BURLINGTON — A University of Vermont plan to build two new road salt storage sheds next to Centennial Field is drawing opposition over concerns that runoff could potentially contaminate a neighboring brook and natural area.
Some Burlingtonians have also raised objections to the way the project was approved by the city.
The city’s Development Review Board has conditionally approved a permit for the construction, but is now going through a 30-day appeal period after nearby resident Martha Lang challenged the action.
Lang raised concerns at the board’s Oct. 15 about salt leaking downhill from the site and affecting vegetation and Centennial Brook. The city has designated the Centennial Woods natural area as a protected zone with a wetland overlay.
“My ultimate goal is to get that area cleaned up and to get the entire Centennial Woods under conservation control,” Lang said, adding that other circumstances have gradually chipped away at the area over the last several decades. She cited dumpsters and compost piles that she believes don’t belong so close to a protected area.
UVM Environmental Science professor Breck Bowden also pointed to the threat posed by salt runoff but said he is more concerned about the large number of roads and parking lots in the watershed.
Because the Rubenstein School of Environment and Natural Resources at UVM oversees the management of all natural areas owned by the university, Bowden said it’s important to understand the potential impact of any development in the area.
“Salt lost to the environment would be both an environmental concern and an economic loss; it’s not good for anyone,” Bowden said in an email. “Thus, if we wish to reduce salt loading to Centennial Brook – or any other water body – we need to address winter salt use on roads and parking lots.”
Principal planner Scott Gustin, a member of the Development Review Board, said the proposed site is outside of the protected zone and wetlands overlay and that he does not have any serious concerns with the salt shed.
Lang also urged the board to deny the permit under a statute in the city code that says it can deny an application if the entity requesting it has outstanding permits. UVM’s conditional approval for the salt sheds required the university to close out three outstanding permits at the same location.
UVM spokesperson Jeff Wakefield said Friday the three permits — from nine, 12 and 15 years ago — have been closed out.
Wakefield said the projects for those permits had been completed between 2002 and 2010, adding that a “clerical error” at UVM resulted in the permits remaining active for so many years.
Gustin on Monday said the university submitted requests for “certificates of occupancy” to close the permits, but that the city needs to check that the work was done before they can be officially closed.
City Councilor Sharon Bushor, I-Ward 1, also raised concerns about the permitting process, saying she was unaware UVM had outstanding permits.
“The city has really taken a strong stance now on the fact that before they give a new permit, that there needs to be closure of existing permits,” she said. “I don’t see UVM as being any different than any other applicant.”
UVM’s director of physical plant, Salvatore Chiarelli, said the university uses between 1,500 and 1,800 tons of salt a year, depending on the weather. The two new sheds, combined with one existing shed, will bring the total amount UVM can have on hand to about 900 tons.
Although UVM has contracts with several salt suppliers, Chiarelli said with the new sheds the university will be better equipped during storms.
“We’ll have more storage volume on campus as opposed to somebody else having it far away that we can’t get access to during a snow event,” Chiarelli said. “So it’s kind of a simple no-brainer way to make the operation better.”
Lang filed a complaint with the state Agency of Natural Resources, which was assigned to chief investigator Sean McVeigh. He did not respond to a request for comment.
Gustin said that barring a successful appeal, UVM would be able to obtain the permit and begin construction on Nov. 15.
