all right we get to start this exciting evening with a public hearing on  existing conditions is a crossing location for you kind of stuck on the sidewalk that is where most of the people cross here there's no of the trees into the jolly story oh and one thing we've observed in this area there's a lot of traffic between  there's a lot of different options available for profit locks they range from the conventional standard crossing to more recently there's been drag on the other hand we we do have probably fifteen years head on collision at the corner on the purposeful public road right from my house because of somebody who is going by her own admission fifty miles an i think there is that data that shows a pedestrian who is headed by a car traveling thirty miles an hour the chances of their survival compared to somebody who's hit at just thirty five were where you work forty five and i remember the numbers off and you probably know then it was you know really dramatic so given that it's a high destiny area this is the limit has to really take into account all the people that are trying to use the road for transportation and what is good for a car and good for yesterday and has just sort of kind of come together in the middle then we have to make you know the discussion in the next phase of meeting the public hearing part all right we are now going to open this  meeting select board and and that's at seven thirty seven and we closed the public hearing we start with public to be heard if there's anything here that people have something to say about that rather than the fire department selling this thing and having it i mean things done with the town didn't want to engage and see whether there was a way in which the town could buy range for to be bought they started last year they came to an initial successful conclusion about three weeks or months ago and meaning successful meaning the negotiat into this tentative deal between the negotiate that if another offer came along prior to those which provided or appeared to provide a better deal for both sides because we've already agreed that we were perfectly both sides we prefer going to consider so shortly after that a week or ten days after we agreed on a deal such an offer not a hard offer but a problem an offer of an offer a developer approached both sides and said you know we like to talk  doing this since the town was always going to even if it bought it we were going to be negotiate with the developer to handle most of the town just pay a bunch of money and have a piece of land hanging and furthermore there are many people who have quite developed of what ought to be done with them there are a few but very few think it should just be completely left alone a developer came along and said we think we have some ideas and we have some money in our pocket let's see if we can work something out that makes everybody there and we started that process that process is not going very fast and but it is underway yes it is underway it is promising yeah absolutely but we are again our proposal our concept is to organize the purchase of this under the terms and conditions in such a way that the end of the day costs down ok by selling devoid of developing here there and so forth that we get back as much money as we put into it and that characteristic that the town had a better than he ever not one hundred percent certainty that we would get every penny back but a high probability that we would get at very least eighty five or ninety percent of the back and quite but this appeared to be maybe even better and short cut the process of getting to the discussions with the developer has said all the right things about what he'd like to do with the portion of the property that he's interested in so everything has looked good and also all three sides are liking the way things are going but they're going slow and i think why we haven't had a just why we haven't been able to now we'll move on if they're if we're fine for public to be heard we can move on to the trails committee to talk about applying for a scoping study oh no issues there so it's really a purpose of the scoping study is to identify one of the challenges and the options and the potential costs of different options so that's part of the area and of interesting green and then there's just the issue of the scoping study under you know if it's if it's of the transcoding study the cost of the town is ten percent the state picks up ninety percent of the cost and as i caremark by hand for the sidewalks here there was early on discussion of extending sidewalks further in both directions and that was decided against for various reasons but he's  lot of black li concerned that a student make it dock in the medium of crossing and yeah all right so i think we just and you've already motion and you want to introduce yourself to the group kathy projects that will be approved fresh as a project that will actually create a more efficient building and the buildings that are eligible or buildings schools or buildings that have a public benefit well there's a second problem not only is there standing water in the building the foundation seems to have some cracks in the foundation seems to be of insufficient depth in the building so when the building was moved when the library was moved from the old location in jericho center to the present one a true foundation that meets current specifications was not actually put in place as far as he was able to tell during this therefore there creates a second problem at the library which is that if there is any weather is ation done it's going to create a bigger temperature differential between the building and the ground around it and underneath it thus creating an increased risk of more shifting of the foundation than has already occurred so for those two reasons it's very much more complicated than the holders so that's where we stand to y as far as information coming in as far as options going forward it's my personal opinion i'm not speaking for the energy task force at this point but it's my personal opinion that if the library that the library needs to have the weather's ation to in order to become more energy efficient however the building itself is potentially at risk right now and that really needs to be addressed for the well for the building and the library  and it also essentially in my opinion prevents us from and i'm saying in my opinion prevents us from doing the weather's ation but i will also say that dave who is a consultant efficiency for man has assigned to us to help us get the grant written up in an effective way whether it's action in this building as a currently stands would not conform to the somebody drops a bunch of money from heaven and the library foundation gets repaired crowd that you don't like play money so we have been awarded the money and we do have a time ok so that's the purpose of an energy the grant covers one energy audit which we have already set for the library so any other energy audits need to be covered with monies from elsewhere well that's one of the buildings this one and that there are questions that remain the second building is the garage and i understand there has been an audit and i don't really we haven't really looked into all of the details of you know where the building stands center within the town budget and because there's a public benefit it would conform and they've done their job and if i chose that we have done their foundation work is one thing and another thing is they're willing to foot the bill for the because they viable town building that we want to preserve so i don't want to lose the whole opportunity for this spring if in fact it might be an option to do the energy green first and the foundations second and that's one of the reasons why i got the slip board meeting wondering if in a future budget we could consider wanted to her with the foundation issues because the structural engineer was i mean she talked to him about the coup in the attic and the insulation that he had talked about in the audit that they felt that because there was going to be structural work done on the second floor with the renovation of the building that you would end up tearing up what you just spent money on that wasn't going to work but soon we'll find out something going on thank you so much for all the work that people do as volunteers because we as well ok now we're going to talk the list of the two hundred twenty one letters that we said no it was only one hundred sixty envelopes so a lot of those are jobs you know a lot of people more than one want to you know and then the second legal letter said so this year was to twenty one and last year it was one hundred ninety one hundred two hundred two two hundred for the year before so it's generally two letter was sent out july twenty fifth and it was down to sixty six dogs and it includes the sample for it kind of with a thing saying please respond within ten days you know so that we don't have to write further and then there's just a summary of the law which our ordinance has the statue has that piece about being fined up to five hundred dollars which i know uses that in his own caucus and then the last pages that's generated by them write software that you know they just forgot about it or the back scene was out of date so they were having to work with that to you know get that down again or you know most people have been apologetic just sorry i missed it  so i don't think we'd have to decide about the incentives thing tonight when we're budgeting but if you think you i've asked people at the counter what they fought and i don't think people really get the whole you know like you do they don't really have an opinion about it well it's so little money and having done this so not cheap anyway that your meal that it's probably people are just it's the kind of feed that we're all pay eight dollars and you keep your door fascinating and the second one has more serious you pay more money and the third one is we destroy your dog and if you put a point blank like that on facebook and with the reasons why i'm not town to another there are signs up in every town you know april one deadline so we do get a lot of i don't know how many new dogs a year but there are quite a turnover you know people moving out of town passing away and new dogs students they had to do community service so they were there was to two boys that had dogs themselves so they walked their dogs down the road and you know heard barking dogs or and a lot of our pets and you know they're just really scrappy and it's really hard to round them up even harder to find homes for them well you look at how many homes  joy well you need a motion to send the letter you so just the same letter as last year acceptance of the financing for the truck but so now they said yes you can improve but you now have to sign the resolution of need and authorize me to execute  know the environmental court heard an appeal and went through a complete trial process it's a good novo trial so everything is back on the table it's a new record it's a new tribe in all the environmental court and they view it as a as though they were the first considering the first tribe in all considering this application for at the end of that we submitted a letter no recommending that they actually hold a trial because of one point there seems to be a question that might dismiss the whole thing on technical grounds they didn't know whether whether because of our letter or not probably not because they did not suspend the trial dismiss it they held the whole trial and on the record was created i was there for one of the little idea that you can't introduce new facts you can only talk to the facts on the record and to the applicable law which is always as you know we've had a long and accurate than meet the standards of the of the request for a trial which we did like to play with his health and that's what's before and  so i think i think broadly speaking where we're broadly in agreement on the on the policy matter which is we're not comfortable with that  a dollar general that dollar general store in that location that that's the most important thing conformists either the town plan for zoning regulations which are based on the p we understand that they're it's understandable that it's possible for reasonable people to read these zoning regs and see some ambiguities in them with respect to the point why it was not clear how they fit or consistent but our views been that the point of the plan is to provide the overall framework and if there's an ambiguity in a specific r back to the original document there is a connection but you also kind of like where we can come in where our import is and then why the letters written the way it is is that they go back to the founders of the document which is u and that's where our particular power and authority is invested as opposed to specifically attacking supporting any specific aspect of the case that's already there yeah  i mean the attorney pointed out most if not all of the specific issues that were raised in the in the trial were addressed by the by the parties and that tr and we were not particularly going to say i was there for work today but we were not as a body actively involved in that trial and it's unlikely that we would have anything to add to absolute the drafters of which the internet can document happens absence of all court go when they're when there's an ambiguity or something is unclear they want to go back and see what the intent of the draft we have a particular and unique stature in this process as being able to speak with authority as to what that means what it's supposed to mean if there's an ambiguity we're the ones who can say well this is the way for being narrow in its focus so that's the basically it says in the broad proposition is the overall plan is very clear that it it's very clear over and over again that the strategy of development is to have all the commercial development that can be located in the village centers should be located in the commercial district is for those activities which cannot be located in a village center or a village and therefore if something clearly can be located in the believe center then it is not supposed to be in the commercial very much the plain language of both the plan and the only way and now there is a provision because it does say that commercial development me tell store general retail stores has this over three thousand square feet is a conditional use in the commercial district but the clear intent is if you can show a compelling reason why it's impossible to locate this thing in the town in the village which is where the plan wants them located then it's possible to compelling reasons have ever been given there's actually no reason on its face why the dollar general store or any other store like this should be located in a village center which is clearly where the town planned once and to make it we want to make it clear this is not our view it has nothing to do with you know romantic up positions a dollar general or any other per se you know around the dollar general as i may personally not shop there but that's not the point we have no philosophical or policy problem with dollar general existing in jericho but we have a problem with you know  developed over many many many years the history of it is strong language is strong very clear and it basically the message is dollar general to one of the building centers that's fine but don't do it there don't do in the cow pasture don't do it in a far street district don't do it do it where it's supposed to happen which is the that's the message is that the dollar general doesn't have any alternative way of making its stores that they haven't come to make that case well they did not i mean to us or to the judge made no case and the judge saying i think you've missed the whole issue you know well you know your i sat for two and i have three days in court the judge and that court only looks at standards set in the town plan it says that that makes the time those parts of the town plan whole thing but those explicit reference just like if you have a contract and you say part of this contract is the price list at the come from the thing that you have and no one else has and if he chooses to look and it says that the price list is a part of this contract by reference and he says no it's not part of the contract which is what exactly what you suggest commercial district page fifty affected as to from the post you shall not have an under that's adverse effect on what the character of the area affected as defined by the purpose of the zoning district in which the use is located as by the by the specifically  advice on how to be heard right he was he was not arguing the accuracy of another we had another layer of difference of opinion there in the you you should have been in court retired should have been in court for the castle cemetery because being a butter major issue a direct responsible party to that hearing in the court this letter does say oh by the way a bunch of other issues were raised and we agree with the with the opinions expressed by the palace and by their witnesses which include you but we have chosen not to focus this particular brief meant i was representing the office of my own lawyer and they didn't realize that i wasn't connected at that time to castle some of their right and after two and a half days finally this they asked me where do you live anyway i don't think there's any doubt that we would have been better he gave us fishing earlier but we didn't and we're here and then what you can there's no process and there are many many things i wish i had done differently and i feel very fortunate to have met and worked with bird steward laura and all the other talent and i know that i came and the strains of the position and we're feeling that you are willing to stand behind the player and you're willing to stand behind the regulations and i think the d r p did their best and it's kind of like yeah i mean it's just really valuable i think it's important to care for people who are there and who knows the challenge that we're speaking about and know the process and so unfortunately we're not quite done yet but we're not quite at the deadline yet so i think i do think we're pretty close we're close or not quite down kim i think your point i'm sitting here thinking  in view of what bert said i think it's even if your point is particularly well taken that putting that argument up there that if not the whole plan certain parts of the plan certainly is governed by unbelievable stacks and stacks of regulations from the e p a from the ocean from from the i r s from everything all of those regulations to get on the basis of  legislative background and a legislative mandate all of them have to have and are legally required to be interpreted in the light of this there's a statutory back to statutory background and we're the congress in this context with the congress with the congress and the regulatory agency making the rules when a judge when a an argument about the allocation of what's the legislation on which it is based on use the legislation does that tell us how we're supposed to what the f c c means or what the regulation means if not we go back to congress to find out what they meant below and it says that word means this that word means that in this situation the judge is supposed to interpret this as block and the judge goes back to what's called that's called the statement of managers to see what was meant when in this case we have a judge he lives in that environment and understands that very well he's in the environmental court of the mostly work with environmental water he understands we're in this context of the congress and it is obligation his legal obligation to listen to what the legislative body elected legislative body says in our case we wrote both the regs and the law both what it means he is  jericho and having sat on planning commission for fifteen years walking into the court room and finding out what happened in those four walls was a different experience and in terms of how  how the ordinance was being interpreted and read and i was very clear to me it was only the zoning aspects of it that were being discussed and i love the nature of this community and i love the choices that you guys have made in the town planning in zoning i think what you wrote there was ready and i did go and read that i read it months ago thank you susan and they  it represents so many wonderful qualities to me and i just really appreciate you guys taking the time to write this letter and to communicate because you did a good thing choosing to do to do consciously and thoughtfully evolve our town is a good thing it's not being opposed to to building it's not being opposed to new business it's doing it thoughtfully and helping us grow in a way that benefits this community and i love that and i made i get that and i so but so even if it's even if you're waving about i'm not asking you to join the planning commission and asking people who are concerned again about early to learn the rules to come to hearings or just talk about it little touchy and it sort of began to sound a little bit like this was a liberal liberal issue but one of the things we should remember this is one of the three states i think in the country that does not billboards i don't think there's there are ten people in the state that don't like that of all parties that rule was brought to him under when  vermont was an absolute i grew up around rock with republican state and those rules were brought in by a rock group republican and it was it was it was tough to do it was very be able to show your adversely impact right by here and that was a lot of legal work that went before the court for the month before  refusing you're nervous about being in the hearing you're trying to get the courage to speak and that thing just goes like a blur and it wasn't that they weren't adversely impacted it was what got the knowledge to be translated now to the future well i think we're going to stand on this we just need to tweak or later we need to move on to the minutes well i i think we should make a motion agree with you except i went out like i said i was happy you know the community where they had a big sort of planning meeting that was a heated discussion it was really a lively meeting and they were sitting in the you know in a library basement