BRISTOL — New elements concerning a recent change to the proposed Bristol town plan have come to light.
At its Oct. 18 meeting, the planning commission revised a central component of the proposed plan after holding a public hearing on the issue in late September. The commission altered the dimensions of a no-extraction zone and passed the plan onto the selectboard, deeming there were “no substantial changes.”
But that was not wholly accurate.
The new extraction prohibition zone — introduced by planner Kris Perlee and revised by the Addison County Regional Planning Commission in accordance with the planning commission’s request — reveals three changes:
•  Jim Lathrop’s property in the Rural Agriculture 2 (RA2) zone, between South Street, the New Haven River and Rounds Road — which has long been litigated over for a gravel extraction permit — was previously enclosed completely in the extraction prohibition zone. Now the southern portion of that property, which is about one-third of the total property, between Rounds Road and a subdivision line just south of Hewitt Road, is excluded from the no-extraction zone.
•  The exclusion of a northern section of the Rural Agriculture 2 district, which would allow resource extraction in that area.
•  And the addition of an eastern strip of Low Density Residential district.
These changes, for the most part, were reported in the Oct. 20, edition of the Addison Independent. But when the commissioners said the new extraction prohibition zone included Lathrop’s property, they didn’t explain that the zone now only includes a portion of the property, not all of it.
The language in the proposed plan states that the extraction prohibition zone is comprised of these existing zones: High Density Residential; Low Density Residential; Block Commercial; Neighborhood Commercial; Residential, Office Commercial; Recreational; Municipal; and Mixed.
The plan also states, “The area prohibiting extraction should be expanded to include all of the above listed zones, plus a portion of what is the present RA2 (Rural Agriculture 2) zone.” The new map sets the boundaries for the amount of RA2 zone included in the extraction prohibition zone, said Perlee. The only part of that zone now in the extraction prohibition zone is the northern part of the Lathrop property. That particular part is not specifically defined other than as depicted on the map.
Reporter Andrew Stein is at [email protected].