Williston Observer

By Greg Elias
Observer staff

John Adams traveled halfway around the world to work as a planner. Now he’s returned to his boyhood home-away-from-home to ply his trade.

Adams was recently hired as Williston’s development review planner. The job, which blends clerical and higher-level planning tasks, suits a recent college graduate like Adams, who holds a master’s degree in planning.

Adams, 24, was born in Montreal, but he has roots in Vermont. His father’s side of the family is from Vermont, and Adams spent summers here when he was growing up.

His grandfather for years operated Adams Boots and Shoes on the Church Street Marketplace. While in high school, Adams spent a summer working in the store.

After graduating high school, Adams traveled extensively, living in or visiting Australia, New Zealand and Japan. He also lived in New York City.

Adams later earned a bachelor’s degree from McGill University in Montreal and a graduate degree from Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario.

In 2005, before finishing college, he spent a summer working as a researcher and lecturer in the Chinese Ministry of Land and Resources. He presented his findings about how the government could maintain neighborhood character in the Beijing area, where many residents have been dislocated to make room for booming business growth.

In a written summary of the experience, Adams said that redevelopment was a sensitive issue for the Chinese government, so he “had to be highly aware of every word I used and image I presented.”

Adams said it is hard to draw parallels between his experience in Beijing, a city of 14 million people, to his new job in Williston, population roughly 8,200. Though the town has grown considerably over the past 20 years, Adams said Williston’s changes have been modest compared to those in China.

“The speed of development in the city is just unbelievable,” he said.

But he does seem some similarities, particularly the dearth of affordable housing.

“The problems and issues are similar, although on a different scale,” Adams said.

After earning his graduate degree, Adams began looking for planning positions, especially openings in Vermont. He found the Williston job on the American Planning Association’s Web site.

Town Manager Rick McGuire said there were 22 applicants for the position. He said Adams was the best candidate because he had limited experience but the extensive education the entry level position called for.

Adams replaces David Pesnichak, who left the position to take a job as a senior planner in Colorado. The development review position was created as part of a reorganization of Williston’s Planning and Zoning Department. The reorganization was designed to streamline the department by ensuring each staff member had a professional planning background.

The development review planner provides administrative support for the other planning staffers as well as the Development Review Board, Design Advisory Committee and Historic Preservation Commission. The development review planner also participates in long-range planning projects, such as developing the Comprehensive Plan, and fields queries from the general public and developers.

Adams, who is an avid bicyclist, said he’s thrilled to be back living amid the Green Mountains.

“It’s just fantastic,” he said. “I consider myself lucky to be able to ride through the hills and enjoy the clean environment.”

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By Ben Moger-Williams
Observer staff

About 200 people filled the auditorium at Williston Central School for Monday night’s Selectboard meeting to listen to a presentation from a neighborhood group opposed to the anticipated proposal for a regional landfill in Williston.

A line, dozens of people long, formed outside the doors, an impressive sight at a town government meeting that rarely attracts more than one or two people. It was no surprise to the board, however. The meeting, usually held at Town Hall, was moved to the school auditorium in anticipation of the large crowd.

The Chittenden Solid Waste District is still making plans for a proposed regional landfill on Redmond Road. But even though the proposal has not been submitted to the town, residents in several Williston neighborhoods have formed a group, the Williston Neighborhood Coalition, to stop the landfill, which they fear would reduce property values, increase truck traffic and harm the environment.

The proposed landfill would be located on 66 acres of land, currently the location of the Hinesburg Sand and Gravel facility, which does not want to give up the land. In 1992, CSWD initiated eminent domain proceedings for the land, and won the right in court to purchase the property, but the price is still in dispute and the case is currently before the Vermont Supreme Court.

After a couple of housekeeping measures, including a public hearing regarding the town’s proposed ethics ordinance (which drew no comments and passed later in the meeting), the board heard from Coalition President Steve Casale.

Casale’s presentation focused on how the proposed landfill was not needed and would present a host of environmental and economic problems to Williston taxpayers. Casale also asked why the Selectboard did not disclose information about the proposed landfill to potential homeowners after letters from CSWD describing possible impact on those areas were sent to the town. (Casale later corrected himself, saying that a CSWD letter regarding the potential impact on the Ledgewood development was sent to the Selectboard, but the second letter regarding Brennan Woods was sent to the state Act 250 Group, and never received by the Selectboard.)

At the end of the talk, Casale presented the board with a petition signed by more than 600 Williston residents asking the Selectboard to terminate the host town agreement (signed by Williston in 1992) and to oppose the landfill by any legal means necessary.

“This was done in 10 days,” Casale said, referring to the petition. “There’s obviously a lot of concern in the surrounding community from this.”

Selectboard Chairman Terry Macaig emphasized that the board had not received a proposal from the CSWD regarding the landfill. However, he said he anticipated a proposal around the end of the year.

Several audience members spoke out at the meeting, and tensions ran high at some points.

“I’m telling you, if this gets approved, I’m taking my wife and my four-year-old and my one-year-old and I’m moving out of this town,” one resident said.

Many people wanted to know if the Selectboard would support the landfill or if they would help residents fight it. The board repeatedly said it would need to seek legal counsel, and could not respond to most of the questions posed by the irate residents.

“I hope you don’t think that we’re trying to evade questions,” Macaig said. “We don’t know the answer to your questions.”

Before concluding, Casale posed one final question to the board.

“Is it clear that this particular group is very, very incensed by this and we really are going to demand action?” Casale asked.

“The answer is yes,” Macaig responded.

Vaughn Altemus, a resident of Stirrup Circle, said he agreed with the sentiments of the crowd, but was wary of asking the board to make comments prematurely.

“I agree with the position of the people in the room, but we should not be pressing the board to do something it would be irresponsible for them to do,” Altemus said after the meeting. “This is part of the process; let’s let the process work.”

The board said it would seek legal counsel and respond to residents’ concerns in the near future.

Hinesburg Sand and Gravel General Manager Tim Casey and his father, Paul, the owner, were at the meeting Monday.

Paul Casey said the company has spent more than $3 million fighting the CSWD over the land dispute. The Caseys were clear on their position in regard to the landfill.

“Go away. Pay us all the damage you’ve done to us, and go,” Tim Casey said of the CSWD.

Before leaving, Casale spoke to a reporter about his reactions to the meeting. He said he felt the board was receptive to the community’s concerns and responded appropriately in the face of some “rather hostile questions.” Casale was asked if he was happy with his Selectboard.

“Unquestionably,” he said. “And that happiness will either continue to grow, or start to recede, depending upon progress from tonight forward.”

In an interview Wednesday, CSWD General Manager Tom Moreau said the District would discuss the group’s presentation at the CSWD board meeting Wednesday night. He said he and other staff members were reviewing Channel 17’s video recording of the meeting and would take any legitimate concerns to the board.

“We think there were some exaggerations, and some things taken out of context,” Moreau said. “We’ve got to go through it, rather than be kind of reactionary.”

He said some residents’ concerns that had been brought to his attention before Monday’s meeting – such as the effects on home values and water usage – were being integrated into the District’s studies for the landfill proposal.

Moreau said he approached Town Manager Rick McGuire about presenting a response to the Williston Neighborhood Coalition, but said McGuire preferred CSWD make their presentation when they actually have a final proposal for the Selectboard. Moreau said CSWD plans to have a completed proposal in November.

“We’ve got some research to do,” he said.

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Finney Crossing faces one more round of review

By Greg Elias
Observer staff

The gigantic Finney Crossing project won preliminary approval Tuesday with conditions aimed at minimizing its impact on the environment and nearby home owners.

The Development Review Board voted 5-1 to OK the residential and commercial subdivision, allowing it to move on to final review. Board member Cathy O’Brien cast the lone no vote.

“They did not satisfy me that there would not be adverse impacts in several areas,” O’Brien said after the meeting, ticking off concerns such as traffic, wetlands and aesthetics that she felt were not adequately addressed. Though she said the project “still has a lot of merit” she felt the pieces of the complex development don’t fit well together.

Finney Crossing would contain 356 housing units as well as retail and office space. The project would be located on 107 acres of land on the northeast side of Taft Corners.

The developers are Snyder Companies, which will build the homes, and J.L. Davis Inc., which will develop the commercial portion of the project.

If approved, Finney Crossing would be built in phases over the next decade.

Previous public hearings on the project drew dozens of residents who posed questions and expressed concerns about what would be the largest subdivision ever built in Williston. Just a few residents attended Tuesday’s meeting. Housing prices and building heights were among their concerns.

The board attached 20 conditions to its approval. Many of them were standard conditions imposed on all projects. But a handful of the conditions specifically addressed concerns over Finney Crossing’s impact on the environment and nearby homeowners.

Included in the conditions was an unusual requirement that makes town approval contingent on Finney Crossing receiving approval from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. The requirement apparently stemmed from concerns about the project’s affect on wetlands.

O’Brien had at a previous meeting complained that wetland areas at the project’s site had been plowed under without receiving a permit. She asked for detailed plans for dealing with wetlands. When no information was forthcoming at last night’s meeting, she was clearly irked.

“Now you’ve made it simple,” she said. “I asked for more information and I got none.”

Bob Snyder, president of Snyder Companies, said previous work in the wetlands was actually an archeological project by college students. He said the work was in fact previously approved.

Another condition required some taller buildings to be reoriented so they don’t loom over houses at The Hamlet, a subdivision near Vermont 2A that has received town approval but has yet to be built.

Finney Crossing will be unique to Williston, not only because of its sheer size – it contains more than twice as many units as the next largest subdivision in Williston – but because of the project’s unusual configuration.

All but 30 of the units will be multi-family homes. The housing will include condominiums, townhouses and apartments. The project will also include 20 acres of commercial development arranged in two-story buildings, with stores on the ground floor and offices above.

Except for the single-family homes, all the housing will be two-bedroom units. Snyder has said most families are not interested in buying such housing, meaning the project will generate relatively few school-age children for Williston’s crowded schools.

Following the hearing, board members held a closed-door session to discuss Finney Crossing and another project on Tuesday’s agenda. After about 45 minutes, the board emerged and voted on the project.

It is unclear when Finney Crossing will be considered for final approval. D.K. Johnston, the town’s zoning administrator, declined to give a time frame for future reviews.

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By Kim Howard
Observer staff

Williston voters next week will get a sneak peek at some items to appear on the town ballot in November.

Proposed changes to the Williston town charter – which would include safeguarding a local option sales tax that generates roughly $2.8 million annually for the town – will be discussed at the first of two public hearings Monday night. The hearing begins at 7:30 p.m. at Town Hall.

Members of a town charter revision task force are recommending seven changes to the town’s charter that was first approved by Williston voters in 2003 and by the state Legislature in 2004. Chief among the changes is a provision for a local option sales tax, according to Town Manager Rick McGuire. Should the Legislature repeal the law allowing towns to levy local option taxes, Williston, on the basis of its charter, would still be able to levy the tax, McGuire said.

“Our feeling is we should get it in our charter as quickly as possible while everything is fresh in everyone’s minds, so that if there is a change in state law, the town charter would take over,” McGuire said.

In 2002, Williston voters approved a 1 percent sales tax, and in 2003 Williston voters approved a 1 percent tax on rooms, meals and alcoholic beverages. In 2004, Williston voters reaffirmed their commitment to the 1 percent tax by a hefty margin: 1,938-321. The state law allowing local options taxes was set to end in 2008, but the Legislature this spring decided to allow the option to continue indefinitely. The Legislature also approved a change in Burlington’s town charter allowing the local option tax, similar to what the charter revision task force is proposing.

A memo from Paul Gillies, one of the town’s attorneys, recommends that voters this November be allowed to vote on the proposed charter changes separately – meaning the local option tax provision would be separate from the other six changes proposed.

The other changes proposed, McGuire said, are smaller.

“Any of these other issues would not have prompted us to change the charter,” McGuire said. “But when you’re looking at the big things, it makes sense to look at the little things as you move forward.”

One of those smaller changes would allow the town to impose employment agreements for the town’s fire and police chiefs. The proposed language says that the chiefs shall be appointed by the town manager and employed under a renewable option contract for a term not to exceed five years nor less than one year. An employee not meeting expectations could be dismissed.

McGuire said currently under state law, for example, a police chief has more or less a lifetime appointment. If found not meeting his or her obligations, under state law a chief cannot be fired except in cases of egregious wrongs, McGuire said, making it difficult for town officials to ensure optimal performance of public safety officials.

When asked if this provision was prompted by circumstances involving a current fire or police chief or the police chief who retired earlier this year, McGuire said he would not comment on personnel matters.

Williston Police Chief Jim Dimmick said he told McGuire he was OK with the employment agreements when McGuire spoke with him about the proposals during the hiring process.

“My personal philosophy is that I am here at the will of the town manager and the Selectboard,” Police Chief Jim Dimmick said. “If they said at any point ‘you’re not reflecting our needs or our philosophy in town,’ I would expect they have the right to say ‘please move on to something else.’”

Fire Chief Ken Morton was not available for comment prior to deadline.

The remaining changes proposed to the charter are as follows: eliminate the appointed positions of weigher of coal, fence viewer, and surveyor of wood and lumber – positions McGuire said are anachronistic; eliminate as elected positions the town agent, trustee of public funds and grand juror – positions that are no longer needed or whose duties have been assumed by town employees; change from elected to appointed the Cemetery Commission and Old Brick Church Trustees; clarify who opens town meeting before the moderator is selected; and add the ability for a vote to change the time town meeting starts.

The second required public hearing on the proposed changes is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. on Oct. 9 at Town Hall.

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By Kim Howard
Observer staff

While some of us are mowing lawns or doing other household chores this Saturday, Williston resident Dick Boulanger will be in California’s Napa Valley trying to win $10,000.

Boulanger and nine others were selected as finalists from nearly 9,000 contestants in the 16th annual Sutter Home Winery Build a Better Burger contest. Boulanger will prepare his recipe for Bouillabaisse Burgers with Tomato-Fennel Relish and Saffron Mayonnaise to compete against four others in the non-beef category of the contest.

“I knew I had to come up with something unique or different otherwise I wouldn’t be picked to go,” Boulanger said.

In 1998, Boulanger’s son, Jason, won the contest’s grand prize with a recipe for Caesar salad and flank steak burgers with garlic crostini.

“Instead of like father like son, this is going to be like son like father,” Boulanger joked.

The cooking contest bug seems to run in the family. Boulanger’s wife, Kathy, has won more than 75 cooking contests.

This is Boulanger’s second national cooking contest effort in the last year. In March, he won a set of new kitchen appliances worth $10,000 for the “most innovative” recipe at the annual national Pillsbury Bake-off contest. That recipe was for sugar cookie chocolate crunch fudge.

Boulanger said competition at the Napa Valley event will be “formidable” because professional chefs can enter the contest. Even if he does not win first prize in his category, he and his wife will have enjoyed a free trip to California with gourmet meals, he said.

Boulanger’s recipe is available on the contest Web site: http://buildabetterburger.sutterhome.com/votes/

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