Sticks & Stones
Climate changes
Pop, dance, rock, country meld at SB Nite Out
Floods pose growing risks to Lake Champlain
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VOLUME 48, NO. 30
Burton pulls out of Higher Ground relocation plans
Project SEARCH
LIBERTY DARR STAFF WRITER
COURTESY PHOTO
The South Burlington School District Project Search team received an Excellent Employment Outcomes Award for their 2022-23 interns at the University of Vermont Medical Center in Burlington. This award means that 70 percent or more of the interns achieved competitive, integrated employment, meeting all the Project SEARCH criteria. The announcement was made at an awards ceremony and dinner on July 16 at the 17th Project SEARCH Conference in Albuquerque, N.M.
Plans to relocate Higher Ground, South Burlington’s live music venue, to the Burton campus in Burlington’s South End have been nixed after Burton pulled out of the plan last week. Higher Ground made the announcement in a social media post last Wednesday, just days after a Vermont Supreme Court ruling paved the way for the project to go forward after nearly five years of lawsuits with neighboring residents who opposed the move. “Despite our extensive efforts and the strong support from many South End residents, Higher Ground will not be relocating to the Burton Snowboards
campus,” they wrote. “We are deeply disheartened that Burton has decided to change direction in their plans for the building we were to occupy. This resulted in a significant loss of time and resources for Higher Ground.” In an email sent to employees Thursday, Burton CEO Andrew McConnell told staff that the company has been turning over every stone to seek a path forward, but “a lot has changed in the 5-plus years since the project was initially conceived,” he wrote. “Including the cost of bringing the project to fruition.” He noted that the company was pleased — yet not surprised — at the “clear and decisive” See HIGHER GROUND on page 12
South Burlington City Council bounces pickleball solutions LIBERTY DARR STAFF WRITER
The South Burlington City Council is looking to mediate a pickleball debate at Szymans-
ki Park that has some residents saying their quality of life is deteriorating due to the incessant noise and traffic congestion associated with the sport’s growing popularity.
With a petition circulating in the city demanding that pickleball courts be removed from Szymanski Park and relocated to Dorset Street, pickleball advocates showed up in droves to the coun-
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cil meeting last week to show their support for the sport with some looking for ways to work with the city on solutions to keep them playing. Jovanna Guerino, who spear-
headed the petition, says her quality of life has been drastically eroded by what she calls an See PICKLEBALL on page 13
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