HomeMy WebLinkAboutSP-24-10 CU-24-04 - Supplemental - 0017 Reel Road (8)Page 20 • April 18, 2024 • The Other Paper
PUBLIC HEARING
SOUTH BURLINGTON DEVELOPMENT REVIEW BOARD The South Burlington Development Review Board will hold a public hearing in the South Burlington City Hall Auditorium, 180 Market Street, South Burlington, Vermont, or online or by phone, on Tuesday, May 7, 2024, at 7:00 P.M. to consider the following: 1. Master plan application #MP-24-01 of AAM Catamount Woods LLC to establish a master plan for an existing 87.6 acre lot developed with a parking lot, supporting driveways, and a helipad. The master plan consists of an estimated 275 units of housing in two five-story buildings over two phases, and associated site improvements on 5.7 acres, 870 Williston Rd. 2. Preliminary plat application #SD-24-06 of AAM Catamount Woods LLC for the first phase of a concurrent master plan for an estimated 275 units of housing in two five-story buildings. The first phase consists of a 184 unit, 5 story multifamily building, and associated civic spaces and site improvements, 870 Williston Rd. 3. Site plan application #SP-24-10 and conditional use application #CU-24-04 of Heritage Automobile Sales, Inc., to amend a previously approved approximately 40 acre master plan for 551 residential units in housing types ranging from duplex to mixed-use multi-family, a 110-room hotel, a 22,500 sf restaurant/medical office building, a 3,500 sf restaurant with a drive through, a 21,380 sf mixed use commercial building, and approximately 5 acres of programmed and passive open spaces. The amendment consists of using 82 parking spots in the existing parking area to the south of the 21,380 sf commercial building as commercial parking for new and used vehicle inventory for an off-site auto dealer, 17 Reel Road. Board members will be participating in person. Applicants and members of the public may participate in person or remotely either by interactive online meeting or by telephone: Interactive Online Meeting (audio & video): https://zoom.us/join By Telephone (audio only): (646) 931-3860 Meeting ID: 878 6657 4099 A copy of the application is available for public inspection by emailing Marla Keene, Development Review Planner, mkeene@southburlingtonvt.gov. April 18, 2024
“As a Vermonter with Irish, French Canadian and Lebanese roots, I have long bemoaned the fact that our written histo-ry rarely includes those with similar or other varied back-grounds,” historian, author and educator Elise Guyette of South Burlington said. Guyette is co-founder of the Burlington History & Culture Center, along with Chittenden County community leaders Gail Rosenberg, Melinda Moulton and Lisa Evans. “It is extremely exciting that we are on the road to preserv-ing our history as inclusive, complex and wide-ranging,” she said.The co-founders are work-ing toward a community-based center that will broaden the historical knowledge and perspectives on Burlington to illuminate the flow of its diverse history. They share a vision that history belongs to everyone, and we all belong in history.To the end, the group is plan-ning to hold focus and discus-sion groups, conduct inter-views and distribute surveys to hundreds of residents across the city, working in collaboration with varied organizations.The center is one of eight groups to be awarded the inau-
gural multi-year partnership grants from Vermont Human-ities. The grant totals $10,000 a year for three years to gather ideas, topics, perspectives and designs for a new center that will highlight historically underrep-resented people whose ideas, traditions and labor formed — and are still forming — the culture of the city. Based on the responses, site and design of the venue will be formulated.Guyette has published books, articles and curricu-la focused on diverse stories, including teacher’s guides to museum exhibits, artifact kits and theater productions. For three years, she co-directed “Turning Points in American
History,” a million-dollar feder-ally funded Teaching Ameri-can History grant for Vermont teachers, of which many South Burlington teachers took advan-tage through educational trips to New York, South Carolina and Minnesota.Her publications include “Vermont: A Cultural Patch-work,” which she rewrote with a focus on Burlington, and “Discovering Black Vermont,” for which she was awarded the 2010 Richard O. Hathaway prize for outstanding contri-butions to the field of Vermont history. She co-founded two walk-ing tours, led educational and history workshops in places as varied as Albuquerque and Durban, South Africa. She is presently on the board of direc-tors for Rokeby Museum in Ferrisburgh.The center is now trying to raise an additional $30,000 to meet its first-year goal. For more information about the fundraiser, go to the Chittenden County Historical Society, the fiscal agent for the campaign, at cchsvt.org.For more information about the Burlington History & Culture Center, contact Guyette at eguy949@gmail.com.
Elise Guyette
Local historian dreams of starting
Burlington history, culture center
COMMON ROOTScontinued from page 1
that will bring us the sustainabil-ity that we’re looking for, both in increasing the money coming into Common Roots so that it can sustain its public programs and also to help us bring up more equitable wages for our staff,” she said.Common Roots farms more than 12 acres of land on Allen Road near the South Village neighbor-hood, as well as 4 acres at Hubbard Park. They tend the Larkin Orchard on Route 116, and lease and manage the Wheeler Homestead.The organization, in a presen-tation to the city council Monday night, said that 50 percent of its income is generated from its retail market, which includes farm fresh meals and pantry to go meals. The group also holds food events at the Wheeler House in South Burling-ton.But the other 50 percent of its income is generated from donations and philanthropy, something the organization would like to become less reliant on.“We really feel we need this step for our sustainability,” Jeffers said. “Fifty percent philanthropy isn’t something you can rely on forever.”In a pitch to the city council, Jeffers said the organization, as well as small farms across the state, are facing challenges from work-force instability, a lack of work-force housing and depressed wages for workers due to the low profit nature of the business.“Vermont is losing 15 to 20 percent of its farms annually. That’s from the Vermont Agency of Natu-ral Resources last year,” Jeffers said. “That’s kind of shocking,
and that means Vermont itself is in danger of losing all of its small-scale farms in the next 10 years.”The city has roughly $2 million in ARPA money left to spend. Council Chair Tim Barritt at the meeting said that money must be allocated by the end of the year and will consider the organization’s request at a future meeting.“From my standpoint, it’s really just a question of where this request falls within the priorities of other things that may come in front of the council,” councilor Elizabeth Fitz-gerald said.Asked whether the organization sees a path toward self-funding, Jeffers said its business plan shows it would generate profit in the first year with the land purchase.“That’s including having a mortgage, so certainly by the time our mortgage would be paid off, we see that we could be sustain-able,” she said. “It will require that we have some continued need for philanthropy for some time as we edge forward.”The construction of the building would be funded through income. Common Roots has commitments from four local building businesses to support the new building’s plan-ning, permitting and construction at several levels, it said in a letter to the council.Common Roots is also planning bring a child care facility operator on board.Some at the meeting questioned the potential use of the funds for the organization. Sandy Dooley, a resident and former city council chair, said that
of interest would eventually do to her reputation and the reputa-tions of her colleagues along with the public’s perception of the full senate, she would have wisely requested another assignment, recuse herself from the committee during these discussions, or follow the guidance given by the Vermont State Ethics Commission to clear her name,” Bossange wrote in a perspective for this week’s newspa-per. “It’s now understood why she did not, and that dark shadow will
follow her political career.” (See related, page 8)Hinsdale says she has kept “a very open discussion with my community about the housing work I do. I try to keep that separate from my husband’s line of work, but we share a last name. People have still elected me knowing that.”State legislators and officials have faced these sorts of criticisms previously, she said. Gov. Phil Scott in 2017 owned a construction company that regularly bid on state
transportation contract but sold a part of his stake in the company, while other legislators have recused themselves from certain votes to avoid appearances of a conflict when their partners’ work intersects with legislation.But, in a citizen legislature, “if everyone did that, there would be no one left to vote,” Hinsdale said. “If everything was investigated because there’s the appearance of a conflict, we wouldn’t be able to function.”
while she’s a strong supporter of Common Roots’ programming and has contributed financially, she questioned whether this would benefit city residents struggling to make ends meet.“Other than the possibility of being able to provide more local-ly grown and healthy food to area
food shelves that is now provided, I cannot identify any outcome of providing this grant that would have a positive impact on the affordabil-ity needs of our most stressed resi-dents,” she said.She suggested that the benefi-ciaries and customers of the orga-nization “appear to be high-income
households living nearby or other high-income households who pass by the location as they commute to and from work.”But Jeffers pushed back, saying that Common Roots feeds 400 people a week through its partner-ship with three local food shelves in the area.
HINSDALEcontinued from page 16