By Curt Peterson
The Killington Planning Commission, with increased mixed-use development in mind, is considering how and whether to continue Planned Unit Development (PUD) projects as an option.
Ed Bove, as part of the Rutland Regional Planning Commission contract to assist the zoning review, advised planning commission members to keep the PUD option in the regulations at a meeting on March 16.
“It gives you more flexibility,” he said, regarding uses within a zoning district that might not be otherwise possible.
PUDs have been around since 1926, when New York City “authorized planning … commissions to reasonably modify or change development plans and limited average population density and total land area covered by buildings,” William Rohe wrote in the Journal of the American Planning Association in 2009.
Current Killington zoning regulations allow both PUDs and development plans more constrained by zone-determined limitations.
“Areas zoned as PUDs (may) include building developments, designed groupings of both varied and compatible land uses — such as housing, recreation, commercial centers, and industrial parks – within one contained development or subdivision,” Andrew Whittemore wrote in Journal of Planning History in 2014.
The planning commission has opined about mixing uses such as retail, residential and small businesses within one development project, possibly as part of the tax incentive funding district (TIF). Current zoning may require adjustments to clarify how PUDs might work in town.
Commissioner Vince Wynn expressed concern about possible legal implications if one PUD is approved, and another is rejected — that applicants might claim discrimination — but Bove and town planner Lisa Davis said any risk was minimal.
Bove said he will “tweak” the zoning wording regulations to clarify the PUD option for consideration at the next meeting, April 6.
Former commissioner Chris Karr was elected to the Killington Select Board in Town Meeting elections, and stepped down from his planning commission post. Andy Salamon, who was serving as an alternate commissioner, will assume Karr’s position, and Karr will be the alternate.
The planning commission posts are subject to approval by the Select Board where appropriate.
Jim Haff was officially appointed interim zoning administrator by the Select Board following Town Meeting. Commissioner Ricky Bowers volunteered to represent Killington at FEMA for hazard mitigation plan development.
