This story by Corey McDonald first appeared in The Other Paper on Sept. 7.
Nearly two dozen residents living in or near Queen City Park who are affiliated with litigation against the relocation of Higher Ground’s music venue were issued no trespass notices by the Burton Corporation this summer.
The notices, sent to at least 22 Burlington and South Burlington residents, bar them from entering the premises at 180 and 266 Queen City Park Road — the headquarters of Burton Corporation and the proposed site for Higher Ground’s new facility.
“You are receiving this notice because you and/or members of your (Citizens for Responsible Zoning) group have come onto Burton’s property multiple times to spread misinformation about Burton and are otherwise interfering with its business operations,” the company’s general counsel, Sonya Sibold, wrote in the notices that were reviewed by The Other Paper.
The letter continues that Burton requested the residents “refrain from such activity” but since they had not responded to their request, “we feel it is necessary to send you this notice.”
Sibold told residents that the no-trespass notices were filed with both the Burlington Police Department and Vermont State Police.
The recipients of the notice, however, refute that they were ever on Burton’s property, and called the company’s move a bullying tactic.
“Are they trying to put their thumb in the eye of the small guy?” said Wendy Bratt, a nearby South Burlington resident who received a notice. “It seems incredibly childish to me. It feels like bullying, too — are they trying a scare tactic to bully us?”
In a statement, Sibold said the company has “reason to believe that members of the Citizens for Responsible Zoning group have come onto Burton’s property to place signs and put flyers on employees’ and guests’ vehicles in our parking lot without our permission.”
“Through their attorney, we requested they cease and desist from similar activity in the future,” Sibold said. “They would not commit to stop the activity and therefore we notified members of the group that they were no longer legally allowed on our property.”
For nearly four years, Burton and Higher Ground have been working to relocate the music venue from its current location on Williston Road to its warehouse space north of Queen City Park. The plans call for the site to be turned into an outdoor plaza, food court, indoor skate park and music facility, which would hold up to 1,500 people — 400 more than can fit into the current site.
The companies first received local approval in September 2020. Act 250 then OK’d the plan in 2022, but approvals were quickly appealed by the Citizens for Responsible Zoning.
The group, composed of nearby residents from Burlington and South Burlington, has argued that the nearly 12,000-square-foot music venue will bring noise and heavy traffic to a residential neighborhood that they say cannot support the venue.
Richard White, a nearby resident, said Higher Ground “is going to disrupt the peace and quiet and sleep in our neighborhood.”
Jed Lowy, a South Burlington resident, said that there is a “potential for overflow parking into Queen City Park, and a lot of noise coming into the park and the other surrounding neighborhoods.”
“We’ve been working with them trying to say, ‘We know we can’t stop this tide,’” Bratt said. “But what we want is to know that I’m not going to wake up at two in the morning because somebody’s parked outside off my driveway and drunk getting in their car on a weeknight when I want to work the next day.”
A Superior Court Judge in July upheld the state and local permits, allowing plans to move forward, but did tack on certain stipulations.
The company, for example, will have to coordinate with the cities of Burlington and South Burlington to ensure that no event parking will take place on Arthur Court or in Queen City Park; that all ticketed events will end by midnight, with the exception of 12 events per year that must end by 2 a.m.; and that Burton will install a permanent noise monitoring station at its property line to enforce World Health Organization noise limits.
“These conditions are proof positive that the neighbors and CRZ have presented legitimate concerns which legal precedent supports,” neighbors wrote in an editorial in The Other Paper.
The group is still considering appealing the judge’s decision, although a final decision has not been made.
While nearby residents have been vocal in their opposition — at one point posting lawn signs in the area calling attention to the proposal — many say they were befuddled when they received the notice earlier this summer and pushed back against Burton’s claims that they’ve spread misinformation or have demonstrated on the company’s property.
“To say I was astonished to receive such a letter was an understatement,” Sabrinajoy Milbury, a Maple Avenue resident, said. “The only time I have ever stepped foot on Burton property was more than 15 years ago when they were having a sale open to the public. As far as I know the only reason that I received that letter is because I was listed as a party for the Act 250 hearings.”
Doug Goodman, one of the group’s members, suggested that the company is “potentially slandering us through the letter because no one has entered their property unlawfully or spread misinformation,” he said. “No one’s actually gone down to the property and done anything. They basically served everybody who went to court.”
