In a 10-1 vote, councilors signed off on a predevelopment agreement outlining commitments from the city and the developer of the Burlington Town Center project. This marks an important milestone for Sinex, who’s spent the last 18 months working with the city to refine his plan to turn the Burlington Town Center into a massive mixed-use development with apartments, retail and office space.
Next, the developer hopes to get city approval for a zoning change that would allow him to build 14 stories high.
Last-minute concessions during the past several days won over councilors who expressed skepticism last week. Sinex reduced the number of student housing units that he plans to lease to Champlain College from 110 to 80. He agreed to a requirement that a market study of the project take place by August. Sinex also promised to pay for a three-dimensional model of his project, something a number of residents and several councilors have asked for.
In the meantime, three residents showed up Monday night having jerry-rigged their own cardboard models to make a point: The project is gigantic.
For the second week in a row, people crammed into Contois Auditorium to weigh in on whether that was desirable or not. Scott Baldwin urged the council not to hesitate on a “once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to revitalize our downtown.”
Monique Fordham rejected that premise: “When there is money to be made, believe me, it’s never a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity — that’s bullshit,” she told the council.
Fordham and others urged the council to take more time to review the agreement, a recommendation that won favor with Progressive Max Tracy of Ward 2, who was the only councilor to vote no. Pointing out that the council had just 12 days to review the agreement, he made an unsuccessful attempt to delay the vote by two weeks. “We need to make sure this is not just a playground for the rich,” Tracy said.
Mayor Miro Weinberger, who along with Sinex was pushing for swift approval from the council, strenuously disagreed, arguing that there has been “an extreme amount of process and deliberation.”
Some of the more hesitant councilors made a point of mentioning that the public will get more say on the project — most notably when they vote on whether to approve $21.8 million in tax-increment financing to pay for public infrastructure improvements associated with the plan.
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A quick campaign contribution, a kickback, and that zoning permit will take care of itself.
‘The Mall’ and chainstore Retail is DYING and this last gasp project to ‘built it so they will come again and try it on for size so they can go home and buy it cheaper on the Internet’ will be no different.
Why would Burlington residents make the same mistake twice so quickly and put their faith in basically the same group of reshuffled feckless City Councilors that mishandled and had the wool so easily pulled over their eyes with the Burlington Telecom disaster and let them do it again? That disaster we are ALL still paying for also needed altered City Charter and Zoning Law changes in order to get the scam moving along until it was too late and too politically embarrassing to fail. There were also promises made to voters and taxpayers in that governmental failure that NO Taxpayer funds would ever be put at risk and it turned out to be one big repackaged LIE as all the political and legal Charter change promises that the politicians used to disenfranchise the voters were then cast aside and conveniently forgotten when it came time to eat crow, make excuses about the Mayor and his henchmen’s ‘intent’ when it came to criminal responsibility, and then watch as the city embarrassingly had to default and force the responsible taxpaying adults who pay the bills to be left holding the proverbial bag for the monumental losses that will NEVER be recouped. The first sign of this next big thing the City cant pass up passing the proverbial smell test is that all the players involved are already using project parameter loopholes, expensive politically plugged in ‘environmental’ lawyers, and local cheer-leading quid-pro-quo local politicians to avoid an Independent State level Act 250 review .
“There has been an extreme amount of process and deliberation.” I would say that the process is not extreme. We have some opposing viewpoints – keep the city small vs. make the city grow. People come here because of the way Burlington is. If we make if less attractive, is that progress? There is money to be made in building this series of towers that is unconnected to any money made after it is built. One is sure, the other is speculation. Anyone who votes on this should first see the plans and a scale model. It’s true that we should be suspicious of a gigantic project that is “a once-in-a-lifetime chance.” It’s also a once-in-a-lifetime chance to refrain from making a big mistake.
Now they are going to try to put the vote to approve the TIF in August.. when turnout is the lowest.
Democrat Joan Shannon, who represents Wards 5 and 6, should have added : “We have this fortress that consumes the center of our downtown, and it’s worth something to me to open that up with a much much bigger fortress (forgive the allusion to Trump).”
Sud End, she meant reconnecting St. Paul and Pine St., which are currently severed by the mall.
Why do we have Act 250 and why do we have Planning and Zoning laws if they are not going to apply to the most important projects? This seems like, yet again, another case of one set of rules for the super-rich to get richer and another set of rules for all of the rest of the little people. The mayor and developer are right to want to enhance our already vibrant and walkable downtown (and bring in more tax revenue). But is Don Sinex really not capable of hiring an architect to design a project that simply complies with the law and does not require waiver after waiver and exemption after exemption? 14 stories is simply too tall.
I don’t mind the development or the size, but the architecture needs to be classier than what they are presenting. The busy facade will look pretty terrible, and very dated in 10 years. Make something that looks good, at least.
A note about the TIF:
“when they [City Council] vote on whether to approve $21.8 million in tax-increment financing to pay for public infrastructure” — how much public discussion and notice will this actually get? or will the discussion already have taken place by the time “we the public” are supposed to weigh in? City Council decisions-in-committee followed by a public vote do NOT count as public process and open decision-making!
How about getting Sinex to put up a Google SketchUp plan of what it will be. Then we could all go look at it, even go inside it, see the scale etc. It would be much better than a physical scale model that by its very nature has to be incomplete.
Any public servant who approves a “predevelopment agreement” which is only intended to insure this speculator is treated differently, has not only given away the sacred trust he/she was given by the voters, but has also violated the oath of office he/she took. Shame on you.
Article 6. Officers servants of the people
That all power being originally inherent in and consequently derived from the people, therefore, all officers of government, whether legislative or executive, are their trustees and servants; and at all times, in a legal way, accountable to them.
Vt. Constitution Chap.1.
The Oath or Affirmation of Office
You __________ do solemnly swear (or affirm) that you will faithfully execute the office of __________ for the __________ of __________ and will therein do equal right and justice to all persons, to the best of your judgment and ability, according to law. So help you God.
I strenuously object to the height of the project. I object that housing intended for low income people may instead go to Champlain college students. I object that downtown will be unusable during the construction process, though that is undoubtedly some way off. A disastrous parking situation will undoubtedly become worse if this mall comes to fruition. Miro Weinberger never saw a development that he didn’t like, and his rush to get this approved in unseemly in one who should be protecting the public interest. Between this and the Burlington College land, this city is going construction crazy, attempting to bring a greater and more elite populace into the city, pushing out poor people who have lived here for years and changing irrevocably the city of Bernie Sanders and Peter Clavelle, When the money changers and political/corporatist elite have finished with this city, it will no longer be one of the most livable cities in the country, it will be a monument to greed.