Back on the Planning Commission

From PCJ Editor Wayne Senville:

"Have you lost your mind?" was one reaction. But more generally, I've gotten positive feedback to my recent appointment to the Burlington (Vermont) Planning Commission.

In some ways you could call it a re-appointment, since I served on the Commission from 1990-1999. But, do the arithmetic, I've been off the Commission for nine long years. What will it be like to be back on after so many years off?

I've certainly kept involved with local issues over the years, and have regularly attended my "neighborhood planning assembly" (NPA) monthly meetings, as well as many city council meetings, and even a few planning commission meetings.

But I missed being on top of things, and felt that with my experience I could again contribute to the city I live in (and love) by serving on the commission.

For some reason, our city council agreed ... and I'm back on.

I sat in on a planning commission meeting last week to get myself back up to speed (my four-year term starts on July 1st). It was likely the last time I'd be there as a member of the public for some time.

Sitting there and listening to the discussion felt like being in a time machine.

The key issue the commission was focusing on last week was developing a policy for how to deal with permissible building materials in historic districts. Coincidentally, we were dealing with similar issues back at the first few commission meetings I attended as a brand new commissioner eighteen years ago -- reviewing applications to replace slate roofs with asphalt, and wood siding with vinyl.

It's a difficult issue, one calling for balancing the increased maintenance and repair costs of using historically correct materials (and these costs can be substantial) against the need to preserve the integrity of historic districts.

It's also an especially tough question in Burlington since our historic districts are quite large, and also overlay much of the lower-income portion of the city (our "Old North End") where affordable housing is a big concern.

I'll have more to say about this in a future post.

In the meantime, if any of you have returned for second terms on your planning board after a couple of years off, please email me your thoughts on what it was like to return: editor@plannersweb.com