From sewer plant upgrades to road reconstruction to land acquisition, Montpelier voters will decide the future of the city’s infrastructure at this year’s Town Meeting.
Atop the ballot is a $2 million bond vote to purchase the 138-acre former Montpelier Elks Country Club off Route 2. The sprawling tract has city officials dreaming up a range of possible uses, including a recreation center, sports fields, a child care center and affordable housing.
“People have talked about this as a once-in-a-generation kind of opportunity,” Mayor Anne Watson said. “There’re just not that many open spaces of land in Montpelier.”
Because the city’s existing recreation building on Barre Street requires extensive renovations, Watson said the city decided to consider other options.
“We figured that if we were going to spend millions of dollars anyway, why not explore the possibility of investing in a new building and on a new property,” she said. The space could consist of outdoor tennis courts and playing fields, as well as an indoor space, Watson said.
The city is working with The HUB, a local nonprofit interested in building and operating an indoor recreational center, though no plans have been finalized.
But given the size of the Elks Club lot, the city envisions much more for it than just recreation.
“If the city is running the process, then we can ensure that it is affordable housing that is built there,” Watson said.
The city’s proposed $10.7 million budget assumes affirmative votes on all four proposed bond items. In addition to the Elks Club purchase, residents will vote on renovations to East State Street, Phase II of wastewater plant upgrades and a potpourri of infrastructure projects that includes streetlight and intersection improvements.
The budget would raise the municipal property tax by 6.8%, or $184 for an average property valued at $228,000, according to City Manager Bill Fraser. But because the education portion of the property tax is set to decrease, voters would expect their property taxes to rise 1.1% overall.
Some residents, including Susan Reid, believe buying the 138-acre property would be rash.
“$2 million just acquires the property. And I don’t know what other expenditures we’ll get into — there really isn’t a plan yet,” she said. “I tend to vote for school budgets and library budgets and other projects that come along. This is really something new for me.”
Living on a fixed income, Reid said that property taxes already make up about an eighth of her earnings. Increasing her tax bill could prove an impossible burden.
Other residents have echoed Reid’s sentiment. “I’m not against recreational land, but we’ve got a huge, beautiful park that they just added to,” said Jody Pettersen, referring to the recent expansion of Hubbard Park.
“This fitness, rec center plan sounds very elitist and not what the taxpayers of Montpelier need to invest in. And what happens to the tax dollars that we can get from this property?” she said.
Those in favor of the project, such as Fraser, the city manager, argue that taxpayers will have more say over how the land is used if the city purchases it.
“This is an opportunity to get control over a large parcel and have what the public would like to go there versus what a private entity might want to have,” he said. He stressed that while private ownership is not necessarily bad, if the city purchases the land, it will solicit extensive public comment to better understand what residents want.
Reid, who has lived in Montpelier for nearly 40 years, said she worries she would not be able to take advantage of the property. Because the Elks Club is outside of downtown and she doesn’t own a car, Reid feels excluded from the benefits of purchasing the land.
But if the bond vote passes, Reid knows how she would like the land to be used.
“I probably will get more involved in city politics to make sure that housing happens, and that if housing happens, it’s not purely upper-income housing,” she said.
The possibility of new housing drew the support of City Councilor Jack McCullough.
“Montpelier has a need for housing at every price point,” he said. “We’ve not had any kind of study done to see how many units it can support but it’s a real opportunity to expand the housing supply.”
Voters also will decide on borrowing over $7 million for a renovation of East State Street, the maligned road connecting the relative splendor of State Street and the Vermont College of Fine Arts.
“Probably the biggest thing that we get calls about and complaints about is infrastructure and problems with the roads,” McCullough said. “This is going to be a big job, and it’s a lot of money, but it’s something that we can’t put off.”
To save time and construction costs, the city proposes upgrading the water and sewer lines below East State Street, in addition to repaving — creating a higher single price tag but tackling two renovations in one and hypothetically saving money in the long run.
In the process, the city would fix some of its problems with combined sewer overflows by separating stormwater and sewer pipes, Fraser said. The upgrade would happen in stages, covering the road from Main Street to College Street.
The most expensive proposed project would require a $16.4 million bond to upgrade the water resource recovery facility.
The project is Phase II of wastewater upgrades. The first phase allowed the plant to accept more organic material, which increased methane production at the facility. Methane has replaced oil to heat the facility in the winter, but excess methane has led to foul odor and cannot be used for heat in the summer. As part of Phase II, the city plans to purchase a dryer to evaporate liquid from the solids produced at the plant.
The resulting dried solids, Watson explained, are not as environmentally detrimental. Because they weigh less, the city would save money trucking waste products to the Coventry landfill. The dryer also will combat the facility’s odor issue.
“My highest priority is climate action, doing everything we can to reduce the community’s carbon emissions, as well as planning for a more chaotic climate future,” Watson said, and the upgrade to the sewer will help that mission.
