Updated interim zoning proposal ready for a public hearing April 26

April 17, 2021 | By Emmett Gartner

The proposed interim zoning bylaw affects development in a core section of downtown Waterbury mostly along Main Street from just west of Stowe Street to Warren Court, and bounded by the railroad tracks. See the full map and draft bylaw online at waterburyvt.com. Source: Town zoning map

After a second series of meetings to refine the details, the Waterbury Planning Commission has completed a fresh draft of interim zoning bylaws for downtown that is scheduled for public hearing on April 26. 

This newly released draft is the latest attempt by town planners to introduce updated zoning requirements since the planning commission and town staff were tasked with pursuing interim bylaws by the select board in January. 

Language in the current zoning rules has impeded new development in Waterbury, according to select board members. A brewery proposed for a new commercial building on Stowe Street by Perry Hill Partners Jason Wulff and Aaron Flint has been a key motivation for this pursuit. 

“We found that there are some real barriers in our downtown area, including where we’re considering a brewing operation,” Community Planner Steve Lotspeich said of the current zoning ordinance. 

The planning commission has been working on updating the entire zoning ordinance for the town for the past several years, but progress has been slow. Planning commission members met with the select board late last year to discuss how to get some key revisions completed that could be applied to new development applications. 

The result was a decision to start by updating the rules for a core area of the downtown district that includes lower Stowe Street and a stretch of Main Street. 

Interim bylaws allow the town to put in place substantive changes in effect for two years until a more comprehensive package is completed by the planning commission. The temporary rules can directly address aspects of the town zoning law that in the meantime are hindering local developers such as the Perry Hill Partners. The interim bylaw can also be the basis for this section of the permanent version that’s still in progress. 

The Perry Hill project developers appealed their permit denial late last year and that case is currently in a mediation phase in state Environmental Court. Town officials have suggested that the approval of interim zoning measures for that specific part of downtown could help resolve that matter. 

The product of several tries

The path to the latest draft’s introduction, however, was far from straightforward. After the planning commission agreed to draft interim regulations, the first draft was introduced by Lotspeich for a public hearing in February but was derailed after planning commissioners deemed it too hastily assembled.

The new draft that will be reviewed on April 26 has the full recommendation of the planning commission and is the product of their collaborative work with town staff. 

In recent weeks, the planning commission ironed out a more polished draft that borrowed from its ongoing work on permanent updates to the town’s zoning laws. The latest draft was discussed favorably at a recent select board meeting and was welcomed by board members, who will be discussing its provisions ahead of the public hearing at their regular meeting this Monday, April 19.

“I think these are really setting a good direction for where we’re going to go. It will lay the groundwork for our first phase of permanent bylaws,” Lotspeich said.

The announcement for the public hearing says that one key purpose of the draft interim bylaws is to assist with the town’s “physical and economic recovery” from the COVID-19 pandemic. “These draft interim bylaws are intended to facilitate a mix of uses, including commercial and limited light industrial uses, and a diversity of higher density housing in the downtown area,” the announcement states. 

The details

The 17-page document lays out detailed land use definitions. It specifies which uses are allowed, which are conditional, and contains specific dimensional requirements that development must meet. 

According to Lotspeich, one of the most noteworthy provisions in the draft is the planning commission’s recommendation to increase the minimum area of a proposed development that requires a more stringent permit application process. 

The current threshold requires that a number of commercial and light industrial developments over 2,000 square feet are subject to a typical site plan review, which all developments must undergo, as well as a more in-depth conditional use review. The planning commission’s proposed change would raise that threshold to 4,000 square feet.

“It’s an added layer of review if it’s a larger use; not for all uses, just for those identified after that threshold,” Lotspeich said.

Other provisions in the proposed bylaws include amendments to accessory dwelling units and a recommendation that footprints of new buildings in the downtown area do not exceed 5,000 square feet.

“For them,” Lotspeich said of the planning commission, “what they expressed was that the scale of development in this proposed downtown zoning district is very important. So, they feel that these changes that they are recommending will help to maintain and create the appropriate scale of development in the downtown area.”

Jason Wulff, whose denied development application was cited as a reason for drafting interim bylaws, said he supports the latest measures but he’s hesitant to throw his full support behind them.

“I want to emphasize that I believe these regulations are an improvement to what we currently have, and would support them as is,” Wulff said in an email to select board chair Mark Frier. Adding, “That said, I believe there are a couple edits I would propose that would significantly improve them and deal with issues I see coming up.”

Wulff suggests striking language that prohibits any development that is not specifically allowed in the downtown zoning district under the interim bylaw. “In a time when our economy is moving at a far faster pace than [the] planning commission is able to review regulations, I think this appears restrictive and pointless,” Wulff explained.

He also points to language that defines a restaurant/bar that he finds restrictive. In the proposed bylaw, a sit-down restaurant is defined as an establishment that offers a dining area (exclusive of any outdoor dining) that comprises at least 40% of the restaurant’s total floor area. 

“Firstly, are we prohibiting a restaurant or bar that has less than 40% of the total floor area as a restaurant?” He offered examples of operations that might violate that provision, such as a Chinese restaurant or pizzeria more geared for takeout. “I think that sentence should be deleted or at least significantly lessened,” Wulff surmised.

The developer also suggested raising the maximum square footage of a new building to 8,000 square feet instead of 5,000, eliminating off street parking requirements for the downtown zoning district, and reducing development restrictions on North Main Street up to the railroad bridge. 

The public hearing 

The full interim bylaw document is posted on the town website, along with meeting information for the April 26 public hearing, which will be conducted by the select board via zoom starting at 7 p.m. Community Planner Steve Lotspeich can also provide a copy of the draft; contact: slotspeich@waterburyvt.com or 802-244-1012.

The process allows the select board to revise the bylaw draft at the same meeting as the public hearing and also vote on whether to adopt it at that time. The select board plans to have its own discussion about the proposal at its meeting this Monday night.