[B]URLINGTON — Burton Snowboards is now one step closer to opening a concert venue at the company’s campus in Burlington’s South End, with the city’s Planning Commission approving a zoning amendment for the area Tuesday night. The discussion will now head to the City Council, where the fate of the industrial compound will ultimately be decided.
The zoning amendment is not specific to the Burton project, but rather addresses larger concerns in the South End about maintaining the district’s identity as a center for industry and manufacturing, as well as for the arts.
“Our plan for the South End of Burlington is really about how we can preserve and enhance the unique identities that make the South End what it is, understanding that sometimes those identities can actually be in conflict with one another, and in competition for space with one another,” said Commissioner Emily Lee.
Comments and concerns heard at a public hearing during a previous commission meeting on the South End zoning led to the creation of the current amendment.
The amendment aims to prioritize “traditional” and “emerging” industry without prohibiting any building uses currently permitted in the area. The zoning would also have a broad definition of what “manufacturing” spaces can include, with everything from technical offices, research and development, and arts-based spaces making the list (not including a performing arts center).
“[There is an] evolving nature of what it actually takes for members of a business to get to a point where they have a product to produce,” Lee said. “A lot of that work is actually happening within more of an office kind of setting.”
The part of South End that is south of Home Avenue would be zoned with a stricter focus on manufacturing than the rest of the Pine Street area. Though the broader uses of the manufacturing process would remain unlimited in this zone, there would be “if/then” limitations for retail, office, and other non-manufacturing spaces.
“If we would like these to exist south of Home Avenue in order to support the kind of financial feasibility of industry south of Home Avenue, then these are the types of uses that would apply to those limitations,” Lee said.
Zoning for the Burton complex would be zoned with these limitations. If their zoning is approved, the snowboard company will likely partner with Higher Ground, a South Burlington music venue that has long been looking at moving to a larger space, for the project. Discussions around the new space also include plans for a skate park, restaurant and taproom.
The Burton property is on Industrial Avenue, between Home Avenue and Queen City Park Road.
Several South End residents voiced concerns about the project, specifically about the traffic and noise that could accompany such a space.
“I still have very serious concerns about the performing arts venue,” said Ben Traverse, who lives at the corner of Pine Street and Home Avenue. “Some of the information that we haven’t heard is information that specifically comes from Higher Ground — it’s how many nights it would be operating a year, it’s hours of operation, it’s the fact that their more well-attended events bring up to 1,200 people to their South Burlington location … I think there’s a lot of questions that Burton still has to answer.”
Justin Worthley, Burton’s vice president for human resources, called the amendment a “fair compromise.” He said the company plans on doing everything it can to mitigate the impact the project would have on the South End community.
“We are very interested in talking with our neighbors, the last thing we want to do is piss everybody off in our neighborhood.” Worthley said. “We have a lot of experience with events, as well as Higher Ground. I just want people in the neighborhood to know that we’ve been there 25 years, since 1992, and we’re highly invested in what’s happening in the South End. We see ourselves as part of that.”