Burns Property Suffers Setback
by John Hammer

After a respite of several weeks, the Selectboard resumed meeting on August 27 in a session which opened with a long discussion on the Burns property. Gil Livingston, President of the Vermont Land Trust (VLT), and Paul Bruhn, Executive Director of the Preservation Trust of Vermont (PTV), had been invited to discuss Charlotte’s progress toward meeting the requirements required to transfer full ownership to the town. By the end of the discussion, it was concluded that the town had not followed the decisions arrived at during four years of public meetings and that more must be done with respect to the placement and numbers of affordable housing units.

Seven years ago the town, with the help of the VLT and PTV, purchased the 55-acre Burns property in the southeast quadrant of the West Village. The key element in the purchase was a $120,000 grant from these organizations contingent upon meeting six elements relative to development of the land and village. The basic requirement specified a full public process of meetings to decide the future of the parcel after which the VLT and PTV would grant full ownership to the town. The principal outcome of the public process identified a five-acre portion adjacent to the southeast corner of the West Village to be designated for up to nine units of affordable housing (this has been reduced to three houses along Greenbush Road).

Bruhn and Livingston were concerned that, while they were happy with the public process, they had not seen a comprehensive plan to implement the conclusions. The Selectboard replied that it was loath to do anything relative to the housing cluster in view of potential septic problems in the West Village. There have been indications that a number of septic systems are possible candidates for failure in the not-too-distant future, and the Burns property would provide an ideal backup location for them. The Planning Commission has been in the process of reviewing the three-house strip along the road. Livingston responded that he supported incremental staging of the housing, but he felt that it should be in the area decided in the public planning process. He is looking for a durable agreement through which Charlotte implements the conclusions of the plan agreed upon in the public process.

Meander Street Disposition Still Unresolved.
The public hearing over the disposition of Meander Street continued with discussion of a written report submitted by surveyor Terry Harris. He had been tasked by the Selectboard on July 16 to search all records and develop a sketch suitable for placing the right of way or a trail location on the state highway map. His report, which does not contain a sketch, was delivered five minutes before the meeting. He states that he has been “unable to identify the actual location of Blanchard’s dwelling house” upon which the survey of Meander Street was based. He also closes the report with a comment suggesting that “interpretation of events … leads to the possibility that the May, 1792 (Meander Street) highway was abandoned/terminated by the town before 1813.” Towns were permitted up until 1813 to abandon or terminate roads without public record. The Selectboard continued the public hearing to 7:30 p.m. on September 24.

Big Oak Subdivision Gets Approvals.
A five-dwelling subdivision northwest of the intersection of East Thompson’s Point Road with Route 7 is in the final throes of review by the Planning Commission. The review required a number of steps and approvals by the Selectboard. First, the Selectboard granted approval for a trail easement, linking the west end of the Melissa and Trevor Mack Trail with a potential north-south trail network behind the Berry Farm. Clark Hinsdale III, the developer, purposely fixed the location of the trail, but made its establishment contingent on development of a stewardship plan by the Charlotte Trails Committee.

The Selectboard also agreed to a licensing agreement for placing a septic force main under East Thompson’s Point Road as permitted by the Zoning Regulations. Similarly, roadway and sewage service waivers and agreements were approved. These waivers allow the town to intervene should landowners not act in the public good and to bill those landowners for any costs incurred by the intervention. Implicit in these waivers is one absolving the town of any liability in such events.

Selectboard Chair Charles Russell was authorized to sign a conservation easement on behalf of the town, pending the acceptance of an easement by the Vermont Land Trust. Zoning Violation Action Dropped.

The Henry Lane property on Church Hill Road, including the garage used by the Road Commissioner, has been in violation of Zoning Regulations because of the existence of two houses on the lot that is zoned for only one. The old house, next to the road, has been used for training exercises for more than six years by numerous fire departments. Dick St. George, Training Officer for the Charlotte Fire Department, thanked John Lane for his generosity in allowing the use of the house, which has about reached the end of its usable life. It will be destroyed and removed in coming months. The Selectboard decided to drop any action against Lane and thanked him for his public service.

Odds and Ends
A request for consent to an application for a conditional use permit was granted to the lessee of Thompson’s Point Lot 183. The permit will allow the lessee to perform shoreline improvements to prevent a rock cliff from collapsing under the camp building. The improvements will be in keeping with the character of the rock face. Town employees who work 30 or more regularly scheduled hours a week will henceforth be entitled to health benefits that are given to full-time employees. The annual cleaning contract for town buildings was awarded again to JMB Home and Office Maintenance Company.

The post of Civil Defense Coordinator, so ably filled for many years by J.P. Bettencort, will soon become vacant. Interested persons are encouraged to contact a member of the Selectboardabout the Emergency Management Coordinator position.

The next Selectboard meeting will be on September 10.