This story by Christina Dolan was first published in The Valley News on Nov. 24
HARTLAND — The town’s planning commission adopted a new tone this week in its ongoing opposition to a developer’s plan to build a two-story, barn-style farm store, deli and bakery on a Route 5 property near the Interstate 91 interchange. In a Hartland Listserv post last Monday, the commission accused the developer of the proposed Sunnymede Farms Store of attacking the town plan.
“Developer flips off our legal Town Plan” was the subject line of the announcement on the Hartland Listserv posted by planning commission Chairman David Dukeshire.
Sunnymede Farms is a 600-acre cattle and maple sugaring operation near Hartland Four Corners owned by Florida real estate developer Aubrey Ferrao. In 2018, Ferrao purchased 17 acres of open land on Route 5, about two miles from Sunnymede Farm. Last fall, Sunnymede received a state Act 250 permit to build its farm store on the property. The Hartland Planning Commission and the Two Rivers Ottauquechee Regional Commission appealed the decision to the Environmental Division of Vermont Superior Court.
Opponents have argued the proposed 9,000-square-foot store constitutes “strip development,” which goes against town and regional plans. But in July, a judge denied the appeal. The planning commission is now appealing to the Vermont Supreme Court.
The intent of last week’s Listserv post was to “explain the (planning commission’s) reasons for our appeal,” including concerns that the proposed Sunnymede project would “adversely change the Village setting and its long-term vitality,” the online message stated. Dukeshire declined to answer questions about the post via email. The planning commission’s attorney also did not respond to requests for comment.
“Nothing has happened in the case recently that would have precipitated this,” Sunnymede attorney Jim Goss, of Rutland, said in an interview with the Valley News last week.
The announcement seems, he said, to be an attempt by the commission “to deal with public criticism of its continued involvement,” Goss added.
The planning commission’s announcement comes just as costs associated with the legal fight appear to be shifting from its budget to the town’s general fund. The commission has nearly exhausted its budget for legal fees, with the Supreme Court case still pending. It has spent $4,860 on legal fees so far in this fiscal year, which ends in June, from its professional services budget of $5,400, Town Manager John Broker-Campbell said last week.
“When or if the fund is fully used, the town will continue to pay the legal bills out of the general fund,” Broker-Campbell said.
The commission committed the town to taking the case to the Supreme Court without notifying the Selectboard, Phil Hobbie, the Selectboard’s chairman, said last week. The “horse was already out of the barn,” before discussions of how the town would pay the legal expenses of a Supreme Court appeal could be discussed, he said. The Selectboard has authority over the planning commission and appoints its members.
At last Wednesday’s planning commission meeting, Selectboard member Jim Reilly, who was in the audience, asked the commission to consider retracting Monday’s announcement and issuing an apology. The commission had good intentions, Reilly said. “If the courts don’t uphold what you put in the town plan, that makes the town plan somewhat worthless,” he said. “That doesn’t just impact Hartland, it impacts 40 or so other communities that don’t have zoning.” But Monday’s message “went out with a tone that’s created some serious controversy,” and “I think the message got lost,” he said.
Commission members thanked Reilly but did not otherwise acknowledge the suggestion. Hobbie, the Selectboard chairman, would prefer that the planning commission focus its attention on finalizing an updated town plan, which is due this spring. The Sunnymede appeal is “getting in the way of what should be the new town plan, without this aspirational language, so that going forward, the town is able to handle situations like this,” Hobbie said.
