ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT COMMISSION
Meeting Type: Regular Meeting
Date: Wednesday, June 28, 2017
Time: 4:00 p.m.
Location: Town Manager’s Office Conference Room
Address: 43 Bombardier Road | Milton, VT 05468
Contact: (802) 893-1186 or jhemmerick@town.milton.vt.us
Website: www.miltonvt.org
1. Call to Order &
Welcome
The
Chair called the meeting to order at 4:00 p.m.
2. Attendance
Members
Present: Don Turner
Jr., Tony Micklus, Jaime Parent, Lou Mossey, Bob Lombard, Michael Neary, Rich
DeSouza, and Michael Joseph.
Members
Absent: Ann Bradshaw.
Staff
Present: Jacob
Hemmerick, Kym Duchesneau.
Public
Present: None.
3. Public Forum
None.
4. Agenda Review
None.
5. Staff Update
Hemmerick,
Duchesneau, and Turner provided an overview of municipal activities.
As a
follow-up to discussion about a development review application in progress (referenced
below), the Chair entertained a motion of support for Milton Farms LLC to be
sent to the DRB at Lombard’s prompting. Lombard expressed concerns about the DRB’s handling
of this matter and possible conflicts of interest. Hemmerick cautioned that the EDC does not automatic
party status in the hearing. Parent
asked if this would become an EDC practice for all businesses. Lombard moved, second by Joseph to issue a
statement of support from the EDC to the DRB.
Unanimously approved. Hemmerick will
draft a letter for the Chair’s signature.
Milton Farms LLC,
Owner/Applicant, requests Site Plan and Conditional
Use approval for a proposed Banquet Hall to be located at 124 Duffy Road.
The proposal is to construct a new barn for both agricultural and banquet hall
use. The facility would be served by on-site water and wastewater and
accessed via Duffy Road. The property is described as SPAN 11021, Tax Map
8, Parcel 23, contains approximately 550.33 acres, and is located in the
Agricultural/Rural Residential (R5) and Forestry/Conservation/Scenic Ridgeline
(FC) Zoning Districts and the East Milton Planning Area.
Mossey
inquired about the status of the McCormick property and the proposed
intersection recently approved by the Vermont Economic Progress Council in
Milton’s Town Core Tax Increment Financing Plan. Turner outlined recent meetings between
management and the McCormicks; he is trying to negotiate a cost share for the
intersection that the Board would be willing to put to a bond vote, and the
voters would support. He noted that the
McCormick’s also have the Town in Superior Court litigation for a denied Zoning
Permit for a residential development restricted by Interim Zoning. So, there are many moving pieces. The property is a strategic link in a
long-envisioned east-west connector road between Racine and Park/Bombardier
Roads. Development of the intersection
could also allow Bill Sawyer to complete the final phase of Southerberry,
adding 38 more units, adding tax revenue, impact fees, water/sewer fees, and
subscribers to the water/sewer enterprises.
Turner
noted that the Unified Development Regulations go into effect tomorrow, and
invites all members to bring specific ideas and attend the Board’s noticed
hearing on July 17, 2017.
Turner
added that he recently attended a meeting of GBIC in his role as the Secretary
for the Catamount Stormwater association, where he discovered that some of the
members of the association also own in Colchester’s Brentwood Park to the south
of Milton’s southern boundary and its sewer and water service areas approved by
Act250. He polled the Commission, asking
if they think there are opportunities for the Town to collaborate with
Colchester to extend the sewer service south of Milton, since we are in need of
system subscribers to support the struggling enterprise. Commissioners expressed concern that this
could weaken the Town’s competitive position, but noted that it comes down to the
numbers. Would like to see a
win-win. This spurred broader conversation
about industrial development in general.
Turner
ended by talking about sidewalk initiatives on Brandy Lane and at US Route 7 at
the intersection of US Route 7, Middle and Railroad. Turner discovered a way to do the Brandy lane
sidewalk at a fraction of the costs associated with a grant in a quicker
timeline. He noted that VTrans has
approved a temporary sidewalk improvement along US7 in front of Parent’s
business, but they’re working out paving details.
6. Business
A.
Brainstorming Session
Tabled
B.
Business Appreciation Breakfast
Debrief
Hemmerick
highlighted the high points of the breakfast and prompted follow-up on Joseph’s
suggestion for a quarterly forum. Joseph
said that continuity of engagement is critical.
The group favored early morning formats, limited to 1 hour. The purpose would be to share information,
highlight businesses and partner with the Milton Business Association. The group suggested having them at various
businesses in Town and DeSouza offered to be the first to host sometime in
September. Hemmerick will prepare a
schedule in line with the EDC’s regular meeting schedule. DeSouza also noted that one of the big challenges
in attracting skilled workers, highlighting some of their recent efforts;
Mossey suggested a job fair. The group
briefly discussed their dismay about the School system being in the headlines
again.
C.
Comprehensive Plan 2018-2026
Hemmerick
briefly introduced the process to update the Plan, providing each member with
the adopted Plan’s Economic Development Chapter for review and consideration
prior to their next meeting. He also
included a piece developed by the Planning Commission one year ago about the
economic role of downtowns, as part of their outreach.
D.
Budget Priorities
In
the interest of time, Turner said that he would like to involve the Boards and
Commission in the Budget process in a more consistent way than in years past. Staff will be looping back with the Capital
Improvement Plan soon.
7. Minutes
A. May 24, 2017
B. June 7, 2017
Mossey
moved to approve the minutes above as presented. Second by DeSouza. DeSouza noted the importance of giving people
a reason to come to Town and the salience of well-run tournament programming
for economic development. Unanimously
approved.
8. Adjournment
The
Commission adjourned by unanimous consent around 5:30 p.m.
Minutes approved by the Commission this ___________ day of
_____________, 2017.
_____________________________________________________________________________________
Don Turner Jr., Chair /jmh
Draft filed with the Town Clerk this ___________ day of _____________,
2017.
