Burlington Free Press – 8.09.2016
Zoning changes that would permit the 14-story redevelopment of the Burlington Center failed to garner a consensus after Tuesday night’s sixth and final meeting of the three-person City Council Ordinance Committee — but the project gained momentum.
Edited, annotated and red-flagged, the controversial re-zoning proposal was passed along to the full City Council for final vetting.
The city’s legislative body is likely to discuss thorny issues of height and parking at four work sessions this month, the first of which takes place at 6 p.m. Monday at Contois Auditorium in City Hall.
Subsequent work sessions are scheduled for Aug. 18, 22 and 24.
In accordance with an agreement signed with developer Don Sinex, the council must make a final decision by the end of August or risk scuttling current plans to transform the moribund downtown mall into a combination of residential, commercial and office space.
Flanked Tuesday by a newly unveiled scale model of the proposed downtown project, the committee listened to arguments, pro and con, from about 15 members of the public.
Opponents repeated concerns that have become familiar to committee members during the past several weeks: The rezoning review, they assert, has taken place far too quickly, too closely in association with Sinex’s plans, and with little sensitivity to the sense of scale that defines the downtown.
Supporters urged the committee to advance changes that would boost Burlington’s business prospects, attract more downtown residents and open decades-old dead ends at Pine and St. Paul streets.
City Councilor Sharon Bushor, I-Ward 1, discusses a scale model of a proposed redevelopment of Burlington Town Center. The model was unveiled Aug. 9 in Contois Auditorium prior to a meeting of the City Council Ordinance Committee, which Bushor chairs. Fletcher Free Library now houses the model. Photographed on Tuesday, Aug. 9, 2016. (Photo: JOEL BANNER BAIRD/FREE PRESS
Committee Chairwoman Sharon Bushor, I-Ward 1, told the gathering that, despite differences of opinion, the committee’s line-by-line review of the re-zoning would serve the full council well.
“We all get how important this is,” Bushor said. “None of us want to screw up Burlington.”
Fellow committee member Councilor Max Tracy, P-Ward 2, said he was frustrated and disappointed by the re-zoning review’s seeming disregard for dissenting sentiment.
Tracy, who cast the sole vote in May against the development agreement with Sinex, said the resulting timeline for changing downtown regulations “really made this process feel more like a charade.”
The scale model, meanwhile, will be on display at Fletcher Free Library — along with information that will encourage viewers to explore different
(Photo: JOEL BANNER BAIRD/FREE PRESS)
This story was posted online on Aug. 9, 2016.
Contact Joel Banner Baird at 802-660-1843 or joelbaird@freepressmedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @VTgoingUp.