[A] local review board will hold a hearing Friday to examine part of a development project that, if approved, would transform the area around the interstate exit in Randolph.
Jesse “Sam” Sammis has proposed a 1.15-million-square-foot, 173-acre development on farmland just off the Exit 4 ramp from Interstate 89. The local review panel of the Vermont Natural Resources Board, the District 3 Environmental Commission, will hear arguments from several parties Friday.
Over a 20-year period, Sammis wants to build a site called the Green Mountain Center, according to documents from the Natural Resources Board. The project would include a visitors center, a Vermont products showcase center and a 180-room hotel and conference center.
There would be office space, buildings for light industrial companies, accessory retail space and residential housing units. Plans would leave some land open, have a recreational trail running around the property and put in a fenced area, according to Natural Resources Board filings.
Right now, Sammis is asking for partial approval of the project under Vermont’s Act 250, the state’s development review law.
Those two sections of Act 250 involve soil standards and regional planning, also known as 9B and 10, respectively. There are several other criteria under Act 250 that the developer would need to meet in order to build the full project.
Two environmental protection groups — the Conservation Law Foundation and the Vermont Natural Resources Council — argue that the proposed Green Mountain Center would not comply with the state law under those two criteria for soil and regional planning.
Brian Shupe, executive director of the Vermont Natural Resources Council, said the project as proposed should not be built on the land off Exit 4 because of the quality of the farmland.
“These are among the best agricultural soils in the state,” Shupe said. “They don’t make it anymore, or they make it very very slowly. It’s a finite resource that our burgeoning agricultural renaissance relies on in an increasing amount.
“It’s really (in) geologic time that soils are developed,” he said. “You can amend them with compost on a small scale and with manure and whatnot, but you need a good foundation to do that, and these soils are a good foundation.”
Sandra Levine, a senior attorney for the Conservation Law Foundation used one word to describe the project: “terrible.” She warned that traffic near Exit 4 would hurt businesses in Randolph’s downtown area.
“It’s a massive development of commercial, industrial, residential and retail, all in open farmland that’s mostly undeveloped,” Levine said. “It’s certainly in contrast to the goals in the town and the regional plan regarding development in this area.”
Levine said locals could end up footing the bill for expanded water and sewer infrastructure needed for the project. The more than million-square-foot project is roughly the size of 10 big box stores, or about 17 football fields.
A group called the Exit 4 Open Space Citizens Group also opposes the Green Mountain Center proposal. They filed a package of photographs that show other places in Randolph that need to be redeveloped for retail, industrial or other uses. The group also submitted a petition with more than 800 signatures from residents in and around Randolph.
“The building plan will destroy the picturesque view from the exit and create the feel of ‘ANYWHERE, USA,’” the petition says. “This building proposal will also create light pollution and throw off the long-standing migration pattern for the Canadian geese that land there Spring and Fall each year.”
When reached for comment, Sammis pointed to his comments from a May hearing when he called the 173-acre project a “win-win” to help Vermont get a “badly needed” visitor center at Exit 4 free, and an opportunity for local businesses to use a “prime location to display their wares” in the project’s Vermont products showcase center.
“The proposed project will help to strengthen the local economy and provide new jobs,” Sammis wrote. “The project would also result in additional construction and operational jobs, as well as a significant increase to the Randolph grand list and property tax returns.”
Sammis is the founder of the New England Land Co. and has already developed projects in the Randolph area, including the Three Stallion Inn and The Green Mountain Stock Farm housing development.
Several community organizations and businesses also support the Exit 4 project, according to form letters filed with the Natural Resources Board. They include the Town of Randolph Selectboard, the White River Valley Chamber of Commerce, the Randolph Area Community Development Corp. and about two dozen businesses.
