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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes - MEC - 10-16-2019 Milton Equestrian Committee Meeting Wednesday, October 16th, 2019 at 7:00 p.m. Community Place, Milton City Hall Meeting Minutes CALL TO ORDER Meeting was called to order by Julie Shannon at 7:00pm. MEMBERS Larry Covington- not present Elisabeth Drevet-present Julie Shannon-present Susan Day- present Tony Rich- present Susan Kimball-present Chrissy Reeves-present APPROVAL OF MEETING AGENDA Tony made a motion to approve. Julie seconded that motion. APPROVAL OF SEPTEMBER MINUTES Elisabeth made a motion to approve. Susan K. seconded that motion. OTHERS PRESENT Courtney Spriggs-Community Outreach Coordinator Josephine Dufresne-Citizen Jeff Dufresne-Citizen Robyn MacDonald- Milton Zoning Manager Parag Agrawal-Milton Community Development Director Caleb Racicot-TSW Julia Brodsky-TSW Michele McIntosh-Ross-Milton Principal Planner Shubhangi Jangam-Milton Senior Planner PUBLIC COMMENT None NEW BUSINESS 1. Discussion and presentation of an effort to streamline the City’s Development Regulations to preserve and enhance the City’s equestrian and rural character. a. Presentation given by Milton Community Development Staff and TSW (Consulting firm) b. Presentation included plans for a 3 to 4 month project to research and suggest what modifications could be made to the City to help it’s equestrian and rural heritage from completely extinguishing. i. Research shows that maintaining equestrian heritage could positively impact City with its economy and increased quality of life c. Examples of towns in the US that we may want to look at include: i. Lexington, KY ii. Wellington, FL iii. Norco, CA iv. Aiken, SC d. Discussion included: i. Amendments to zoning and other ideas: 1. Making it easier to have accessory support structures that are needed for farming practices 2. Making sure there are buffers around farms. Possibly including easements in those buffers to help aid connectivity issues 3. Allowing various types of farming and alternative use to buy and operate farm friendly business. Such as nature school, compost farm, tree farm, orchards etc.. This will aid in keeping Milton’s character while keeping viewshed and not encroaching on existing farms. 4. Promote farm friendly developments. Such as a co-op’s that would operate to gain or keep farming tax benefits from the state 5. Fix current TDR’s for the City. Currently it is not working. Possibly making it so if someone wants a development, they MUST purchase TDR’s. There would be no other option. 6. Forming a farming group within the City. Possibly having people within the City let their land go into conservation (no development) and only be taxed on the land that their house sits on. 7. Making sure that the value of current farms are valued as farms and not developments. Connectivity is the major issue here. Farms that are landlocked have little value as farms. Horses and animals NEED trails and paths. If you have a property on an established trail it is extremely valuable as a farm. If you have the same property totally landlocked and surrounded by developments, it then becomes a lot less valuable as a farm and more valuable as a development. 8. Traffic and safety within the area is a huge concern for farm life in the area. This must be addressed. In farm areas lower speed limit, implement speed bumps, increase signage to make people aware of the danger they put people in by traveling at high speeds on Milton’s country roads. This is easy and economically cheap to do. UNFINISHED BUSINESS 1. Update on discussion with Community Development about MEC approval for Special Event permits on property abutting AG1. a. Discussion with Robyn included how and why special events pose an issue to farm animals and what can be done to mitigate safety issues during these events. b. Email to neighbors c. No event facility or business should be allowed to operate next to a farm or Ag1 without going through City approval and a strict variance process. d. Possible amendment to special event permit asking about abutting farm land 2. Update on Milton Horse Fair: a. Planning group will meet to discuss event ADJOURNMENT The meeting ended at 8:54p.m.