DEVELOPMENT REVIEW BOARD August 5, 2008 7:00 PM BENNINGTON FIRE FACILITY 126 RIVER STREET, BENNINGTON, VT MINUTES BOARD MEMBERS PRESENT: Charles Copp, Chair; Barry Hörst, Vice Chair; Ron Alderman, Bill Barney, Michael von Ouhl, Ryan Morse, Bill Barney, Michael von Ouhl, and Dan Malmborg. NOT PRESENT: Al Ray and Milt Surdam. OTHERS PRESENT: Dan Monks, Zoning Administrator; Matt Monaghan, John Endres, Jack Byer, Joe Carbone, Tim Smith, Architect, Joann Erenhouse, Lindy Lynch, and Robyn Baker, Recording Secretary. Copp called the meeting to order at 7:00 PM. 1. Minutes of July 1, 2008. Von Ouhl moved and Barney seconded approval of the minutes of July 1, 2008 as presented. The motion passed unanimously. 2. Interested Persons - Appeal Rights - Reading of witness' oath Monks read the oath. 3. Disclosure of Ex parte Communications and Conflicts of Interest Morse recused himself from the Garlic Festival matter. 4. Alternates - Voting Assignments All Board members present were voting. 5. Verizon Wireless, Applejack Real Estate Ventures, 101 South Street, the applicant is seeking design plan approval for new signs at 101 South Street. This matter was preliminarily scheduled to be reviewed by the ARP, but the applicant was not available, and was not present. Alderman moved to continue the matter. Hörst seconded. The motion passed unanimously. 6. Matt Monaghan, 404 Vail Road, the applicant is seeking a variance of the front yard setback requirement for an addition to an existing dwelling on Vail Road. Hörst reported that the ARP met with the applicant, and recommends approval. The Board waived the reading of the five facts. Hörst moved approval based upon the five facts. Alderman seconded. The motion carried unanimously. 7. Jade Realty of Vermont, LLC, 897 North Bennington Road, the applicant is seeking development plan and design plan approval for a new motor vehicle sales and service facility on North Bennington Road. Byer presented a rendering of the proposed auto dealership. He reviewed drawing C-0, the existing site plan. This is located on North Bennington Road just north of the existing Carbone dealership. The existing site has a small residence with a garage on 5.7 acres. The site is mostly cleared, with an existing driveway and a paved area to the existing house. The contours are a tier effect, with the front about six feet lower than the rear. Two high tension lines through the site are owned by two separate utility companies. A few trees were indicated. Drawing C-1 is the proposed site plan. The applicant plans to put a 22,000 square foot one story building with a mezzanine located toward the front road, between the existing rights of way, which limit the location of the building. Surrounding the building is new parking for 226 cars. This will be a two manufacturer car dealership with entrances on the north and south sides of the building. Endres indicated the location of the existing municipal sewer. He explained that they would be connecting to that line. According to plan C-2, the water line comes along the road, and connects to a hydrant in front of the dealership. The plan is to bring the water line up North Bennington Road with a new hydrant, and connect to the building. They must stay away from existing high tension lines, which create lots of restrictions. Endres explained that drainage is multi-faceted. On the back half of the site they are proposing permeable pavement, which looks like traditional asphalt, but storm water will flow through. There is a layer of stone underneath the pavement, and then storm water will recharge into subsoil. This material is not commonly used. The federal government, EPA, and VT Storm Water Management support the material. Customer and employee parking will be traditionally paved. The power and telephone lines will be underground. Endres indicated the proposed location of the underground LP tanks. The group of dealerships will try to share existing dumpster located on Toyota property. As a fail safe, there is a sand filter around the perimeter of the parking lot. Alderman asked and Endres noted that the house will be removed. Hörst asked and Byer indicated that the possible dumpster will be enclosed by a stockade fence. Hörst asked about the swale and ditching in front of 67A, and Endres indicated that it flows through a culvert and about 60 feet past that a larger culvert crosses 67 to a ditch that runs into the Walloomsac. Barney asked if there would be any improvements to the swale, and Endres reported that there would not. The tall grass is a component to that swale. The culvert shown on the plan will be replaced. Copp asked and Endres reported that Terry Morse indicated that the fire hydrants should be 600 feet apart, and this is 610 feet, where Morse wanted it located. Copp asked and Byer reported that CVPS reported that the automobiles might need a grounding strip to eliminate any voltage problem. Byer reviewed the landscaping on Drawing L-1. He explained that the utilities have requirements about what can be planted within their right of way. He indicated the 12 foot maximum height planting zone, and the no planting zone. They are trying to meet town regulations for the number of trees, and meet utility co limitations. They have selected species to accommodate the 12 ft maximum height. He indicated the location of a grass and mulch area. The interior of the site is planted with shade trees as well as grass. There is a landscaping buffer to the property to the north, and a fence/ shrub/screenery detail that screens the parking on the north and south sides of the site. The site lighting is also limited to 12 ft maximum height poles. They will be spacing them closer in order to accommodate restrictions. There will be 20 ft poles in the rear. Photometrics were provided to the Board. Copp asked Smith to provide a graphic scale on drawings. Byer explained that the flagpole is 25 feet, and there will be a light shining on it. Copp asked for a detail of the dumpster enclosure. Byer reviewed drawing A-2, the proposed elevations. The site will be broken into two equal sections with showrooms and shared offices in the center and a service garage in the rear. They are breaking down facades to pedestrian scale. The proposed signage meets sign ordinance limitations. Materials around the front include red-brick with dark bronze aluminum window system, insulated glass. Dark bronze solar screen providing additional sun for the interior spaces. The back of the building will be metal insulated panel systems with concrete base. Barney asked, and Byer reported the colors are similar to the drawings. Copp asked and Byer indicated that the utilities will be screened by the parapet wall. The signs will be internally lit. Hörst asked about parking, and Byer indicated the plan on drawings C-1 or L-1. Hörst asked and Byer indicated that there are 226 total spaces, all depicted on the drawing. Hörst reported that there are currently 6 cars parked in the entranceway. The applicant explained that those cars will not be parked there. Hörst asked and Monks indicated that the entrance to the south was closed. Byer reported that they show it closed off as a condition of the permit for the new facility. He explained that would inhibit the ability for Carbone to bring trucks into the existing site. Monks reported that the state requires that to be closed, and they would need an approved permit from the state before the Board can reconsider. Hörst asked, and Endres reported that the south entranceway is existing and will not be changed. The one to the north is proposed to be 28 feet. Endres indicated that the site distances are fine. They were measured by Blanchard of VTrans and found to be appropriate. The entrance is paved, they are going to widen and curb it as shown. Joe Carbone would like to address closing the existing access to Carbone Toyota. He explained that tractor-trailers can not get through the lot. Originally they thought they could come through the Home Depot area and use the existing exit. Monks offered an alternative, which the applicant found difficult for parts delivery. He feels that if the properties are broken up and sold individually, they would need to go into neighbor lots to drop off cars. Monks reported that the state of Vermont needs to sign off and approve that before the Board would have the authority to address the issue. Barney asked about the sewer line, and Endres indicated that the sewers are existing. There are eight inch sewer lines out to the street, with four inch lines to the building. The only crossing is near the southwest corner of the building, and that is a 6 inch line. Morse moved to close the matter to deliberative session. Hörst seconded. The motion passed unanimously. 8. Bennington Area Chamber of Commerce, Colgate Heights, Duo Corporation, Mount Anthony Preservation Society, Inc., Peter R. Geannelis, the applicant is seeking approval for the Garlic Festival to be located at Camelot Village on West Road. Morse recused himself from this hearing. Joanne Erenhouse presented the project to the Board. She chose the most recent set of drawings that she prepared. The application is for permission to hold a two day garlic and herb festival on the Saturday and Sunday of Labor Day weekend from 10AM to 5 PM. She has drawn a fence to accommodate the festival, food vendors, and activity area. They have provided a main source of access into the parking field, and secondary ingress and egress into the fair for vendors and emergency services and van service. She indicated the parking spaces which will be 10 feet by 20 feet. There is a swale on the property off of Fox Hill Drive. They will need to build a culvert to accommodate cars. They would like to put it in early enough to harden before the event. The main access drive off of Fox Hill Road is forty feet wide; the aisles between the parking are 30 feet. The pedestrian crossing is ahead of where the traffic is coming in. There is a small development on Fox Hill Drive, so dash plaques and free tickets will be issued to residents. Deputies will be able to recognize the residents and waive them through. Erenhouse indicated that there are several sites for handicapped parking. They have also set aside Camelot Village parking for people who want to shop there. There are about 90 vendors signed up. They will locate eight port-a-potties within the festival, and two in parking lots. About 26 trash containers will be collected periodically, with a 15 yard dumpster to be added to the two three yard dumpsters currently on site. Port-a-potties will be cleaned out on Saturday if necessary. Von Ouhl asked if they have an estimate for the number of cars. Last year they were dumbfounded by the number of attendees, about 10,000. There were about 5,000 people per year when in Wilmington. They have two deputies hired. They are hoping for 7,000 attendees. Several lodging facilities have already been booked by vendors. They have a crew experienced with traffic and parking control. There will be signs on route 9 to slow traffic, and the light up speed limit sign that indicates speed. They will place no parking signs on both sides of the street. They are trying to address all parking possibilities, with deputies to help. They can use the other roadway at certain times of day, and at the end of the day when everyone is leaving. They propose a third line of traffic on Route 9. Erenhouse indicated how vendors will leave through Camelot Village at the end of the day. Food vendors have 12 foot tents; the road is 35 feet wide. Von Ouhl suggested using traffic cones heading east. Erenhouse felt that the sheriffs' department would offer the best suggestions. There will be a shuttle bus running throughout the event. There are 12-15 restaurants with enough stuff on the site. There will be parking across the street for vendors that need to go back and forth. Hörst noted that the grass would have to be cut short to avoid fire hazard. Hörst indicated that the area behind Geanellis office would not lend itself to parking. The lower portion of the site is steep. Hörst asked about fire and rescue, and Erenhouse explained that the rescue squad will be on site. Hörst also asked about public safety regarding running water. Erenhouse indicated that there will be port-a-potties and a running water facility for six inside Camelot Village. There will be a 500 gallon water tank with three base sink. Monument Electric is doing power board running off lines inside, which will be inspected by the state. Many food vendors have on site catering licenses. There will be 26 trash barrels located all over property, two or three by each gate, and one between every set of food vendors, near the water closets, and in miscellaneous places throughout the field. TAM is coming to collect. Restaurants will take away what they bring. There will be volunteers picking up litter the following day. Interact and many community groups will be on hand to volunteer. Von Ouhl moved to close to deliberative session. Alderman seconded. The motion passed unanimously. 9. Other Business * Tony Bolio, 720 North Branch Street, request for extension of previously approved permit for self-storage facility. Alderman moved to grant the extension. Hörst seconded. The motion passed unanimously. As there was no further business, Barney moved to adjourn to deliberative session Alderman seconded. The motion passed unanimously. The meeting was adjourned at 8:22 PM. Respectfully submitted, Robyn Baker Minutes Secretary