Wards 1 & 8 NPA

Wards 1 & 8 Neighborhood Planning Assembly (NPA) Agenda March 9, 2022 In-person at the Sharon Bushor Room, First Floor, City Hall And Zoom online Please click the link below to join the webinar: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/84036123619 Or Telephone: Dial(for higher quality, dial a number based on your current location): US: +1 929 205 6099 Webinar ID: 840 3612 3619 International numbers available: https://us02web.zoom.us/u/kcyOP2ULai YouTube: YouTube Livestream: NPA Wards 1&8 Playlist, click on upcoming/next meeting: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLljLFn4BZd2Pa3H8l30gy_gZ3NL6orXcN Note: This is for live streaming purposes only. Ward residents should intend to participate via Zoom or in-person if they wish to speak or vote. 6:45 - 7:00 p.m. Zoom line open to call in (see below if you have problems) 7:00 (Formal start to meeting) Announcements & Introductions 7:05 Speak-out - General Public 7:20 City Councilors’ updates: Public Safety, Housing, Energy Efficiency 7:35 School Board Commissioners: our newly-elected commissioners Aquilas Lokossou (Ward 1) and Saja Almogalli (Ward 8) and High School update from Kathy Olwell 7:45 City Councilors: how can the NPA facilitate stronger connections between residents and City Councilors? 8:00 Wards 1 & 8 Sidewalks study update: Maddy Suender, Dept of Public Works 8:15 Barge Canal Conservation: Ward 5 NPA Andrew Simon 8:35 Great Streets Main Street Concept: Olivia Darisse, Public Works engineer and Laura Wheelock 8:55 Localvore coupons gifts - giveaways to two attendees 9:00 Adjourn If you have any difficulties accessing the meeting before, during or after, please feel free to contact Jonathan Chapple-Sokol at (802.777.3521; leave a message if no answer) or chapplesokol.npasc@gmail.com and he will walk you through the process, and troubleshoot any issues. Want to watch the meeting but not be in direct attendance? Watch on Channel 17 YouTube. You will be able to watch the livestream, without logging into the Zoom. And, if you’re unable to tune in during the  Wednesday meeting you can access the recording there, too! https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLljLFn4BZd2Pa3H8l30gy_gZ3NL6orXcN NPA Steering Committee Tom Derenthal (Ward 1) tomd.npa@gmail.com, Carol Livingston (Ward 1) carol.livingston1951@gmail.com, Jonathan Chapple-Sokol (Ward 1) chapplesokol.npasc@gmail.com, Hannah King (Ward 8) kinghannah190@gmail.com Keith Pillsbury (Ward 8) kpillsbury7@gmail.com Minutes: Wards 1 & 8 NPA Meeting - April 13, 2022 In-person location - Pickering Room, Fletcher Free Library Attenders: Keith Pillsbury Tom Derenthal Emily Lee Angie Chapple-Sokol Carol Livingston Jonathan Chapple- Sokol Cindy Cook Richard Hillyard Alex Friend Kathy Orwell CJ Knudson Serrill Flash Zoraya Hightower Serrill Anne Brena Bill Church Jean Hopkins Cyrus Oswald Jack Hanson David Cawley C.J. Knudsen Sean Sam Heinrichs tom derenthal Alexander Friend (he/him) Sharon Bushor kathy olwell Gail Rafferty A complete recording of the meeting is available at  https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLljLFn4BZd2Pa3H8l30gy_gZ3NL6orXcN 6:30 - Announcements & Introductions & Requests for future topics. - Future Topics: o Richard Hillyard – While the City has taken steps to advance bicycle riding, we have no ordinances that regulate cycling. Need Council engagement. - Speakout / Announcements: o CJ Knudson – Vermont Lake Monsters. Last year was the first as part of the Futures League. The Monsters won the championship with 11 players from Vermont. The 2022 season starts  May 27. Last game is August 6th, with 36 home games Games will start at 6:05. Fireworks are planned for Jun 11, July 23 and Aug 6th. Movie nights: Aug 19th – Sept 16th [start at 6-7 PM]. o Gail Rafferty – Brought up a proposed ordinance change that allows camping in City parks. The intent is to help those who are houseless. The ordinance would remove a prohibition on camping. Neighbors near Smalley Park feel the change will worsen the situation in some parks. Even if some parks continue to prohibit camping, effective removal from parks would be subject to a 30 day window. So please be aware this change is being considered. The 2 councilors putting this change forward are Joe McGee and Gene Bergman. City Council’s Community Development and Revitalization Committee has taken this under consideration. Sarah Carpenter [chair] and Zoraya Hightower are members. o Cindy Cook – East Avenue petition requesting traffic calming. The response [from a consultant] didn’t meet expectations. Work on East will be integrated with corresponding work for Colchester Ave. Looking at alternatives that don’t preclude a North traveling bike lane. Also looking for an update on the pedestrian crossing at University Road. Also trying to get sidewalk hazards fixed [gaps + ice]. This isn’t on the 2022 schedule as of today. o Working with Afgan folks who are in their 20’s who would like to connect with UVM students. 6:45 City Councilors’ updates: Priorities for the coming year Jack Hanson - Reorganization day has come. Is the chair of the Transportation, Energy and Utilities committee. License and Local Control and Ordinance Committee - Priorities: Most Council work is in response to what comes up. Personal priorities are climate crisis and housing. For example, Jack authorized a resolution to encourage transit funding which will maintain bus frequency and keep GMT fare free. - Questions o Cindy Cook – What is Council doing to foster new housing and working with UVM, who enrolled ~500 new students this academic year. Jack: Short term rentals does have impact. Jack has worked to reduce conversion of long-term to short term units. Council and the Admin has make strides with the POD site. Has worked to get rid of parking requirements. UVM does want to make changes to the Trinity campus. Council has discussed a couple times in executive session. Jack wants the UVM / Trinity campus development to move forward. Expects the development to outstrip increases in enrollment, so will free some Burlington housing. Please send data that you have. Cindy: The Goesbriand parking lot is zoned for housing. This should be considered as a project location. o Keith – Pillsbury: Living on University Terrace, we live next to a campus of ~2000 students with few issues. The Trinity campus could handle that many. The number being proposed today, 4-500 beds, will do little to fix housing. The area around campus has ready access to entertainment and shopping where families and young professionals could enjoy the urban life. Instead, we’ve given it up to transitional 20/21 year olds to enjoy, then they move on. I don’t see how we’re OK with this. UVNM has to take more social responsibility and house more of their students, particularly when many students come from well off out of state families. o Alexander Friend – will hold response until the housing topic. o Jonathon – How to make sure all councilors know the meeting start time. Jack: Councilors had assumed the meeting start time was unchanged from 7 pm. A quick reminder email immediately before the meeting, including the start time, will help. - Speakout – Dave Cawley – Participates with the community coalition. The Coalition will be repeating a community survey with the goal of capturing issues in neighborhoods. The  Coalition will discussion survey details at their April 22 meeting. More details are available at the UVM office of student and community web site. Gail Shampnoi is the founding director. Jack: This is a great space to have discussions with UVM. School Board Commissioners: Update on Per Pupil Spending at State level - Kathy Olwell - BHS / BTC – five conceptual plans have been released to the BSDVT web site. An accompanying survey enables feedback. - S287 – Weighting study passed unanimously out of the Senate. The bill is in the House. The House is considering a completely new approach to funding. The House Ed committee either wants to kill [new weights] or something. But the pace is fast with action expected within weeks. Kathy to send actions to Carol. David Schein: Vermont Make Music Day - Represents Big Heavy World – advocates for music in Vermont. We are participating in project called “Make music Vermont day” which is part of an international festival this summer solstice, June 21. We are working to get music across the state. There are many places in W18 to have music, including the steps of Dewey hall, the ball park… UVM. Music can be anywhere David is looking for a contact to work with. His contact info is dafschein@gmail.com 716 640 4639 [or MakeMusicVermont]. VPR and FPF are sponsors. - Comments: Angie Chapple-Sokol – I lived in France for a couple of years. There was a music celebration and people were so happy to be there. Part of it was the beginning of summer, part was just free music and there was dancing in the streets and joy in the shared community activity. Its delighting to hear about this plan. UVM Student Government Association: Cyrus Oswald – - Key concerns students have about City included sexual violence, drug harm, Earth Week and housing. - Housing: There was a discussion about students living off campus, the challenges and leadtimes required to find an apartment, the lack of quality apartments, landlord sometime slow response to issues and neighborhoods. - The UVM Community Coalition, lead by Gail Shampnoi is a forum designed to help students and neighbors maintain good neighborhoods. - Comments: o Cindy Cook – It’s great to have you here, and others from SGA and the broader UVM community where can talk together and work out issues, so please come back. o Carol Livingston – We heard about the Community Coalition, and it sounds like that’s another good intersection where we can jointly struggle with issues around housing. Can you talk about quantity and quality of housing and how its communicated to landlords. Cyress: There are many stories about bad landlords. Sometimes things break and landlords are slow to respond. Carol: How are students informed about landlord / tenant issues? Part of the challenge is supply and demand. o Alex Friend – How to compare the cost on-campus vs. off-campus. Cyrus: Students often choose to live off campus after 2 years. Currently there’s a forced triple situation where 3 students live in a 2 person room. Which will cause more strain on  Burlington housing. Alex: Do students move off campus because its cheaper? Cyress: mostly yes o Angie – Thanks for coming, this forcould advance a valuable exchange over time. The cost of UVM housing, how expensive it is and how limited BTV housing is that can be less expensive than UVM, but still affordable [to students]. The Univ. has effective rent control over the City. I look forward to the City and UVM talking about it at that level… that the UVM cost is so onerous that students use BTV housing as a cost reduction measure. This interferes or displaces people who want to or need to work here or young families who want a chance to rent or buy a house here. UVM has too much control over housing in the City. o Tom D. How does the NPA reach out to UVM students? Cyrus: There is no great way. Forums like this are good. Students are not on FPF. Perhaps seeking out groups with a specific focus may be advantageous o Keith Pillsbury: Thanks for letting me participate at SGA meetings when I was a school commissioner. Also thanks for coming tonight. o Jonathan: Why do students own cars? There are so many. Is club sports a contributor? Cyrus: Students need vehicles to access the outdoors. There’s a lack of useful public transportation, which is especially challenging to students during inclement weather. There’s also a status component of car ownership. UVM discourages bringing a car to campus, but off campus students are most likely taking neighborhood parking. Housing Panel: Keith Pillsbury led a panel discussing the tight housing market in W1&8. The Planning Commission was represented by Emily Lee and Alex Friend Keith posed housing question to the panel, including but not limited to the following: - The Planning Commission [PC] involves much detailed work and understanding complicated regulations. It is clearly not a position for everyone. Why have you decided to serve this commission? - What do you as an individual living in or near the East district think the major development and land use issues are for the east district? - What do you think are impediments to development in the East District to provide more housing for non-student residents you probably already said something impediments. - What development planning is the Commission doing with UVM, the largest employer and recruiter in the East District? - What that would be what recommendations from your studies and plans are you providing the city council with for the East District to have more a more balanced mix of student transitional renters and long-term renters and owner-occupied living units? There was much said and with some views more subtle than others. The summary below captures only the most obvious points. Please listen to the youTube recording to get the entire conversation. The panel responded earnestly that our biggest challenges include: - UVM has an oversize impact on housing and rental rates in Burlington. Housing availability is a strong function of UVM’s student population size. - Students have different financial considerations for housing. While many students depend on parents for support, which working families cannot compete with. - As a City, Burlington has [like many places], an over dependence on cars for transportation The space used for cars, may be repurposed to support increased housing. - Zoning changes are needed to significantly increase housing in W1&8. Increasing housing at UVM’s Trinity campus will help to reduce housing pressure, but not make housing affordable to working families who want to live in Burlington. - The Planning Commission has two missions: The primary mission is to review and apply Burlington rules to proposed developments. The secondary mission is as an advisory body to City Council and City Administration regarding the impacts due to projects and rule changes. - A number of ideas to help housing were suggested, including a request to UVM to build housing for some staff, converting the Trinity campus cottages into open rentals and re- vitalizing the Community Project, whereby the City would purchase rental building [as they come on the market] and convert them to owner occupied condos and/or long term rentals. Localvore coupoons: - Coupons were handed out to those in attendance. The meeting ended at 8:30 PM Wednesday meeting you can access the recording there, too! https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLljLFn4BZd2Pa3H8l30gy_gZ3NL6orXcN NPA Steering Committee Tom Derenthal (Ward 1) tomd.npa@gmail.com, Carol Livingston (Ward 1) carol.livingston1951@gmail.com, Jonathan Chapple-Sokol (Ward 1) chapplesokol.npasc@gmail.com, Hannah King (Ward 8) kinghannah190@gmail.com Keith Pillsbury (Ward 8) kpillsbury7@gmail.com