Student art
Flood patrol
Kids’ artwork hangs in city hall
County steps up to help flooded-out neighbors
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South Burlington’s Community Newspaper Since 1977
the JULY 20, 2023
As growth continues
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VOLUME 47, NO. 29
South Burlington All-Stars
School safety concerns intensify LIBERTY DARR STAFF WRITER
With South Burlington’s city center in a constant state of expansion, South Burlington School District is demanding that city officials make changes to ensure safer traffic patterns surrounding the schools — a situation that principals and board members said has moved from “concerning to urgent.” Since February, the school board, along with superintendent Violet Nichols, have raised the alarm over safer traffic conditions at each of the district’s five schools: Rick Marcotte Central School located on Market Street, Orchard School on Baldwin Avenue, Gertrude Chamberlain School on White Street, and Frederick H. Tuttle Middle and South Burlington High School both located on Dorset Street. Although all of the schools have remained a concern, the situation at Rick Marcotte and areas surrounding Market Street have intensified significantly as construction on new developments has progressed, specifically with the construction of Catamount Run, a new 300-unit housing initiative. “I am very concerned with the development of City Center and See SAFETY on page 11
COURTESY PHOTO
Weather knocked the South Burlington 10-12 Little League All-Stars out of postseason play. The team, back row, from left, head coach Blaine Clark, assistant coach Brian Clark, Ben Angelino, Levi Gover, Jackson Young, Zach Pierson, Henry Clark, assistant coach Alex Gover, Griffin Luck, assistant coach Michael Comtois and assistant coach Jim Smith. Front row, Will Smith, Colin Bishop-von Wettberg, Dominic Comtois, Bradley Clark, AP (Aaron) Zuchman and Will McGrath. See story on page 9.
Charter committee punts on separate wards COREY MCDONALD STAFF WRITER
South Burlington’s charter committee punted on whether to recommend changing to a ward system but did recommend that the council move to expand the number of elected councilors. Building off its public outreach campaign, the committee held a robust debate last week on what, if any, changes to recommend the city make to its governing structure.
In addition to recommending the school board be expanded, the committee was in consensus that the city council should have more than five members — although the exact number of councilors remains undecided. The group had already scrapped ideas to switch from its city manager-council chair form of executive government to a mayor. But the committee could not reach a consensus on whether to keep its at-large voting system, or to switch to a ward-based system
See related story on page 7 — easily the most debated issue among the committee’s members. “There were arguments in both directions, so what we did is punted,” Peter Taylor, chair of the charter committee, said. “We will ask the council to consider whether they want to pursue wards or not.” Tasked by the city council in 2021 to explore alternative governing models for the city, the
charter committee has over the past year studied various ways the city could increase participation and create a more equitable geographical representation. One of the more pressing goals the committee sees for itself is working to increase diversification in its political process — making sure that residents with varying cultural and socioeconomic backgrounds can particiSee COMMITTEE on page 13