Sorry, folks, it is 601.

We're starting just a tad late this evening.

We were having, as you can see, some technical problems with getting the um uh Zoom link up on the screen so everyone can see it, but we do have it monitored here.

We will be asking questions or taking questions and answering them uh should there be any uh online and uh it is 601 now 602 and I'd like to welcome everybody.

It looks like we have a full house, and the purpose of our meeting, first part of the meeting is a uh public hearing to listen in and from our uh ordinance uh committee and take questions on our first public hearing of the land use ordinance.

This is the select board's first public hearing.

As most people know, it has gone through the planning commission and has been delivered to the select board, forwarded to the ordinance committee, and we have the ordinance committee members here this evening, and we'll be getting a presentation from them, and then we'll take questions.

Uh when we get to the question period, because there are so many in attendance.

We kind of have to set some ground rules for taking uh testimony, and that is uh please when you're called upon, wait to be called on, raise your hand, wait to be called on.

Uh announce who you are so that the recording uh assistant can uh get the names down into the minutes for future reference.

Uh speak, please speak clearly and loudly.

And I don't want to have to limit to a certain amount of time, but I'm going to call on other people first before someone else gets the chance to repeat a question.

So everyone has their opportunity to speak.

Try not to grandstand, try not to necessarily repeat the same information.

But we'll when we get there, we'll give it a go.

Thank you, everyone, for your operation, and certainly your attendant.

And I have been asked to uh speak that we expect this type of attendance for our future select board.

So thanks for coming.

So public hearing on land use ordinance.

And one of you going to speak over the other, or both of you the same time.

So recognizing Mike Martin.

Yes, sir.

And Walter Martoni from the ordinance program, Dave?

No, no, but I can always talk.

Well, I couldn't start out.

So uh can anybody hear me?

Okay.

Um, I have to address the select board, but I hope you all can hear me as well.

So the uh the land use uh ordinance is periodically updated uh by the planning commission, and uh they've been working on this for a couple of years, and the process is after they complete their review, they send it to the select board for adoption.

Um select board has uh uh my charter established an ordinance committee, and uh the land use ordinance is part of the town municipal code, it's chapter 20 of our municipal ordinances.

And so the ordinance committee is uh spent uh the better part of the winter and spring reviewing the document and uh making some recommended changes.

We finished our review at the uh uh end of uh April, first of May, and and sent a recommendation to the select board.

They are on now their summer schedule, so they don't meet as frequently.

So here we are tonight with the first public hearing.

Um I I'm not representing the planning commission, I'm actually representing the ordinance committee, which is a subcommittee of the select board.

So the lens that Walter Martin and I myself used is to by the way, my name's Mike Martin, in case you don't know.

Um the the lens that we use is uh the lens of the select board in terms of how the body would respond to the ordinance as well as the enforceability of the ordinance and and also so the the town plan and the zoning ordinance should support the strategic plan of the select board.

So so we're trying to make sure that the document represents all of those things.

I I think it's important because this is a substantial rewrite of the ordinance.

Uh I I should read the highlights of the ordinance because I don't think everybody's going to read the the 79-page document.

But but this is the report from the the planning commission.

The purpose of amending the land use ordinance was to conform with the 2024 town plan, align with the select board strategic plan, comply with uh state statute as it relates to equal treatment of housing, comply with limitations and bylaws uh per our charter, um, uh comply with uh regulations found in uh the statute that relates to uh zoning ordinances.

There is a uh home act in 2023 and also act 181, which created the tiers, which the legislature has just changed some of that, and I guess the governor signed it.

Did he sign it?

But nonetheless, uh I don't think any of those things, the changes that the legislatures made affected the changes that are the rest of the document of Act 181 that relates to zoning.

So this this uh new ordinance complies with those aspects of Act 181.

Um and uh the new uh the new ordinance is a different writing style, it's supposed to be a little bit clearer for for users to use.

Um it maximizes residential, commercial, and agricultural land uses, uh, establishes the ordinance to broaden development within our community, it protects priority forests and natural habitat, improves river corridors and reparian buffers.

There's a lot of things that uh changed in the last few years relative to state federal regulations as it relates to wetlands.

So they've tried to uh include all of these things.

Um there is a housing shortage, so the new ordinance supports uh short-term rentals, home occupations, home businesses, accessory dwelling units, and those kinds of things, encourages uh tiny homes.

Um hitting some of the highlights here.

Um it eliminated the observatory protection overlay district that was uh associated with uh stellophane, but it does uh include many changes in lighting standards to comply with an international uh association called Dark Skies, which uh um uh protects the the uh skies from the lake pollution.

Um C.

Uh, there's some uh changes relative to the uh administrative flexibility um for the town administrator as it relates to um converting dilapidated vacant or blighted properties into useful properties.

Um there was a substantial change um that that we made as an ordinance committee to the uh the provisions for earth resource extractions which would relate to uh quarries and um gravel pits.

And we and we spent a lot of time on that um that particular section.

We did a fairly substantial rewrite of the uh the earth resource extraction uh section, and uh in doing so uh there's some question about the distinction between Act uh uh Act 250 review and local review as it relates to lot size and uh the bigger lots would uh obviously trigger an Act 250 review, and and so we wanted to make sure that the local ordinance aligned with with the Act 250.

Now everybody knows Act 250 is is based on case law.

There's no written rules relative to uh uh uh how quarries should be uh built or run or designed.