DRAFT
Pittsford Planning Commission Meeting
September 14, 2017
Board Members Present: David Soulia, Dave Mills, Rick Conway, Chuck Charbonneau, Kevin Blow, Mark Winslow
Board Members Absent: Colleen Hobbs
Also in Attendance: Kelly Giard – Recording Secretary, Jeff Biasuzzi – Zoning Administrator
Call to order
The meeting was called to order at 7:00PM by David Soulia – Chair.
Approval of Agenda
A motion was made by Mark Winslow and seconded by Dave Mills to approve the agenda. The motion passed unanimously.
Public Comment
None Presented at this time.
Continue Town Plan Updating Process
An email had been sent to the Planning Commission members, which sparked a discussion of holding a meeting via e-mail. R. Conway explained that the Open Meeting Law states that any information can be obtained from any personal computer.
Charlene Bryant had sent revisions, which D. Soulia sent to the Planning Commission members. R. Conway stated that he had had discussions with K. Blow regarding D. Soulia making changes to his section and emailing to the members. The members agreed to have received the email with changes.
R. Conway inquired if the maps had been received. The members stated that all maps had been received and would be included in the table of contents
R. Conway stated that the document needs footers included to avoid draft confusions.
D. Soulia stated that he would be sending the draft changes to Charlene Bryant for the revisions.
R. Conway stated that the document had not been sent for legal review as recommended at the June Meeting.
J. Biasuzzi inquired if there was a need to invite representatives from the Rutland Regional Planning Commission. D. Soulia stated that the document has been reviewed by the RRPC.
K. Blow inquired if the document would be sent to legal review prior to sending to adjoining towns. M. Winslow inquired if this was necessary. R. Conway stated that the previous board revisions vs the current board revisions are what the public is asking for in the document. C. Charbonneau inquired if it would be harmful to send the document for review. R. Conway recommends sending to Atty Kupferer for review. Motion by C. Charbonneau and seconded by R. Conway to send the document to Atty. Kupferer for review. Motion passed unanimously 6 – 0. M. Winslow inquired what would happen if the attorney were to find issues. D. Mills stated that the board would continue working and the changes would be made at the same time as any changes that are brought up by the Select Board and the members at the Public Hearing.
Motion by D. Mills and seconded by M. Winslow to include the Bibliography as section D and the Maps as section E. Motion passed unanimously 6 – 0.
D. Mills began the page by page discussion on the proposed changes.
Pg 17 – #5 – Remove “Rural Commercial” and change to “Commercial” based on the Future Land Use Map. Motion by M. Winslow and seconded by K. Blow to remove all “Rural Commercial” and change to “Commercial” throughout the document. Motion passed unanimously 6 – 0.
Pg 17 = #6 – Conservation – RRPC issue that the Wildlife Corridor is not included. Motion by M. Winslow and seconded by D. Soulia to include a segment on the Wildlife Corridor as recommended by RRPC. Motion passed unanimously 6 – 0.
Pg 20 – Last paragraph – Motion by M. Winslow and seconded by K. Blow to strike the section from “reaches Pittsford. Where” through the end of the sentence. Motion passed unanimously 6 – 0.
Pg 21 – ANR – reiterate to alternate energy; Pg 21 – original plan stated “suitable habitat” – all members agree and stated that the section was removed previously; Pg 21 – last paragraph “suitable habitat for bats was struck on 9/7/17.
Pg 22 – Pittsford Actions include “consider adoption of Subdivision Regulations.” R. Conway stated that the June 15, 2017 minutes indicated that this was discussed and the segment was read from the minutes. R. Conway stated that to have Subdivision Regulations that a DRB was necessary and the ZBA would be dissolved. Sam Markowski has indicated that he remembers the Select Board being against a DRB and the DRB would require a lot of administrative work. M. Winslow inquired if the recommendation was to remove the DRB section. R. Conway stated that was the recommendation. D. Soulia explained to the Planning Commission members that he had spoken with the Town Planner of Middlebury and the Subdivision Regulations are beneficial to 10 acre towns. C. Charbonneau stated that he admits to no knowledge of how Subdivision Regulations work. D. Mills stated that the town is owed some research on the topic. R. Conway agrees and read the statutes regarding Subdivision. K. Blow recommended the verbiage to read “Consider Subdivision Regulations if the Townspeople desire”. This topic was tabled.
Motion by M. Winslow and seconded by C. Charbonneau to add the words “strong Zoning Regulations” to the actions.
Pg 23 – Transportation – add “with the possibility of commuter rail service between Rutland and Burlington becoming a reality, Pittsford should consider possible local access to that service.” Motion by M. Winslow and seconded by K. Blow to add the verbiage. Motion passed unanimously 6 – 0.
Pg 31 – Cable TV section – sold in July 2017 to an IL based Consolidated Communications, took over Fairpoint landline and internet service in the Northeast. Motion by M. Winslow and seconded by C. Charbonneau to update this information. Motion passed unanimously 6 – 0.
Pg 40 – Energy Plan – Motion by D. Mills and seconded by K. Blow to add “the town shall not allow industrial scale wind development in Conservation Districts 1 and 2”. Motion passed 5 -1. There was discussion concerning wind vs. solar in town and the wind opponents were more than the solar opponents. C. Charbonneau stated that the townspeople must express their own opinion.
Pg 40 – Housing – D. Mills stated that the RRPC noted that the Village Center Designation must be included. J. Haverstock has supplied a map of this designation. Motion by D. Mills and seconded by M. Winslow to include the map and section on the Village Center and to change the name of the Forrest Farm to the Village Farm. Motion passed unanimously 6 – 0.
Pg 41 – Motion by M. Winslow and seconded by D. Mills to remove first paragraph and change priorities to add zoning regulations. Motion passed unanimously 6 – 0.
Motion by D. Soulia and seconded by M. Winslow to update maps and have available for the September 16 mailing. D. Mills stated that Zoning has not change. Motion failed 1 – 5.
Motion by D. Soulia and seconded by D. Mills to complete the bibliography, collect, compile and send information to Charlene Bryant for implementing into the master document. Motion passed unanimously 6 – 0.
R. Conway stated that he has spoken with the Town Manager regarding the public hearing and the timing. The Select Board will be scheduling their Public Hearing so this can properly be warned. D. Soulia has spoken with the school and is waiting confirmation of the use of the site.
Adjournment
A motion was made by M. Winslow and seconded by D. Mills to adjourn the meeting at 9:20PM. The motion passed unanimously 6 – 0.
Respectfully submitted,
Kelly Giard
Recording Secretary
Approved by,
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The Pittsford Planning Commission