Tuesday, November 8, 2016
About 54 percent voted in favor — compared to 46 percent against — of question 3, which asked residents to establish a downtown zoning change that will allow buildings up to 160 feet tall — about 14 stories. On question 4, which asked for $21.8 million in tax increment financing for street improvements in and around the district, 59 percent of voters said "yes" while 41 percent said "no."
Both were instrumental for developer Don Sinex, who wants to get started on a $250 million redevelopment of the mall. Sinex, who proposed the makeover two years ago, thanked his supporters for getting the measures passed.
Tags: Burlington Town Center , burlington local questions , Image , Web Only
"It was craze-balls," said Janet Stambolian, who was signing in voters at Edmunds Middle School as people flooded in after polls opened at 7 a.m. "You can quote me on that." Anecdotally, Stambolian noted high numbers of new voters and immigrants, she said.
Voters across the city described a sense of both impending relief and doom, a bewildering climax after 14 months of election fatigue and media barrage.
"I'm so frickin' nervous about this — on so many levels," said Dave Oppenheimer, campaign manager for Partnership for Burlington's Future. Oppenheimer stood outside the Ward 2 location, holding a "vote yes" sign for city ballot initiatives.
"No one standing at these polls has slept in like five days. I just want it to be over — but I want to win."
Tags: Election Day , Burlington , Edmunds Middle School , Lawrence Barnes Academy , Image , Web Only
Saturday, November 5, 2016
Burlington residents will vote on an $8.3 million bond Tuesday, and the pipe, which was removed from Pitkin Street earlier this year, offers a graphic example of the work left to do on the city’s aging water infrastructure.
While Queen City citizens have kept a close eye on controversial ballot measures surrounding the Burlington Town Center redevelopment, ballot question No. 2 has largely passed under the radar. Moir attributes the lack of attention to an “out of sight, out of mind” mentality: “You don’t care about [the issue] until the water pipe breaks,” she said.
The measure also hasn’t faced vocal opposition. Because the bond will be repaid through an increase in water rates, it requires only a majority to pass. (Ballot item No. 1, which approves paving and other capital projects, will be covered by municipal taxes and requires a two-thirds majority “yes” vote for passage.)
Tags: Megan Moir , Chapin Spencer , Department of Public Works , ballot , Burlington , Sanexen , water mains , Image , Web Only
Friday, November 4, 2016
Three groups supporting two Election Day ballot questions related to the proposed Burlington Town Center project have spent more than $30,000 trying to get them passed, campaign filings show.
The Partnership for Burlington’s Future, a political action committee, has spent $15,430, finance reports filed October 28 show. Together for Progress registered as a public question committee — meaning it spent cash for political purposes but did not raise any. It spent $9,539, according to a filing from November 2. And BTC Mall Associates, another public question committee, spent $5,586, an October 28 filing shows.
The groups hope voters approve ballot items No. 3, which would create a downtown zoning district allowing taller buildings, and No. 4, which would allow the city to bond $21.8 million in tax increment financing for street improvements around the district.
Tags: Burlington Town Center , Partnership for Burlington's Future , Miro Weinberger , BTC Mall Associates LLC , Together for Progress , Coalition for a Livable City , campaign finance , development , Image , Web Only
Last week, Judge Dennis Pearson tossed charges against Danny Connors, a 49-year-old black Burlington resident, after deciding the stop and search that led to his drug arrest was unconstitutional.
“How many different ways did this stop and frisk of the defendant violate basic constitutional principles?” Pearson wrote sarcastically in his October 24 decision.
Tags: Brandon del Pozo , Burlington police , cannabis related , Danny Connors , Dennis Pearson , race , Sara Puls , Image , Web Only
Thursday, November 3, 2016
When Burlington College closed its doors for good in May, professors and administrators left behind fully furnished offices and classrooms. Now the items remaining at the institution are headed to the auction block.
A public auction is scheduled at the college for 10 a.m. December 7. Bidders can also participate online. People’s United Bank, which foreclosed on the college in the spring, contracted the Morrisville-based Thomas Hirchak Company to conduct the auction. All items — more than 600 lots — will be sold to the highest bidder.
For now, chairs and desks are piled in the vacated classrooms at the North Avenue campus. The library’s shelves are still crammed with books, and artwork leans against one wall. There’s a refrigerator, cameras and video equipment, flatscreen TVs, rugs, and a 3,600-square-foot tent, according to the auction website.
“In some offices, it looks like [professors] could be back tomorrow,” said Burlington College board chair Yves Bradley.
Tags: Burlington College , Tom Torti , Yves Bradley , People’s United Bank , Image , Web Only
Chip Mason spent weeks on the sidelines as his colleagues discussed and voted on aspects of a new downtown district where maximum building heights of 160 feet would be allowed. The proposed district includes the Burlington Town Center and would allow its owner, Don Sinex, to go forward with his proposed $250 million mall makeover, complete with 14-story towers.
The council on September 29 voted 8-3 to support the zoning change and put it on the Election Day ballot.
The Ward 5 Democrat sat out that vote because his law firm, Gravel & Shea, represented Sinex’s development group, Devonwood, in an unrelated matter.
But since then, Mason has come out in support of the zoning change, which is on the Burlington ballot as question No. 3. He also supports question No. 4, which asks voters to authorize $21.8 million in tax increment financing for public infrastructure around the Sinex project.
Tags: Yves Bradley , Chip Mason , Burlington Town Center , Image , Web Only
Wednesday, November 2, 2016
Polluted soil at the site of the new store, which has a target opening date of October 2017, will cost the company more than $250,000 to clean up, according to Pat Burns, expansion store project manager. Construction of the 14,000-square-foot store is due to begin by early December.
The cleanup costs didn’t come entirely as a surprise. When City Market purchased the parcel in 2015, site analysts gave a “ballpark” estimate, Burns said. Anticipated costs have risen as the project progressed; early estimates stood at about $170,000.
Developers found that the site, at Flynn Avenue and Briggs Street, contains polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, chemicals that result from burning coal, gas, or wood. The PAHs are a result of years of industrial use at the site. Vermont Structural Steel occupied the location for much of the 20th century.
City Market purchased the land from Vermont Rail System.
Tags: City Market , Pat Burns , Department of Environmental Conservation , South End , Image , Web Only
Saturday, October 29, 2016
On Friday afternoon, Weinberger and four other members of the Vermont Mayors Coalition convened in Barre to unveil their support for Donovan, who currently serves as Chittenden County state's attorney. The event was organized and promoted, using a City Hall email account, by the mayor's communications and projects coordinator, Katie Vane.
Tags: Miro Weinberger , T.J. Donovan , Vermont Mayors Coalition , Image , Web Only
Wednesday, October 19, 2016
With a possible strike looming Thursday, the Burlington Education Association and the city school board were in a daylong, last-ditch negotiating session that extended into the evening.
Talks began early Wednesday at the Burlington School District central office on Colchester Avenue, and federal mediator Ira Lobel spent the day going back and forth between the teachers and the school board hoping to bring them together — without immediate success. There was still no resolution as of 5 p.m. Wednesday.
“Hopefully he’s working his magic,” said Darren Allen, communications director for the Vermont-NEA, in a telephone interview.
Superintendent of Schools Yaw Obeng said late in the afternoon that schools were “absolutely” still scheduled to open Thursday. Teachers have vowed to strike Thursday morning if no contract deal is reached.
The conflict over pay and benefits has dragged on for more than a year. In September, the school board imposed employment terms that gave teachers an average raise of around 2.75 percent but cut certain perks and increased teachers’ share of health insurance costs.
Teachers saw the board’s move as a power play. They responded with pickets, claims that the board was trying to bust the union, and a vote authorizing a strike Thursday, pending the outcome of Wednesday’s meeting.
Tags: Burlington School Board , Burlington Education Association , Vermont-NEA , Image , Web Only