The Moretown Development Review board, after its March 31 discussion of the proposed 8,000-square-foot store slated to be built in Moretown’s commercial district near the intersection of Routes 2 and 100, voted to take no further evidence about the project, according to minutes from that meeting.
The project is proposed by Top Notch Properties. The citizens’ group, Waterbury, Duxbury, Moretown Citizens for Responsible Growth (WDM), submitted a statement of final concerns regarding the project only to be told by Moretown DRB chair John Riley that no further written submissions would be accepted.
Attorney James Dumont, representing WDM, in an April 18 letter to Riley, points out that the minutes of the March 31 meeting state that the DRB will take no further evidence. Dumont notes that an email exchange between Riley and Ames Robb, spokesperson for WDM, reveals that there was a discussion about whether or not to accept arguments about the evidence and that no vote was held on whether to accept further arguments.
“Under Vermont law, the decision the DRB made on the record, as shown in the minutes, is what controls,” Dumont wrote to Riley.
“As some of you may know, the standard practice of administrative tribunals in Vermont, including zoning boards, is to affirmatively invite submissions about the evidence after the evidence is closed. Zoning boards and other tribunals often benefit in their decision making from such submission. They sometimes are in the form of ‘proposed findings and conclusions of law’ or are just in memorandum form,” Dumont continued.
WDM’s concerns, as expressed in the April 5 comments, concern procedural and substantive issues. The group is asking for a complete site plan showing property boundaries, easements, rights of way, existing features, water and wastewater system locations. The group has questions about lot size as well as the proximity of the project to the Winooski River and a Class II wetland. WDM also questions whether the project has enough parking spaces as it is proposed.
WDM is a citizens group, but adjoining planning commissions and planners in Duxbury and Waterbury have also weighed in with concerns about the traffic that the project will generate at the intersection of Routes 2 and 100. The state-designated level of service at that intersection is already “F,” the worst rating an intersection can have.
In addition to proceeding at the local levels, Duxbury and Waterbury and the WDM will seek to participate at the state level when the project goes for Act 250 review.
{loadnavigation}
