This commentary is by Jeff Davis, a developer involved in a dispute with the South Burlington city government.
Thank you to Vermont Digger for allowing me to respond to the commentary by John Bossange regarding me.
I’m not surprised that John Bossange wrote the March 23 commentary that he did. He is a well-known activist and South Burlington is just his latest location in Chittenden County to complain about development. Certainly his piece about me was offensive. That’s his style; however, it is not mine. I will stick to the facts.
John seems to think that we filed a lawsuit to influence the election in South Burlington. He is dead wrong. We believe that the South Burlington City Council broke the law with the zoning action it took. There are statutory timetables parties have to follow to file appeals and objections. We were following the timetables necessary to challenge the city’s decision and it has nothing to do with the election.
We purchased the 112-acre Hill Farm 20 years ago. We bought it because it was zoned for significant growth and was next to I-89 and the long-envisioned Swift Street Extension Road. We were encouraged by South Burlington city officials to plan on significant development there. In fact, the city and the regional planning commission designated the land as part of a growth center.
They did that because the utilities, roads and infrastructure are there and they did that also because smart growth would indicate dense development to protect against sprawl into outer parts of the city. This was good, smart growth planning by the city. The current city council ignored all that.
In 2015, we presented the city with an informal plan to develop our parcel. They liked what they saw. It was a mixed use development and the city officials encouraged us to delay our plans so that they could change the industrial zoning to allow for a mixed use development (commercial, residential, etc.).
In 2017, they suddenly went to interim zoning, which essentially blocked any development for two years. In 2020 they extended that for another year. Then in 2021 they abruptly changed direction. They refused to talk to us about mixed use development and made it clear that they intended to take 45 acres (almost half of our land) and designate it as undevelopable.
That’s right. With their action, they took 45 acres of our developable land with no compensation.
They’re designating this land as a habitat block. Imagine that. The 45 acres is bounded by a major sports center and hundreds of homes to the west, hundreds of homes to the south, a major state highway (Route 116) and significant industrial development to the east and I-89 to the north. To make things worse, the city’s own consultant who developed the habitat maps admittedly never set foot on the property.
Let’s be clear here. This is not about habitat blocks. This is about stopping development.
We have spent millions of dollars over the last 20 years acquiring the land, paying city taxes and making development plans. Suddenly the city decided to take 45 acres of our land away with no compensation. We asked them both in writing and in oral testimony to compromise and create an acceptable buffer to protect our Dorset Park neighbors to the west. But the city council refused to compromise. They left us no choice but to file a federal lawsuit for what we believe is an illegal taking of our property under both the U.S. and Vermont constitutions.
We remain willing to compromise, provide a significant buffer to our neighbors, and develop a smart growth project on our property. We hope the South Burlington City Council will show some flexibility and work with us to achieve that.