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South Burlington’s Community Newspaper Since 1977
the JANUARY 10, 2025
Long View Project hits a stalemate
otherpapersbvt.com
VOLUME 49, NO. 2
Reflections of...
LIBERTY DARR STAFF WRITER
The Long View Project, dubbed one of the most unique and innovative conservation and housing projects in South Burlington, seems to have hit an impasse. The project looks to conserve roughly 32 acres at 1720 and 1730 Spear St., next to the Great Swamp, which city leaders have identified as a top conservation priority for years. The project would also set aside 2.5 acres for 16 affordable homes in partnership with Green Mountain Habitat for Humanity. Efforts to conserve the area has been in the works with the South Burlington Land Trust and property owners Northeast Agricultural Trust, a limited liability company owned by Tom Bellavance, since 2023. Bellavance’s wife, Janet, is on the South Burlington Land Trust’s board of directors. However, the city council officially signaled its intent last September to move the work forward with a hefty $460,000 commitment in open space funds to support the project. The sticking point came in December, when the Vermont See LONG VIEW on page 13
PHOTO BY GREG WARRINGTON
News Year’s Eve fireworks cast their glow over Lake Champlain, marking the passage from last year to this one.
City denies a proposed Penny for Paths ballot amendment LIBERTY DARR STAFF WRITER
The South Burlington City Council on Monday shot down a proposed ballot question that would amend its Penny for Paths levy, which garners one cent on the tax rate to create new bike and pedestrian infrastructure. The amendment would have
allowed the use of those proceeds for maintenance of existing paths and the question of expanding the tax’s use would have been brought before the voters on Town Meeting Day in March. In August 2018, South Burlington residents voted to designate one penny on the tax rate, over ten years, for the creation of bicycle and pedestrian infrastructure
throughout the city. When the city began collecting the tax in 2020, it brought in roughly $305,000 and this year will see about $420,000 in revenue. But the council last month posed the question in an effort to raise extra funds for repairs. “The way that the capital improvement plan is right now, we would have about a $605,000
balance if we spend exactly as the capital improvement plan says,” Erica Quallen, the city’s director of capital projects, said Monday night. “By fiscal year 2032 the balance is fairly low. Zero.” While council chair Tim Barritt and councilor Andrew Chalnick See PENNY FOR PATHS on page 13
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