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SEPTEMBER 12, 2019
Goodwill to open ‘Buy the Pound’ outlet
WILLISTON’S NEWSPAPER SINCE 1985
WILLISTONOBSERVER.COM
Town considers tripling transportation impact fee
By Jason Starr Observer staff
Bargain hunters, thrifters, resellers and yard salers rejoice — the Goodwill store on Harvest Lane is expanding with a “Buy the Pound” outlet. Buy the Pound will be located in the same building — the former Buttered Noodles toy store at 64 Harvest Lane— but with a separate entrance from the existing Goodwill store. It will be filled with bins of unsold items from Goodwill’s South Burlington and Williston locations. Prices will be extraordi–Heather Steeves narily low, but items will not Goodwill of Northern be individually tagged. New England “It’s like a boisterous yard sale,” Goodwill of Northern New England Spokeswoman Heather Steeves said of the shopping experience. Shoppers are invited to load up carts, roll them onto a scale and pay for items by the pound. Clothing, for example, will be priced at $1.49 per pound. When you do the division, individual items end up costing mere cents. The 3,700-square-foot store will also be filled with electronics, toys, books, jewelry and furniture. “People who like to upcycle furniture are going to have a field day,” Steeves said. Part of the experience is that Goodwill employees rotate items on an hourly basis. So there is an element of ephemerality, which heightens the thrill of the hunt. Buy the Pound shoppers tend to be not only household bargain hunters, but also resellers of all stripes, business owners and entreprenuers sourcing specific items, Steeves said. Items are given five days to sell at traditional Goodwill outlets, then are sent to Buy the Pound stores. Goodwill had been shipping unsold items from Vermont to Buy the Pound outlets in New Hampshire. This will be the first Buy the Pound outlet in Vermont. “Vermonters are great at recycling and thinking about their consumption, so we’ve wanted to give these items a second chance close to home,” Reeves said. Renovations of the space are underway, and opening day is set for Sept. 27.
‘It’s like a boisterous yard sale.’
Observer file photo
Funding for bike paths and other alternative transportation projects will get a boost if the selectboard approves a proposal to nearly triple the transportation impact fee on new developments.
‘Move Williston’ committee looks at sustainable options By Jason Starr Observer staff
Williston town planners are recommending nearly tripling the fee the town charges developers to mitigate their impact on local roads and empaneling a committee to identify road and path projects to make use of the increased funds. In a change to Williston’s bylaws prepared by the Planning Commission to conform with the town’s 2016 Comprehensive Plan, the town’s “transportation impact fee” would rise from $700 per vehicle trip generated by a new development to $2,000. Affordable housing units and child care facilities would be exempt from the fee. The proposal will be up for selectboard consideration Tuesday. The board would need to hold a public hearing on the amendment before adopting it. Planning and Zoning Director Matt Boulanger said the current fee, in effect since 2008, covered only about a third
of the actual traffic impact from new developments. A study completed for the town this summer by Burlington’s Resource Systems Group pegged the actual impact at about $2,000 per vehicle trip generated by new development. The impact fee change reflects a change in policy from the town absorbing a majority of growth’s impact on transportation infrastructure — in an effort to promote new housing and economic activity — to requiring developers to cover the full impact. “It is based on the best information we have for what we would need to build for new transportation facilities to have the same congestion we have now,” Boulanger said. The higher cost for developers will likely equate to higher prices for new homes and higher rents for new commercial spaces, Boulanger said. With the potential for more money coming into the town’s transportation impact fund, the planning commission in August approved the parameters for a subcommittee to inventory current and potential future sites for alternative transportation facilities. The “Move Williston” committee is currently seeking members. Interested residents can consee TRANSPORTATION page 7
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