Planning Commission

The Planning Commission Met on May 7 and discussed the upcoming Open House for the Commercial District project. This will be a time for Jericho citizens to come and learn about what the has been said so far about the future of the CD and taking the discussion one step further.

The they discussed what will the questions asked at the Open House. They determined that it will focus on the draft vision statement developed so far:

“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.”

The questions asked will be something like:

What does "connection" mean to you?

What kind of "mixed use" is appropriate?

What is "appropriate scale?"

Meeting minutes can be found on this web page. The MMCTV video of the meeting is also available for viewing through this web page.

The Planning Commission meets next on May 7, from 7:00 - 9:00 pm at the Town Hall.

The PC will be digging in further to the Commercial District Project.

They are preparing for the June 1 Open House that will be held in Town Hall. That will be from 9:00 am - 2:00 pm. It is designed as an open ended event where people can stop by for a minute or longer to catch up on and react to what has happened in the project so far, and/or offer new thoughts. It's not to late to have your say!

Please feel free to join the Planning Commission next Tuesday.

The Planning Commission met on April 16 and discussed Uses in the Commercial District. They spent a good deal of time discussing the survey results on Mixed Use.

You can view those results here.

They discussed uses in the Commercial District in general. As seen by this Venn diagram, you can see that the CD is the most permissive district. It shows the overlap with the Village Center District as well as where they differed.

View the Venn Diagram here.

They also looked at the the data that they gathered from the Workshop as well as here on this website about what the CD should be.

See the Word Cloud here.

The Planning Commission meets next on April 16th from 7:00 - 9:00 pm at Town Hall.

This is a special meeting where we want to continue the discussion on the Commercial District. We are targeting the evening's discussion around the question,

"What is Mixed-Use mean in the Commercial District".

As you may know, we have been hearing a lot of different ideas about this is and we want to hear more from the community. We'll be opening up the floor to hear from you. Please feel free to leave comments on this web page about this topic as well.

Please join us on Tuesday night. This discussion will occur right after the starting time of 7:00 pm.

Following this discussion, the PC will talk further about the CD project and work on further planning for more community outreach, including the next public gathering - an Open House on Saturday June 1. Stay tuned for more details on this.

The Planning Commission met last on April 2. They had a fairly light agenda, but had a lively discussion on the Commercial District Project.

They discussed the workshop they had on March 26 and what they learned. They spent most of their time talking about what is next. Save the Date! They are planning an open house type meeting on a Saturday in early June. More details to follow.

If you want to learn more about the Commercial District project, please visit the project page HERE. Take a survey, leave a comment, read up on the project.

You can view the MMCTV recording of the April 2 PC meeting on the PC's page as well as read the draft minutes. Feel free to leave a comment here too.

The Planning Commission will be meeting next on Tuesday April 2 from 7:00 - 9:00 pm in the Town Hall. Join us if you can!

The majority of the meeting will be discussing the Commercial District Workshop that they held on Tuesday March 26. For more information on that project, go to the Commercial District project page.

Specifically they will discuss comments received at well as how to engage the public further and begin planning their next meeting with the public.

Feel free to ask any questions about the Planning Commission or what they do here.

The Planning Commission held their public hearing on a round of Land Use and Development (AKA Zoning) Amendments. After hearing the public, they approved the draft amendments to be sent off to the Selectboard. They anticipate that the Selectboard will receive the draft at their meeting on March 21 and warn for a public hearing. For more information on the draft, you can view these documents:

• Summary of the Draft Land Use Regulations 3-12-19
• PowerPoint Presentation of the Draft Land Use Regulations 3-12-19
• Draft Minutes from the Hearing 3-12-19

The Planning Commission has been working on a round of small Land Use and Development Regulations (A.K.A. “Zoning”) amendments for the last several months during their regular meetings.

They are holding a public hearing on these changes on Tuesday March 12 at 7:00 pm in the Town Hall.

The amendments include:

• Accessory Apartments – these long debated changes address clarifying the permitted size of accessory apartments as well as measures to ensure that accessory apartments do not become second primary residences on a property. For those who recall this proposal back in 2016: gone is the requirement for shared wastewater systems.
• Cemeteries – a revised definition to clarify how home burials are considered separately from cemetery burials. Also, an amendment was made to allow cemeteries in the Rural Agricultural Residential District.
• Planned Unit Developments (PUD) – Two changes were made here. One is to update the density bonus section with the current high energy standard. The second is to tie together the Site Plan, Conditional Use and Subdivision review sections to the PUD section so it is clear when a PUD may possibly be required.
• Character Based Zoning – A set of technical amendments are proposed help produce building that more accurately reflect the existing character of the neighborhood.

For more details on these changes, click the hyperlinks below:

• Public Hearing Notice 3-12-19
• Zoning Amendments Report/Summary of Changes 3-12-19
  
• Draft Zoning Text - Red Line Version 3-12-19

The Public Hearing is the time for the public to offer their thoughts about the proposed amendments. Additionally, comments may be left here on this site and those comments will become a part of the public record and provided to the Planning Commission at their meeting on March 12.

The Planning Commission will, after considering public comment, decide to vote/not vote and approve/ not approve the amendments. If they approve them, they will send them on to the Selectboard who will hold one or more public hearings on the amendments. Further comment on the amendments can be directed to the Selectboard at that time or anytime on this webpage.

The Planning Commission met on Tuesday February 19th. The following items were on the agenda:

• Wendy reported on her meeting with the Energy Task Force on the Energy Plan. They want to use this website more for their information and communication.
• The PC discussed a small change to the Zoning Regulations for energy deficiency in the PUD density bonus section. They will also looked at some proposed changes to the Character Based Zoning. They also approve the small package of Zoning rewrites and warned for a public hearing for their next meeting in March. Which, by the way will be on March 12, instead of March 5, which is Town Meeting day.
• Here is the Draft Zoning Amendments 2-19-19
• Here is the Public Hearing Notice
• Here is a summary of changes, along with the official state required Zoning Report.
• They will also talk about the Commercial District project and work more on their public engagement strategy. Come check out their table at Town Meeting!

The minutes will be posted on this page when available as well as the MMCTV video.

The Planning Commission met on Tuesday February 5th. They discussed the following items:

• As has become the custom, the PC members will reported on any of their communication with other Town boards and committees. Susan Bresee is working with the Conservation Commission on developing standards for a new Tax Stabilization program. Wendy Verrei Berenback reported that she is continuing to work with the Energy Task Force on a revised Energy Chapter for the Town Plan and they desire to use the town website (this site!) more. She also has been in touch with the Transition Town group and they have invited the PC to attend their April meeting to discuss the Commercial District Project. She is also in touch with the Environmental Club at MMU and can hopefully talk to them about the Commercial District Project. Chris discussed the DRB's review of accessory apartments. Jason noted that he will be attending the Jericho Waterboard's meeting on February 20 to discuss the extension of the water line to the Commercial District.
• The then discussed a small change to the Zoning Regulations for PUDs regarding making it clear in the site plan, conditional use and subdivision sections that a PUD may be required. A reader of the the subdivision, site plan and conditional use review sections would be refereed to the existing language in the PUD section.
• The PC noted that in response to the DRB's recent comment about the out of date language in the PUD density bonus section about energy efficiency they should update the language to reflect the current higher standard.
• They also heard about some potential changes to the Character Based Zoning. These changes are in relation to some areas that might not make sense or would not carry out the intent of the CBZ.
• They talked about the Commercial District project and worked more on their public engagement strategy. The executive summary of the project can be distributed and they will start reaching out to the different school communities as well as churches, and senior community.

The MMCTV video of the meeting is posted on this web page.