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HomeMy WebLinkAbout3-28-2024 Draft Minutes LCPC 1 Local Comprehensive Planning Committee Minutes Thursday, March 28, 2024 at 5:30 PM Call to Order Wendy Northcross opens the meeting at 5:30 p.m. with an introduction of Committee Members. Member Present Absent Wendy Northcross X Cheryl Powell X Mark Hansen X Amanda Converse X Sue Rohrbach X Meaghan Mort X Alyssa Chase X Asia Graves X Fran Parks X Katia DaCunha X Lindsey Counsell X Jennifer Williams X Bob Twiss X Avery Revere X Also, in attendance are Planning & Development Staff; Elizabeth Jenkins, Director; Jim Kupfer, Assistant Director; Kate Maldonado, Senior Planner; Slankas, Barrett Planning Group; Jeff Davis, Horsley Witten Group and Jennifer Engelsen, Office Manager. Lindsey Counsell calls the meeting to order. NOTICE OF RECORDING The meeting will be televised live via Xfinity Channel 8 or high definition Channel 1072. It may also be accessed via the Government Access Channel live stream on the Town of Barnstable’s website: http://streaming85.townofbarnstable.us/CablecastPublicSite/watch/1?channel=1 In accordance with Massachusetts General Law Chapter 30A Section 20, the Committee must inquire whether anyone is tapping this meeting and to please make their presence known. APPROVAL OF MINUTES • Approval of Minutes from March 14, 2024 – Avery Revere notes that Jennifer Williams was marked present but was absent. Lindsey Counsell entertains a motion to approve, moved by Cheryl Powell and seconded by Fran Parks. All aye Abstain Fran Parks and Avery Revere. PUBLIC COMMENT Avery Revere reports that she and a friend rode the Cape Cod Regional Transit Authority (CCRTA) bus after watching the last LCPC meeting that she was unable to attend. To Asia Graves point, many members do not utilize this service and it seems foreign in many ways. The Smart Dart provides access to those living away from the bus routes and is important for many. Unfortunately, we do not have sidewalks in areas once a user leaves the bus. Bus stops need to be included in residential developments. Smart Dart/Dart buses could use 2 smaller electric vehicles. The bus stops are not well marked, could use more maps, routes ect. Asia Graves echoed all of Avery Revere’s comments. Meaghan Mort commented that the maps on the website are not clearly apparent when traveling through town and agrees that the bus stops need to be highlighted more. TOPICS FOR DISCUSSION Kate Maldonado gives a summary for tonight’s meeting. Village Community meetings will take place in April reviewing drafts of chapters to date: Land Use, Housing, Natural Resources and Infrastructure & Facilities. These meetings have been scheduled in each village and will begin at 6:00 PM. The meeting schedule can be found on the Town of Barnstable and the Local Comprehensive Planning Committee (LCPC) websites. The LCPC webpage has been amended to include a tab for meeting materials where all information can be found in one place. The public comments period will begin on April 1, 2024 and close on May 16, 2024. Digital as well as paper copies will be available for the public to make comments. The Natural Resources survey question closes on March 31, 2024. The next meeting for this committee is tentatively scheduled for May 9th. Kate thanked Wendy Northcross and Lindsey Counsell for their time talking with the Town of Barnstable Town Talk staff regarding the work that the LCPC is doing. Kate asks members to sign up for a village meeting to have LCPC representation. Avery Revere has comments on the housing chapter. What is Hyannis and what is Barnstable Village when it comes to development. The area where Everleigh and Village Green housing developments are located really does not fit in Hyannis or Barnstable Village. Can this become its own area regarding the Local Comprehensive Plan? Asia Graves echoes Avery’s comments as she finds it difficult when having to identify her residence. Meaghan Mort would like to see each village working with their village association to identify land or the opportunity to create housing. Creating housing should not fall on just one village, it is a town-wide shared responsibility. Looking at data from short-term rentals and second homes, it appears that two sets of data are used. Most likely the numbers will not match exactly but where we are getting the information matters. Sue Rohrback would like to have the wording of rental opportunities on the rise said in a different way as she interpreted it as more housing is available and that is the opposite. We need to seek housing on town owned property. Discussing package treatment plants with coordination with wastewater. Define concrete goals regarding the Housing Production Plan. Elizabeth Jenkins reports that we have a complete draft of the Housing Production Plan. Important for this group because a Housing Production Plan is a required element of the LCP. Town Council is in the process of forming a new Housing Sub Committee and all housing policy discussions will go through that group. The document must be approved by the Planning Board and Town Council. Asia Graves would like to see a database of all available housing units in Barnstable. Fran Parks informs members that advisory committees will be formed to look at existing committees already formed in town. Amanada Converse suggests the new housing subcommittee receive the same expert presentation this committee received because it was formative and valuable. Meaghan Mort has a comment on page two, paragraph four last sentence with rental rates at $1900/month should state that this is for a studio. Breakout Groups The committee is reviewing the draft goals for Infrastructure & Facilities. Jim Kupfer’s group reports first: 3 Capital Facilities –talked about collaboration and recognizing the town can only do so much. Working with our water districts and fire districts to make a prosperous future. Specifically looking at different things like lighting and safety. Incorporating language for drought and heat, water storage and sustainability. Transportation – looking at alternative modes of transportation, parking and better utilization of parking. Policy on taking of roads – word smithing, better at saying what we are seeking to do. Standards of roadways. Ferry service, integrate other modes of transportation. Safety – bike opportunities. Complete streets. Priority projects for funding accessibility, Two-way Main Street. Improve rail service. Solar opportunities in parking lots. Better education to identify the strategy for evacuation procedures, shelters. Better education for the community i.e. fire drills. Wastewater Infrastructure – Nitrogen too specific – other known contaminants. Water districts collaborating with town. CWMP (Comprehensive Wastewater Management Program) looks at alternative systems in areas that impact our lakes and ponds. What technologies could evolve in ten to twenty years, alternative methods. Looking to neighboring towns. Getting rid of cesspools. Water supply infrastructure – plan for adequate drinking water supply, quality flow and pressure meeting needs. Add in language for merging and known contaminants. Compliance with water supplies to continually review this. Integrating our water planning for future build outs. Stormwater infrastructure – flood management – up designing to incorporate increased floods and extreme weather. Maintain our existing draining systems. Education on pesticides/fertilizers and how banning will help with stormwater management and quality. Energy – looking at certifying as a green community. Improving our onshore wind policy. Looking at our solar photovoltaic systems. Waste management – conversation on our composting policy. Looking holistically at our waste management policy and implementation. Perhaps the town needs to take the lead on waste management, seeing if there is a better mechanism to incentivize composting. Public Facilities – not just roadways but vertical facilities like our schools, police, and fire stations. Recreation areas and parks and how we can do better. Look at ways to improve roadways, crash rates. Complete streets leveraging funding sources. The lighting survey favorable, many areas are dark, and we need to look at corridors for safety. Elizabeth Jenkins gives a summary for the next groups discussion: Infrastructure – complete streets for utilities both public and private upgrades that may be needed. A huge theme around transportation and connectivity around village centers to Hyannis Transport station from central areas. Capital Facility - making sure we have a communication plan for capital facility upgrades so the public is well informed. Water – discussed bringing back the Water Resources Advisory Committee to look at an integrated approach to water management. A low cost, high savings strategy is a great way to look at ways to summarize this. Climate change - relationship between development, infrastructure and climate change. Emphasize new technology and green infrastructure. Talked about resiliency in addition to hard infrastructure. Increasing tree canopies, removing dead or diseased trees. Communication – the town needs to do a better job communicating in plain language with an approach to education and advocacy no matter what the policy or subject matter is. 4 Leveraging grant funds as we do infrastructure projects. Transportation - rail infrastructure, difficult to access to the Cape as we only have seasonal service. Integrating the different modes of transportation so they work better together (i.e. bike racks on buses). Parking lots thinking about the value and how to get more for our money. Strategies to move vehicles from downtown. Accessibility, expanding from an ADA perspective. How do we improve accessibility when it comes to language, visual and universally recognizable symbols. Lighting and safety when it comes to crosswalks and bike routes. Wastewater Infrastructure – communication around water system issues. Water conservation and new technologies. Different ways to address potable and non-potable water needs. Water Supply Infrastructure - How we charge for water. Water conservation. Irrigation, bans, drought times, etc. Talked about all our water resources across all villages. Stormwater – communicate in plain language. Thinking about how we are treating all discharges into our system to improve our quality. Low lying roads and evacuation roads. Talked about green interventions and hard interventions around long term infrastructure planning. A discussion on waterfront development and coastal high hazard areas. How do we evaluate from a land use perspective. Energy – efficiency, changing trends of gas versus electric. Photovoltaic over town parking lots. Become a green community. Waste Management – one member advocating that the town add curbside pickup to the public. GENERAL CORRESPONDENCE None MATTERS NOT REASONABLY ANTICIPATED BY THE CHAIR None NEXT MEETING • May 9, 2024 at 5:30 PM to be held in person at the Barnstable Town Hall James H. Crocker Jr. Hearing Room 367 Main Street, Hyannis, MA ADJOURNMENT Motion to adjourn made by Cheryl Powell, seconded by Bob Twiss, All Aye The meeting ended at 7:44 p.m. Respectfully submitted, Jennifer Engelsen Office Manager Planning & Development Dept. The list of matters are those reasonably anticipated, which may be discussed at the meeting. Not all items listed may be discussed and other items not listed may also be brought up for discussion to the extent permitted by law.