In the majority Hinsdale, Lyons elected to Senate leadership
Page 2
the South Burlington’s Community Newspaper Since 1977
City Center vision coming together,
SB officials say
LIBERTY DARR STAFF WRITER
As the state’s second-largest city, South Burlington has for decades had plans for a downtown area ripe with commerce, community and connectivity and data now shows those plans are coming to fruition.
The idea for a thriving city center dates back 50 years when South Burlington was officially incorporated as a city in 1971. Those plans for a vibrant downtown began taking shape nearly 10 years later as the term “City Center” would appear in three town plans that followed.
But it wasn’t long ago that the heart of City Center, the roughly 100 acres wedged between Dorset and Hinesburg roads most notable for housing the state’s only Target and Trader Joe’s, looked much different than it does today.
While the city hit a milestone in 2021 when it cut the ribbon on brand new municipal and other community buildings at 180 Market St., Ilona Blanchard, community development director and an employee of the city for over a decade, remembers that even paving that street was a major accomplishment for the city.
“If you were here 15 years ago, half of Market Street was paved and the other half was a dirt road,” she said, letting out a laugh. “When I came here, we had to borrow a grader from an adjoining community to grade it.”
But after what state and local officials recognize as a critical housing shortage, data shows that South Burlington has become one of the largest suppliers of new homes in the state.
A recent analysis put together by the Vermont Housing Financing Agency for the Department of Housing and Community Development, known as the “Vermont Housing Needs Assessment 20252029,” outlined staggering statistics for the state of just under 650,000 people.
In recent years, the report outlines that the supply of available homes has simply not kept pace with the increased demand to live in Vermont.
To accommodate projected growth in households living yearround in Vermont, replace homes that are lost from the housing stock due to disrepair, normalize vacancy rates, and house the homeless,
See CITY CENTER on page 13
Advocates demand safer Shelburne Road for pedestrians, bicyclists
LIBERTY DARR STAFF WRITER
Advocates are demanding that local and state leaders take immediate action for a safer Shelburne Road for pedestrians and cyclists
NOW SERVING BREAKFAST
following a fatal crash in South Burlington last week.
While the Vermont State Police
See SHELBURNE ROAD on page 11
An on-duty Shelburne police sergeant, Kyle Kapitanski, was southbound and headed toward Shelburne when he struck and killed a bicyclist, Sean Hayes, 38, of Burlington, at Fayette Drive 2:45 a.m. Monday, Nov. 11. (See related story 5)
COURTESY PHOTO
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Democrats elect Hinsdale as Senate majority leader
SARAH MEARHOFF VTDIGGER
A week and a half after Vermont voters eviscerated their supermajority, Senate Democrats convened Saturday to reflect on their election losses and chart a new course ahead of the 2025 legislative session. They voted to retain one top leader — but jettisoned another.
Saturday’s caucus at the Statehouse was the first time Democratic senators-elect had gathered after what Sen. Becca White, D-Windsor, called “an exceptionally difficult, tragic election night.” Republican candidates flipped six Senate seats, ousting four incumbents, and established a new partisan breakdown in the chamber of 17-13 — the narrowest margin Democrats have held in nearly a quarter-century.
“I think that maybe there’s positions where you don’t want those characteristics in a person,” Perchlik said. “But I think we’re talking about electing a political leader, for a political caucus, in a political body, working in politics, and we want somebody that is ambitious.”
With her new leadership position, Hinsdale will most likely forfeit her current position as chair of the Senate Committee on Economic Development, Housing and General Affairs — a post from which she has been able to shape major policies in the chamber. That’s because of a longstanding tradition in the Senate, dating back to 1997, of caucus leaders not chairing policy committees to prevent them from accumulating too much power.
Seeing a need to change course, the caucus on Saturday voted out its incumbent majority leader, Sen. Alison Clarkson, D-Windsor, who has held the post for four years. In her place, they elected Sen. Kesha Ram Hinsdale, D/P-Chittenden Southeast.
All the votes Saturday were conducted by secret ballot. Democrats elected Hinsdale their new majority leader by a vote of 9-7, with one member abstaining.
In his nominating speech for Hinsdale, Sen. Andrew Perchlik, D/P-Washington, echoed what had already become a common refrain in the room Saturday morning: that on the campaign trail, Vermont Democrats failed at messaging and communicating to voters and combatting criticism from their Republican challengers and Gov. Phil Scott, also a Republican.
Perchlik said of Hinsdale, “I don’t think there is anybody in this room that’s better at communication and messaging.”
He said he would also be “honest” about “the criticism that I heard of Sen. Hinsdale, and one that I’ve had myself, and that is that she’s a bit of an overachiever, and she’s ambitious.”
Ram Hinsdale tried to change that tradition Saturday. In an unusual move, senators voted on a piece of internal guidance that would have allowed caucus leaders to serve as committee chairs, as well. Hinsdale urged her colleagues to vote yes.
In a speech to her colleagues urging their ‘yes’ votes, Hinsdale chalked up the question to “basic math” in the 30-member chamber.
“We have 17 members of our caucus. When you subtract our new members … you land with 14 members of our caucus, and you subtract the rest of the (leadership) positions … you’re left with 11. Eleven Democrats to distribute leadership roles in each position,” Hinsdale said. “There are 11 committees.”
From a “simple mathematical perspective,” she concluded, upholding the 27-yearold tradition would be “putting colleagues from the other side of the aisle further in line for a leadership role overseeing our policy agenda, frankly.”
Clarkson, who made the initial push for the caucus to vote on the matter Saturday,
PHOTO BY GLENN RUSSELL/VTDIGGER
Sen. Kesha Ram Hinsdale, D/P-Chittenden Southeast, asks a caucus of Senate Democrats for their vote for majority leader at the Statehouse in Montpelier on Nov. 16.
HINSDALE
continued from page 2
said that, given the 17-13 makeup of the Senate, that’s fair. Already, Sen. Russ Ingalls, R-Essex, chairs the Senate Institutions Committee.
“This is nothing new, and nothing new with these numbers,” Clarkson said. “Given the number of Republicans that have been elected, it makes sense that there will be at least one — we’ve always had at least one Republican chair — and … my guess is there will be a second.”
What’s important to Clarkson, she said, is “empowering our caucus and empowering individual growth. I think it’s essential that we grow our leadership in this caucus.”
Ultimately, senators voted 9-6, with two abstentions, to defeat the proposed change to allow a caucus leader to also serve as a committee chair.
Democrats also opted not to make a change at the top of the Senate’s hierarchy.
Senate President Pro Tempore Phil Baruth, D/P-Chittenden Central, faced no challenger from within the caucus for his nomination to serve a second biennium leading the Senate. As the Democratic caucus’s nominee, Baruth will face a vote by all 30 members of the Senate on the first day of the 2025 legislative session in January.
But even within the caucus, his nomination was not unanimous. Fifteen senators voted ‘yes’ to renominate Baruth to the post, while two abstained. Following the vote, Baruth said that 15-2 is “a number that we should all have in our minds going forward, because
if we vote 15-2 on the floor, we lose whatever bill is in front of us.”
With 13 Republicans in the chamber, Baruth noted that two Democrats splitting from the caucus would create a 15-15 tie on the floor. Republican Lt. Gov.elect John Rodgers would then break such a tie.
“I understand I did not get a unanimous vote, that two people had their reasons,” Baruth said.
“Every bill that comes to you, you may have reasons why you might not want to vote for it. But we’re in a situation where the good of the caucus and the bills that you want to pass out of your committee are going to need you to be a little more amenable to other people’s bills. You’re going to have to stretch sometimes.”
Also on Saturday, Democrats elected White the caucus’s new whip, with 14 voting in favor and three abstaining. Perchlik, who had previously held the post, did not seek it again.
Democrats also nominated Sen. Ginny Lyons, D-Chittenden Southeast, to serve as the third member of the powerful, three-member Committee on Committees.
That panel, which also includes the pro tem and lieutenant governor, draws up Senate committee assignments and chairmanships, playing a major role in choreographing the chamber’s policy direction. Sixteen Democratic senators-elect voted in favor of Lyons’ nomination, while one abstained. Lyons will also face a vote on the Senate floor in January before she can claim the title.
She would replace retiring Sen. Jane Kitchel, D-Caledonia, who held the position only briefly after the resignation last year of longtime Sen. Dick Mazza, D-Grand Isle.
After selecting caucus leaders, senators-elect then shared with one another their priorities for the upcoming legislative session. They each rattled off a familiar list of policy goals — chief among them, to reduce Vermonters’ property tax burden and reform the state’s education finance structure.
Baruth told his caucus that he sees the state’s property tax conundrum as a “de facto emergency” and said he plans to treat it as such from the first day of session. He proposed to clear the agendas of the Senate’s education, finance and appropriations committees at the start of the session, and offer a full week of testimony to the Scott administration to hear solutions from the governor himself.
The idea, Baruth said, would be to reach an agreement between the Republican administration and Democratic majorities at the start of the session, rather than the end. No longer holding a supermajority, legislative Democrats won’t be able to reliably override a veto from Scott — and so “no one is going home without a Phil Scott-approved tax plan,” Baruth said.
“If there is a message in this election, I believe it was that the voters wanted the governor’s ideas moved to the top of the agenda,” Baruth said. “That is literally what I’m suggesting.”
Tuesday, December 3, 2024 at 7pm
For anyone experiencing loss, sadness & loneliness, stress, illness/addictions, financial worries, concerns about community, country & the world — and for their families & friends Join Clergy & Congregation for quiet reflection, music, prayer, candle lighting, communion, and peace in this time.
• allsaintsvt05403.org
COURTESY PHOTO
Ahead of Hunger and Homelessness Awareness Week on Nov. 17-24, staff from Green Mountain Floral Supply, a family-run floral wholesaler in South Burlington, delivered fresh flower bouquets and five boxes of customer donated food items to South Burlington Food Shelf director Peter Carmolli and volunteers.
CRIME & COURTS
South Burlington Police Blotter: Nov. 12-18
Total incidents: 181
Agency / public assists: 24
Directed patrol: 10
Traffic stop: 9
Accident: property damage: 6
Alarm: 13
Foot patrol: 5
Suspicious event: 12
Retail theft: 10
Motor vehicle complaint: 5
Welfare check: 11
Trespass: 5
Threats: 4
Domestic: 4
Disturbance: 5
Field contact: 5
Accident:
insurance purposes: 7
Leaving the scene of an accident: 2
Larceny from a vehicle: 2
Simple assault: 2
Fraud: 3
Juvenile problem: 3
Larceny from a structure: 4
Mental health issue: 5
Arrests:
A 14-year-old juvenile was arrested for aggravated assault on Williston Road stemming from a Nov. 2 incident at 11:20 p.m.
Nov. 11 at 4:41 p.m., Joshua J. Dumont, 43, of South Burlington, was arrested on an in-state warrant on Shelburne Road.
Nov. 11 at 9:07 p.m., Charles S. Root, 46, of Burlington, was arrested for unlawful mischief on Williston Road.
Nov. 12 at 3:38 a.m., Charles S. Root, 46, of Burlington, was arrested for simple assault on Dorset Street.
Nov. 12 at 8:16 a.m., Daniel Solomon Podell, 59, of Burlington, was arrested for unlawful trespass, disorderly conduct and aggravated disorderly conduct on Market Street.
Nov. 13 at 10:03 a.m., Jamie T. Jennings, 46, of Middlebury, was arrested on an in-state warrant on Dorset Street.
Nov. 14 at 3:58 p.m., Richard F. Hammond, 37, of Burlington, was arrested on an in-state warrant on Dorset Street.
Nov. 16 at 1:10 p.m., Emily Zuefeldt, 32, of South Burlington, was arrested for first-degree aggravated domestic
See BLOTTER on page 5
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Two teens busted for armed robbery, store clerk now charged with assault
MICHAEL DONOGHUE
CORRESPONDENT
A Wolcott teenager pleaded not guilty last week in Vermont Superior Court in Burlington on a felony charge of assault and robbery with a weapon for his part in a holdup at a South Burlington convenience store.
A second teen has also been arrested in the incident. The 17-year-old from Caledonia County was issued a citation last week to appear for a family court hearing in a month. He was released to the custody of his parents.
Meanwhile, a South Burlington store clerk, who police said had a gun pointed at him during an armed robbery, is now facing an aggravated assault charge for shooting at the fleeing robbers.
The two teens went into the Interstate Shell Store at the corner of Williston Road and Dorset Street about 6:05 p.m. Nov. 5. One of them displayed a handgun and demanded money from the clerk, police said.
After getting $640, the two robbers fled, but the clerk used his handgun to fire off several rounds,
police said.
The clerk claimed that as he gave chase two shots were fired at him and he fired several shots back, police said. Ballistic evidence was recovered at the scene, South Burlington Lt. Chris Bataille said the night of the robbery. No injuries were reported.
Police got a break in the case four days after the robbery when the 16-year-old’s mother said she recognized her son from media reports that showed a photograph of a partially masked robber, Det. Sgt. David MacDonough said in court papers.
Burlington Police. MacDonough drove to Morristown to interview the suspect with his father present.
A South Burlington store clerk, who police said had a gun pointed at him during an armed robbery, is now facing an aggravated assault charge for shooting at the fleeing robbers.
He admitted the robbery to his parents, who took him to Morristown Police Department, records showed. Morristown Police Sgt. Cole Charbonneau did a preliminary interview and alerted South
The Wolcott teen is being charged in adult court.
Vermont law allows youths as young as 10 years old to be charged in adult court for serious cases.
Deputy State’s Attorney Lucas Collins later filed a motion on behalf of the Chittenden County State’s Attorney’s Office to transfer the case to family court for consideration as a youthful offender, which would have meant they boy would have faced a confidential process as a juvenile.
See ROBBERY on page 5
Shelburne officer involved in fatal crash put on leave
PATRICK BILOW STAFF WRITER
Kyle Kapitanski, a sergeant with the Shelburne Police Department who struck and killed a cyclist in a cruiser on Shelburne Road last week, has been placed on paid administrative leave, according to Shelburne police chief Mike Thomas.
The cyclist was identified as Sean Hayes, a 38-year-old resident of Burlington.
Kapitanski was put on paid leave last Tuesday, one day after the incident. Thomas spoke with Kapitanski Monday night, but the sergeant was officially notified of his leave by email.
During his leave, Kapitanski will be compensated at his normal rate for a 40-hour work week.
Thomas said the sergeant will remain on leave until an investigation into the incident is complete. Vermont State Police is handling the investigation. No new details are available as of Tuesday,
according to Adam Silverman, VSP’s public information officer.
Kapitanski was headed south along Shelburne Road in his cruiser when he hit Hayes, who was towing a trailer behind his bicycle near Fayette Drive about 2:45 a.m. on Nov. 11.
Police said Hayes was also headed toward Shelburne.
According to a press release, the road was wet, and it was raining at the time of the fatal accident. State police impounded Kapitanski’s police cruiser.
Kapitanski, 40, joined Shelburne police during the summer 2022, after previously serving as police chief in Richmond for one year.
Mike Donoghue contributed to this report.
Sheriff’s office warns of arrest warrant scam
The Chittenden County Sheriff’s office is warning of a recent scam where citizens are being contacted about fake warrants for their arrest.
On Nov. 14, a scammer called someone in the medical field saying they’d ignored a court subpoena and must now pay a fine to avoid arrest and loss of their medical license.
ROBBERY
continued from page 4
Judge David Fenster rejected the motion during the arraignment Nov. 13 and ruled the criminal case would remain in adult court.
Fenster also rejected a motion by defense attorney Stacie Johnson to have the case dismissed for a lack of probable cause.
Fenster agreed to release the defendant on conditions in the custody of his parents, who were directed to report any violations of court-imposed conditions.
The teen must be in the custody of one of his parents when leaving their home, except for school, church or legal appointments. He must have no contact with the store clerk or enter the South Burlington store and must refrain from possessing any firearms or deadly weapons.
On two recent occasions individuals paid the scammers $3,500 and $18,000. The scammers used both the names of sheriff’s department employees and fake names.
The department is telling people who receive one of these calls to hang up and never provide personal information such as date of birth, Social Security numbers, bank or credit card information.
Clerk charged
Domonic Ali-Koarti, 34, of South Burlington, is due in Vermont Superior Court in Burlington on Dec. 5 for the felony charge, police said.
The two teens fled the store on foot toward a truck they had parked near the Barnes and Noble bookstore on Dorset Street.
Ali-Koarti claimed that as he gave chase, two shots were fired at him and he fired three or four shots back, police said.
South Burlington Police said Ali-Koarti has cooperated throughout the investigation.
A decision to issue Ali-Koarti a court citation was made because the initial gun threat by the teen had ended and the robbers had fled the store, police said.
Law enforcement agencies never clear arrest warrants or court cases by asking for money in any form, including wire transfers, money orders, Venmo, bitcoin, PayPal, Apple Pay or other over-the-phone payment options.
Report these types of incidents to the Vermont Attorney General’s Office at 800-649-2424 or 802-656-3183.
BLOTTER
continued from page 4
assault on Pump Lane. Nov. 17 at 9:30 a.m., Hailey M. Rheaume-Fox, 28, of Williston, was arrested on an in-state warrant at Hinesburg and Williston roads.
Nov. 17 at 12:48 p.m., Jack A. Hurlbut, 28, of Burlington was arrested on an in-state warrant on Dorset Street.
Note: Charges filed by police are subject to review by the Chittenden County State’s Attorney Office and can be amended or dropped.
CVU Craft Fair CVU Craft Fair
Kyle Kapitanski
OPINION
Taking stock of election shock: America will resist
Guest Perspective
Elayne Clift
Usually, around this time, I think about writing my cheery Christmas letter to share the highlights of another year in our family’s life. This year is different. I’m still trying to grasp what just happened and what it will mean for all of us.
My initial reaction was blurted out in staccato texts to friends who were in the same state as I was: “Stunning!” “Horrific!” “Devastating!” “Dangerous!”
Then I entered an emotionally strange place that felt like a Venn diagram in which anxiety and numbness meet in the center of a space that felt more like despair. Now I’m asking myself how and why the shock of the election happened.
It started with questions. How could a 34-time convicted felon and a man who was found guilty of sexual assault be able to run for president? Why was the U.S. Justice Department so slow in moving forward on his trials? How could the Supreme Court grant him carte blanche to do whatever he wanted to if he were president again? How could
people vote for someone who lies incessantly, whose language is vile, whose racism and misogyny are so blatant, who dreams of being a dictator, not be enough to stop him?
Then I moved to what I fear most. People like Elon Musk, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Steven Miller, the authors of Project 2025, and other-like minded tyrants taking control of every government agency and firing thousands of career civil servants.
I worried about what it would mean to close or limit agencies like the Environmental Protection Agency, Department of Education, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and Federal Emergency Management Agency, and to ignore the ever-worsening climate crisis.
I thought about a country with such a broken, for-profit health care system that would result in skyrocketing illnesses and deaths (with no data to prove it), and millions of people suffering as a result. I wondered how bad it would get without vaccinations, fluoride, Medicaid, reduced Medicare and no insurance.
I thought of the women who will have no agency over their own lives, and I imagined the
women who would die because they couldn’t get reproductive health care when they were in crisis or who would be jailed for having a miscarriage. I worried about a reprise of the Comstock Act that would ban abortion nationally and deny women any form of birth control, except sterilization, which some young women have already resorted to.
I worried about people of all ages who would be rounded up, separated and held in the equivalent of prisons indefinitely. I am really worried about revenge politics, roundups of opposition leaders and activists, the disappearance of news outlets and random violence. As Robert Reich said in a piece in The Guardian the day after the election, “Countless people are now endangered on a scale and intensity unheard of in modern America.”
I also worried mightily about our lost standing in the global community and the threat of an expanded war in the Middle East while Ukraine is handed to Putin who can then march into the NATO countries to start a Third World War.
How did we allow this to happen? I came to this conclusion: We are a country conceived
and birthed by smart, visionary, educated men who were elite white supremacists wedded to racism, misogyny, religious singularity, patriarchy and conformity.
What we are seeing now, it seems to me, is the underbelly of an America that has always flourished, and has grown in modern times, driven by color, caste, economic advantage or disadvantage, religious beliefs, ethnicity, power and corrupted politics, all of which have divided us into Us and Them. That makes for a dangerous, disquieting and increasingly binary way to live. It stokes fear, limits compassion and clear thinking, and people like Donald Trump rely on it for their own gains.
As an Instagram post said the day after the election, “America
has showed its true character and it’s heartbreaking,”
So where do I go from here? My answer begins with my belief that resistance doesn’t die, it re-emerges when it is vital to survival. Early Americans knew that when they threw tea into Boston harbor. Slaves resisted in various ways including dancing and drumming. People stood up to McCarthyism and to an American fascist movement in the 1930s and 1940s.
We started labor movements and unions to protect workers, and we made sure women could vote by refusing food and enduring forced feeding. We resisted a war in Vietnam and successfully
See
Sportsman should stop random coyote killings
Guest Perspective
Cas Simmons
In 2022, Gov. Phil Scott signed H.411 into law, which prohibits killing wildlife without intention to use or dispose of it properly, known as wanton waste.
A 2017 survey by the University of Vermont’s Center for Rural Studies showed that 70.5 percent of Vermonters oppose wanton waste. The passing of H.411 ignited a glimmer of hope in many Vermonters, hope that the needless and wasteful killing and dumping of wildlife would diminish. For many species, this was true. Except for one.
H.411 protects a large portion of Vermont’s mammals except the coyote, Vermont’s most unfairly detested predator, which was denied the same protections. While coyotes trapped during the legal trapping season are covered, those killed during the 365-day open season are exempt. The only requirement is that their bodies must be retrieved by the hunter, with no use required.
Year-round hunting of coyotes with no limit on numbers invites wanton waste. In February, someone discovered a hunter’s carcass dumping ground at Tinmouth Channel Wildlife Management Area. The pile of dead wildlife included multiple species, and
most notably over 20 coyotes. Killed for no reason other than the crime of existing and left to rot like trash in a mass grave in the woods — on the grounds of a state wildlife management area, no less. The senseless killing and illegal dumping of coyotes since the passage of H.411 is not an isolated incident. In November 2023, a shot coyote was discarded at a carcass dumpsite in Shaftsbury.
In April 2024, a game warden reported five shot coyote carcasses dumped on the side of the road in Elmore. In May 2024, a coyote hunting for mice was shot and left in a field at Dead Creek Wildlife Area in Addison.
Vermonters rarely ever hear about these crimes against wildlife. This information was uncovered via a public records request submitted to Vermont Fish & Wildlife.
Scott may have passed H.411, but its positive effects on wildlife only go so far. For wildlife plagued by open killing seasons, such as coyotes, the law is little more than words on paper. Hunters are allowed to kill coyotes with no legal limit or regulated season, making the law a drop in the ocean of the endless slaughter and dumping of a keystone species.
meeting.
South Burlington business group gathers for annual fall meeting
The South Burlington Business Association held its fall member meeting Nov. 14 at OnLogic in South Burlington. The event brought together local business owners and community members to discuss issues affecting Vermont’s economy.
State treasurer Mike Pieciak was the featured speaker, addressing the critical role of housing development in supporting Vermont’s economic growth. Pieciak high-
CLIFT continued from page 6
ended it. It’s in our DNA in huge numbers when things get bad because, most of us refuse oppression, discrimination, exploitation and evil and choose instead to embrace freedom and democracy.
There are some among us who don’t get that yet, but they will soon see how powerful and effective it is. Paraphrasing Billy Wimsatt, executive director of the Movement Voter PAC the day after the election, we have what it takes to meet and overcome this moment as our elders and ancestors did under unthinkably difficult
SIMMONS continued from page 6
The extirpation of wolves from Vermont in the mid-1800s left the state barren of large pursuit predators except for coyotes. With the continued unregulated killing of coyotes, proper management of prey populations will be threatened. This will increase the risk of deadly vehicle collisions, the spread of chronic wasting disease into Vermont, and the overconsumption of vegetation crucial to the habitats of countless native species.
According to a 2023 University of Michigan study, healthy predator populations contribute to healthy prey populations. They remove diseased and injured animals, allowing robust, ecologically fit animals to thrive — the Healthy Herds
lighted the state’s demographic challenges and emphasized the importance of creating affordable housing to attract and retain young residents.
He explained how these efforts can help alleviate Vermont’s property tax burden and sustain a vibrant workforce.
For more information about association, contact Julie Beatty at sbbabiz@ gmail.com.
circumstances. We can draw on their strength and wisdom as we chart our way forward and join what is likely to be one of the largest resistance movements in history.
For now, we must take a breath and remember all we did together to avert this outcome. In that spirit let’s comfort each other as we regroup before continuing the fight for a compassionate country grounded in equality, justice and sustainable freedom and democracy.
Elayne Clift is a Vermont-based writer.
Hypothesis — thus permitting Vermont’s rich history of responsible and respectful outdoor sportsmanship to live on.
The conservation of coyotes is ultimately the conservation of our land. We must call for Vermont Fish and Wildlife to remove their blindfolds and see the growing consequences of enabling severe interference with the food web. We must enact a regulated and limited hunting season for coyotes to ensure the health of our wild places. Coyotes need us now more than ever, and they will forever play an irreplaceable role in Vermont’s ecosystems.
Cas Simmons lives in Burlington.
PHOTO BY ANTHONY ALICHWER
Members of the South Burlington Business Association listen to guest speaker Mike Pieciak, Vermont state treasurer, at their fall members’
COMMUNITY
Bella Voce performs Glorious holiday concert
Bella Voce celebrates its 20th anniversary season with a program that includes a performance of Vivaldi’s venerated classic, “Gloria,” a timeless piece for women’s voices with trumpet, oboe, strings and continuo.
Joining Bella Voce is the University of Vermont’s String Ensemble, under the direction of Dr. Yutaka Kono. In addition, the concert will feature a variety of jubilant songs of the season by Robert De Cormier, Dan Forrest, Randol Bass and more, at the McCarthy Arts Center, St. Michael’s College, 18 Campus Road, in Colchester, on Sunday, Dec. 8 at 3:30 p.m.
For information, go to bit.ly/4fMVqQ6.
Agency of Education holds listening tour
The Vermont Agency of Education is holding three additional sessions in Chittenden and Windham counties through its Listen and Learn Tour.
The tour offers an opportunity for the public to share its thoughts and help the agency craft a strategic plan that reflects the
priorities and needs of Vermont communities.
Upcoming sessions include:
• Dec. 3: King Street Center, Burlington
• Dec. 4: Champlain Valley Union High School, Hinesburg
• Dec. 10: virtual meeting
All the meetings will take place from 6-8 p.m. Each will begin with an introduction, followed by breakout sessions on topics related to student achievement and support, career and college readiness, school budgets, among other priorities.
Pre-registration is encouraged using the online registration form at bit.ly/3UEGQ51.
Calling all would-be master gardeners
Registration is now open through Jan. 17 for the 2025 University of Vermont Extension master gardener course.
This comprehensive gardening course is offered completely online and runs for 16 weeks from Jan. 23 to May 15 with course materials available until May 29. Each
week, students will learn about a different topic such as garden insects and diseases, vegetable gardening, tree care, small fruits, annuals and perennials, soil management and composting, among other topics.
The registration fee is $400 for Vermont residents and $550 for out-of-state residents. For details, visit go.uvm.edu/emgcourse.
EEE holds talks on climate, colleges
Education and Enrichment for Everyone offers Dr. Richard Plumb, president of St. Michael’s College, who will give a talk on “Opportunities and Challenges of Small Liberal Arts Colleges,” on Friday, Nov. 22. The program is at 2-3 p.m. at Faith United Methodist Church, 899 Dorset St., South Burlington. More at eeevermont.org.
COURTESY
COMMUNITY NOTES
continued from page 8
League of Women Voters launches speaker series
The League of Women Voters of Vermont, in partnership with Kellogg-Hubbard Library, presents the second in its 2024-25 lecture series on recent U.S. Supreme Court decisions.
The program, on Wednesday, Dec. 11, at 7 p.m., presents Frank Knaack, executive director of the Housing and Homelessness Alliance of Vermont, and Falko Schilling, advocacy director with ACLU Vermont.
They will discuss the June 2024 deci-
Mary Alexandrides
sion upholding ordinances in Grants Pass, Ore., that prohibit people who are homeless from using blankets, pillows or cardboard boxes for protection from the elements while sleeping within city limits.
Justices agreed with the city that ordinances enforcing camping regulations against homeless people do not violate the Constitution’s ban on cruel and unusual punishment.
Send questions in advance to league@ lwvofvt.org or through chat during the event.
To register, go to kellogghubbard.org.
Obituary
Mary Alexandrides of South Burlington died peacefully on Wednesday, Nov. 13, 2024. She was 98 years old.
Mary was born on Dec. 9, 1925, in Syracuse, N.Y., where her parents settled after emigrating from Italy. She was predeceased by her husband, the love of her life, Alexander Peter Alexandrides.
Mary was a graduate of North High School and the Bryant & Stratton Business Institute where she received her associate’s degree in computer programming.
From 1970 to 1985, Mary served as the commissioner of licenses for the city of Syracuse.
daughters and their Barbie dolls. She adored her grandsons and her great granddaughters. Mary was devoted to her family and will be remembered by the many friends she made in Vermont over the years.
Mary was a loving wife and mother who introduced her daughters to the arts, sewing and cooking. She had a wonderful sense of style and was an excellent seamstress, making beautiful clothing for herself, her
Mary is survived by her daughters, Christine Faris, and Rita Daley (Paul) of Shelburne; her grandsons, Alex Faris, Andrew Faris (Madeline) and Thomas Daley; two great granddaughters; and several nieces and nephews.
Funeral services will be held on Friday, Nov. 22, 2024, at 11 a.m. at Trinity Episcopal Church in Shelburne. Interment will be private.
The family requests, in lieu of flowers, memorial contributions be made to the Shelburne Museum, Shelburne, or the McClure Miller Respite House, Colchester.
To send online condolences, please visit readyfuneral.com.
Let’s Drive Electric, Vermont.
Mary Alexandrides
COURTESY PHOTO
The Lake Monsters’ Champ mascot visited a recent Kids Club gathering in South Burlington.
A real Champ
Where We Find It
Editor’s note: Local photographer Paul Rogers, who grew up in Stowe, last year took our readers through a journey of Stick Season in a series of essays detailing his travels throughout the area looking for images to photograph for his ongoing exploration of Vermont’s fifth “season.” It proved so popular, we’re doing it again this Stick Season.
Skies were clear and temperatures seasonal on the afternoon of a certain mid-October day, more than a dozen years ago. I was exploring a seldom-used backcountry hiking trail atop Worcester Ridge in Elmore, having fulfilled a commercial assignment by capturing beautiful Vermont views from a certain parcel of land.
Down in the valleys and along the slow-moving rivers of Lamoille County, peak foliage had come and gone, its rich autumn color fading. Higher up, hillside trees were scantily clad, though some color remained. But on that ridgeline at a couple thousand feet, trees were fully bare, fully transitioned.
The calendar indicated that we were still in mid-October, so I had not yet undertaken any late-autumn, photo treasure hunts. November would be the time for such journeys.
Being yet early in late autumn — and close to home — it hadn’t occurred to me that I could simply climb a bit and step into a local expression of stick season. So, I wasn’t intentionally pursuing photos that day to include in my on-going project of the same name.
Even so, I was about to stumble upon a subject I knew well. And I was about to make a photograph of importance to my project, one that would enrich a group of images that tells a story of Vermont between fall foliage and the onset of winter.
Leaving the trail to begin my trip back, I noticed a lone figure at the same viewpoint I had visited earlier: In a clearing nestled between birches and firs, he was perched on a remnant of weathered plywood, enjoying the grand eastern view of a landscape in transition. It didn’t take me long to identify him as Rusty DeWees.
My shout of “Russ?” earned his reply of “Paul!” He’d seen my Outback parked just below, reckoning that I was somewhere on the mountain. As his photographer for nearly 25 years, I’d known him as one of Vermont’s best-known entertainers. But I’d also known him since the third grade simply as a friend.
PHOTO BY PAUL ROGERS
No longer 8 years old, we’d sometimes meet at his barn to chew the fat, his cigar at the ready for just the right moment. We would also run into each other at seemingly random places, as one does with friends, at grocery stores, fairs or farm markets. Not surprising then that we might one day also meet on a mountaintop.
Quick with a smile and a kind word, Rusty was at rest, keeping his post-workout-self warm with a Darn Tough cap. And he was about to light up a stogie.
Rusty likes a quality cigar. Years later I would buy him a cigar while on assignment in Cuba (legal during the Trump years). Knowing that my five-dollar investment, even near the source, wouldn’t purchase a premium smoke, I’d later ask him, how was it? He’d pondered thoughtfully, genuinely, then tell me it was a good tractor cigar — one to enjoy while doing chores. The answer would sit well with me.
Anyhow, up there on Worcester Ridge we chatted for a moment as I considered the photographic possibilities of the scene before me. Though not one to take advantage of friends with my camera, especially friends who are well known, I found the scene just too good to go unrecorded.
Subject obliging (as he always was) and camera at hand, my off-camera flash was also needed, because in a landscape that was bright toward the Woodbury Mountains in the southeast, my subject sat in the deep shadows of late afternoon. The hand-held strobe would bring light to that darkness, simulating direct sunlight if positioned away from the camera and directed toward Rusty.
A little turn of the head by the experienced actor, a puff of smoke, and a few flashes of light were all it took. Pronto! A series of environmental portraits came into being … stick season portraits, as I now recognize them.
Four weeks later, in the heart of stick season, Rusty would be cigared-up once again. We were gathered with friends on the dark eve of his birthday, sitting a tolerable distance from bonfire flames that reached higher than a Vermont white pine. The blaze could be easily seen across the valley, such was the initial burn of that summer-long gathering of brush.
In fact, invitee Pete Wilder delayed his arrival to photograph the spectacle from a couple of miles away. The bonfire would initiate enough emergency calls from helpful citizenry to warrant a courtesy
visit from a representative of the local fire department, proper burn permit and requisite pre-fire phone call to the sheriff notwithstanding.
That wouldn’t be the last Elmore bonfire I’d attend, nor the last photos of Rusty I’d make for my Stick Season Project. But looking at those 2012 ridgetop portraits in the rearview mirror has changed my perspective on late autumn photography, changed what I consider stick season opportunities.
No longer so concerned whether late-October, branch-clinging leaves might disqualify my photos on philosophical grounds, or whether late-November, ground-hugging snow might do the same, I continue to open myself to the photographic possibilities of this liminal time of year.
With or without a camera, I join my fellow Vermonters in enjoying the quietness and uniqueness of late autumn, when the demands of busier seasons are left behind and the rush of winter is not yet here. Through the chores and holidays, harvests and hunting seasons, we reflect on the passing of seasons and gaze upon an unadorned landscape and its people. Stick season is where we find it.
Actor and entertainer Rusty DeWees atop the Worcester Range overlooking the Green Mountains during stick season.
SHELBURNE ROAD
continued from page 1
are still investigating the crash, the advocacy group Local Motion — Vermont’s statewide advocate for active transportation and safe streets — launched a petition last week that has garnered roughly 600 signatures calling on the Vermont Agency of Transportation, Chittenden County Regional Planning Commission and community leaders in South Burlington, Shelburne and Burlington to find a solution.
The group says that this is the fourth fatal crash that has involved a pedestrian at, or very close to, that intersection in five years. In December 2020, Jermee Slaughter was killed while walking when a driver hit them and fled the scene, leaving Slaughter in the roadway where they were hit by another driver. In September 2023, Chriss Zuckerman was killed by a driver while crossing at Fayette Drive.
Last March, Joseph Byrd Allen, also known to the Burlington community as “Byrdman,” was hit and killed while biking on Shelburne Road, in front of Pauline’s Cafe and Restaurant by a driver who fled the scene.
“We know there are numerous causes for each of these crashes, and while human behavior is often blamed, it is an incomplete explanation and an unhelpful one if we are serious about preventing death,” the group wrote in its petition.
According to their data, bike and pedestrian fatalities within the state remain relatively low, so it’s very clear when there is a problematic “hot spot.”
“Basically, it’s Shelburne Road and Routes 4 and 7 in Rutland,” he said. “Both of those segments of roadway are very similar in context. It’s kind of a suburban strip mall and has a very simi-
lar design in terms of multiple lanes, 35 to 45-ish miles per hour. Nationwide, we see that context and design is the most dangerous for people outside of cars.”
Weber noted that making changes to the major connector could prove difficult since this intersection of road is not technically owned by the city of South Burlington but is instead a stateowned highway.
“The towns have very little control over the design,” Weber said. “But they have a lot of control over whether we engage with the state in a planning process for Shelburne Road. They have a lot of control over whether they ask for that process to start.”
The petition asks that South Burlington, Shelburne and Burlington’s leaders work together with regional planners to form a task force to address what advocates say are infrastructure issues contributing to crashes.
Weber noted that long-term solutions could include corridor length improvements, reducing the number of lanes, and improving bus services and amenities.
While the group has used petitions to respond to legislative priorities and policies before, Weber said this petition is an exceptional instance in which an “emergency situation” has pushed for change. While there has been some pushback from residents about aspects of longer-term solutions — like lane reductions — most of the responses have been supportive.
Shelburne Selectboard chair
Mike Ashooh has long been a proponent for bike and pedestrian safety in Shelburne and actively uses bicycling as a main form of transportation. He said after that the petition was launched,
he wrote to Weber personally expressing overwhelming support for the collaboration.
“I can’t speak for the board, but I support the whole idea of it, 100 percent,” he said. “It is scary enough when you have these little four-foot-wide shoulders because it’s just enough to tempt you to ride on the road, and just enough to be scary as hell when you’re doing it. Then you get to that intersection, and the shoulder completely disappears. Suddenly, you’re in no man’s land, and there’s nowhere to go. I’m not pointing the finger at South Burlington, but this is a serious issue.”
While members of Local Motion and other advocacy groups attended neighboring Burlington’s city council meeting Monday to urge the council to act, South Burlington City Council chair Tim Barritt told residents that the city should consider waiting for any reports from the state police regarding the investigation.
City manager Jessie Baker pointed to several existing efforts currently underway in the city to look at improving how community members traverse public roads, sidewalks, and paths.
“These include the City’s Active Transportation Plan, an effort with Chittenden County Regional Planning Commission to specifically review technical safety for crossing Shelburne Road and, of course, our Safe Routes to School Task Force and our Bicycle and Pedestrian Committee.”
She said the city would welcome the opportunity to join a future conversation with regional leaders and neighbors to talk about how, through education and infrastructure change, “we can ensure that all are safe on our public roads, sidewalks, and paths.”
REPAIRS
Ring Sizing • Cleaning • Stone Tightening • Rhodium Plating
Performed by Our Graduate Gemologists
A box elder grows for Terry Gulick
The Outside Story
Elise Tillinghast
My friend Terry Gulick, who died earlier this year, used to tease me about my favorite yard tree. Terry did a lot of gardening jobs, when he wasn’t mentoring kids, and he was amused — and a little offended — by what I’d allowed to grow up in my former vegetable patch. It was bad enough that I was letting a tree take over prime soil, but did it have to be a boxelder?
“It’s a trash tree,” he told me, shaking his head.
Boxelder (Acer negundo), also known as ash-leaf maple, elf maple, Manitoba maple and other, less printable names — is the misfit cousin of the Acer family. It’s the only maple species that won’t sprout in shade, and you’re more likely to find specimens growing in a scraggly line along a road or riverbank than deep in a forest.
It’s also the only maple that’s dioecious, meaning that every tree produces exclusively male or female flowers. Its leaflets look
like nothing you’d find on the side of a syrup bottle or, despite the tree’s alternative name, on an ash tree. They’re toothy, with a strong resemblance to poison ivy leaves.
Unlike the stately sugar maple, which can endure for more than four centuries, boxelder’s typical lifespan, from seed through senescence, is on a human scale. A 75-year-old boxelder is already an old tree. It grows quickly in good soil, more than 2 feet in height each year, and this trait, along with its toughness, has made boxelder a popular choice for erosion control and wind break plantings.
Trash seems a harsh epithet for a tree, but the species surely inspires a lot of trash talk. One reason is the low value of boxelder wood. On the plus side, carvers appreciate its softness and its occasional pink-to-red staining. However, the wood is too weak to be useful for most construction and manufacturing purposes. It’s also low density, which makes it a poor choice for firewood beyond the kindling stage.
The most intense criticisms of boxelder come from people such
as Gulick, who have spent hours cleaning up after it. A U.S. Forest Service profile of the species notes
its reputation as a “dirty tree,” and if you skim through field books, you’ll find numerous disparaging references to the species’ vulnerability to rot, its complicity as a host of home-invading boxelder bugs, its tendency to scatter wind-snapped twigs, and the way it spread seeds with bunny-like abandon.
after I gave up the garden. It has grown vigorously, just as she and her younger brother have, the pencil marks on the kitchen door tracking their rising heights. The boxelder’s forked trunk, which split into a trident 2 feet off the ground, formed just the right holds for small hands and feet.
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For Gulick, boxelder’s voluminous seed production was its greatest sin. Sure enough, just as he warned me would happen, my female tree was already bearing seeds by its eighth year, and every autumn since has produced a bigger crop. As I write this, there are thousands upon thousands of samaras dangling in clusters. I think they’re pretty. And birds love them.
Because many of the samaras linger on their stems late into winter, they offer an easily accessible food for year-round resident birds and for cold weather visitors that fly down from Canada. For instance, the evening grosbeak, which breeds in Canada and has been in steep population decline, is partial to boxelder seeds. If for no other reason than to help this threatened bird, the tree deserves space in my yard.
There are other, personal reasons I have for loving this tree. The boxelder appeared in my daughter’s first year, soon
Gulick was good to my kids, and to other people’s kids who needed him more. He taught children who had a lot of sadness in their lives how to pitch tents, climb trees and roast s’mores on the fire. When I asked about these experiences, he’d deflect and ask how I could sleep at night, knowing that was growing in my yard.
But the joke’s on him. When I look at my crooked, scrappy tree, its samaras metallic in the low November light, I hear Gulick’s voice and remember his kindness.
Elise Tillinghast is the past executive director and editor of the Center for Northern Woodlands Education and is currently editor-at-large for nature and the environment at Brandeis University Press. Illustration by Adelaide Murphy Tyrol. The Outside Story is assigned and edited by Northern Woodlands magazine and sponsored by the Wellborn Ecology Fund of New Hampshire Charitable Foundation, nhcf.org.
continued from page 1
Vermont is likely to need an additional 24,000-36,000 total homes across the state over the next five years.
Without increased supply, Vermont’s home sale and rental markets will continue to grow even tighter than they currently are, the report says, with prices likely to continue to skyrocket and further intensify an affordability crisis throughout the state.
According to the report, Vermont’s homeowner vacancy rate — the number of homes on the market compared to the total number of actual households — is estimated at 1.2 percent, below the 2.0 percent rate considered indicative of a healthy housing market, with Chittenden County at a notably low vacancy rate of .5 percent reflecting the high demand for homes in the region.
While the Legislature made monumental strides in housing legislation over the last two years — Act 47 and working to modernize Vermont’s 50-year-old land use law, Act 250 — meant to spur development and limit obstacles to building housing, a campaign, Building Homes Together, launched by Chittenden County Regional Planning, Champlain Housing Trust and non-profit developer Evernorth aims to build nearly 1,000 units of housing per year in the county over the next five-year period.
But in October, the group announced that Chittenden County had drastically failed to meet that goal with 720 units built in 2023.
Housing plans
Nearly 40 percent of those homes — 290 — were in South Burlington’s city limits. That trend, director of planning and zoning Paul Conner said, has been happening over the last 10 years and is something the city has specifically planned for and welcomed.
The boom can mostly be traced to 2012 when the city took steps to implement a financing model that city manager Jessie Baker said is one of the most powerful economic tools available to municipalities: tax increment financing or TIF. To most, the idea is mysteriously complex, but to city officials like Blanchard, that was the catalyst for much of the growth seen today.
The TIF district, a subset of the 300-acre City Center, was officially adopted by the city council in 2012 and allows the municipality to take out debt to build public infrastructure projects and pay off the debt using future tax revenue from new development.
The idea is that as the infrastructure is built and improved, it attracts private sector investment in new and renovated buildings and incrementally increases the value of the grand list, or the total value of all city property. Since its inception, more than 500 homes have been built in the district; 187 are under construction, and 46 have been permitted and are awaiting construction. Of those, 139 are perpetually affordable. These numbers do not include the roughly 200 new homes built within City Center, but outside of the TIF district.
that is here.”
Baker noted that a large portion of these numbers comes from the University of Vermont and the University of Vermont Medical Center’s investment in housing but countered the common perception that since the institution’s faculty, staff and students have first-right of refusal to the housing, it’s not really adding positively to the housing stock.
“I think that’s a real misconception,” she said. “A lot of these folks are folks that will be otherwise living in our community, in other apartment buildings or condos or pricing out other folks who want to live here. It’s important to always note that adding capacity across the living spectrum is adding capacity. It’s not fighting between our neighbors on what capacity that is, whether it is affordable housing, student housing, designated housing, it is still adding new homes.”
Competing goals
But with that growth, both Baker and Conner noted that there is simultaneously an increased focus on things like environmental protection, climate resiliency and connectivity. All these are also areas of focus that the city’s planning department and commission focused on when crafting the new land use regulations that were just passed by the city council earlier this month. But the team also noted that the battle between the need for housing and protecting portions of Vermont’s landscape is not always easy to balance.
Like many neighboring communities, some residents in South Burlington have voiced opposition to development and lawsuits over environmental and aesthetic concerns have frequently ended up in court.
“Zoning is an incredibly strong tool to be strategic as a community,” Baker said. “I think South Burlington is really trying to thread that needle right now and actively participate in all the climate conservation efforts and the housing efforts, and I think that’s a hard conversation in our community, and that’s a hard conversation at the state level.”
While South Burlington is partly leading the way for housing goals in the county, the work to meet demand is not possible without collaboration with surrounding communities, Conner and Baker said, which reflects the way people inherently move through the county on a daily basis.
“They don’t live their daily lives within the bounds of one single municipality,” Conner said. “They use Chittenden County and beyond every day for their everyday needs. The community uses our core communities interchangeably every day, and so it’s therefore our responsibility collectively to make sure that the transportation, housing, the services, all that is provided to the way people live.”
“When I think about the TIF district, I think about it as the kernel or the seed,” Blanchard said. “What we’re seeing right now is we have now established a downtown market in South Burlington, which we did not have before and the TIF district as an economic tool has established this form of the downtown. It’s the core of it. But that also means that it is blazing the way for other properties in the area to build on the success
The growth of the last 10 years is only set to continue as the city has plans for even more infrastructure projects — all approved by voters — to create a more walkable, thriving downtown and includes projects like the planned walking and biking bridge over I-89.
“It’s always really thrilling to go outside and to see people walking on Market Street and sitting at the bench in front of the library and city hall, seeing the seniors in the senior center,” Blanchard said. “Our downtown is about people, and it’s just so great to see people using it in the way that it was intended.” CITY
INVITATION TO BID
Garden Street West Shared Use Path and Utility Improvements - South Burlington, VT
Sealed Bids for Garden Street West Shared Use Path and Utility Improvements shall be received and accepted until 2:00 p.m. on December 5, 2024, local time at City of South Burlington Department of Public Works at 104 Landfill Road, South Burlington, VT 05403. Bid opening will occur immediately after the submission deadline. Anyone interested in witnessing the public bid opening over the phone or internet is to contact Stantec Consulting Services, Inc. for a link to the open conference call. Please contact Chris Gendron, chris.gendron@stantec.com, 802-497-6402 for meeting information at least five (5) days prior to the scheduled bid opening. The 5-day lead time is required in case the bid opening time changes.
Complete digital Bidding Documents may be obtained after November 7, 2024, from the design engineer, Stantec Consulting Services. Contact Dawn Moss, dawn.moss@stantec.com, 802-497-6326. Printed sets are not available for purchase. If you would like to review a set of printed documents at the City of South Burlington Department of Public Works, contact Silken Kershner, skershner@southburlingtonvt.gov to schedule an appointment.
To bid on this project and be considered a plan holder, the Bidder MUST register with Dawn Moss, dawn.moss@stantec.com, 802-497-6362, a minimum of 10 days prior to the bid opening. Neither owner nor engineer will be responsible for full or partial sets of Bidding Documents, including Addenda, if any, obtained from sources other than Stantec Consulting Services.
Sealed Bid Documents shall be marked in the lower left-hand corner: “Bid Documents: Garden Street West Shared Use Path and Utility Improvements.”
Each bidder must deposit with their bid, security in the amount of 5% of the bid in the form and subject to the conditions provided in the INSTRUCTIONS TO BIDDERS.
Bids submitted by bidders that exceed their Maximum Dollar Capacity Rating (MDCR) as determined by the Vermont Agency of Transportation on an annual basis may be considered non-responsive.
LOCATION: The Garden Street West Shared Use Path and Utility Improvements project limits will include approximately 390 linear feet on Garden Street from the intersection of Dorset Street to the east.
TYPE OF CONSTRUCTION: Work to be performed under this project includes:
Coarse milling, paving, curbing, pavement markings, signing, drainage, water main installation, shared-use path installation, bridge railing, and other incidental items.
CONTRACT COMPLETION DATE: The Contract shall be completed on or before July 25, 2025.
ENGINEERS ESTIMATE: For this Proposal the Engineers Estimate falls between $700,000 and $800,000.
PREBID CONFERENCE: A non-mandatory pre-bid conference will be held for this project. The meeting will be held at 2:00 p.m. on November 14, 2024, local time at South Burlington City Hall at 180 Market Street, South Burlington, VT 05403. A site visit will follow.
STANDARD SPECIFICATIONS: This contract is governed by the Vermont Agency of Transportation (“VTrans”) 2024 Standard Specifications for Construction.
QUESTIONS: During the advertisement phase of this project all questions shall be addressed solely to Chris Gendron, chris.gendron@stantec.com, with an email copy to Silken Kershner, skershner@southburlingtonvt. gov, City of South Burlington Department of Public Works.
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What Vermonters should know about white-tailed deer hunting this season
OLIVIA HAGIOS VTDIGGER
Department of Fish & Wildlife officials say the deer population is robust, and hunters are primed for success as they head to the woods for the start of the annual deer rifle season.
“There are a good number of deer out there, certainly more than we’ve had the last few years,” Fish & Wildlife biologist Nick Fortin said. He said it can be hard to predict harvest numbers, but anecdotal evidence suggests there are more bucks this year.
The two-week period, commonly known as rifle season to Vermont hunters, allows for a hunter to take one legal buck until Dec. 1, according to the department.
beginning Saturday.
Hunters can be found all around the state — while Orleans and Essex counties have the highest percentage of hunter participation — with 12 percent of all Vermonters hunting. Of those 12 percent, around 79 percent of those resident hunters hunt deer, according to department data.
“There are a good number of deer out there, certainly more than we’ve had the last few years.”
— Nick Fortin, wildlife biologist
While Vermont hunters don’t need to be aware of any regulation changes going into this season, Fortin said he encourages them to give the department a tooth from any deer they take. This can be done at any check station and helps the department gather valuable age information about Vermont’s deer herd, according to Fortin, who is also the department’s deer project leader.
However, even if a hunter doesn’t take a deer this year, they can still provide useful information by contributing to the department’s deer hunter effort and sighting survey. It’s part of an annual effort to collect information from hunters, such as how many hours a day they spend hunting and how much wildlife — including deer, moose, bears, and turkeys — they see. The survey will be available for participants to complete on the department’s website
During the COVID-19 pandemic, participation in Vermont hunting and other outdoors activities increased, however, the department is now seeing those numbers return to pre-pandemic figures, according to Christopher Saunders, fish and wildlife project coordinator for the department. When asked about what Vermont hunting could look like in the future, Saunders said he foresees an overall decline in hunter participation in Vermont as the state’s demographics continue to change.
However, hunting is still an “important part of Vermont’s landscape,” Saunders said. “What we’re feeling in Vermont isn’t as dramatic as other places.”
While Saturday marks the first day of the November regular season, Vermonters have been on the hunt for white-tailed deer since October for the archery, Youth Deer Weekend, Novice Weekend and muzzleloader antler portions of the hunting season. One of the biggest things to remember for the upcoming season is to wear hunter orange when out in the woods, Fortin said. This applies not only to hunters, but also to anyone in the woods where there may be hunting activity taking place.
“Get out there and have fun,” Fortin said, “but most importantly, be safe.”
COURTESY PHOTO
Rifle season started Nov. 16, and wildlife biologists say the deer herd is “robust.”