Car crime
Snuggle goats
Man arrested for running over family member
Local farm makes connections to land, food, each other
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South Burlington’s Community Newspaper Since 1977
the AUGUST 15, 2024
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VOLUME 48, NO. 33
Schools to offer more money to bus drivers, in face of short staff
Debby downer
LIBERTY DARR STAFF WRITER
the development’s Act 250 permit in a decision last week. “The decision last Friday was adverse, definitely a big disappointment,” James Leas, one of the opposing neighbors and patent attorney representing himself in the case, said. “This is very serious because it’s the nature park. That’s a big disappointment. I don’t think it’s just for the appellants. We had over 20 fact witnesses testify, and all of them testified that they enjoyed walking on
It’s likely that the South Burlington school district will start this school year the same way it ended last year: short on bus drivers. When Jean-Marie Clark started her job as the director of operations for the district in June, she was told most of her day would be dedicated to addressing the bus driver shortage that has remained one of the top pressing concerns for parents and district officials. But now, she says the feat of filling the driver seats dominates roughly 90 percent of her daily tasks since the district is in worse shape than last year, with only a dozen drivers currently on hand. That’s down at least three employees from the previous year, she said. As a last-ditch effort, the school board last week approved significant pay increas-
See WHEELER NATURE PARK on page 12
See BUS DRIVERS on page 13
PHOTO BY TIM KEOGH
The remnants of Tropical Storm Debby, which passed through Aug. 9, didn’t add much in the way of water to an already sodden state, but Debby’s fierce winds knocked down tree branches all over the state, like this one on Fairway Drive in South Burlington. Read about the storm on page 2.
Wheeler Park developers win court case LIBERTY DARR STAFF WRITER
After a years-long court battle, a Vermont Superior Court last week ruled in favor of a housing development located in a 7-acre slice of land bordering South Burlington’s Wheeler Nature Park. The project calls for 32 mixed-housing units built in a parcel adjacent to the park, at the intersection of Dorset Street and Park Road in South Burlington, part of a larger parcel that itself was once the subject of a lengthy court case.
Although the project’s developers, BlackRock Construction, had garnered development review board approval in 2021 and Act 250 approval in 2022, the project was quickly appealed by a group of 125 nearby neighbors — from the Inverness Homeowners’ Association, Glen Eagles Homeowners’ Association, Villas at Water Tower Hill Homeowners’ Association and the Neighbors Committee to Stop Neighborhood Blasting — and has been moving through the courts since. But following a six-day trial in May, June and July, the court affirmed the issuance of
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