Burlington Free Press – 7.06.2016
The Coalition for a Livable City, opponents of the proposed Burlington Town Center redevelopment plan, says the city is moving too fast. The city, on the other hand, says the process is legal and consistent with city planning and zoning practices. – CORY DAWSON/FREE PRESS
The Burlington Planning Commission voted unanimously Wednesday night to forward to the City Council a proposed zoning change that would allow buildings of up to 14 stories to be built around the current downtown mall.
The commission stopped short of approving the zoning change, and reserved the right to advise the council on future deliberations regarding the future of the Burlington Town Center project.
As a prelude to the commission’s vote, lively, competing visions echoed through City Hall as dozens of members of the public, in roughly equal measure, urged commission members either to embrace, reject, delay or amend the proposed changes that, practically speaking, would expedite a redevelopment project by the Town Center’s owner, Don Sinex.
As envisioned, Sinex’s project would combine residential, commercial and retail office space, and remove the current mall’s blockage of Pine and St. Paul streets.
That scenario is consistent with Plan BTV, the city’s planning guide for downtown and the waterfront, said Mayor Miro Weinberger, who addressed his critics at the end of public comments.
Weinberger also countered claims that public involvement has been sidelined in the planning for a downtown transformation.
The mayor also echoed earlier public comments that urged the construction of more housing.
(Photo: GLENN RUSSELL/FREE PRESS)
Sukanya Mishra, who moved here three years ago from Washington, D.C., to take a job at Seventh Generation, said she found it “shockingly difficult” to find an apartment within walking or bicycling distance to work.
She settled for South Burlington.
“My apartment here is actually more expensive than the one in D.C., which is insane,” Mishra said. “The sticker shock has not faded.”
The promise of more residential development for lower- and middle-income Vermonters drew Sarah Muyskens, board chairwoman of Champlain Housing Trust, to the hearing.
“This is smart growth in action, in the right location, Muyskens said, reading from a letter submitted by the nonprofit’s CEO, Brenda Torpy. “It would take place where density brings multiple, community-wide benefits like walkability, public transportation use, efficient use of land and infrastructure, and a greater tax base.”
Torpy’s endorsement of the project prompted Planning Commission member Lee Buffinton, who works at Champlain Housing Trust, to recuse herself from further proceedings.
Earlier in the day, about 10 members of the group Coalition for a Livable City called a news conference to outline their objections to the pace of the Burlington Town Center project.
(Photo: GLENN RUSSELL/FREE PRESS)
The Planning Commission, the group said, has been rushed into its evaluation of zoning changes, and how they might conform to previously outlined planning goals.
No members of the commission attended the news conference, nor were they invited, coalition member Genese Grill said.
Group decries Burlington Town Center plan
Grill joined other members of the group in leveling criticism at the administration of Weinberger — specifically the Department of Planning and Zoning, which she said had been over-accommodating to developer Sinex, and had perhaps broken the law in the process.
In a written statement, Grill said a department-authored report on the project “includes multiple serious misrepresentations and falsifications” of Planning Commission members’ views.
In response, David E. White, who directs the Planning and Zoning Department, said his staff routinely drafts reports that summarize concerns aired by the volunteer Planning Commission. The citizen body then typically amends the report after a public hearing, he added.
Every year, his office processes about 12 requests for zoning changes. About half of those originate from planning and zoning staffers who spot inconsistencies; the rest come from developers and property owners, White said.
(Photo: GLENN RUSSELL/FREE PRESS)
“I would argue that zoning changes are a very important part of the planning process,” he said. “Burlington’s comprehensive plan and Plan BTV are malleable documents. They respond to the needs of the marketplace and the needs of the community.”
City Attorney Eileen Blackwood said all local and state regulations on zoning changes had been observed prior to the hearing.
The commission’s vote to advance the rule-changes to a City Council vote, Blackwood said, means the amendments could be subject to further public scrutiny in the council’s Ordinance Committee.
That committee’s determination would face another City Council hearing and vote.
And then?
(Photo: GLENN RUSSELL/FREE PRESS)
If the zoning change is approved, Sinex would apply for zoning permit, and his project would face lengthy scrutiny by the city’s Development Review Board.
Sinex said although the lengthy public process has been robust and helpful to the project overall, its pace has been frustratingly slow.
“It’s been three years — and I’m still a mile away from a permit,” he said.
This story was first posted online on Wednesday, July 6, 2016.
Contact Joel Banner Baird at 802-660-1843 or joelbaird@freepressmedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @VTgoingUp.