When Waitsfield adopted its first zoning ordinance, most of the west
side of Route 100 south of the village went into ag/res (except the
Featherbed and Lareau parcels) and the east side became the commercial
lodging district (with the exception of where the limited business
district was carved out south of Hap's and to the Valley Professional
Center). The town's intent, at the time, was to prevent business from
developing, strip style, down the scenic Route 100 corridor from
Waitsfield to the Warren town line.
The proposed zoning will create a special adaptive redevelopment
overlay district where a slew of new uses and expansion is allowed
(providing that a host of "green" criteria are met) and returns all the
remaining 46-plus parcels in the district to the
agricultural/residential district.
But, how can this new district be created for some pre-existing,
nonconforming (grandfathered) uses along Route 100 in Waitsfield -- and
not for all of them? The list of accessory uses to be allowed in the
new overlay district includes restaurants, community center, cultural
facility, small scale processing, galleries, offices, artist studios
and others.
Wouldn't anyone with a pre-existing, nonconforming use in the ag/res
district want to be in the expanded overlay district? Recall Small
Dog's efforts to expand its commercial operation in the ag/res district
and Waitsfield Telecom's efforts to build a museum in the agricultural
field north of Waitsfield Village.
Zoning is a tool that allows towns to determine how and where growth
happens. How can the town ensure that ag/res property is protected
if/when such zoning is approved -- at first for these four parcels in
the commercial lodging district, but perhaps later for the limited
business district or selective parcels of land north of Waitsfield
Village?
Recall that one of the major arguments against municipal septic is that
it will lead to rampant and uncontrolled growth in the town's
designated growth centers of Irasville and Waitsfield Village. What
then will such an expansion of uses lead to outside of the town's
designated growth centers?
The ag/res zone in Waitsfield has long been held sacrosanct and
residents should be leery of any proposed zoning that might lead to a
degradation of that district.
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