“it’s
a great place to live…”
Action Items:
1) Executive Board to bring
recommendation on Citizen of the Year to the 4/24 meeting.
Minutes:
The meeting was called to order by Chair, Ron Rada at 6:30PM in the
Manchester Library. Ron welcomed the 20
people (including 18 current members) in attendance. There was no guest speaker for this meeting.
Foundation Program announcements:
Manchester Historical Society: Ron Rada suggested anyone interested in participating in the Historical Society’s activities should see the section on our web-site (at MCC web-site noted above).
Crime Prevention and Public Safety Group: Bud Larsen reports that
the extension of the boat launching ramp will have a bid opening on 4/26 with
work to be conducted 8/14 thru 10/31. He
also said that the new Port Resolutions are now in the hands of the
Business meeting:
Ron Rada then began the formal meeting with a review of the MCC Mission Statement and asked for a review and approval of past meeting’s minutes: The minutes of the 1/23 meeting were approved as written.
Correspondence: No significant correspondence.
Reports:
Treasurer: Debby Trudeau reported our bank balance is currently $1024.48. She has been further investigating accounting software and specifically looking for software appropriate for 501c3 non-profits similar to the Foundation. Debby mentioned that the National Council of Non-Profits Association has an excellent web-site (www.ncna.org) that could be a very valuable resource.
Sewers Sub-Committee: Ron Rada reported that the final re-paving for LID#8 was being completed today and the final billings should be submitted shortly. Once that is completed, the effort for moving LID#9 forward can be re-instituted, and should occur within two months.
MCC Action Groups:
-Downtown Design: Efforts will be reported later in these minutes.
-Historic Village Character: No report.
-Partnerships with other Agencies: Efforts focused on developing Plan revisions.
-Village Commons:
No report, but Ron Rada suggested that this project should move to the
forefront of our activities for the remainder of the year. A coordinated effort between the MCC, Friends
of the Library, and
Old Business:
Ron Rada said that the Executive Board had discussed several candidates for recognition as “MCC Citizen of the Year”, but there are additional candidates for consideration. A recommendation will be brought to the next MCC meeting by the Executive Board.
Matti Walters
is still coming up to speed on querying the County web-site for new
construction approvals. It was reported
that there have been no significant approvals for the
The Colchester Commons project was mentioned and it is reported to be in default. Those knowledgeable with the situation reported that the project is likely to continue ahead with new financing and no design change other than meeting the 28 provisions required by the County.
New Business:
Carrilu Thompson reported on activities by the Downtown Design Committee of the MCC which is assembling a clarification of the verbiage used in the original Plan. The group has been meeting bi-weekly recently. Carrilu said this effort is underway due to the intent of the original Manchester Plan not being translated into code by the County. The group will focus just on the downtown commercial core area, while the new group working under the County auspices on the Plan revisions will consider all zoning topics. This Downtown Design committee is eager to get the Plan language clarified before more development permits are submitted. Carrilu said that the County staff has verified that this group’s approach is viable.
The group has three points for clarification in the existing Plan;
1) The height of buildings in the commercial district and the number of stories allowed.
2) The ratio of residential space to commercial space in the mixed development.
3) Parking spaces required for the commercial core in light of the existing lack of parking.
The group will be working on language to clarify the intent, without changing the intent of the original Plan and they will seek community input on the proposed verbiage. Carrilu also reports that the Planning Commission is seeking input from the community on these issues. Carrilu then read the points on which she is basing her input to the Planning Commission:
2. The LAMIRD supports the original population
density of “
addressed in the
the two 3 story projects passed by
the hearing examiner advocate, by allowing three story mixed use buildings, for
a higher population density than originally allows for in the LAMIRD. The intension of having two story buildings,
as written in the plan, does support the “
Carrilu
suggested members of the community contact the following members of the
Planning Commission with their input:
Chair: John Taylor (Central)
North
Lou Foritano
Linda Paralez, paralez@demarcheconsulting.com
Thomas E. Nevins, tenevins@earthlink.net
Central
Dean Jenniges, jenniges3@comcast.net
South
Lary Coppola, biznews@wetapple.com
Michael A. Gustavson, mgustavson@aol.com
Fred Depee, freddepee@wavecable.com
John Taylor does not have email and emails to Lou Foritano can be sent
through Carrilu for forwarding to him.
The Downtown Design group will be the focus of our meeting next
month, so if you want to hear more details, please plan to attend on April 24th.
Ron Rada mentioned that none of the existing five groups reviewing
the Plan seem to have the issue of formation of a Community Advisor Board which
is acknowledged by the
Bud Larsen then gave a quick overview of the activities of the
Plan Review Transportation committee.
His point was that their primary efforts to date, have involved
educating the County representatives on the details of the
We asked for input from the Natural Systems group, but apparently
they have not met due to higher priority on other group’s efforts.
The Infrastructure group has reported that not many changes are
anticipated in this area, so efforts will be very limited.
The Zoning group seems to have the major attention from most
members of the committee. They have
discussed sidewalks and parking in the downtown area and have spent the rest of
their time focusing on height limitations and number of stories on the
developments in the commercial area.
Several options have been discussed, with no clear resolution to
date. The group has not discussed lot
aggregation.
Finally, the Public Facilities/Parks/Recreation group was not
represented, and had no report.
Lyle Burbidge said that he
will be continuing to work toward a commercial development moratorium until the
Plan verbiage clarifications are in place.
There being no other discussion from the floor, Chairman Rada adjourned the meeting at 8:07 PM.
Our next meeting will be Tuesday April 24th at
6:30-8:30PM in the Manchester Library.
Ron Rada and
John Winslow will jointly develop an agenda for our next meeting. At this point the tentative agenda will focus
on the efforts to clarify language on commercial development issues as noted
above. If you have any additional items
for the agenda, contact John Winslow prior to April 14th.
Respectfully
submitted,
John
Winslow, Member-at-Large: