Manchester zoning change tops ballot talks
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By PATRICK McARDLE Herald Staff - Published: December 5, 2008
MANCHESTER — The Select Board took steps on Tuesday to bring a controversial zoning amendment to voters on Town Meeting Day in 2009.
The zoning amendment allows for bigger retail spaces, as large as 15,000 square feet along Depot Street, for certain developers who meet strict requirements in keeping with the town plan.
The Select Board closed the public hearing on the zoning amendment at their meeting and made a small change to the zoning bylaw. The Select Board will take up the amendment again on Dec. 30.
Select Board Chairman Ivan Beattie said he thought there might be a value to proper timing of the Select Board's approval of the zoning change.
"Most likely if we approve this, there will be a petition. That appeal would go to a town meeting. I like for that, if that happens, to go to the real town meeting. Get as large a sense of possible to try to get a true reading of the community," he said.
If the Select Board approves the zoning amendment, opponents would have 20 days to get petitions signed by at least 5 percent of Manchester's registered voters calling for a town meeting on the issue.
Beattie said his preference would be to have that vote on Town Meeting Day in March because he expected larger attendance at the regular town meeting than one called for a specific issue.
Adding the question to the March ballot would also be less expensive for the town than hosting a special town meeting.
While the Select Board did not promise to pass the zoning amendment, none of the four members present from the five-member board indicated any strong feelings against the proposed changes.
Manchester Planning Director and Zoning Administrator Lee Krohn said the proposed zoning changes were developed by the Planning Commission in keeping with the town plan.
"One of the plan's goals is to make more effective and efficient use of our commercial corridor to keep development there and avoid sprawl," he said.
After much discussion and meetings with commercial architects, the Planning Commission came up with some amendments to its bylaws which would allow retail stores to grow beyond the restriction of 3,000 square feet. Retail stores along the Route 7A commercial corridor could grow as big as 7,000 square feet and stores along Depot Street could grow as big as 15,000 square feet.
Krohn said there were several restrictions on the growth including the amount of developable space in the commercial corridors. More significantly, a developer would have to meet some of the town's development goals in order to qualify for allowable extra retail space.
For instance, a project that consolidates curb cuts, thereby improving the flow of traffic by reducing the number of places a driver would need to turn off, would add 2,000 square feet. Moving a building closer to the street, adding green space and using efficient or renewable energy sources could increase a building's size as well.
Krohn said the big incentive was reserved for mixed uses, with an emphasis on adding a second floor that could be used for residential development.
While the planners didn't want to make large-scale development too easy, Krohn said the incentive-based approach recognized the impracticality of 3,000-square-feet retail stores.
Some Manchester residents have expressed strong concerns about the impact on traffic, water and sewer resources and locally owned retail stores.
Ed Morrow, founder of the Northshire Bookstore, and Ken Ax, owner of Brook Valley Appliance, both local, family-owned businesses, spoke in support of the zoning change on Tuesday.
Ax said the amendment would allow him to grow his business without having to develop one of three other Manchester properties he owns.
While Morrow said he had a bias toward locally owned, independent business, he thought the amendments were largely beneficial.
"Perhaps in the heyday of the outlet boom and before we built up all throughout the states, before we had outlet centers that intercepted people from metropolitan areas of New York and Boston, we got pretty busy and we needed controls on cumulative growth. So much of that has slacked off, we have a lot of excess capacity that's built in because of the bylaws we have. So I don't see a problem," he said.
Contact Patrick McArdle at patrick.mcardle@rutlandherald.com.
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