This story by Carla Occaso was first published in The Bridge on Oct. 27, 2025
The wheels have been set in motion to find a developer to create housing on a 20-acre buildable parcel at the Country Club Road property in Montpelier for the land price of $1. The Montpelier City Council met on Oct. 22 and, after lengthy discussion, voted to authorize Acting City Manager Kelly Murphy to issue the request for qualifications on Monday, instead of immediately.
The choice to delay the issuance by a few days came from Councilor Adrienne Gil, in order to allow a few days for city staff members to communicate the proposal to the public.
Discussion on the proposal, led by Stephanie Clarke, vice president of White + Burke Real Estate Advisors, centered on process and purchase price. The recommendation was to start with an RFQ before issuing a request for proposals in order to capture interest and vet qualifications. This would move the process along and open the door for more partners, according to Clarke.
The Country Club Road subcommittee would then vet the group, discuss how to clearly communicate details within the RFQ to residents, and create a short list of developers to be invited to submit detailed proposals, which would then come back to the full city council. The primary goal is to make housing doable in Montpelier while recognizing that statewide it’s nearly impossible to build without subsidies, Clarke said.
$1 land price controversy
A significant part of the discussion revolved around the proposal to sell the approximately 20 buildable acres for $1 to a potential development partner. The arguments in favor of the plan came from Clarke and councilors Cary Brown, Ben Doyle and Sal Alfano.
Selling land for $1 acts as an investment or subsidy for the housing project, making it financially viable for developers. If they can’t get this incentive, they’ll build where rents are higher, such as in Chittenden County, Clarke said. Montpelier residents voted to purchase the land for $3 million with the purpose of improving and expanding housing and recreation, not to recoup the money directly from the sale, Councilor Cary Brown said.
“We didn’t spend that money thinking we would get that money back. We spent that money thinking we would get housing and recreation,” Brown said, adding that the “incredible cost” of construction now makes it almost impossible to build something that could have been built 30 years ago.
Councilor Ben Doyle said charging $1 for the land sends a signal that the city is “going to partner with you,” versus “we are going to recoup the cost.” Doyle reminded those present of the former M&M Beverage property between Shaw’s supermarket and The Drawing Board that has had two requests for proposals issued with no takers. Doyle said the $1 land offer would create a catalyst to create other development. Councilor Sal Alfano said “it is a shock to see we are selling 20 acres for $1,” but by doing so, it would allow the city to pay for infrastructure through the tax base and create new tax revenue going into the future.
“And we also would have housing that we desperately need and will nourish economic development,” Alfano said. “We are trying to attract as many developers as we possibly can.”
Those against the $1 land price included Councilor Jim Sheridan, who said he was “bothered” by the $1 price, noting the city paid about $20,000 per acre. He worried about giving away 20 acres with “no clue how much this is going to bring in for our tax base.” Councilor Gil expressed caution and emphasized the need to project scenarios and obtain a cost-benefit analysis, for example, “if we build X houses, it results in XYZ tax revenue” to justify the subsidy to the public.
The RFQ document specifies the city will partner to develop a subdivision plan, build infrastructure and transfer ownership for $1. Water and wastewater allocation fees will be waived. The objective is to increase market rate housing, workforce housing or both outside the floodplain, the document states.
