Chester board OKs rural zoning changes; talks 2025 budget, water meter upgrades

By Shawn Cunningham
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An amendment to Chester’s rural zoning regulations that’s been under consideration since July, with several hearings where it was criticized by residents and Select Board members alike, was finally adopted after  one of its most controversial proposals was dropped. The 4 to 1 vote approving the at Thursday, Jan. 2, Select Board meeting.

The rural zoning amendment is the final piece of a multi-year “modernization” effort by the town’s Planning Commission with an overarching push to make the construction of affordable housing easier. But one such initiative – density based zoning – proved unpopular with rural residents who complained at hearings and one on one with several board members.

Density based zoning – which was intended to  encourage new housing construction by allowing owners of large parcels to subdivide into building lots as small as 2 acres close to town roads while setting aside larger areas for wildlife habitat and corridors was dropped from the zoning amendment on the request of the select board at its Nov. 6 meeting.

Previous amendments have made a number of substantial changes to other districts, including creation of a Village Green District and an Open Space district follows the FEMA flood map and restricts development there. A number of the changes to the downtown districts are also intended to make more housing possible but did not meet with as much resistance.

At a Select Board hearing on Dec. 18, several residents also spoke against shorter setbacks for development in the rural zones. Setbacks are the minimum distance a building can be constructed from the street or a neighboring property line. The Planning Commission saw the reductions as a way to make construction of housing easier while opponents said neighbors could feel encroached upon. After the hearing, Select Board members wanted to consider the public’s comments, then address them at the next meeting.

On Jan. 2,  addressing the proposed rural zoning amendment before the Select Board, Gassetts residents Scott Kilgus and Leslie Thorsen said that quarrying as a conditional use in the rural areas is antithetical to the town’s desire to grow its population and that existing quarries have driven people out of Chester.

Those complaints not withstanding, board chair Arne Jonynas moved to approve the amendments. As the board discussed the motion, members asked Planning chair Hugh Quinn and planning director Preston Bristow questions about extraction as a conditional use in the rural areas.

Bristow told the board that the town use to be quite loose in granting permits but that current performance standards for a conditional use permit would make it hard to do a quarry today.

Board member Arianna Knapp said that after talking with more residents, she thinks there’s more flexibility in the amendment for current owners to use their properties. She said she hears the frustration around the quarry issue, but “frustration is not an excuse for bad choices.” She added that the town needs quarrying and extraction and the amendment cannot address their concern.

The amendment passed 4 to 1, with Peter Hudkins opposed. In the meantime the Planning Commission will look at other ways to address the difference between quarrying and gravel extraction.

Chester town budget

With two weeks before the board must finalize the 2025 budget to be put before the voters at Chester’s Town Meeting, members took a close look at a draft budget. The draft was compiled from budget proposals prepared by all of the town’s departments and presented during several Select Board meetings since November.

Town Manager Julie Hance told the board that she and the department heads had worked on cutting as much as possible while maintaining the personnel and town services. Asked by Hudkins if she could find 1 percent to cut, Hance said further cutting would mean “people or services.”

At the same time, the review found a few numbers that need to be confirmed and a couple of typos that could result in marginal cuts to the draft, which at the time of the meeting showed an increase of $262,203 — or a little more than 6 percent — over last year’s approved budget of $3.975 million.

The board will review the budget again at its Jan. 15 meeting and has until Jan. 17 to approve it for the Town Meeting Warning.

The budget and several other articles will be voted on by Chester residents on Monday, March 3 at 6 p.m. at Town Hall. Town offices and bonds will be voted by Australian Ballot on Tuesday, March 4 from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. at Town Hall, 556 Elm St.

Town Meeting Warning

Hance previewed a draft of the warning, including 22 articles, 18 of which will be voted from the floor on March 3. These include the 2025 budget, voter approval of borrowing $70,000 for a new police cruiser, approval of the creation of a Housing Trust Fund that will be a restricted reserve to receive funding to support the preservation and production of affordable housing in Chester.

Also to be voted from the floor are the property tax exemptions for the Green Mountain Softball group, the Chester Rod and Gun Club and the Gassetts Grange as well as appropriations for a dozen or so social service and community support organizations.

On Tuesday, March 4, voters will be asked to elect a slate of town officials, including three select board members. They will also be voting on a $630,000 bond for a grader and paving. Another bond for $2.38 million would pay to replace a sewer force main and a pump station. Water users will pay for the upgrade through their water bills, but town voters must approve the bond because only the town has the power to bond and is ultimately responsible for repayment. Hance said the work is eligible for a subsidy of up to $750,000.

Finally, there was a place holder for a bond to purchase the solar field on the Jeffery Well property, which is on Rt. 103 just north of the Stone Village. The board decided to exercise its option to buy the facility a couple of years ago and has been getting appraisals and negotiating since then. If an acceptable deal is agreed to by Jan. 17 — when the warning must be finalized and approved — the board will put the question to Chester voters.

Water meter purchase

After a number of meetings regarding discrepancies in the pricing of upgrades to the town’s water meters, the Select Board, in its role as Water/Sewer Commission, approved the purchase of a system that reads customers’ meters then relays them four times per day to the Town Office by cell technology.

This system will replace one in which a town employee drives around taking readings every three months with a hand-held device and make it possible to bill large users monthly rather than quarterly, helping both the user and the town manage cash flow.

The new meters can also spot leaks and send a warning to Town Hall if water is running constantly in a building. In an unoccupied second home, a frozen pipe that bursts can be expensive. Currently, the only way such leaks can be detected is if the homeowner complains about an outsized bill or if a huge water use is found in the quarterly reading.

When the upgrade was presented in July, the cost of the system was thought to be $96,000 plus a monthly fee for the cell usage of each meter. However, the system also requires software costing $10,500. But when the invoice arrived, the cost was $50,000 higher for a part of the meter replacement that the Select Board thought was included. After some back and forth with the Stiles Co.,  which sells the equipment, and Badger, which manufactures it, the town got some discounts.

Last Wednesday, the board had the choice of the remote reading system for $148,200 or the “drive by” reading system for $140,310. There’s an additional charge of $1 per month per user for the cell service for the remote reading. The fees will all be passed along to the 600 or so town water users.

In a memo to the board, Hance said she and Water Superintendent Jeff Holden would be happy with either, but that since Holden is retiring at the end of 2025, Hance would like to get the physical changeover of the meters done while he is still on the job. When Holden leaves, the water and sewer departments will revert to three workers from the current four person crew used to prepare for the succession.

The water commissioners discussed the options and voted unanimously to contract for the remote cell-based system.