the South Burlington’s Community Newspaper Since 1977
City explores city green initiative
LIBERTY DARR STAFF WRITER
South Burlington is eyeing a city green.
As the city continues to expand and grow, it’s exploring a place for residents to kick back, to talk to each other and to escape the hustle and bustle of an urban life.
Most towns and cities around Vermont have a designated green space, like a village green,
that often serves as a place for community activities like farmers’ markets or informal gatherings.
While there have been recommendations in previous city plans to create such a green space, Ilona Blanchard, the city’s community development director, said this is the first time the city has looked
See GREEN INITIATIVE on page 11
Zoning overhaul aims to build neighborhoods, create housing
LIBERTY DARR STAFF WRITER
South Burlington’s planning commission for the past year has been tweaking its land use regulations to better comply with new state law aimed at creating housing opportunities while protecting natural resources.
Paul Conner, director of planning and zoning, said that although there was not technically a misalignment with the city’s bylaws and state law, “there were some areas to catch up and also take it a step further to really support thriving neighborhoods in our community.”
The work coincides with directives laid out in the new city plan adopted in January.
Thriving neighborhoods
As the city continues to grow, the planning commission has shifted and consolidated certain residential zoning districts into three categories: low-scale and thriving communities, medium-scale and thriving communities, and higher-scale mixed-use areas.
The goal of the amendments is to allow for more flexible use of land, increase walkability
See ZONING REGS on page 12
COURTESY PHOTO
Rally the Catamount visits Rec on the Go, a program of South Burlington’s rec department, at Chamberlin School.
Big hug!
Busking, Music, and Laughter for the Entire Family!
COMMUNITY
Sandeep Das
One of the world’s great tabla players will perform in Shelburne on Thursday, Aug. 22, at 2:30 p.m. Sandeep Das, famed for his role in Yo-Yo Ma’s Silk Road project and widely considered one of the best tabla players in the world will perform at All Souls. The performance is part of Lake Champlain Chamber Music Festival. Sandeep will also give a talk about the tabla at Elley-Long in Colchester the following day. Ticket information can be found at lccmf.org.
Superior Roofing Solutions
All Saints holds huge indoor yard sale
All Saints Episcopal Church, 1250 Spear St., is having a large indoor yard sale on Saturday, Aug. 3, 9 a.m.-1 p.m. Peruse antiques, art, kitchen items, dish sets, glassware, decorative items, lamps, quilts, linens, holiday decorations, toys, puzzles and much more.
There’s also a large selection of books, CDs and DVDs. Shope, then refresh at the lemonade stand with a cookie. The church is handicapped accessible via a brand-new ramp.
Shelburne church, Age well host Aug. luncheon
Age Well is offering a luncheon on Tuesday, Aug. 20, in
Community Notes
the St Catherine of Siena Parish Hall, 72 Church St. in Shelburne. Entertainment will be provided by Gerry Ortego on guitar.
The menu is barbecue chicken sandwich on a roll, potato salad, broccoli salad with Italian dressing, watermelon, pumpkin chip cookie and milk.
You must register by Wednesday, Aug. 14, to Kerry Batres, at kbatres@agewellvt.org. Check-in time is 11:30 a.m. and the meal will be served at noon. There is a $5 suggested donation.
Vermont Philharmonic plays pondside, lakeside
The Vermont Philharmonic’s outdoor Summer Pops concerts will be played pondside at Moose Meadow Lodge on Sunday, Aug. 11, and lakeside at Shore Acres in
North Hero on Saturday, Aug. 31. Both concerts are at 4 p.m. Led by music director Lou Kosma, the orchestra will honor legendary composers and Vermont talent. The featured soloist is tenor Josh Collier who will perform “Besame Mucho,” “O Solo Mio” and Puccini’s “Nessun dorma.”
Concertmaster Joanna Alpizar will offer audiences “Si Nos Dejan” by José Alfredo Jiménez, with music arranged by Joanna’s husband Mark Alpizar. The orchestra will also perform music by Morton Gould, George Gershwin, Andrew Lloyd Webber and young Vermont composer Jamie Maddox-White.
Parking is limited at both loca-
PHOTO BY MAX WHITTAKER
On Thursday, Aug. 8, Quadra comes to the SB Nite Out stage at 5 p.m. at Veterans Memorial Park in South Burlington. The evening also features senior night. Barbie-n-Bones is the musical act on Aug. 15.
COMMUNITY NOTES
continued from page 2
tions. Tickets and information are online at vermontphilharmonic.com.
South Burlington schools offer free summer meals through Aug. 9
Through Aug. 9, Monday to Friday, free summer meals will be provided to all children under 18 at Frederick H. Tuttle Middle School, Chamberlin Elementary School and Rick Marcotte Central School. The meals must be consumed onsite.
Breakfast is served from 7:30-8:30 a.m. and lunch goes from 11:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m. There will be no meals on July 4 and 5.
There’s no application or paperwork necessary. Meals are free for all children 18 and under.
See the menus at sbschools.net/summermeals.
Ferrisburgh’s Rokeby Museum hosts pie, ice cream social
Having a great day is as easy as pie at Rokeby Museum’s annual Pie & Ice Cream Social on Sunday, Aug. 11, 1-4 p.m.
The day includes yards and yards of
homemade pies, ice cream, live music from Vermont Folk Life Sugar in the Pan Trad Band, raffle baskets, and croquet and badminton on the lawn. Let’s Grow Kids will have table with games for kids, and the historic house and museum exhibitions will also be open to the public.
Admission is free. Pie and ice cream are $8 per serving, $2 for ice cream, and $1 for beverages. At the end of the event, if any pies are still available, they will be sold for $20. For information, go to rokeby.org
Correction
In our story about Agrihood, the city of South Burlington donated $915,000 in open space money to conserve the land, not $605,000 as reported. Agrihood officials revealed after our story published that the $1 million to buy a 13-acre stretch of developable land just north of the property was donated by Austin and Lane Meyers.
COURTESY PHOTO
CRIME & COURTS
South Burlington Police Blotter: July 22-28
Total incidents: 214
Agency / public assists: 30
Directed patrol: 8
Traffic stop: 18
Field contact: 8
Accident: property damage: 10
Alarm: 11
Foot patrol: 19
Suspicious event: 7
Retail theft: 5
Motor vehicle complaint: 8
Threats: 5
Paperwork service: 5
Welfare check: 17
911 hangup: 2
Trespass: 8
Restraining order violation: 2
DUI: 2
Accident, insurance purposes: 4
Juvenile problem: 2
Animal problem: 3
Fraud: 3
Larceny from a vehicle: 5
Larceny from a structure: 3
Arrests:
Dashaly Coriano-Gines, 28, of South Burlington, was arrested for simple assault stemming from a Nov. 13, 2023, incident on Dorset Street.
Albert Allen Hennessey, 45, no
address provided, was arrested for second degree domestic assault stemming from an incident on Hannaford Drive on July 6.
July 22 at 5:25 p.m., Shannon F. Edwards, 39, of Montpelier, was arrested for aggravated operation without consent, burglary, first degree unlawful restraint, aggravated assault, kidnapping, unlawful trespass (motor vehicle), resisting arrested, eluding a police officer and on an in-state warrant on Hannaford Drive.
July 23 at 1:10 p.m., Kristin K. Verchereau, 39, no address provided, was arrested on an in-state warrant on Gregory Drive.
July 25 at 3 p.m., John Austin Jr., 30, of Essex, was arrested on an in-state warrant on Sherry Road. ( See related, this page )
July 26 at 11:12 p.m., Yann J. Mounier, 50, of Milton, Mass., was arrested for negligent operation on Interstate 89 at mile marker 89.4.
See BLOTTER on page 6
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Jeffersonville woman won’t serve jail time for illegal gun purchase
MIKE DONOGHUE CORRESPONDENT
A federal judge has placed a Jeffersonville mother under supervision by the U.S. Probation Office for two years as part for making an illegal gun purchase two years ago at a Chittenden County firearms store.
Tamira Lynn McKenna, 38, admitted in U.S. District Court in March that she lied about her
drug use when she went to the Powderhorn Outdoor Sports Center in Williston to buy a Smith & Wesson 9-mm pistol in March 2022.
Federal Judge Geoffrey W. Crawford also imposed a time served sentence for the felony count, although she had not since her indictment.
Federal sentencing guidelines, which are advisory, recommended that McKenna spend between
After foot chase, police arrest man wanted on assault warrant
South Burlington police arrested John Austin, 30, of Essex Junction, on a warrant for aggravated assault with a weapon after a foot chase through the woods off Interstate 89.
On July 25 around 3 p.m. near Sherry Road, an officer approached Austin, who fled on foot. After a brief pursuit officers lost sight of him in a swampy, wooded area near Interstate 89.
About an hour later, officers, employing police K9s, spot -
ted Austin just north of Ocean Avenue and he was taken into custody. He was examined by South Burlington EMS and transported to University of Vermont Medical Center for evaluation.
South Burlington police were assisted by officers from Burlington, University of Vermont and Milton, Vermont State Police, the Chittenden County Sheriff’s Office and fire and EMS personnel from South Burlington.
18 and 24 months in prison because her conduct involved three or more guns, court records showed.
McKenna also returned to the gun store in January 2023 and attempted to buy two more 9-mm pistols, but the sale never went through. Law enforcement found McKenna the next day and she admitted to an addiction to cocaine and heroin, court records stated.
McKenna said one of the two guns was for her, but the other was for “Tim” or “J,” who had given her money to make the firearms purchase, court papers noted. She knew he was a convicted felon and that he sold illegal drugs, according to court records.
The actual gun buyer was from Connecticut and was known to sell cocaine and heroin/fentanyl, Assistant U.S. Attorney Zachary Stendig said in his sentencing memo.
Both the defense and prosecution proposed that McKenna, who has two children, not get any jail time because she had taken
See MCKENNA on page 6
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Health care in Vermont is in crisis. Our failing system is costing Vermonters hundreds of millions of dollars each yearand sometimes their lives.
There are changes we can make right now to improve the situation, and with 30 years of experience as a physician, I would like to help.
I’m running against three incumbents, but I feel strongly that if we keep electing the same people year after year, we’re going to get the same failed policies. We need new voices, new energy, and new ideas in the State Senate.
I ask for your support and your vote in the August 13 primary.
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MCKENNA continued from page 4
responsibility since her arrest. McKenna, who has struggled with drug addiction, sought treatment at Valley Vista in Vergennes in August 2023, Stendig said.
BLOTTER
continued from page 4
July 27 at 1:36 a.m., Quinyuatta E. Summerhill, 31, of South Burlington, was arrested for eluding a police officer, driving under the influence, first offense, grossly negligent operation, and excessive speed at Williston and Hinesburg roads.
Untimely deaths:
July 24 at 4:34 p.m., police responded to Iby Street for the death of Lorraine Dumais, 89, of South Burlington.
Note: Charges filed by police are subject to review by the Chittenden County State’s Attorney Office and can be amended or dropped.
McKenna also later had intensive outpatient treatment through the Howard Center.
Defense lawyer Lisa Shelkrot said McKenna is a devoted wife and mother, a lifelong Vermont resident and a hard worker. McKenna hopes to regain her licensed nursing assistant license and resume her career. She had worked at Burlington Health and Rehab.
Shelkrot asked that the court not prevent her from regaining her LNA license.
residence on Sand Hill Road on July 27, 2023.
Meanwhile, her husband, Jacob Daniel McKenna, 38, was also indicted on three felony counts of making false written statements to deceive licensed dealers in South Burlington and Williston to unlawfully obtain guns. In each case he knew the firearms were being bought in his name, but were for somebody else, records show.
Jacob Daniel McKenna, 38, was also indicted on three felonies for making false statements to deceive gun licensed dealers in South Burlington and Williston.
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, along with members of the Chittenden County Gun Violence Task Force, conducted a raid at the McKenna
Jacob McKenna has pleaded guilty in May to one count for the illegal purchase of a Ruger LCP Gen 2 pistol at the Powderhorn in October 2022, records showed. Under the plea agreement, two other charges for false statements will be dropped at sentencing.
Public investment in child care is WORKING.
THANK YOU LAWMAKERS FOR IMPROVING SCHOOL READINESS, GETTING PARENTS BACK TO WORK, AND MAKING OUR COMMUNITIES STRONGER!
LEARN MORE ABOUT ACT 76 AND PUBLIC INVESTMENT IN CHILD CARE:
OPINION
Lawmaker calls out misinformation on heat act
Guest Perspective
Jill Krowinski
There has been a significant and intentional misinformation campaign circulating across Vermont about the Affordable Heat Act. Much of this information is coming from groups outside of Vermont, like Americans for Prosperity.
Founded in 2004 by brothers David H. and Charles Koch of Koch Industries, this super PAC has emerged as a leading defender of the oil and gas industry and a well-funded opponent of climate and environmental initiatives nationwide. In May 2024, Americans for Prosperity announced a “major five-part mail and digital campaign” to target Vermont voters during this election cycle. Its postcards, for example, include false claims that the act “mandates heat pump installations in homes.
I condemn the spread of this misinformation and the influence of dark money that aims to promote confusion and fear. Vermonters deserve to know the truth about legislation that affects their daily lives and the last thing they need is interference from bad actors.
The Affordable Heat Act is an important step in ensuring that all Vermonters have access to low-cost, reliable heat and relief from the dramatic increases in heating fuel that we see year over year. The bill, which passed in 2023, sets in motion a public rule-drafting process, and requires several important fact-finding studies, for consideration and possible action by the Legislature in the upcoming biennium.
In 2020, Vermonters could purchase home heating oil at a price of $2 dollars per gallon, which is a relatively affordable price for most families. However, in November 2022, Vermonters saw heating prices skyrocket to $5.87 dollars per
gallon, which no family can afford. These dramatic price changes were a result of global factors beyond our control.
The goal of the Affordable Heat Act is to help insulate Vermonters from fossil-fuel price swings, and to make it easier and more affordable for them to transition — if they want to — to more sustainable renewable energy sources.
There has been much uninformed speculation about how or whether this proposed policy initiative might impact the price of heating fuel, and while there is little, I can do to stop super-PAC-funded misinformation from flowing into the state, I can provide the facts to Vermonters on where we stand in the process.
to be done by the Legislature and administration prior to implementing this policy. It will not become law unless, and until, it is approved by successful votes in both the House and Senate and signed by the governor. My commitment is to do the work to ensure that all Vermonters have access to reliable and affordable heating sources.
Additionally, we are working to develop opportunities to make Vermont more resilient in the face of a changing climate. The devastating repeated flooding of the past two years highlights the need to double our resiliency efforts and ensure that Vermonters can live safely in their communities.
Great food in a beautiful setting on Lake Champlain
I am hopeful that Vermonters will see through the fossil-fuel-funded misinformation campaign that looks to drum up fear and uncertainty through the use of inaccurate and alarmist messages.
Currently, draft rules for the Affordable Heat Act are being developed, informed by equity and technical advisory groups and a comprehensive study. All of this will be brought before the Legislature for a thorough and transparent review. This process will be open to all, with committee testimony and public hearings to ensure that Vermonters in all 14 counties have a voice and are heard.
When the Legislature reconvenes in January, we will take up the draft rules for implementing a clean heat standard and consider them as we would regular legislation. This means there will be public hearings, ongoing expert testimony and input from fuel dealers and energy regulators. It is possible that additional work will need
Our mission is clear: adapt to climate change, lower emissions and promote sustainable and affordable energy options for heating and transportation. This is imperative to support an economy that works for all Vermonters.
I am hopeful that Vermonters will see through the fossil-fuel-funded misinformation campaign that looks to drum up fear and uncertainty through the use of inaccurate and alarmist messages. Vermonters need access to reliable, affordable heating solutions and we will continue our steady, thoughtful and transparent work to secure that access.
Jill Krowinski, D-Burlington, is speaker of the Vermont House of Representatives.
Ardelia’s is our home for fine dining. Get dressed up and enjoy a special dinner with friends and family.
CDC revises rules for dogs, borders
To the Editor:
In response to popular outcry from various countries, industry officials, veterinarians and the public, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has simplified the process for meeting requirements for dogs arriving from dog rabiesfree or low-risk countries.
Starting on Aug. 1, dogs entering or returning to the United States that have only been in dog rabies-free or low-risk countries in the past six months must meet the following requirements:
• Dogs must appear healthy upon arrival.
• Dogs must be at least 6 months old at time of entry or return to the U.S.
• Dogs must have a microchip that can be detected with a universal scanner to identify them.
• A dog import form must be completed.
The CDC dog import form can be found online and easily completed in just a few minutes. Once completed, a receipt will be emailed, and you can print the receipt or show it on your phone to border officials. The free form and instructions on filling it out can be found at the CDC website.
For dogs that have been only in dog rabies-free or low-risk countries in the 6 months before U.S. entry, this is the only form that is needed. It is valid for 6 months from when it is issued and can be used for multiple entries into the U.S., unless the dog visits a high-risk (for rabies) country during that time. You can find a list of high-risk countries on the website.
You must have a form for each dog you are bringing to the U.S., and it can be filled out as late as the day of travel, although it is recommended to do it a few days in advance, just to be prepared. Then you only need show the receipt of the form to border officials.
To be safe, it is always a good idea to have a copy of your dog’s vaccination and health records when you travel. This ensures continuity of care from any emergency veterinary visits as well, should the need arise. Remember to check the import requirements for each country.
For more information on bringing your dog back into the United States, go to bit. ly/4flDDzV.
Dr. M. Kathleen Shaw
Vermont Veterinary Medical Association
Krasnow embodies values spirit of the community
To the Editor:
As a lifelong resident of South Burlington, I’ve had the privilege of witnessing firsthand the dedication and commitment of Rep. Emilie Krasnow. In a time when thoughtful and engaging leadership is crucial, Krasnow has consistently put our community first.
In a political climate often dominated by partisan divides, Krasnow stands out as
a unifying force. Her collaborative spirit and dedication to finding common ground make her an effective advocate for all South Burlington residents, regardless of political affiliation.
Her involvement extends beyond legislative duties. Her efforts at the food shelf underscore her deep-rooted compassion and practical approach to tackling community issues. Her initiatives to encourage the next generation of Vermonters to engage in community service, including her work on affordable housing, are particularly inspiring. She understands the critical need for accessible housing options in our community and has been proactive in advocating for policies that support affordable housing initiatives.
Having seen Krasnow in action, I can attest to her integrity and genuine concern for South Burlington. She listens attentively to constituents, engages in constructive dialogue and champions causes that truly matter to the community.
As we approach the upcoming primary on Aug. 13, I urge fellow residents to support Emilie Krasnow. Her track record speaks for itself, and her unwavering commitment to South Burlington, makes her the clear choice for Chittenden 9. Let’s continue to empower leaders like her who embody the values and spirit of our community.
Christopher Lawson South Burlington
How about roundabouts as a traffic solution?
To the Editor: I don’t know about you, but I’ve been whirling with ease through the new roundabout on Shelburne Road in Burlington. Do you remember the concrete bottleneck of old?
What if we had more roundabouts like the ones around Montpelier? Studies have shown that roundabouts are safer than traditional stop-sign or traffic-signal-controlled intersections. They reduce delays, improve traffic flow and move traffic through an intersection more quickly. We could use these traffic circles to help the flow of vehicular traffic.
Champlain Rightway, an organization of community members, has proposed the creation of three roundabouts along the Champlain Parkway route, plus wider bike lanes and walking paths.
One of these roundabouts would occur south of Curtis Lumber on Pine Street and send cars over to Battery Street on the waterfront. This re-routing of the Parkway is called the Railyard Enterprise Project and has been in the works for years. This route would steer cars away from the densely settled King and Maple neighborhood, avoiding disproportionate harm to low-income residents and people of color. This neighborhood is one of the most densely racially diverse communities in Vermont. The current project will result in a 37 percent increase in traffic in the Maple-King community.
The Green Mountain Athletic Association Red Rocks 5K is Saturday, Aug. 3, starting at 9:30 a.m. The 5K benefits the association’s scholarship program. The entry
in South Burlington. To register, go to gmaa.run.
LETTERS
continued from page 9
According to the Champlain Parkway, a second roundabout would be in the south end of Burlington where City Market and Flynn Avenue meet.
Finally, a third roundabout would be located where Pine Street ends at Queen City Park Road. The Pine Street “dead end” would have a major impact on people traveling to and from Burlington.
Last summer, along with a group of
residents who live in Queen City Park in South Burlington, I stood at the corner of Pine Street and Queen City Park Road with a sign that read, “Pine Street DeadEnds Here.” We passed out flyers to inform motorists about the plan to turn Pine Street into a dead end to make way for the Champlain Parkway.
Most didn’t know about the Champlain Parkway and said it would be a major
disruption in their lives, asking, “What’s wrong with the city?”
I’m angry that we are building a highway to nowhere, using a plan that is decades old, has already seen the destruction of a thick green urban forest and cuts through a poor neighborhood in a time when we should know better.
The Parkway will increase traffic congestion, noise, air and light pollution
along with multiple new traffic lights. City leaders, past and present, are complicit in allowing the current design of the Parkway to proceed. It’s as if we are living in the past rather than imagining what the future could bring and throwing sustainability out the window.
Ron Krupp South Burlington
COURTESY PHOTO
fee is $20. The race starts at Red Rocks Park, 4 Central Ave.,
at the idea as a standalone project and not in conjunction with other developmental plans.
Since the process is still in the conceptual phase, the city hasn’t settled on a location or secured funding. Current possibilities are all directly within City Center, she said.
“It is still very conceptual,” she said.
The city has engaged a consultant, Wagner Hodgson, to help find the optimal location for a city green.
The city council approved roughly $35,000 in American Rescue Plan Act pandemic funding last year to hire the consultant. But since the city doesn’t own any of the land save for city hall and the surrounding roads in City Center, any location might have to be purchased by the city or offered through a public-private partnership, she said.
In May, roughly two dozen participants offered feedback at a public outreach event hosted
by the city, and several ideas rose to the top: a big, green, open space surrounded by trees amid the buildings, and expansive walkways and seating areas with decorative lights. Other things like splash pads and tents with the possibility of live music were other heavy hitters.
Participants found less favor with park amenities like swings and slides, Blanchard said.
“It’s important that this conversation happen now because as the community grows and properties redevelop more and more of the downtown area, there will become less and less real estate available for projects like this,” she said.
Community activists and city officials have long advocated for a designated space to help create more of a community feel amid development and growth, and such a green space would add to the working landscape and creation of a diverse village streetscape.
“This can be a central location where people hang out and meet people and strengthen the community in that way,” she said. “So, while we do have many parks in the area and seating and trees and so forth, this can become a location where people know they’ll run into other people,” Blanchard said.
Securing funding — and land — would not be addressed by city council until a final recommendation is made.
An initial location and recommendation will be presented to the public on Wednesday, Aug. 14. Residents are encouraged to offer feedback as the project needs input from those who will utilize it the most: the city’s residents.
Blanchard said they hope to make a final recommendation to the council in the fall.
“If this is something that the community intends to and wants to invest in, that decision should be made soon,” she said.
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Community Newspaper Group: Stowe Reporter
continued from page 1
and bike-ability to create more compact neighborhoods, and allow more affordable housing to be built through a variety of ownership and rental options.
On the lower scale, the amendments streamline zoning districts for neighborhoods with a current cap of four units per acre or lower — like Eastwoods, The Orchards, Chamberlin, Butler Farms and Bartlett Bay Road — into one district. The scale of future development will be controlled by minimum lot sizes and building type instead of units-per-acre, and only buildings up to four units would be allowed in this district.
It also allows for small-scale investment by allowing conversions of existing homes into duplexes, triplexes or four-plexes, reduces setbacks, and allows for modest increases in how much of a lot can be built upon. This can help residents stay in their homes as they age while allowing multi-generational families to live in one place, officials say.
The proposal would also create opportunities for small, neighborhood-oriented commercial uses on appropriate streets and corners to spur a defined sense of place.
“There is now an opportunity at a very limited scale to allow for some neighborhood services like a little neighborhood store, a little corner store or coffee shop kind of thing,” Conner said. “As long as it’s on a major route and not a neighborhood street, they would be able to exist.”
The medium-scale neighborhood district, like along Kennedy Drive or Quarry Hill Road, allows all building types except large buildings of 13 or more units.
In addition to reduced setbacks and more building coverage, the proposed regulations would allow
different lot shapes and frontages and bigger backyards to enable multiple structures on a single lot.
The hope is that property owners can reinvest in their properties by adding additional residential units and potentially small, neighborhood-serving commercial uses, similar to what is allowed in the lower-scale neighborhood.
“So, following that same idea of consolidating the districts, enabling some limited neighborhood-scale commercial and allowing for some investment of those properties, but at the scale that’s a little bit bigger than the low scale,” Conner said.
The higher-scale mixed-use areas — like Shelburne, Williston and Allen roads — also remove lot size requirements for large multi-unit buildings (13 units or more) and instead regulate them by their visual and environmental impact — building height, building coverage, lot coverage, other requirements like site amenities and stormwater, and the environmental protection standards that apply city-wide.
Buildings will be permitted for up to five stories — with certain restrictions — and may be up to 7 stories.
“This removes some barriers to conversion to housing in those areas, simplifies what’s allowed in terms of density and lot sizes to really encourage and allow substantial investment along those corridors where we know our transit service is,” Conner said.
“It’s where water, sewer and electric utilities are, and our city plan has encouraged investment along those corridors.”
The city has also worked to increase its inclusionary zoning for affordable housing requirements. It sets the threshold at 10 percent
for a 10 to 25-unit rental development, 20 percent for developments of 25 units or more, and 10 percent for ownership units.
The proposed changes also grant an additional floor on a building for doubling the required inclusionary units.
Transportation
Conner also said that the city had some outdated regulations related to transportation that in some ways prioritized traffic through the city’s communities over investment in them.
City staff and commissioners say their accounting for traffic impacts limits development potential in areas where the city plan calls for development, such as City Center and along Shelburne Road. Additionally, the current system often results in developers and the
city widening roads and intersections in places where more traffic calming measures are needed.
“We’ve removed some of those barriers that sort of put some caps on the number of vehicles that could come and go from a given property at certain times a day, and instead replaced it with some new standards that incentivize and encourage and, in some cases, require developers to use what’s called transportation demand management, investments to help people have more choices as to how to get to and from the business or their home, other than just a single occupancy vehicle,” he said.
As the city works to build out more of Shelburne Road, Williston Road and City Center, the proposed amendments both build on the investments the city is
making in bicycle and pedestrian and transit and support them by encouraging things like covered bicycle parking or, for larger developments, partnering with organizations for carpooling and transit access.
“In no way is this saying that vehicles aren’t still a substantial part of our transportation network. It is acknowledging that, as we move toward a more compact environment with our City Center, it’s helping developers to be able to invest in creating additional choices for folks,” Connor said. Additionally, the transportation section of the proposal builds on electric-vehicle charging standards under the Vermont Commercial and Residential Energy Codes, which would require that all parking spaces in new-builds be “EV-ready.”
While there are other amendments pertaining to conservation and transferable development rights, Conner said those are slightly more programmatic and technical in nature to ensure the city is fostering development in targeted areas and protecting rural ones.
The hefty package of amendments is set to go for a public hearing by the planning commission this week and should make its way for city council review and after approval by the commission, he said.
“I think our planning commission is really excited that they found a way to both acknowledge state law, which is to support and address our housing crisis and continue to make progress on meeting our very important climate change goals and foster thriving neighborhoods, which is a big part of our of our city plan and the interest in our community,” Conner said.
PHOTO BY LEE KROHN
The sun sets in a hazing sky with the Adirondacks in the background.
Protect Our Wildlife gets grant to help coexist with beavers
The Maine Community Foundation has awarded the Vermont-based Protect Our Wildlife advocacy group a $40,000 grant to promote beaver coexistence.
The nonprofit Protect Our Wildlife works to educate the public about the importance of beavers through presentations, distributing informational brochures at events, testifying to the Legislature, fielding inquiries from landowners and municipalities and funding the installation of flow devices to protect against beaver damage.
The group has funded tens of thousands of dollars across the state to protect beavers, wetlands and infrastructure. It is looking for the public’s help to identify locations that may benefit from flow devices, wrapping trees and other coexistence practices.
“Beavers are a keystone species who create wetlands that provide habitat for other wildlife and that also help combat
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the effects of climate change,” said John Aberth, a board member and wildlife rehabilitator who specializes in beavers. “Funding non-lethal solutions to human-beaver conflicts allows beavers to coexist and continue their hard work that benefits all of us.”
Beavers may help mitigate some climate change risks, including regulating stream flows, he said.
“We’re honored to work with Skip Lisle from Beaver Deceivers to address the needs of both private landowners and municipalities who are tired of the trap-killrepeat loop, which never solves the problem,” said Jennifer Lovett, another board member, conservation biologist and author of “Beavers Away!”
For those interested in learning more or applying for funding, email info@protectourwildlifevt.org.
Island Memorial Pet Service
Last year, Vermonters threw away 71,113 tons of food scraps which ended up in our only landfill.
CSWD’s Organic Recycling Facility (ORF) and our six Drop-Off Centers accept food scraps from residents and businesses to keep them out of Vermont’s only landfill.
COURTESY PHOTO
A Beaver Deceiver in Westminster paid for by Protect Our Wildlife.
