The Burlington City Council took on nagging quality of life issues in the Queen City Monday night. Council members heard conflicting and sometimes angry reactions from Burlington residents and landlords to proposed new occupancy limits aimed at student housing.
Ultimately, they rejected the ordinance change. But they passed a resolution with recommendations for a renewed agreement with the University of Vermont that covers housing and other town-gown relationships.
The proposed amendment to the city’s Comprehensive Development Ordinance would have extended a local residential occupancy limit of four unrelated adults to high-density areas. Currently, high density (RH) districts in the downtown area and adjacent to the university are excluded from this limitation.
Bram Kranichfeld, a Ward 2 Democrat and sponsor, said his ward, which includes a large area with student housing, has deteriorating housing stock, maintenance issues, vandalism, litter and other problems.
Several landlords, who spoke during an extended public comment period, warned of dire impacts as a result of the occupancy limit. They predicted higher rents, a drop in property values and the shift of the student population to other neighborhoods.
Ward 1 Councilor Ed Adrian, who represents an area that includes part of the campus, said the university needs to create more on-campus housing. “UVM needs to step up to the plate,” he said.
The occupancy amendment was sponsored in the Ordinance Committee by members Kranichfeld, Ward 5 Democrat Joan Shannon and Ward 1 Independent Sharon Bushor.
After the landlords spoke, however, Bushor and Shannon apologized for “moving it forward too quickly.” The committee “did a disservice to the topic and the process” by not soliciting enough input, Bushor said.
She added, however, that hers is “a neighborhood under siege.” Like Kranichfeld and Adrian, she represents an area with many apartments rented by college students.
Kurt Wright, Ward 4 councilor and the Republican candidate for mayor, called the process flawed, and suggested referral back to the Ordinance Committee for more work.
In the final vote, six of seven Democrats supported the amendment. But the council’s three Republicans, including Wright, joined with the two Progressives, the two independents and Democrat David Hartnett, who is Wright’s campaign manager, to reject the change in an 8-6 vote.
Periodically, UVM and the city negotiate a memo of understanding (MOU) on issues such as traffic, student housing, parking, fire and police services and taxes. A 1990 deal was renewed in 2000.
The university signed a separate letter of agreement in 2007 recognizing its “financial commitment to the City in consideration of its impact.” Under this voluntary agreement UVM currently pays $1.1 million in annual fees to the city. Mayor Bob Kiss said.
The 2000 and 2007 agreements are set to expire this summer. A public hearing on a new MOU will be held in March.
On Monday, the council reviewed and adopted a resolution to guide the administration’s upcoming negotiations.
Bushor described the town-gown resolution as “a chance to say what should be included in a discussion” as a new agreement is forged. It specifically proposes that any renewals or extensions should include provisions addressing eight key issues.
The priority list includes five-year traffic and circulation master plans for the campus, closure of Davis Road to traffic, a five-year plan to “reduce the number of UVM-related vehicles coming to Burlington,” a systematic foot-patrol enforcement program, a commitment to house 75 percent of undergraduates on campus including more on-campus housing for juniors and seniors, preservation of Centennial Woods, and more staff in UVM’s Community Outreach office.
The resolution is a “road map” for the talks to come, Adrian said, but he repeated that UVM “needs to spend more on creating more student housing. The rest is window dressing.”
Wright, another sponsor of the resolution, said he found it “tough to keep up with the changes.” Such a list of priorities “can be considered,” he said, but the resolution itself came “close to the line of negotiating.”
“The council shouldn’t replace the administration in negotiating with UVM,” Kiss said.
Republicans Vince Dober and Paul Decelles agreed with the mayor. But a motion by Dober to table the issue failed, and Decelles ultimately opted for “reluctant” support. Progressive Vince Brennan, who is safety programs manager at UVM, recused himself. The resolution passed with 13 votes.
