The Burlington City Council has unanimously approved the CityPlace settlement and a new development agreement. The deal was the result of a lawsuit the city brought against the developers of the project last fall.
In September, the city announced it would sue the developers of CityPlace for breach of contract and failure to fulfill construction promises laid out in a development agreement with the city. The project has been stalled since 2017.
The developers did not secure financing for the project prior to a tear down of a former mall on the property. The lack of progress has drawn ire from residents and city officials alike.
Mayor Miro Weinberger announced in early February that the city had brokered a settlement agreement with CityPlace developers that guarantees city streets around the project will be constructed within two years and either paid for directly by the developers or through the city’s tax increment financing bonds. Developers promised a $300,000 to $450,000 payout to the city for lost property tax valuation.
The settlement and development agreement almost imploded last week when Vermont labor union leaders came out against the new contract because it didn’t require union labor for the project.
But Monday night, the mayor announced a deal had been reached that tempered union concerns. Developers have agreed to state-mandated “prevailing wage rates.” The City Council delayed a vote on the new agreement until this Tuesday night to find common ground.
The settlement agreement was embraced with enthusiasm by some council members and cautious optimism by others.
Now that the settlement agreement has been formalized, Weinberger said he believes the three new local developers— Dave Farrington, owner of Farrington Construction; Al Senecal, owner of Omega Electrical Construction Co.; and Scott Ireland, owner and president of S.D. Ireland Concrete Construction — will pull off this “transformational project.”
He also praised developer Don Sinex, who has been involved with the project since the beginning, for working out the deal with the city. The two have publicly sparred with dueling legal threats over the development.
When the lawsuit was first announced, Sinex said it was a “wasteful” move by the city that would “gain nothing from this action” and draw the project out for months.
“This settlement agreement achieves a great deal for Burlington residents,” Weinberger said at tonight’s council meeting. “It will result in just a few months, if the council approves it tonight, in the city getting back the land for streets and sidewalks that it gave up in the 1960s.”
While Weinberger framed the agreement as a positive outcome for the city, councilors were cautious.
Independent Ward 7 Councilor Ali Dieng, who is also running for mayor against Weinberger, said the CityPlace project was a “pipe dream” that he wants the city to recognize as a previous failure.
Dieng warned that there is still an opportunity for failure moving forward.
“From what I hear today, it seems as if we have won,” Dieng said. “This is about a project we’re talking about that still needs to be built. Let’s not focus on the optic of a settlement agreement, a development agreement, and forget what is at stake.”
Councillor Jane Stromberg, P-Ward 8, said she would reluctantly vote yes.
“I feel like I’m a little bit more pessimistic just because this has dragged out in such a way,” Stromberg said. “This yes vote is probably like 1% more than it is a no vote and I want to be very transparent about that.”
Other councilors said the settlement agreement should be celebrated as a step forward for the city.
“Approval of this resolution, from my perspective, is a big win,” Councilor Chip Mason, D-Ward 5, said.
“Because I see it as a path forward for the pit that I, and all of us have looked at for the last four years, to be transformed into the mixed use development that we all approved,” he continued, “that will provide a much needed shot in the arm to downtown retail and our housing stock.”
Some who called into public comment tonight urged city councilors to approve the agreement so that downtown businesses can begin to feel the positive economic effects that the CityPlace hub is expected to bring.
“It’s really beyond time when we need to move this project forward,” said Kelly Devine, executive director of the Burlington Business Association. “Almost every business I speak to downtown will reflect that they see the impacts of having that undeveloped site downtown.”
Others see the development as an oversized project for Burlington that only benefits wealthy residents. Albert Petrarca, spokesperson for the Beyond the Pit Coalition, criticized progressive councilors for approving the new agreement in a statement to VTDigger.
“The most shocking thing about tonight’s vote was the unanimous support from the Progressive Party councilors for a pro-gentification [sic] project that amounts to a squandering of public resources to benefit the white and wealthy and not the most vulnerable,” Petrarca said. “Their lack of moral and political courage was breathtaking. Neoliberalism continues to strangle the left in Burlington.”