[B]urlington – As a state environmental review is expected to begin next month for a massive new development proposal on land formerly owned by Burlington College, only muted opposition to the project has emerged.
Big projects in the Queen City frequently meet with resistance from residents concerned about gentrification and environmental, traffic and other impacts of large-scale development.
Most recently, residents who opposed the redevelopment of the Burlington Town Center waged a two-year campaign against the nascent mixed-use project, packing public hearings, forcing a citywide vote on new zoning, and mounting a court battle that ended in a mediated settlement that saw major concessions from the developer.
Cambrian Rise, the mixed-use project slated for North Avenue, is larger than the Burlington Town Center project. Though it won’t be nearly as tall — the downtown project’s height is a sticking point for many opponents — it is expected to occupy 12 new buildings with more than twice as much housing.
Both projects have ardent support from the mayor and most city councilors, in part because Burlington’s elected officials say the city is struggling to overcome a serious housing crunch.
Cambrian Rise is expected to include 739 apartments or condos, a 42-room hotel, 49,000 square feet of commercial space with another 18,000 square feet of space for other amenities, nearly 1,100 parking spaces, and 2,250 feet of new public roadways.
That includes 65 apartments in the former St. Joseph’s orphanage building on the property, which started leasing earlier this summer. Tenants began moving in July 1. The portion, dubbed Liberty House, did not need Act 250 approval because it was a pre-existing structure.
The lakefront development, which received City Council and Development Review Board approval earlier this year, may have avoided the Town Center’s fate by partnering with the city and the Vermont Land Trust to create a public park on 12 acres of the former Burlington College land.
That move appeared to quell initial opposition from a group calling itself Save Open Space Burlington, which had raised concerns that the lakefront land would be developed without open public spaces.
AJ Rossman, an engineer who lives across the street, has a different theory about why Cambrian Rise hasn’t met with as great resistance as the Town Center project. “Right now we feel the developer has been really good at keeping it under the radar,” Rossman said.
Cambrian Rise is a project of BC Community Housing LLC, a company created by developer Eric Farrell, who during the last several years has bought the property in chunks as the cash-strapped Burlington College fought to keep from going under. The school closed in May 2016.
Farrell did not return a call Thursday requesting comment for this report.
Rossman was light on specifics for how Farrell was keeping his massive project under the radar, citing the longtime Burlington developer’s familiarity with the city approval process. He also brought up a conversation between one of Farrell’s employees and Rossman’s wife at a Development Review Board meeting. During that conversation, according to Rossman, the employee told her not to bother coming to any more meetings because the project was going to happen anyway. However, at that point the project was already approved and the upcoming meeting was only about bonding and construction hours.
The employee in question, Owiso Makuku, said she never told anyone not to bother attending review board meetings.
“People either don’t know it’s happening or believe it’s a foregone conclusion that this thing is going to go through. They don’t realize it hasn’t gone through environmental review,” Rossman said.
Rossman said he’s now trying to raise awareness that residents can still have a voice in the Act 250 review. To that end, he’s formed the group Cambrian Watch, with the help of local graduate student Erik Sievert, whom Rossman hired to coordinate the group’s efforts.
“We just want to make sure our voices are heard by the (district environmental) commission,” Rossman said.
Cambrian Watch is seeking non-party participant status in the Act 250 review. Such status would allow the group to speak and offer evidence in district environmental commission hearings, but would not allow it to appeal an adverse decision from the commission.
The group will hold an information session at The Ramble this weekend, a community event in the Old North End. However, an online petition looking to draw attention to the Act 250 process has only five supporters — a far cry from its goal of 1,000.
“While the proposed development would be unprecedented in terms of its scale and its potential to mitigate the city of Burlington’s ongoing housing crisis, the project has raised considerable concerns with regards to its corresponding environmental impact on the ecologically fragile Lake Champlain and the surrounding natural areas,” the petition states.
Rossman and his wife, Kathy, are also among a handful of neighbors seeking party status in the proceedings. Farrell’s attorney is asking the commission to limit their participation, according to a letter sent to neighbors and the environmental commission.
The Rossmans submitted written comment for a July 10 preliminary hearing in which they raised concerns pertaining to five of the 10 statutory Act 250 criteria, including traffic, effect on municipal services and the environment.
Farrell’s attorney, Judy Zullo, argues that the Rossmans’ party status should be limited to their concerns about traffic and that status should remain provisional “until such a time as petitioners’ can completely satisfy the requirements of party status,” including “concrete and specific” proof to support their positions.
The Rossmans’ request for party status on other criteria should be rejected, Zullo wrote, because they’re raising general policy concerns that aren’t unique to their interest as nearby property owners.
Farrell objects to other neighbors’ requests for party status on similar grounds, in one case saying the neighbor doesn’t meet the definition of an adjoining property owner.
AJ Rossman said he was taken aback by the barrage of legalese and is considering whether he needs to hire an attorney to participate effectively in the Act 250 process. He said he feels outgunned.
Act 250 permits are reviewed by volunteer district commissioners appointed by the governor. The District 4 chairman is Tom Little, a prominent lawyer and former state representative.
Little and the two other commissioners’ work is supported by a full-time district environmental coordinator. Stephanie Monaghan, the District 4 coordinator, did not return a call Thursday requesting comment for this report.
AJ Rossman said Monaghan has been responsive to his requests for assistance and more information, and the two were planning a phone call for later in the week.
Correction: An earlier version of this story contained inaccurate information based on misstatements by AJ Rossman.
