Editor’s Note: This story by Corey McDonald was first published by The Other Paper on April 13.
Beta Technologies’s proposed 40-acre technology and manufacturing campus could get final approval this month, two years after it was first submitted to the South Burlington’s development review board.
The campus created a stir this time last year, after an issue over a land use condition regarding parking lots left the project in limbo and prompted outcry from residents and politicos such as Gov. Phil Scott.
Now, after a land use amendment allowing for the proposed parking lot was approved by the city council last year, Beta’s master plan and site plan for the site south of the airport seems likely to wrap up with the city’s development review board this month, officials said, giving a green light to the sprawling campus that is critical to the company’s production goals.
“We’ve designed our manufacturing and final assembly facility, and the broader campus, to be a place that advances our business and promotes the values of this community,” a company spokesperson said. “We look forward to getting the facility finished and online, so we can begin manufacturing our electric aircraft and bring more jobs to the community.
“We are nearly there, and we’re really appreciative of the town’s flexibility to convene a special meeting to work through a few final items and keep the project on track,” they said.
The development review board was scheduled to meet on the evening of Tuesday, April 11 — after The Other Paper’s press deadline — and on Tuesday, April 18, when the campus is expected to be approved, officials said, barring unforeseen circumstances.
The governing body first took the amended application up in December before holding a meeting on it in February but was unable to form a quorum during its scheduled meetings on March 21 and April 4.
“They strive to be done as quickly as possible, but it’s a committee of seven volunteers and sometimes life gets in the way,” Marla Keene, the city’s development review planner, said.
If approved, more than 40 acres of brownfield property — known as “South 40” — at the southernmost end of the Burlington International Airport could be redeveloped into a manufacturing campus for final assembly of Beta’s electric aircraft. It would include a manufacturing facility, general aviation hangar, training and cultural center, a mixed office and retail building and a child care facility.
Beta, which was founded in 2017 and is headquartered in a hangar near the airport’s main terminal, first proposed the campus in May 2021. CEO Kyle Clark said at the time that the plant would be able to produce more than 250 aircraft annually and could bring in hundreds of new jobs.
Those plans hit a snag last March. The company’s master plan for the site was approved, but a condition over parking lot limits stalled the project.
Beta, according to development review board documents, was unable to secure approval for its proposed parking lot because the parking lot was proposed to be in front of an associated manufacturing and office facility, and city regulations required parking to be located to the rear or side of uses on the property.
The event prompted outcry from South Burlington residents, local developers and Gov. Phil Scott, who, at the time, called the project “too important for Vermont” and said he would ask state legislators to step in if the parking lot requirements were not waived.
“This is not just about jobs for Chittenden County; this will have a ripple effect across the state,” the governor said at the time, adding Beta could potentially move its facility to Plattsburgh.
Former councilor and state Sen. Thomas Chittenden introduced an amendment — eventually cut — that would have loosened local control of parking near the airport, which prompted intense infighting among the South Burlington City Council.
However, concerns have since been allayed. The South Burlington City Council, in May last year, passed an amendment providing an exemption to limits on placement of parking areas. Beta then resubmitted its original plans, including the more than 200 parking spaces, which are now with the development review board.
In July, the company signed a 75-year lease agreement with the airport.
“I expect it to be discussed (Tuesday). I expect the board to conclude their discussion, but to remain open for the limited purpose of public comment,” Keene said.
