Residents in the town of Newbury voted to send a strong message to state lawmakers and the administration of Gov. Phil Scott that they do not want a proposed secure youth treatment and detention center in their community.
Residents of the town voted 601-56 during Town Meeting Day balloting Tuesday to formally express their opposition to the plan that has become entangled in permitting and legal processes. The results were reported by Town Clerk Nikki Tomlinson.
Specifically, the voters approved the non-binding measure to “inform” the various parties involved that residents do not support placing a juvenile detention facility at the site. The Stevens Road facility is owned by Vermont Permanency Initiative. Inc., and would be leased by the Vermont Department for Children and Families.
The ballot article said “it is not appropriate to locate a high security facility” at the site, and listed several reasons why the property, a former bed and breakfast, would not be a good fit for such a facility. Those reasons included:
- that the site is in a remote area of the community at the end of an unmaintained Class 4 road;
- that the property is in a conservation district design for low-density agricultural, forestry, and residential uses;
- that the town has no police department and limited law enforcement and emergency services coverage through the Orange County Sheriff’s Department and Vermont State Police barracks in St. Johnsbury, which is 23 miles away.
A petition to put the item, Article 8, on the Town Meeting Day ballot received more than 200 signatures. The article directs the selectboard to inform the governor and his administration, VPI’s board of directors, and lawmakers on several panels, including the heads of the Senate Judiciary Committee and the House Committee on Corrections and Institutions of their opposition to the proposal.
The six-bed secure residential and detention facility, which would be privately run by Vermont Permanency Initiative, would house males between the ages of 11 and 17 involved in the juvenile justice and child welfare systems.
In November 2021, Newbury’s Development Review Board unanimously denied a permit for the facility, but in October 2022, a state environmental court judge reversed the denial, according to the Valley News. An appeal is now pending in the Vermont Supreme Court.
Scott’s administration has planned to replace the state-run juvenile detention facility in Essex — the Woodside Juvenile Rehabilitation Center, which the Scott administration closed in October 2020 — with the privately run facility in Newbury.
State officials cited the dwindling number of young people at Woodside, often ranging from just a handful to none at all. However, the state also faced a federal lawsuit over its use of restraints at Woodside, which prompted the decision to close the state-run facility and contract with a private organization to provide secure treatment for youth.
The Vermont Department for Children and Families is also proposing to build an eight-bed secure facility in St. Albans for teens involved in the criminal justice system, calling it a temporary solution while waiting for approvals to build a permanent facility.
Since Woodside closed, the state has sent youths requiring a secure detention facility to out-of-state facilities, including the embattled Sununu Youth Services Center in New Hampshire, which is also facing closure.
Correction: An earlier version of this story mischaracterized the status of the state’s lease agreement plans.