Board considers changing threshold for Act 250 review
Nov. 13, 2021 | By Lisa Scagliotti
A summertime crowd enjoys the Waterbury Farmers Market and a Rotary Concert in the Park at Rusty Parker Memorial Park. Local officials are looking to transfer the park property from the Edward Farrar Utility District to town ownership. Photo by Gordon Miller
At its meeting coming up on Monday, the Waterbury Select Board will consider whether to repeal the ordinance in place governing what commercial development projects will be subject to state review under Act 250.
The board heard a request several weeks ago from the Children’s Literacy Foundation, known as CLiF. The nonprofit organization has been run out of the Loomis Hill home of its founder and director Duncan McDougall for 23 years and it now is looking to establish an office on Route 100 in Waterbury Center.
CLiF has applied to the Development Review Board for site plan and conditional use review for a 3,000-square-foot building on 1.4 acres at 3579 Waterbury-Stowe Road. The property is owned by Grace Investment Properties.
Under the town’s current regulations, the project would be subject to review under the state land-use law, Act 250, because it will affect over an acre of land. Under a town ordinance adopted in 2013, commercial projects on sites one acre or larger are reviewed under Act 250.
McDougall asked for town officials to consider changing that ordinance to instead allow local review to be sufficient for commercial projects up to 10 acres.
Town Planning and Zoning Director Steve Lotspeich explained that in Vermont, communities can decide which threshold to use and that the 10-acre threshold is common where local zoning ordinances are in place. If local officials are comfortable having local zoning regulations be the main standards to apply to smaller-scale commercial projects, they can establish an ordinance triggering state review under Act 250 for larger projects, starting at 10 acres.
McDougall noted that the state review adds extra time and cost into the process for applicants which could be significant for small businesses such as the nonprofit literacy foundation. “It’s going to be financially challenging for us to go through Act 250,” he said in raising the issue during an August select board meeting.
Lotspeich noted that Waterbury put the 1-acre threshold in place soon after the Development Review Board was created. The DRB at that time became a “one-stop shop” for local review, combining the functions previously handled by the Planning Commission and Zoning Board of Adjustment. The quasi-judicial DRB issues local permits for development.
The Planning Commission, which is in the midst of revising town zoning regulations, has not issued a formal opinion on whether the Act 250 requirement should be changed. In place for more than 50 years, Act 250 has detailed criteria covering a wide range of land-use topics to measure the potential impacts of proposed development projects. Developers frequently lament the length of that process however, and the time and financial costs it adds to a project.
Ordinances are adopted and repealed by the Select Board. Should the board decide to repeal the ordinance requiring Act 250 to apply to projects over one-acre, there would be a 60-day time period for that to go into effect.
Other business
The select board’s agenda on Monday has a number of other items for discussion and action:
State police: The board has invited state troopers involved with policing in Waterbury for an update. These visits prior to the COVID-19 pandemic were routine but have not happened regularly in over a year.
Legal representation for property transfers: The board will decide whether to have the same law firm represent the town as is representing the Edward Farrar Utility District in a property transaction involving both the municipal government and the utility district. The district was formed to oversee the operations of the municipal water and wastewater departments when the village government was dissolved several years ago. The district inherited some property owned by the former village government but which has no role in the utility operations today. EFUD trustees and the select board have agreed to transfer the properties into town ownership. The properties are: the small parcel where the “Welcome to Waterbury” sign sits along North Main Street near the roundabout; the public parking lot on Elm Street; Rusty Parker Memorial Park; the former town dump property on River Road that now contains the Ice Center, dog park, recreational trail access, and town public works materials storage sites.
The law firm Stitzel, Page and Fletcher usually represents the town and lawyer Joe McLean from the firm is working on this transaction for the utility district. As a matter of efficiency, Town Manager Bill Shepeluk is asking the board to approve having McLean also handle the town’s end of the process. Shepeluk said that with both parties in agreement, it poses no conflicts.
Capital purchase swap: The board will consider switching two capital equipment purchases planned for 2021 and 2022 due to availability issues. Town Manager Bill Shepeluk said a new loader the town expected to purchase this year for $116,000 has been delayed multiple times and will not be available until January at the earliest, putting that purchase in next year’s budget. Meanwhile, the town planned to purchase an excavator next year and one is available for purchase now for just under $88,000. The swap will mean a lower expense this year and the loader purchase can be built into next year’s budget, Shepeluk said.
Select board meetings are conducted in person in the Steele Community Room at the municipal offices starting at 7 p.m. The board also continues to use Zoom with a link to join the meeting online in the meeting agenda on the town website.