Tonight (Tuesday Sept 10, Rm 12, City Hall) is Public Hearing on Proposal ZA 14-02 [ Zoning Amendment to increase allowable lot coverage in parks to 25-35%. Leddy Park is 13% loit coverage now.)
If you can not attend and wish to make your opinion known, you can submit your comments to the email list below. Note the specific request that remarks be added to the Public Hearing record.
Subject: Re: Proposal ZA 14-02 in packet
To: Sandrine Thibault
Cc: "andym@montrolllaw.com" , "bbaker@cdbesq.com" , "David E. White" , "emilyannicklee@gmail.com" , Lee Buffinton , "Lee Buffinton (l.buffinton@gmail.com)" , "roen@burlingtontelecom.net" , "Wallace-Brodeur, Jennifer - JWBrodeur" , "ybradley@vermontrealestate.com"
Dear Sandrine and David:
Because I am unable to attend tonight's meeting, I ask that you present my written opinion to the Planning Commission members individually as part of the public hearing process regarding the proposed Zoning Ordinance change for lot coverage on City-owned green spaces/parks. Please include it in the minutes as well as a submitted document. Thank you.
This requested change “jumps the gun” of public process, since the Parks and Recreation Department has yet to submit its Master Plan to the people of the City of Burlington for public review and comment.
The Parks and Recreation Department submitted this requested change without an accurate baseline of coverage at the majority of City-owned parks. In other words, the current lot coverage was unknown prior to requesting between 500% and 600% increases in allowed legal lot coverage.
The Parks and Recreation Department allows that it is already out of compliance with the Zoning Ordinance governing same. Its remedy is to increase lot coverage in a blanket manner. This is like Parks and Rec or the Dept. of Health finding that a City-managed beach is in violation of a health ordinance regarding pollutant ppm's, and, rather than stopping the flow of contamination, it raises the limit of allowed ppm's for the pollutant. (I am not suggesting that the City remove all coverages, by the way. I am suggesting an intentional, location-by-location approach that considers the Parks Master Plan in deciding what coverage to remove to become compliant or to change the coverage allowance with public input for each specific location, based upon what the City's intended changes might be for that location.)
Please slow the process down here and get the answers needed to make a decision based upon facts, a master plan, and public input. If the City departments are already in violation of the current ordinance, it is not justifiable to approve an increase without finding out all of the facts first.
Thank you for including my viewpoint among those represented at this evening's public hearing.
Sincerely yours,
Alison Lockwood
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