Planning Commission

The Planning Commission met on Tuesday November 5.

Chris Sargent, the PC's consultant for the Commercial District project, led a discussion on future zoning changes for the CD. This is the last phase with Chris of the CD project. The development of zoning is in the early stages and the Chris presented what he had heard from the CD Advisory Committee when he met with them in October. He also summarized what was agreed upon through the Master Planning process related to zoning as well as discussed preferred zoning approaches, including a possible approach like Westford uses.

• View a summary of the Zoning Discussion Here

The Planning Commission also discussed the importance of implementing the other action steps from the Town Plan. There was further discussion related to the different parties responsible for moving forward with the next steps; an acknowledgement that the Selectboard and CD property owners are key players in those next steps. More discussion will need to follow soon.

On Tuesday October 15, the Planning Commission met at 7:00 pm in the Town Hall.

This meeting was the Public Hearing for a small round of Town Plan Amendments. They approved the amendments and sent them on to the Selectboard for their review and public hearings.

You can learn more about the Amendments by clicking the button below:

Join in Planning Commission for a movie. Well, actually a webinar, featuring form based code, but we'll have popcorn!

The meeting is on October 1, from 7:00-8:30 in the Town Hall.

The PC is going to be spending some time learning about varying planning related issues and tools. For this meeting they will learn more about "form based code". The webinar they will be watching is about form based code and small scale industrial/commercial development.

On the learning track, the PC will also take a time to learn about some other planning resources, particularly the State of Vermont planning manuals.

The Planning Commission will next meet on September 17 from 7:00 - 9:00 pm in the Town Hall. Please join them. At this meeting they will discuss the following:

• Process Discussion: This will involve talking through the Commercial District Project and what remains of this project (Zoning Regulations) They will also talk about the process of implementing the Commercial District Master Plan, which they began with the Town Plan Amendments.
• Official Map Discussion: One of the recommendations in the Town Plan and the Commercial District Master Plan is the implementation of an Official Map. The PC will learn more about that process and discuss funding options.
• Next Planning Projects: The PC will spend some time talking about what they want to do/learn about next. This will likely include learning about alternative zoning regulations.
• Planning for the September 26 Farmers Market: The PC is attending an upcoming Jericho Farmers Market. They will talk about what they will do at the Market.

The Planning Commission will be meeting next on Tuesday September 10 from 7:00 pm - 9:00 pm in the Town Hall. Please feel free to join them.

At this meeting they will be discussing several things, including the following:

The Jericho Town Plan:

• The PC will hold an Open House on Saturday September 7 from 9:00 am - 2:00. They will discuss that open house and the comments received and how to integrate into the Town Plan draft.
• They will plan on finalizing the draft chapters: Natural Resources Overlay, Commercial District changes, new Healthy Community Chapter, and the Energy Chapter. Read more about these changes and see these changes on the 2019 Town Plan Amendment Page of this website.

Planning for next PC discussion Items.

• The PC will be working with the Commercial District consultant, Chris Sargent, to develop new Zoning Regulations for the Commercial District. These changes are based on the Master Plan developed over this past year and new Vision Statement. Learn more about that on the Commercial District Project page. They will discuss how that process will work as well as work on an education process about different types of zoning regulations.

Please join the Planning Commission on Tuesday. If you can't, you can always view the MMCTV video that will be posted on this web page following the meeting. Please also feel free to leave comments on this page.

The Planning Commission will be meeting next on Tuesday August 20 from 7:00 pm - 9:00 pm in the Town Hall. Please feel free to join them.

At this meeting they will be discussing several things, including the following:

1. The Commercial District Project Master Plan. The current draft is dated July 26, 2019. A new draft will be discussed and will be uploaded on the Commercial District Project page prior to the meeting. You can visit the Commercial District project page now to view the August 16 draft as well as draft maps and supporting materials.
2. They will discuss the following Town Plan chapters:

• Health in Jericho: This is a new chapter and the is the August 12, 2019 can be viewed HERE.
• The Commercial District changes: These changes are as a result of the Commercial District project. Visit the Commercial District page to learn more about the project. The most recent draft of the chapter (dated August 19) is posted on the Town Plan Amendment page.
• Energy Chapter: Changes made in order to comply with the state's energy plan. View the draft and maps HERE.
• Natural Resource Chapter: These changes are being made to reflect the adoption of the Natural Resources Overlay in the Land Use Regulations. The changes proposed are still under construction and will be posted when available HERE.
• The Planning Commission is holding an open house where the public can see the changes proposed and have a chance to offer any comments or ask questions. That Open House is on September 7 from 9:00 am - 2:00 pm. They will be discussing and planning the Open House.

The Planning Commission meets next on Tuesday August 6th from 7:00 - 9:00 pm in the Town Hall.

During the last PC meeting (July 30) the PC expected to have a revised draft of the Commercial District Master Plan. This will not be avaialbel, but will be for the August 20th meeting. So, this item will not be on their agenda. During this meeting, they will continue discussing amendments to the Town Plan.

In particular, they will be talking about changes related to the Commercial District. These changes are being made as a result of a change in the vision for the future of the Commercial District. You can view documents related to the meeting by clicking the links below:

• Draft Master Plan for the project
• Draft Maps
• Draft Appendix
• Draft Commercial District Town Plan Changes

The PC will also talk about changes related to the Energy Chapter. You can view more about the Energy Changes by clicking the link below.

• Town Plan Energy Draft

The Planning Commission meets next on July 30 from 7:00 - 9:00 pm.

At this meeting the Planning Commission will hear from their consultant, Chris Sargent, who will present a revised draft of the Master Plan for the Commercial District. The Planning Commission has been working on this for over a year and are excited to be close to wrapping up the Master Plan portion of the project.

To learn more about the Commercial District Project, visit the project page HERE.

If time permits, the Planning Commission is discuss changes to the Town Plan that will be required related to the Commercial District. There is a new project page related to the Town Plan Amendments. this is where details and drafts of all changes will be posted. View that page HERE

The Planning Commission meets next on July 16 from 7:00 to 9:00 pm in the Jericho Town Hall. Please join us!

The Planning Commission will be discussing some potential edits to the Town Plan. Here is a summary of the areas that they are looking into:

• Energy Chapter - The state of Vermont has some very ambitious future energy goals and has tasked every town to play their part. With the help of the Regional Planning Commission, the Jericho Energy Task force have revised the Town Plan Energy chapter to reflect the new state goals and show how Jericho will help meet the goals. Emily Nosse-Leirer from the CCRPC will be attendance to talk about the current draft of the Energy chapter plan.
• Healthy Community language related to prevention/public health. Melanie Needle from the CCRPC and Juston Hoy from Essex CHIPS will be in attendance to discuss how Jericho can incorporate language into the Town Plan to support these efforts.
• The Commercial District project is wrapping up the Master Plan and Vision Statement portion of the project. The revised vision statement, below is very different from the current vision statement. As a result, the Town Plan, which explains the purpose and vision for all parts of town, will need to be changed. This process will begin on Tuesday. Below is the revised vision statement for the CD:

The PC met on June 18 with their consultant (Chris Sargent from DuBois & King) for the Commercial District project. They also heard from members of the Tri-Town Alternative Transportation Committee (TTATC) and spoke about the information they had received from other boards and committees about how the Commercial District could help meet their goals. The goal for the PC meeting was to wrap up the draft Master Plan and finalize the vision statement for the CD project.

The TTATC noted that they are looking for additional transit opportunities during the day. As they have been thinking about where to locate a park and ride, they see that the Commercial district would be an ideal spot.

Chris Sargent, presented a summary of his findings, which are as follows: