Charlotte’s longtime Planning Commission chair has stepped down as the town continues to debate the future of regulation and development in the Chittenden County community.
Peter Joslin, who served on the panel for 17 years, announced his retirement in an Oct. 12 letter to the Selectboard, citing a time commitment that he said had become untenable. His departure was effective Oct. 15, though his term was not set to expire until April 2024.
“I knew I would be unable to dedicate the time necessary to continue on the Planning Commission for another 2+ years,” said Joslin in response to written questions.
Town Planner Larry Lewack said Joslin’s experience will be especially missed as Charlotte residents contend with questions that could define the town for years to come.
“It’s hard to replace someone who has that depth of experience and institutional knowledge and has methods and norms for how to conduct Planning Commission meetings in a way that is transparent and effective and gives everyone a voice,” Lewack said. “Whoever takes his position will have big shoes to fill.”
The town is considering reconfiguring its bodies of regulatory review and development — shifting from a planning commission and zoning board of adjustment to a planning commission and development review board.
Together the development review board and the planning commission would provide the same general set of services to the town as under the current system — updating the town plan and reviewing development applications — but the tasks would be divided up differently between the bodies.
Proponents say that transitioning to a development review board model would allow the Planning Commission to focus primarily on creating a long-term plan for Charlotte and ensuring the town’s rules and regulations support their intentions. At the same time, the development review board would take over reviewing all development requests.
Opponents say the restructuring is unnecessary and could result in overzealous development, among other things.
Lewack said the Planning Commission is so bogged down with development reviews that it doesn’t have time to work on a long-term plan.
“The town needs its Planning Commission to plan,” he said.
During a recent Planning Commission meeting where the topic was discussed, some community members said Charlotte’s rather demanding review process has served the town well, allowing leadership and community members to carefully scrutinize development.
Other residents said that a new process won’t produce any actual change unless the town addresses its lack of water and sewer capacity and develops the kind of infrastructure necessary to support a greater population.
The Selectboard is scheduled to take action on the proposed transition to a development review board Monday night. If the plan is adopted, Essex would be the only remaining Chittenden County community without a development review board.
