WILLISTON — A pair of vacant lots on Route 2A in Williston will become the new site for a Vermont State Police barracks and VTrans park and ride.
The two locations will share an access road which will run parallel to Route 2A, separated by a 75-foot buffer.
The Agency of Transportation will widen portions of Route 2A and build designated turning lanes to access the barracks and park and ride.
The barracks is a necessity for the state police, whose current location on the north side of the I-89 Exit 12 interchange, has infrastructure challenges and poses difficulties for troopers’ response times. A park and ride has been sought by Willistonians since a previous park and ride became the site of a hotel in the late 1990s.
But neighbors on either side of Route 2A have raised concerns over the project, citing noise and light pollution, increased traffic congestion, impact to wildlife and a decrease in property value.
State Police Capt. Garry Scott said the current barracks was built in the early 1990s. He has been stationed there for 20 years.
The state police have been working on a 40-year plan to replace all the barracks in Vermont. The barracks in Williston is the largest in the state.
The Williston barracks is larger because it also houses a 911 call center, Fish and Wildlife offices and various police assets, like Marine Division boats, snowmobiles, bomb squad and SWAT trucks.
The new barracks will also absorb the Vermont Information Center, which is currently located off Harvest Lane in Williston in a leased space, and is made up of various civilian and law enforcement staff.
Scott said there will be a cost offset by no longer leasing the information center space but did not have a figure on the lease costs.
“We’ve continued to look at this process to be as fiscally responsible as we can,” Scott said.
The barracks is still in the permitting process but Scott hopes to break ground next summer. Scott said the new barracks will cost roughly $21 million.
The funding is coming from the state Legislature’s capital improvements bill. Rep. Alice Emmons, D-Springfield, chair of the House Corrections and Institutions Committee, said $5.4 million was set aside for the Williston barracks. When the Legislature reconvenes in January, Emmons said lawmakers will be revisiting the appropriations for the Williston barracks.
“The projected cost is around $21 million,” Emmons said. “And we’re saying ‘Let’s see if we can rein that in a little more.’”
Emmons also said lawmakers will be discussing barracks across the state which have yet to be replaced, saying other barracks which are smaller usually come in with a cost between $6 million and $7 million.
Scott said there are several problems with the current barracks. It has flooded multiple times leading to damaged equipment and lost paperwork. People have broken into the barracks. There is no secure parking area for civilian employees, like 911 operators, who late at night, have had encounters with suspects just released after processing. The holding cells for suspects are not secure compared to other barracks and police stations, as they have had suspects break the doors and run through the barracks. In the cells, he also said the toilets have allowed for suspects to flush drugs.
The largest problem is being able to access the boats and trucks needed for specific calls, Scott said. With the proximity to Lake Champlain, Scott said Marine Division boats are needed for rescue operations when someone falls through the ice, for example. Currently, the storage area in the rear of the barracks is very crowded, with little room to navigate between the vehicles. Scott said it may take an hour for troopers to move vehicles out of the way of a boat needed for a rescue on the lake.
The new barracks will have two large garages behind the building which will house all the trucks and boats. He said the long response time would effectively be eliminated at the new site.
There are currently 30-50 employees on site any given day with a maximum of 75, Scott said, and he expects that number to remain about the same.
The state is planning to sell the land the current barracks sits on.
Park and Ride
Williston’s director of planning Matt Boulanger said Williston residents have been wanting a park and ride after one north of Exit 12 closed to build a hotel in the late 1990s. Plans call for the park and ride to be located north of the new barracks and south of I-89’s Exit 12. It will have about 140 parking spaces.
“There’s been a longstanding goal in the comprehensive plan for the town that Williston should have a park and ride,” Boulanger said.
The nearest state-operated park and ride is located in Richmond. Boulanger said he has heard from residents about their frustration with having to use the Richmond location and finding it overcrowded.
At the Oct. 22 Development Review Board meeting, members gave pre-application approval with recommendations to look more closely at how the plan complies with Williston bylaws, traffic studies and security plans.
VTrans Project Manager Tina Bohl said the park and ride will be federally funded and will cost between $2.5 million and $5 million. Bohl is also hoping to break ground next summer with completion planned for 2021.
Doug and Terry Williams live on Route 2A directly next to where the new barracks will be built, where they have lived for 22 years. The Williamses had no problems with the original plans for the park and ride access until they heard about the latest amendment to move the designated lane further up the road, and directly on their front lawn.
The Williamses are very passionate about their house. When they saw a for sale sign, they had to jump on the opportunity.
“It’s the house we plan to die in,” they said.
Doug Williams said the best part of his home is the backyard and the hedges he has put in over time. Next to a large patch of undeveloped land, wildlife constantly visit their yard and they welcome it, saying they will spend almost every night looking and listening to birds, squirrels, deer and wild cats.
“We love it out there,” Terry Williams said.
The Williamses said the state has been helpful with them to mitigate impact to their property, but the plans still involve removing part of their driveway to widen the road.
Their bedroom is on the north side of the house, and the Williamses are concerned with headlights shining through the windows. VTrans has said they will build a raised buffer with trees to reduce the light pollution.
A larger concern for the Williams is traffic congestion. As it stands currently, traffic during peak hours on Route 2A will back up from the Exit 12 interchange to Walker Hill Road at least. The Williamses said they don’t know how a trooper would be able to leave for a call during heavy traffic.
This is a problem Scott said troopers have at the barracks now.
“As we head into the season, we can’t take a left to go to the interstate,” Scott said. “Even putting on blue lights and sirens at this time of year, does not mean we are able to get out.”
Terry Williams is currently battling leukemia, and her doctors have told her to reduce stress in her life.
In a letter to the state after they first heard about the new changes, Doug Williams said the state is killing his wife by “destroying” their home.
“There must be a way to complete the project without ruining our neighborhood, our homes, and our lives,” he wrote.
Terry and Doug Williams said they would welcome a payment from the state in exchange for the loss of their front yard.
Larry Reed and his wife live across Route 2A from the Williamses. Reed has lived there for 50 years, and is equally passionate about his property and his privacy.
Reed said he has done most of the work on his property by hand and has increased the value by over $250,000 in that time after buying it for just over $10,000.
Reed and the Williams are very concerned with how the projects nearby will affect their property value, saying it will reduce the value “dramatically.”
Like Doug and Terry Williams, Reed said he didn’t have a problem with the project until moving the access road would cause people leaving the barracks and park and ride to shine their headlights directly into the front of his house.
A condition of the approval was to address noise and light pollution with the neighbors.
Reed and the Williams are equally concerned about flood lights at the new barracks shining on their property.
“Our goal is definitely to be a good neighbor,” VSP Capt. Scott said. “We fully appreciate having this being built next to your house and having giant lights — that’s not something we want to do and it doesn’t need to be that way all the time.”
