – Grants submitted to City.  Resources - Susan Alden, Ward I resident and Jenny Davis, CEDO liaison.  Past grant included community gardens and addition of fences.

• Park description - ¾ acre or larger fenced area.  Volunteers will run park. Hours of operation - day times only with park locked at night.  Funding – Private.  Finding a suitable dog park location has been a challenge. BTV P&R have ruled out using an existing park. Some sites eliminated due to drainage concerns. Non-park City owned property is limited. One temporary and/or permanent option may be to use land now slated for the southern connector. Support – Connie encouraged to contact institutions and setup email list.

• Jason Van Driesche presented "Safe Streets" initiative information and provided an overview as to what the cycling community is doing to assume more responsibility for bicycle safety in Burlington.  Local Motion is performing outreach to stress responsibility and safety awareness as part of the Safe Streets Collaborative. Pedestrians, cyclists and motorists are included. A brochure has been developed that includes safety recommendations and a coupon for safety equipment redeemable at local merchants.  Local Motion’s outreach coordinator is Jason Van Driesche who can be reached via email Jason@localmotion.org.

• Dan Bradley and Megan Moir, DPW, updated the Ward on Colchester Avenue work, including repaving, redesign, drainage, as well as other DPW projects, committed for the 2009 paving season, but not yet started.
  - Progress Updates: Colchester Ave. sidewalk construction to start in Spring 2010; Colchester Ave. paving to follow in Summer 2010.
  - Revival of the Colchester Ave. ad-hoc committee - Long range plan requires an update for compatibility with new requirements?  MPO has allocated funding for consulting.  Need volunteers to re-state short term plan (over and above other items already in motion), re-define long-term plan (using the existing plan as a starting point), select consultants. Schedule: 09/2009 – Start with volunteers plus institutional representatives; 12/2009 – Close plan, select consultants; 07/2010 – Report from consultants; xx/2010 – Apply for funding.  It was noted that on the Riverside Ave project, many agreed to features were ultimately thrown out due to budget constraints. Care must be taken to ensure priorities are clear as funding is always an issue. It is not uncommon for the local contribution to be 20%.  DPW to make the original plan available via WEB link. When = ? \
• Other Issues:
  - Non skid paint - Request made to ensure street painting includes a traction enhancer or grit to minimize pedestrian accidents (falls). People are currently avoiding crossing because they are slippery.
  - Drainage on Fletcher Place
  - Sewage backup on Colchester Ave. Multiple houses near the top of the hill have experienced raw sewage backing up in basements. Private inspections of the houses indicate the line is clear to the street. DPW (Moir) will publish a spreadsheet template for citizens to record recent backups. This will start actions to determine the cause and remedy. DPW now has a dedicated person (Moir) to evaluate and solve sewer / storm drain issues. The Colchester Ave. sewer line was installed in 1929.
  - Colchester Ave. center line – faded and/or missing center lines are a safety hazard.
  - East Ave. / Main St. Interchange street painting - Street painting expected spring 2009. New schedule – to be completed by 9/18.
  -  Intervale Road paving -  Road is one of the worst in BTV.  Was not in the original but has been added and work completed.
  - Main St – Williston Road – 3rd lane (in front of Staples Plaza) - The 3rd east bound lane (which starts at East Ave.) currently terminates at the entrance to Staples Plaza. The plan is to continue the lane east with a new terminate point at the I89 south entrance ramp. South BTV to manage the project.  Design to start in fall / winter (6-7m activity). Construction start summer 2012.
  -  BTV speed limit change - Current limit is generally 30 mph.  Evaluation to look at reducing the default speed to 25 mph.  Major thoroughfares would likely be exceptions (i.e. retain a higher limit).

• The Municipal Development Plan will be this year's topic, and will be presented by Peter Potts and the Planning Commission. I have asked that, for Ward 1, they address the interdependency of various functions in the DRB, PC, DAB processes, especially as far as BPD, BFD, City Codes and Traffic Safety are concerned. If they don't, I'm sure you will!! Please make a note of this date!!!!

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Page last updated October 14, 2009