This story by Tommy Gardner was first published in the Stowe Reporter on May 9.
Two years after Stowe zoning officials denied Stowe Mountain Resort a permit for a 286-space parking lot and neighbors to the proposed site opposed it, the sides have come to an agreement that essentially splits the difference.
A settlement reached in Vermont Environmental Court on March 14 will allow the resort to construct a 150-space paved parking lot in its Harlow Hill meadow, located at 5400 Mountain Road.
The gravel lot, located across Route 108 from the resort’s cross-country skiing center, houses the resort’s shipping and receiving warehouse and an administrative and storage building. The original plan was to increase the parking capacity tenfold — from roughly 30 to just under 300 — and use it for, among other things, overflow parking during the peak times of ski season.
That was in the summer of 2020, a year and a half before epic traffic jams caused the resort to charge for parking on weekends at its main Mt. Mansfield lot.
The Stowe Development Review Board denied the resort’s application in November 2021, nine months after the application was filed with the town, numerous review board meetings, reams of documents and hours of testimony.
The resort quickly appealed the decision to the Vermont Environmental Court, where it has languished for more than two years. Two abutting property owners also signed on to the case, siding against the resort.
Review board chair Drew Clymer, who was also the chair in 2021, said three years of heavy traffic have shown the need for more parking at the resort and said the settlement “seems to have satisfied the voices of the abutters” who had grouped together to oppose the original plan.
“What I saw was a significantly better project than the final one that we had seen,” Clymer said. “So, I guess it is all’s well that ends well and the project was brought into alignment with something that everybody can live with.”
Representatives from Vail Resorts, the Stowe resort’s parent company, did not comment on the settlement before press deadline but in appealing the review board’s decision, Vail’s lawyers said the parking lot is “integral to Resort operations,” and was anticipated roughly 20 years ago as part of the Stowe Mountain Resort Community Master Plan developed by the resort, the town and others.
“The necessity of that expansion has only grown with time, and it is increasingly clear that it is necessary to alleviate traffic and parking issues that affect both the Resort and the Town,” the appeal states.
In addition to scaling back the scope of the parking lot, from 286 spaces to 150, as part of the agreement, stipulations aim to ensure neighbors won’t be bothered by sights and sounds associated with a parking lot.
The only lighting allowed in the parking lot will be provided by four 16-foot light poles, which will be switched off overnight.
Vehicles, especially those like plow and sand trucks or delivery vehicles can access the lot at any time, but can’t use their backup alarms past 10 p.m.
The resort agreed to put up signs asking parking lot users not to make a lot of noise or play loud music or tailgate but isn’t required to monitor the lot and enforce those rules regarding revelry.
The parking lot will feature 8-feet-tall, landscaped berms between the lot and the abutting residential properties.
The resort’s shuttle bus will be required to stop at both the Nordic center across the road and the new parking lot, as part of its regular loop. If the route changes the route so the bus only stops at one of the two lots, then the resort will have to reassess whether this warrants a pedestrian crosswalk across Mountain Road.
