This story by Corey McDonald was first published by The Other Paper on Dec. 21.
A revised development plan for the abandoned Pizza Hut lot in South Burlington is now being reviewed by the city’s development review board, even as an environmental court hearing challenging the previous plan’s rejection moves forward.
The new plan takes steps to correct a disagreement over the number of so-called inclusionary units in the project. South Burlington’s inclusionary zoning law requires that new housing developments include affordable units totaling 15% of the overall number of units, to keep a mix of both affordable and market-rate apartments.
“We’re here today to talk about a project that is similar to ones that you’ve seen in the past, and it includes many of the same elements that you’ve seen before,” said Jennifer Desautels, an engineer and project manager with Trudell Consulting Engineers, who is working with property owner Gary Bourne.
The project, if it is green lit, would replace old buildings on the corner of Swift Street and Shelburne Road with a Chase Bank, a commercial building with three apartment units, and a three-story, 27-unit multi-family building.
The lots, once home to a Pizza Hut and a Shell gas station, have been shuttered since at least 2011, and are masked in graffiti and overgrown shrubbery.
“Right now, that property, as it stands, is …” Desautels started to say.
“Hideous,” Dawn Philibert, the chair of the city’s development review board, cut in, before asking why the property owner has not yet “demolished the buildings that are such eyesores?”
“At one point we were actually blocked by Act 250 for quite a period of time,” Bourne said during the meeting. “They’ve now released the property, but the project wasn’t moving so we weren’t sure if it was going to go forward.”
A previous version of the project included a drive-through ATM at the bank, but that has since been removed from the proposal because it is not permitted under the current zoning regulations.
The proposal has also since been reconfigured to include 10 affordable rental units and 20 market rate rental units, “meeting the required inclusionary minimum for a 30-unit development on these parcels,” development board documents say.
The new application is expected to continue into January.
Bourne, a co-owner of Bourne Petroleum who lives in Massachusetts, has been working on redeveloping the property since 2020, when he first had architects meet with planning staff to “get a sense of direction,” he has said.
After his first proposal was denied, he appealed the decision to Vermont Environmental Court in August. The appeal remains active.
