Hyde Park Adopts New Zoning Regs

by Amy Kolb Noyes

After years of writing drafts and holding hearings, the Town of Hyde
Park last week, adopted a new set of zoning bylaws. The Hyde Park
Selectboard adopted the new bylaws on Wednesday, June 2. The bylaws will
go into effect Wednesday, June 23, unless petitioned by five percent of
Hyde Park voters.
Hyde Park Zoning Administrator Julia Compagna noted the bylaws have gone
from a 30 page document to an 85 page document, but that does not mean
the amount of regulations has tripled. She explained where the old
bylaws merely referenced relevant state statutes, the new document
includes the specific statute language. Compagna explained by including
the statute language, the new bylaws give specific guidelines for appeals.
Compagna said residents should know the new bylaws require a local
permit for land division and the siting of infrastructure such as
driveways and wells. She said this means people subdividing their land
need to get the town involved earlier in the process. Before, a local
permit was not needed until a structure was sited on the property.
Compagna said Hyde Park is setting precedent by including a section in
the zoning bylaws governing well shields and isolation distances. She
said the Planning Commission decided to subject wells to the same
setbacks as any other structure on a given parcel.
The updated bylaws were drafted with the intent of encouraging density
development and preserving open space. One major change was the
expansion of the number of zoning districts in town. The new bylaws
contain eight separate zoning districts, from village-type districts
that encourage density to a minimum lot size 27 acre conservation
district. As originally proposed last year, the 27 acre conservation
district encompassed much of the town. In response to resident feedback,
that district was scaled back to only include lands around Green River
Reservoir owned by the state and the Morrisville Water & Light
Department. A second conservation district, with a minimum 10 acre lot
size, was created to cover the remainder of the originally proposed
conservation district.
Village type districts were created in North Hyde Park and Garfield to
encourage density. A previously interim North Hyde Park Industrial and
Commercial district was permanently adopted. There are also Wellhead
Protection Areas, with a 10 acre minimum lot size, to protect the
Village water supply. Other categories include a Shoreline district and
Rural Residential districts with minimum two and five acre lot sizes.
New sections in the bylaws cover driveway standards, parking, mobile
home parks, planned unit developments, and signs. An interim bylaw
governing wireless telecommunications facilities was included in the new
bylaws, with some changes. For example, exemption language included in
the interim bylaw was not included in the newly adopted version.
Other changes include a broadened eligibility under the section
governing accessory apartments. Compagna said the Planning Commission
made that change to encourage density and affordable housing. Also in an
effort to encourage density was a reduction in commercial and industrial
setbacks, to match that of residential setbacks. Compagna said of the
older, larger setbacks, "They were wasting a lot of space."
Also wasting space was language regulating fences in the older version
of the bylaws. Compagna said the Planning Commission changed the
language which had created a "no man's land" between fence lines due to
fence setbacks.
The rewrite of Hyde Park's zoning bylaws was funded by a 2002 municipal
planning grant from the state. Lamoille County Planning Commission
Municipal Planner Mike Miller consulted on the effort.
"It's been a long process," said Miller. "It was a major revision of the
bylaws."
Miller is also working with the Hyde Park Planning Commission on
drafting formal subdivision regulations. Compagna noted the initial
draft language for those regulations was also completed Wednesday
evening, after the zoning bylaws were adopted. The next project, said
Compagna will be updating Hyde Park's Town Plan.