Torch run
Turtle time
South Burlington police support Special Olympics
Habitat cleanup day set for the islands
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South Burlington’s Community Newspaper Since 1977
the SEPTEMBER 28, 2023
Pizza Hut plans on hold
otherpapersbvt.com
VOLUME 47, NO. 39
SB students raise money for beloved bus driver
Light show
LIBERTY DARR STAFF WRITER
COREY MCDONALD STAFF WRITER
A years-long effort to redevelop South Burlington’s long-vacant Pizza Hut on Shelburne Road and Swift Street has been stopped over a zoning disagreement and is now being appealed in Vermont Environmental Court. While the building’s red roof is still recognizable, the shuttered former pizza joint has since its closing in 2011 been masked in graffiti and overgrown shrubbery. Efforts to transform the property, as well as a shuttered gas station nearby, have been underway for at least three years, with owners Gary and Irene Bourne planning for 30 units of housing with commercial space and a Chase Bank. But a disagreement over what the mix of market rate and affordable housing should be in the proposed development — as well as a disagreement over a drive-through ATM — resulted in the city’s Development Review Board in August voting against the project’s approval. “I’m going to be perfectly honest with you, the board is leaning toward not approving this project,” Dawn Philibert, the chair of the city’s development review board, said at meeting over the summer. “We continue to have concerns about the bank drive in, and also the calculation of the inclusionary units.” See PIZZA HUT on page 12
PHOTO BY JANICE RUSSOTTI
Just another beautiful sunset and Adirondack view over Shelburne Bay from Queen City Park in South Burlington.
Not all heroes wear capes. Sometimes they drive buses. For those who call the South Burlington school district “home,” Steve Rexford has been a familiar face behind the wheel for nearly 15 years serving families and teams in more ways than driving the bus. And now, after Rexford was diagnosed with a lung disease that prevents him from working, some families in the district are taking every opportunity to give back to a man who they say has given so much to them throughout the years. Sports teams have launched a fundraising campaign on GoFundMe to help provide critical medical care for Rexford, specifically to help him pay for medication that prolongs his life and makes him more comfortable. “Since day one, he’s been a highly requested bus driver for us because he cares about us, he treats us with respect, he laughs with us and absolutely loves being a part of our teams and watching us play and grow as players and people,” South Burlington High School girls varsity soccer coach Lindsay Austin-Hawley said. “My grandfather was always a huge part of my athletic playing career and now to have Steve playing that grandfather role to me as a coach is really meaningful.” Not only has he been referred to as the soccer, field hockey and lacrosse team’s designated grandpa, but he has also been named the team’s “good luck charm,” bussing See REXFORD on page 11