The Town of Greensboro’s Planning Commission is proposing that the Town enact four significant new bylaws governing property use in Greensboro. These four proposed bylaws have recently been posted on the Town’s official website https://www.greensborovt.org/planning-commission/under the subheading “GPC Meeting Supplemental Documents 2020”. The draft bylaws are subject to further revision by the Planning Commission and final approval by the Town’s Selectboard.
We advise that all Greensboro Association (GA) members take the time to review these new proposals and submit comments or concerns in writing to the Planning Commission at [email protected] by January 13, 2021.
The GA is advised that the Planning Commission is planning to vote on these proposed bylaws as early as the Commission’s next scheduled meeting on Wednesday evening (5:00 p.m.) on January 13, 2021. That meeting will be held via Zoom and interested members of the public are invited to attend and will be given the opportunity to submit questions and offer comments. The Commission has advised us that directions for accessing the meeting via Zoom will be posted on the Commission’s page on the Town’s website on the day of the meeting.
Bylaw description and location
The first new bylaw entitled Proposed Short-term Rental bylaw will – beginning in 2022 – regulate short-term rentals (STRs) of 30 days or less, will impose a 7-day minimum on all STRs (i.e., if a property is rented for less than a week, it must remain vacant for the remainder of that week), will require that all rental properties be inspected and receive a permit from the Town’s Development Review Board with an annual fee, and will impose an additional 1% tax on rental revenues.
The second new bylaw entitled Proposed Shoreland Protection District bylaw will revise the Town’s existing zoning regulations, particularly in the shoreland protection district (i.e., the properties around Caspian Lake and the properties within Greensboro around Lake Eligo).
The third new bylaw entitled Extended Village Zoning District proposal draft bylaw and landowner letter will reduce lot size requirements in certain areas of Greensboro from an existing minimum of 10 acres to a proposed minimum of two acres.
A fourth bylaw proposal regarding Lake Eligo will increase lot size requirements in the large wooded area east of Lake Eligo from an existing minimum of 10 acres to a proposed minimum of 25 acres.
There are some additional documents in these sections outlining the reasoning, rationales and summaries of the proposed changes to the Town’s zoning bylaws.
If the above-referenced drafts (or any respective successor drafts) are approved by the Planning Commission at its Wednesday, January 13th meeting, we are advised that (i) the Planning Commission will hold an official public hearing on the proposed new bylaws on or after February 13, 2021 and (ii) if the Planning Commission approves those bylaws at that (or any subsequent) official public hearing, the Planning Commission will then forward those bylaws to the Town’s Selectboard for its review and approval. It is of course possible that the foregoing anticipated schedule may change.
The GA will continue to monitor further developments with respect to these zoning proposals and will seek to keep you informed thereof by posting further reports on this webpage.
Please Note:
The Greensboro Association views its role to inform our membership of these potential zoning changes, and to provide contact information if individuals wish to weigh in on the process to the Greensboro Planning Commission. We do not have a gatekeepers role nor do we wish to vet public comments which properly should be made directly to the GPC. Consequently, we have made the decision not to continue to post comments on our site. We urge anyone who has an opinion, concern or comment (pro or con) regarding the pending draft zoning proposals to express it via email, mail or in person to the GPC using the contact information provided above. Thank you.
