BURLINGTON — Wrapping up 18 months of work by city planners and committees, the Burlington City Council passed a resolution Monday night that aims to revamp the city’s South End.
The South End Innovation District, a comprehensive rezoning that will allow housing in an area that has been dominated by industrial uses and parking lots, passed unanimously.
Just before the council’s vote, Mayor Miro Weinberger said that the dominant narrative after a long policy process is often about conflict and disagreements.
“I think the story here is about the lack of controversy,” Weinberger said. He later called the resolution “one of the more dramatic fixes” that the council could make to address the city’s housing crisis.
With the zoning update, housing can now be built in the South End, allowing buildings up to eight stories in certain portions of the district and restricting them to six or four stories elsewhere. The full ordinance runs 13 pages and includes a list of permitted business uses ranging from “appliance sales” to “tailor shop.”
Prior to its passage, the resolution faced some last-minute updates. The council considered four amendments on Monday, passing two. One proposed by Councilor Zoraya Hightower, P-Ward 1, eliminated payments that developers could make to the city in lieu of building affordable housing units. Another successful amendment increased slightly the amount of parking that can be included in a lot.
The two failed amendments elicited lengthy debate around what should be allowed in what is being envisioned as a new city neighborhood.
Councilor Joan Shannon, D-South District, proposed restricting college dormitories from the district, arguing that dorms could exacerbate the city’s lack of housing.
Gene Bergman, P-Ward 2, agreed with Shannon. He said a major goal of the new district is to increase housing for working people. “That is not dormitories,” he said.
Ben Traverse, D-Ward 5, argued that restricting dorms “does not mean that Champlain College or UVM isn’t necessarily going to build student housing there.” In other words, he contended, those institutions could build private student housing anyway.
“Wouldn’t you rather have a dormitory that is actively managed by the college?” Traverse said.
The amendment that would restrict dormitories failed on a 6-6 vote.
Another debate around what should be included in the district was centered around hotels, which the ordinance prohibits. But Traverse said he supports building hotels there, and proposed allowing them in certain areas south of Lakeside Avenue.
Traverse said if the new district is to be an “innovation district,” then people doing business in the area will need lodging. Hotel guests could help support businesses, he said.
Sarah Carpenter, D-Ward 4, supported the Traverse amendment, calling it an essential part of a “well rounded neighborhood.”
But those opposed, like Melo Grant, P-Central District, said it would be a shame if the first thing built in the new district was a hotel instead of much-needed housing.
The vacancy rate in Chittenden County was 0.4% in 2022, according to a commentary written by Weinberger earlier this year.
“Housing, housing, housing and more housing,” said Grant. “Everything my fellow councilors just said sounds great but we’re not living in that world. We need housing.”
Traverse’s amendment failed on a vote of 5-7.
Earlier on Monday, Weinberger held a virtual press briefing with several South End partners to tout the upcoming ordinance change. During his remarks, the mayor said his administration is in discussions with the company behind the Hula Lakeside development, Champlain College and Champlain Housing Trust to create 700 new homes in the district.
One speaker at Weinberger’s briefing was Jak Tiano, from the advocacy group Vermonters for People Oriented Places. Tiano, a South End resident, noted that he stood out in the panel as being just an “average resident” and a person under 30 years old.
“Even though the zoning ordinance describes the neighborhood that I would like to live in, it’s also the kind of neighborhood that Burlington needs right now,” Tiano said.
Not only can it make a dent in the housing crisis, he said, but it can also show the rest of the city a path forward, “re-envisioning what an urban Vermont can and should look like in this century of climate instability.”
