[S]OUTH BURLINGTON — With a wary eye on Washington D.C., state and South Burlington officials celebrated a senior housing project Friday they hope attracts more businesses and investment into a proposed “city center.”
Gov. Phil Scott presented the city with a $525,000 federal Community Development Block Grant, part of the financing for the 39-unit, $9.5 million housing project, one of the first developments in a newly created special tax district — east of Dorset Street — where officials hope to create a “downtown.”
The housing project, which officials hope to complete next year, will be owned and run by Cathedral Square, a state leader in senior housing, and will includes services on-site designed to help seniors stay out of the hospital.
Scott highlighted the importance of the new tax district and promoted tax increment financing in other parts of the state as part of a strategy to make downtown redevelopment more affordable and attractive to private developers.
In “tax increment financing” districts, a city can use the increased tax revenues a project creates to make investments in infrastructure such as roads and sewers.
In South Burlington, a new road — Market Street — will be constructed and other improvements made, in part with a $5 million bond voters approved last year. The tax district was established in 2012 as part of a larger 40-year dream to create a “downtown” in the sprawling Burlington suburb. The downtown core proposal includes a new library, park and recreation facility.
Scott applauded the creation of a South Burlington downtown, which he said “exemplifies my goals as governor” of making the state more affordable, by creating more housing and growing the economy. He and South Burlington City Manager Kevin Dorn reviewed large maps of the proposed downtown creation before the event.
South Burlington City Council Chair Helen Riehle said the tax district was “absolutely essential” to make the downtown development financially possible. Trader Joe’s and Pier 1 are also in the district, she said.
Scott said TIFs have “demonstrated benefits to supporting the type of development projects we need to make housing more affordable for all.”
The Legislature has approved 11 “tax increment financing” districts for infrastructure improvements, which then draw private investment. Scott wants to double the number of communities that could set up a TIF district. He also wants to loosen some environmental rules to spur downtown development and has proposed a $35 million bond for affordable housing.
Despite the celebratory mood at the grant announcement, concern and caution were raised over the future of the federal Community Development Block Grant program, which President Donald Trump’s administration proposed Monday should be terminated. Representatives for Sens. Patrick Leahy and Bernie Sanders and Rep. Peter Welch were on hand at the event Friday and said the delegation would oppose those efforts.
Approximately $7 million in Community Development Block Grant grants are awarded each year in Vermont.
Seniors living in the new project will also be part of a program developed to find ways to reduce hospital visits. According to Kim Fitzgerald, the chief executive officer at Cathedral Square, about 5,000 Vermonters are in the Support and Services at Home program or SASH. She said the program is saving the Medicare program $1,500 per patient per year.
Kate Ash, a Leahy adviser, said Trump’s announcement about putting the CDBG program on the chopping block was “startling.” Ash says the program is considered to be a “gold standard” federal grant initiative in part because of the flexibility states have in how they can award the funds.
“It’s both encouraging and essential we celebrate this today,” Ash said.
This week, she said, a middle school student asked Leahy what Vermonters “could do in this new era of Trump.”
“He paused for a moment, getting his thoughts together, and Sen. Leahy said that students should keep learning, they should keep playing with their brothers and sisters, they should keep dreaming and they should keep growing because the world does not stop,” Ash said.
