BRISTOL — At its Tuesday meeting the Bristol Planning Commission told a group of 30 concerned townspeople that a zone prohibiting gravel extraction in and around Bristol’s downtown area would still be included in the new town plan. The perimeters of that zone and the language that accompanies it are still being hashed out.
After commissioners realized last year that there were discrepancies between different accepted versions of that no-extraction zone, they decided to go back to the drawing board to better define it.
On Tuesday, acting Chair Chico Martin and commissioners John Elder, Kris Perlee and Ken Weston all presented different proposals for a no-extraction zone. To funnel these proposals into one unified document, Martin appointed John Elder and Kris Perlee to iron out a no-extraction zone before the commission’s next meaning on Feb. 21.
“We will discuss the possibility for … a substantial and significant buffer zone (to resource extraction) and also take into account some of the stated opinions of the planning commission, and see if we can agree on something,” said Elder in a separate interview. “Kris and I, who have not always approached (this issue) from the same angle actually have real potential for agreement based on what was said last night.”
If Elder and Perlee can iron out maps and language to define the no-extraction zone this next month, they’ll then meet with a member of the Addison County Regional Planning Commission to make sure everything jibes with the plan and have the regional planning commission draw up an actual map of the zone. If that happens before the next meeting, that extraction prohibition portion of the plan will then be sent to all of the commissioners for review, and a copy will be available in the town offices.
If everything goes according to plan, said Martin, the commissioners would then discuss, take comments, possibly make changes and potentially vote on the updated no-extraction zone at their next meeting.
Reporter Andrew Stein is at [email protected].