The Future of the Commercial District

Below are the official public hearing documents:

• Public Hearing Notice
• Planning Commission Report for the proposed amendments including a summary of the changes
• Public Hearing Draft of the Land Use Regulations 9-8-20
• Changed pages only version of the Land Use Regulations 9-8-20
• Summary of the history of the changes from October 2019 - August 14, 2020

After taking a little break and not meeting during their first August meeting, the Planning Commission met again to discuss the next draft of the Zoning. This draft is based on comment received at their July 21 meeting.

• August 14, 2020 full draft
• August 14, 2020 draft with changed pages only

There are very few changes in this draft and they are listed below:

1. Definition of Shall/Must

MUST: Is used to indicate mandatory and required and not optional or discretionary. See also SHALL. (found on pg. 12)

SHALL: See MUST. (found on pg. 17)

2. Definition of Encourage/Should

ENCOURAGE: Is used to indicate strongly recommended and not mandatory. ENCOURAGE/SHOULD is used to incorporate planning recommendations from the State and the Regional Planning Commission, that have been adapted for Jericho and the goals in the Town Plan. See also SHOULD (found on pg. 6)

SHOULD: See ENCOURAGE (found on pg. 17)

3. Some fine tuning of the invasive species language in Section 11.8.6 (found on pg. 145). Underlined and blue-hyperlinked language is new. Crossed out language is removed:

Planting Specifications: Plants Must shall be hardy for the climatic and other conditions in which they will be used (salt, air pollution, etc.). Trees shall preferably be of a type indigenous to the neighborhood. Plant and tree selections Must comply with the Vermont Agency of Agriculture noxious weed quarantine regulation. For all landscaping, the use of plants native to Vermont and New England is strongly Encouraged.

The Planning Commission will discuss this draft at their next meeting, August 18. To find out more about that meeting, go to the Planning Commission page on this website.

The Planning Commission further discussed a revised proposed draft of the regulations at their July 7 meeting. In response to further comment, further clarifying changes were made to several sections of the Zoning.

• July 15, 2020 full draft
• July 15, 2020 draft with changed pages only
• Summary of New Changes (since July 7)

The Planning Commission will discuss this draft at their next meeting, July 21. To find out more about that meeting, go to the Planning Commission page on this website.

The Planning Commission discussed a new draft of the regulations at their June 16 meeting. They discussed some small changes to Section 11.9.3, regarding site layout and design. Some wording changes were also made to Section 11.1.6.3 (curbcuts now for all residential uses allowed on RT 15) and Section 11.8.4.1 (road design). All changes are red-lined.

• This is the full draft, dated July 3.
• July 3 draft showing only pages with changes

Email comments were received from Chuck Lacy and the PC chair responded. View that email document HERE.

In response to comments received following the review of the May 11 draft, there is a new draft, dated June 12. Below you can see the full draft of the zoning and just the pages changed. All changes are red-lined.

• June 12, 2020 draft of the full Zoning
• June 12, 2020 draft showing only pages with changes

The Planning Commission will once again discuss the draft at their next meeting, June 16 at 7:00 pm. To learn more about that meeting, you can visit the Planning Commission page of this website,

The Planning Commission received 3 sets of comments on the May 11 draft. They discussed two of them at their June 2nd meeting and the Planning Commission Chair responded to one outside of that . These letters with responses can be viewed below.

• Chuck Lacy Comments
• Kevin Trout Comments (these comments were discussed at the meeting, no responses are provided)
• Jim Carroll Comments

May 11 the Draft Zoning language for the Commercial District

Following public comment on the first round of draft edits on February 18, the draft Zoning was updated and sent to Chris Sargent, the project consultant. He has provided a edits to those comments. That new draft can be view here on this site.

• Summary of differences between February 18 and the current May 11 document
• May 11, 2020 draft of full Zoning (changes are red lined)
• May 11, 2020 draft showing only pages with changes (changes are red lined)

You can view the February 18 document HERE. You will notice that this is the full Land Use Regulations for Jericho. You will be able to scroll through and the changes are red lined. If you want to view a version of the February 18 document with only the pages that have changes, you can view that HERE.

The Planning Commission warned their public hearing for September 8 and continued it to September 22 at 7:00 pm. This meeting will be held virtually via Zoom.

How to Participate: Zoom is free to the public and does not require registration or log-in. Public comment at this meeting is welcomed and encouraged using the following methods:

1. Access the Zoom meeting for free on your computer, smartphone or tablet: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/88451845445. No password is required when using the above link. This method allows for video and audio connection.
2. Call-in to the webinar: (646) 558-8656 or (301) 715-8592, enter the Zoom webinar ID #884 5184 5445, and press # when prompted. This option allows for audio only connection.
3. MMCTV live video recording on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/user/MMCTV15/live and live on the MMCTV local Comcast Cable Channel 1086. Note that these MMCTV options will not allow for live public comment.
4. Email public comments ahead of time to be delivered to the PC to Katherine Sonnick, Planning Director, at ksonnick@jerichovt.gov.

Below you will find links to the draft zoning that will be discussed at the Public Hearing as well as other related documents.

• Notice of Public Hearing
• Zoning Amendments Report
• Draft Zoning Regulations 9-8-20
• Changed Pages Only Draft Zoning Regulations 9-8-20
• Chronology of Zoning Changes (Oct 2019-August 2020)

The Planning Commission is currently working with Chris Sargent, their consultant, to revise the Commercial District zoning regulations. Chris joined the Planning Commission at their meeting on November 5th to discuss the details in the Commercial District Master Plan related to desired zoning changes and possible zoning approaches to address the desired changes. Click on the image below to view the presentation Chris gave at the PC's November 4th meeting.

A suggested approach is to implement Zoning similar to Westford's R5 zoning district, which considers the desired components in the context of a Planning and Design Standards score sheet and provides illustrations to guide the desired form of development. You can view Westford's R5 language by clicking on the image below.

The Project consultant developed a couple of documents for the Planning Commission review and discussion for their meeting on December 3. He asked for the PC and the Advisory Committee's feedback on his suggested approach. This approach is described in these documents:

• Potential Zoning Approach
• How to Calculate FAR
• Mind Map of Zoning Approach

The project consultant developed a draft of new Zoning Regulations for the Commercial district. The Planning Commission and the Advisory Committee reviewed and comment on the Draft during their December 17th meeting. These comments have been sent to their consultant for his review.

• this is a summary of the PC's Comments
• this is summary of the AC's Comments

Following the June 1 Open House, the Planning Commission posted surveys on this site.

The survey questions were the same questions posed at the Open House.

Below you can find the results of each of those surveys as well as a link to the surveys themselves:

Do you Feel these Buildings are appropriately sized?

• Survey
• Survey Results

Appropriate Density for the Commercial District

• Survey
• Survey Results

Mixed Use in the Commercial District

• Survey
• Survey Results

Uses in the Commercial District

• Survey
• Survey Results

On July 30 from 7:00 - 9:00 pm the Planning Commission will meet with their consultant, Chris Sargent to discuss the Commercial District Master Plan. As this point it is still in draft form - showing the vision of the CD landowners. Chris is incorporating the findings from the March workshop, June open house and online comments, where the public chimed in on their thoughts. The good news is that the landowners and community at large are not too far apart on their vision for the future of the district.

Click on the links below for the latest visions of the Master Plan, Maps and additional information:

• Master Plan Draft 7-26-19
• Master Plan Maps 7-31-19
• Appendix A Master Plan 7-26-19

Please join us on Tuesday July 30 for the Master Plan discussion.

The Planning Commission's Commercial district Open House was a success! We saw some new faces including families (kids!). The format allowed for those in attendance to wander around at their leisure and individual Planning Commission members were able to answer individual questions and have conversations with attendances.

People who attended were asked a few questions relative to the draft vision statement drafted through the early part of the project with the CD land owners as well as with the public during the March 2019 workshop:

We want you to be able to help us with figuring out more what this vision statement means. The questions we asked stem from the bold and underlined text above. The questions we asked have been turned into surveys on this page. You can find them on the "New Surveys" tab or click the links below to go directly to each survey:

• Uses in the Commercial District
• What is the appropriate density for the Commercial District?
• What size buildings do you like for the Commercial District?

You can also watch this video, produced by MMCTV that leads you through the Open House, so you can see what everyone who was there saw.

We had some special visitors join us at the Open House. The Trails Committee, the Conservation Commission, the Jericho Energy Task Force as well as the Tri-town Alternative Transportation Committee. The Planning Commission asked these committees "how the Commercial District could further the goals of their boards". You can view boards presented by the:

• Trails Committee
• Jericho Energy Task Force

The Planning Commission will meet with their consultant as well as representatives of these boards at their next meeting on June 18 and work toward wrapping up the Master Plan and vision part of the project.

The Planning Commission is hosting and Open House on June 1 from 9:00 am - 2:00 pm

Stop by for just a bit or stay longer. Bring your kids! There will not be a formal presentation, but we are looking for your feedback on what we've found out from the Jericho Community so far. We also want to move the project forward by asking some new questions.

If you're new to the project, stop by, learn more and have your say.

If you've been a part already, stop by, tell us what you think and add more, as we take the project one step further.

Here's an example of what we want to learn more about:

We have crafted a draft purpose statement for the Commercial District based on community feedback. It will continue to be tweaked as we compile more info from everyone. It might even look a little different by the time you stop by the Open House. Here is the purpose statement now:

“A Commercial District that provides a valuable connection between Jericho Village and Riverside Village, acting as a Location for mixed-use development and expanded commerce at an appropriate scale for the community, which preserves the landscape, distant views and rural landscape.”

We will be asking for more feedback on that statement. Some questions could include:

1. What does "connection" mean to you in this area?
2. What kind of "mixed use" is appropriate in this area?
3. How does "rural character" interact with density?
4. What is "appropriate scale" in this area?

• What type of buildings do people want to see in the CD?
• What patterns of development do people prefer? Dense, village style? Less dense, businesses-subdivision style?

Please feel free to leave any thoughts here on anything you've just read or if you have any questions about the Open House or the project.

The Planning Commission posted a survey on mixed Use. They had heard the term "Mixed Use" a lot in regards to the future of the Commercial District. What is mixed use? And does it belong in an area of town that is called the Commercial District?

View the survey results HERE

Thank you to the over 50 folks who attended the Planning Commission's workshop on the Commercial District. We had a great time discussing our hopes and dreams for the district. While there wasn't complete consensus on what the future of the district should be, there were some areas of agreement. Several items related to the Workshop are available to view and download below:

• Summary of Workshop Comments
• Presentation from the Workshop
• MMCTV Video Link
• Executive Summary of Project So Far
• Draft Master Plan - Commercial District Property Owner's Vision
• Draft Master Plan - Existing Conditions, Constraints & Capacity Analysis
• Draft Master Plan Maps