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MARCH 28, 2024
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Housing developments receive final allocations Snyder breaks ground at ‘The Annex’ BY JASON STARR Observer staff
Construction has begun at The Annex neighborhood north of Finney Crossing. OBSERVER PHOTO BY JASON STARR
A sample of a portion of the public park planned for phase two of The Annex. PHOTO COURTESY OF WILLISTON PLANNING DEPARTMENT
Two of the larger housing developments to be proposed in Willison’s recent history received their full complement of Growth Management allocation Tuesday at a Development Review Board meeting. The DRB meets annually in March to consider requests for housing construction under a growth-limiting cap outlined in the town’s land use regulations. The cap limits housing allocations to 80 units a year. On Tuesday, the DRB awarded 35 units to Snyder Homes’ “Annex” development on the former Essex Alliance Church property off Route 2A north of Taft Corners. That adds to previous allocations granted in 2022 and 2023 to give the neighborhood its full ask of
276 homes in a mixture of duplexes, single family homes, apartments and senior living units. The DRB then awarded 24 units to “Summer Field” — the neighborhood set to be built by developer Chris Senesac on a 30-acre portion of what is currently the Catamount Country Club golf course on Mountain View Road. The project received the majority of its 141-unit request during prior year Growth Management meetings. “It’s good to have that finally over,” Senesac said of the Growth Management process. “We’ve been through it four times … It’s an important part of the approval process.” This is likely to be the final season of play on the nine-hole Catamount golf course, as Senesac is eyeing a groundbreaking this fall. Golf course owner Alex Kourebanas has said he intends to keep a see DEVELOPMENT page 10
Fiscal hole threatens bus service BY JASON STARR Observer staff
A $2.7 million budget deficit looms over Green Mountain Transit that, if not solved by November, will have leaders of the region’s public transit provider looking to eliminate about 30 percent of local bus service. In a Monday meeting, GMT’s General Manager Clayton Clark and Finance Director Nick Foss explained to a group of municipal administrators and state legislators that the organization has plugged its fiscal hole with federal pandemic relief grants for the past three years. After the upcoming fiscal year, which begins in July, those funds will run dry. “Our covid relief funds will be totally exhausted by 2025,” Foss said, estimating that the organization’s covid relief grants have totaled $16 million.
Despite a pandemic-era decision to stop collecting fares from riders (fare collection is set to resume this spring), ridership has dropped in recent years. According to GMT’s count, ridership dipped as low as 60 percent of pre-pandemic levels in 2021 before rebounding to 85 percent of pre-pandemic levels in 2023. On its commuter buses from Burlington to Montpelier and Burlington to St. Albans, ridership is about half of what it was pre-pandemic, Foss said. The route between Williston and Burlington remains the organization’s best performing route with about 1,500 riders a day. GMT leaders expect a resumption of fare collections will bolster the budget; they hope it will eventually account for about 10 percent of GMT’s annual revenue. But pre-pandemic, fare collections made up as much as 20 percent of the organization’s revenue. The bulk of GMT’s revenue comes
Bus service in Chittenden County will be scaled back unless a new state funding source can be applied, Green Mountain Transit administrators said Monday. OBSERVER PHOTO BY JASON STARR
from federal, state and municipal contributions. The Town of Williston, for example, contributes roughly $280,000 annually — the fourth biggest contributor in Chittenden County behind Burlington, South Burlington and Essex, according to Foss. GMT is lobbying for a recurring state-level funding source to stabilize its finances into
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the future. “This is a problem that a majority of transit agencies are facing right now,” said General Manager Clark. “It’s an industry-wide problem.” Sen. Thomas Chittenden, who represents Williston in the Chittenden Southeast Senate see GMT page 10
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