Town of Pittsfield, Vermont
Planning Commission
Minutes of January 13, 2015
MEMBERS PRESENT: Suana Bicek, Marsha Hopkins and Jennifer Howard from the
Planning Commission, along with Ellie Ray and Chris Sargent from Two Rivers. Shawn
Jarecki attended pending his appointment by the Select Board.
1. The meeting was called to order at 6:05pm at the Town Office.
2. Agenda Modifications – Suana announced that Shawn Jarecki has volunteered to join
the Planning Commission as our fifth member. The Select Board were notified and asked
to approve his appointment to the Commission.
3. The minutes from the October 14 meeting were tabled until the next regular meeting.
4. Correspondence:
None
5. Town Plan 2015
Chris Sargent went over timeline to finish updated Town Plan stating we were
getting tight on time; plan expires on Sept. 28, Select Board hearing should be
scheduled in August with completion of the plan by June or July. Suana raised
the question of not meeting the deadline. Chris said if we were late and our plan
expired the following would occur until a new plan was adopted and approved.
1- we could not make changes to flood hazard regs
2- might miss grant opportunities
3- could not use the plan at any Act 250 hearings
Chris suggested at some point we need to hold public hearing on a topic that
might be of interest to the town; ie., buy out properties. Suana said town needed
clarification of what those properties will entail, people living nearby were under
the impression there was going to be a playground because we initially called it a
“park”
Chris said that he would not be available to help us with the plan this time around
but Ellie Ray would take over for him. He said that the enhanced consultation
would be our guide for new required changes.
Suana asked the commission if they would be willing to meet twice/month until
the plan was finished. All agreed but were worried about having a quorum for
every meeting. Chris suggested the commission vote on having a working group
for the plan and as long as we were not voting on anything, we could work on the
plan without a quorum present. We would still need to warn meetings.
Jen proposed using a working group for the town plan when a quorum was not
available at the additional Tuesday meeting, Suana seconded, all in favor for
using a working group. The meetings would be held on the 2nd and 4th Tuesday of
the month and warned.
Chris said he had a spreadsheet he could give to Patty to fill out for financial
numbers concerning capital budgets and expenditures. Jen inquired if the state wanted history, Chris said it was now more a matter of identifying what needs to
be done and having a budget for it.
Commission briefly identified the initial areas to start on at the next meeting. The
Village Center Designation needed to be expanded in the Economic Development
section.
Ellie would be using her projector and assured the commission that they would
receive emails on the Tuesdays following our meetings to keep everyone abreast
of updates and progress.
6. Comments:
None
7. Adjournment:
Meeting adjourned at 7pm, next meeting Jan. 27 at regular 6:30 time.
Respectfully Submitted,
Marsha Hopkins
Secretary
Planning Commission
Minutes of January 13, 2015
MEMBERS PRESENT: Suana Bicek, Marsha Hopkins and Jennifer Howard from the
Planning Commission, along with Ellie Ray and Chris Sargent from Two Rivers. Shawn
Jarecki attended pending his appointment by the Select Board.
1. The meeting was called to order at 6:05pm at the Town Office.
2. Agenda Modifications – Suana announced that Shawn Jarecki has volunteered to join
the Planning Commission as our fifth member. The Select Board were notified and asked
to approve his appointment to the Commission.
3. The minutes from the October 14 meeting were tabled until the next regular meeting.
4. Correspondence:
None
5. Town Plan 2015
Chris Sargent went over timeline to finish updated Town Plan stating we were
getting tight on time; plan expires on Sept. 28, Select Board hearing should be
scheduled in August with completion of the plan by June or July. Suana raised
the question of not meeting the deadline. Chris said if we were late and our plan
expired the following would occur until a new plan was adopted and approved.
1- we could not make changes to flood hazard regs
2- might miss grant opportunities
3- could not use the plan at any Act 250 hearings
Chris suggested at some point we need to hold public hearing on a topic that
might be of interest to the town; ie., buy out properties. Suana said town needed
clarification of what those properties will entail, people living nearby were under
the impression there was going to be a playground because we initially called it a
“park”
Chris said that he would not be available to help us with the plan this time around
but Ellie Ray would take over for him. He said that the enhanced consultation
would be our guide for new required changes.
Suana asked the commission if they would be willing to meet twice/month until
the plan was finished. All agreed but were worried about having a quorum for
every meeting. Chris suggested the commission vote on having a working group
for the plan and as long as we were not voting on anything, we could work on the
plan without a quorum present. We would still need to warn meetings.
Jen proposed using a working group for the town plan when a quorum was not
available at the additional Tuesday meeting, Suana seconded, all in favor for
using a working group. The meetings would be held on the 2nd and 4th Tuesday of
the month and warned.
Chris said he had a spreadsheet he could give to Patty to fill out for financial
numbers concerning capital budgets and expenditures. Jen inquired if the state wanted history, Chris said it was now more a matter of identifying what needs to
be done and having a budget for it.
Commission briefly identified the initial areas to start on at the next meeting. The
Village Center Designation needed to be expanded in the Economic Development
section.
Ellie would be using her projector and assured the commission that they would
receive emails on the Tuesdays following our meetings to keep everyone abreast
of updates and progress.
6. Comments:
None
7. Adjournment:
Meeting adjourned at 7pm, next meeting Jan. 27 at regular 6:30 time.
Respectfully Submitted,
Marsha Hopkins
Secretary
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