Chester board mulls gardens, housing, short-term rentals in wide ranging meeting

By Shawn Cunningham
© 2022 Telegraph Publishing LLC

Coming in at just under three hours in length, the Oct. 19 Chester Select Board meeting got through a packed agenda that included a request for a lease to use the Canal Street well site for a community garden, a discussion of how to approach the lack of affordable housing, a further discussion of a proposed short-term rental ordinance and engineering updates on a secondary water well and a wastewater management plan.

Chester Community Greenhouse and Gardens board chair Cheryl Joy Lipton told the board that 165 people have expressed support for the concept of putting community gardens in the 3-acre plot at the end of Canal Street, where the town’s emergency well is located. She said she had researched previous uses including a carnival, skating rink and dirt bike riding. She thought that compared to those, gardening would be “gentle and quiet.”

While the town is waiting for a survey to lay out the boundaries, Lipton thought that would not have a bearing on the board’s approving the project.

Board member Lee Gustafson recalled that he had asked for a plan in writing and Lipton said she expected to do that after the project was approved. Gustafson said that – for himself, not the board – he needed to see a plan with dates before he could approve of the plan. There was also discussion of whether a lease – even a simple one – was needed.

Board chair Arne Jonynas said he was afraid to lose “the spirit of the thing” in the legal aspects, but members agreed that some sort of agreement was needed.  Lipton asked if the board wanted to vote on it that night contingent on an agreement. Board members said no.

Water/Sewer Superintendent Jeff Holden expressed concern regarding the use of chemicals that could pollute the well site but Lipton said they would be practicing entirely organic gardening.

Town Manager Julie Hance said she would pull something together for the next meeting.

Housing needs, solutions

Hance told the board that there is  a lot of money coming along from the state that will be going toward housing.  Hance later told The Telegraph that this is American Rescue Plan money with similar deadlines to the ARPA funds the town is planning to spend. Such funds would need to be obligated by the end of  2024 and spent by the end of 2026. 

With that in mind Hance said she would like to see the Select Board establish a housing committee that could work with Town Planner/Zoning Administrator Preston Bristow and the Planning Commission on figuring out housing needs and working on increasing access to housing.  She envisions a housing committee as a group of five to seven people who have experience in issues around developing housing or related skills and she gave examples of the large and small things they could do.

As an example, Hance said the town could make the sewer and water connection fee more affordable as a way to give builders a break toward developing more housing.  The connection fee is currently $5,000 each. A much larger, and probably more difficult, project would be to take the first steps toward building a neighborhood on the 100 acres left over from the land purchased for a water tank site near Green Mountain High School off Route 103 S. On the upside, the property is near to the end of town water and sewer lines. Even so, it is also under the jurisdiction of Act 250.

Saying that it was one step out of 10,000, Hance noted that state agencies have the money and are interested in funding complete neighborhoods. How that might work with Act 250 was not discussed. Hance also said that municipal planning grant money could be used for a housing study to frame the needs.

Planning Commission member Peter Hudkins said the situation was more urgent than that, noting that the town needs to find property and funding sources.  Commission member Cathy Hasbrouck also said that infill development was also a viable option.

Short-term rental ordinance second look

Hance said after discussing the ordinance with Bristow, she was returning with two changes. One did away with the classifications of “hosted” and “unhosted” and the second established an across-the-board fee of $200 for registration. Jonynas asked if the reduction of the fee continues to make registration revenue neutral when the town is paying for a “host compliance” service. Hance thought it would.

At the previous meeting, the idea of simply getting a “snapshot” of the short-term rental market in Chester was floated, but Hance noted that the service provider would not do that.

Second homeowner Russell Fearing, who owns an STR in the Stone Village, had two concerns. First, he wondered how long someone who is renting to more than eight guests would have to “cure” any problems found by the state fire safety inspection. Bristow said that in effect, that’s up to the state. For a major problem like insufficient ways to get out in case of an emergency the state may say it has to be corrected. On a smaller problem the inspector may issue a provisional approval.

In response to a Telegraph question, Bristow confirmed that state law already requires owners renting to more than eight guests to have a state inspection and when he was in Killington the state thanked the town for instituting registration because it pushed landlords to come to fire safety for inspections.

Fearing was also concerned about what information the town would be collecting via its compliance service and who that might be shared with. Jonynas said it would be interesting to see what the application form is collecting as well.

Planning commission chair Hugh Quinn said that the information that the compliance service company collects comes directly from the rental platform and Bristow said he would avoid asking for any other personal information.

Chester resident Ian Montgomery, who also owns an STR in the Stone Village, said he viewed Granicus, the compliance service, as Big Brother. Montgomery said he has lived in a very regulated country and came to the United States to be free.

Stone Village resident Cathy Guirtino has worried about winding up with a lack neighbors as more and more houses along North Street become vacant except for the days they are rented. She was disappointed with dropping the categories of hosting and suggested a cap on the number of such rentals.

In the end, the board asked Hance to send both versions of the ordinance to town attorney Jim Carroll for review.

Finding a second well, assessing wastewater management

Dufresne engineer Naomi Johnson told the board that increased demand has made it necessary for the town to look for a second municipal water well. The two sites that the town has identified for a second well are the current Jeffrey site north of the Stone Village and one on Green Mountain Turnpike. The hydrogeological study of the sites will be paid for by the state’s drinking water fund and the town would not be required to repay the state until it begins construction of a new well.

Hance asked the board to approve of her applying for funding of the hydrogeologist. Johnson said the final cost including a generator, pump house, water main to connect to the system and permits would come in at around $800,000. The board approved of the process and gave Hance permission to go forward.

After Johnson outlined what would go into a $78,000 project to assess and map, meter and inspect the sewer, Hance noted that a 50 percent grant was available and that this information would help with planning a future sewer upgrade and work on the Depot Street force main. The board also approved going forward with the funding application.