Burlington could open a new waste drop-off center in the next few years, as part of a plan scheduled to appear before city councilors this month.
The proposal would move Burlington’s waste drop-off center from its current location at 339 Pine St. to nearby Flynn Avenue, bringing to fruition a plan the Chittenden Solid Waste District set in motion two decades ago.
Under the proposal, Burlington would negotiate a lease-to-own agreement for two district-owned parcels spanning three acres at 195-201 Flynn Ave. The waste collector then would operate a drop-off center at the site, collecting trash, recycling, compost and yard scraps.
City officials have endorsed a move to the new site, which would open no earlier than 2023. In a memo to city councilors, Public Works Director Chapin Spencer called the current site on Pine Street “not optimal,” due to its tight quarters and lack of modern equipment.
Another reason to move, Spencer said, is that the city already has invested about $83,000 in the Flynn Avenue location. In 2016, Burlington agreed to pay the Chittenden Solid Waste District $16,667 per year for the option to buy the property at a later date, with any funds paid going toward the city’s eventual ownership of the property. That agreement — which the city extended twice — is set to expire on Nov. 1.
City councilors are scheduled to vote Oct. 25 on whether to prolong that agreement again — this time for three more months — allowing Mayor Miro Weinberger’s administration to negotiate a lease-to-own deal with the district. If the council keeps the ball rolling, a lease-to-own deal likely would be ready for the body’s approval in January 2022, Spencer said.
The Chittenden Solid Waste District’s board has said it’s looking to sell the property — either to Burlington or another buyer.
Since both the district and Burlington are public entities working to develop a public service, the waste district plans to give the city a bargain for the land. While the final numbers would come in January 2022, the 2016 agreement floated a $500,000 price tag for the property — less than half of the combined amount at which the city appraises the two parcels.
The 2016 terms also state that the $500,000 would be paid across 20 years, during which the district would still own the property. The roughly $83,000 the city has already paid to the district also would go toward the $500,000 price tag.
More than a decade is ‘long enough’
The story of how the Chittenden Solid Waste District ended up as a landlord in the first place, and why Burlington is now scrambling to be its tenant, began in the 1990s, when officials thought the long-delayed Champlain Parkway would soon divert through-traffic away from the Burlington Drop-Off Center on Pine Street.
In response, city officials and the district searched for another place to put the center. While towns and cities typically own the property where a Chittenden Solid Waste District drop-off center operates, the district bucked precedent in 2001 and spent $510,000 to purchase 195-201 Flynn Ave., hoping that the state’s largest city would buy it off them.
But after more than a decade, that still hadn’t happened; with the ongoing uncertainty about the Champlain Parkway’s construction, Burlington held off on purchasing the property. Still, the district wanted out of the real estate business.
“CSWD’s Board and Staff indicated to the City that they had held the property long enough and wanted to sell it,” Spencer, the public works chief, wrote in the memo.
The two parties forged a path forward in 2016 with the option-to-buy agreement, though the city extended that agreement for two years beyond its initial three-year trajectory.
Now, even though the city seems poised to take over the property pending the city council’s approval, the Champlain Parkway still could be a factor: The waste district has said it won’t seek a permit to build the new drop-off center until construction on the parkway begins, Spencer told VTDigger.
For South End residents who don’t want heavy traffic on neighborhood streets, the condition is welcome. But opponents of the controversial project who want a new drop-off center will be faced with a dilemma.
A public meeting about the potential move held Tuesday evening drew 20 participants, Spencer said. Members of the public will have another opportunity to speak when the issue comes before the City Council on Oct. 25.
