Planning Commission Closes Hearings on Three Projects
by Nancy Wood,
August 12, 2010, page 6.....

At the August 5 meeting, the Planning Commission reviewed the final plat applications for three projects, took public testimony and unanimously voted to close each of the hearings. The next step is for Planning Administrator Dean Bloch to draft final conditions to be reviewed by commission members before issuing their decisions.

The projects included a two-lot subdivision by Sam and Priscilla Spear in the southwest quadrant of the Ferry and Lake Road intersection; the eight-room Inn with private residence at The Old Lantern by Lisa and Roland Gaujac; and a five-lot subdivision for affordable housing by Allan and Gertrude Jordan at 298 Spear Street.

There was no public comment on the Spears’ application, but about 20 people came for the hearing on the inn. Dick Weed spoke as a neighbor in support of the project, saying “I can’t imagine anything more appropriate” and that the project was fulfillment of the late Peter Coleman’s vision for The Old Lantern property. Mike and Karen Frost, who have appealed the preliminary application and site plan to the Environmental Court, raised issues that they believe should be addressed, while trying to reassure the Gaujacs that they did not oppose a building that is respectful of the neighborhood and the public property on Barber Hill. They presented renderings illustrating how the building might impact the landscape based on the Gaujacs earlier testimony about the size. Holly Kelton, representing Connor Homes, hired by the Gaujacs to design and build the inn, said the intention is to blend it into the neighborhood. She said it would be residential scale, only 24 to 26 feet high, not the allowed 30 feet the drawings implied. Karen Frost said “it would be awesome” if lower, and that she’d “be happy with that.”

Sylvia Knight, representing several residents of Lynrick Acres, asked for clarification of water usage. Their development gets its water from the same aquifer as the Old Lantern. Mike Frost raised the issue of the septic system for The Old Lantern, claiming it is not “a legitimate system.” David Marshall of Civil Engineering Associates disputed the claim, saying there is no history of failure. The inn would have a separate new system.

Karen Frost asked that the Planning Commission extend the same consideration for screening and requiring a maintenance plan for plantings as in other developments, such as Robin Lane and Champlain Co-housing.

On the final application for the Jordans’ affordable housing development there was discussion about the placement of a septic leach field in the floodplain. Andrea Morgante and Mary Illick, representing the Lewis Creek Association, presented a letter expressing concerns that the Planning Commission has not utilized state approved geomorphic data in its considerations of this project. They cited the Charlotte Town Plan, which states that a geomorphic assessment “may be required to determine appropriate stream setback and buffering requirements.”

There was lengthy discussion about the differences between the 100-year flood zone, identified by their engineer in the Jordans’ application, and the Fluvial Erosion Hazard Area (FEHA) shown on a different map prepared by the state. FEHAs are delineated by geomorphic assessment, indicating where a river bed might move over time. It was unclear whether the effluvial map for the LaPlatte River in the area of the Jordans’ development was prepared using default estimates or fieldwork. The Planning Commission implied that it would indicate in its final decision why it is ignoring the geomorphic data in this instance.