Planning Commission Hears Proposed Changes to Town Plan

by Edd Merritt

Following ongoing subdivision requests by individuals, the Planning Commission heard public comments on sections of the Town Plan at its meeting last Thursday. The plan will come up for a town vote in March.
Speaking for the Conservation Committee, Linda Hamilton presented both an upgraded map of “Significant Wildlife Habitat” and proposed changes in the accompanying text. The map was prepared following two years of professional review by a team of experts from the commission itself, other conservation groups in town, the forest ecologist/town tree warden, consulting ecologists and state wildlife biologists.
Hamilton noted that the habitat shown on the map was assessed using “seven widely accepted ecological principles relevant to wildlife habitat and its conservation.” The principles contained such things as maintaining native vegetation, protecting habitats for important species of wildlife, maintaining connections among habitats for movement and gene flow, maintaining significant ecological processes, protecting the habitat of rare species, and presenting a clear picture of the diversity in Charlotte’s ecosystems.
The updated map acknowledges Lake Champlain and its shoreline as providing significant habitat, and the railroad right-of-way is now considered significant linkage habitat.
The map provides residents, town boards, educators and conservation organizations with needed habitat information. There is also an associated database that provides information, which is also available to the public. The team revised the associated text for the Town Plan to reflect its updates to the map, including substituting the term “significant” for the previously used word, “critical.”
Planning Administrator Dean Bloch said that such ongoing assessments are important to governing bodies insofar as recent court rulings have required “significant information about habitats” as a basis for decisions.
Brooke Scatchard, speaking for the Trails Committee, also presented an updated map of what his committee envisioned as a trail network through town. It was based upon information gathered from the committee’s public working sessions. It contained existing trails, and easements, roads – both public and private, destination points for the trails including west and east village centers as well as important landmarks such as Mt. Philo, the Town Park and beach.
A discussion followed Scatchard’s presentation of the map, in which members of the audience as well as commission members debated the desired complexity of the document and its usefulness to readers. Commission member Jim Donovan raised the question of whether it should serve as a historical record as well as a vision for the future. Planning Board member John Owen suggested including in the attached text a more complete description of what purpose a “vision map” should fulfill. Marty Illick of the Lewis Creek Association and the Charlotte Land Trust expressed her desire for an expanded explanation of various types of land use, particularly for those areas through which trails pass currently and those which are proposed for the future.
Ultimately, the Planning Commission will use information it gathered during the evening to further refine the Town Plan that it presents to the Selectboard and, ultimately, the voters next spring.
Those wishing to review the plan are invited to pick up a copy at the Planning Office in Town Hall.