 Good evening everyone I Would like to convene this regular meeting of the city council. Please join with me and recite the Pledge of Allegiance All right first item on the agenda is the agenda Councillor Busher Yes, president right. I'd like to move to amend and adopt the agenda as follows note added written materials for Shelburne Street roundabout agenda item per Olivia DeRise amend the action for consent agenda item 6.18 communication Emily Wallace Regarding renewable energy wave the reading accept the communication place it on file and send a copy to be ed General manager Darren Springer per Councillor Busher note corrected version for consent agenda item 6.33 communication Lori Lemieux Board clerk Board of Electric Commission regarding Electric Commission attendance record per Councillor Busher note agenda item 7.03 report Church Street Marketplace District Commission as of 10 2519 per Ron Redmond note written materials for agenda item 7.04 communication update from Brookfield on City Place project verbal per say COS Riedel and I so move Agenda amendments are moved by Councillor Busher and Disguise seconded by Councillor Roof any discussion hearing none all those in favor of the agenda as amended please say aye Opposed we have our agenda item number two is a site visit to the Shelburne Street roundabout We need to be loaded onto the buses at about 10 minutes from now So turn it over first the City Attorney Blackwood So I'm gonna tell you a little bit about what you're doing tonight and tell the public what the council is doing tonight This is a hearing related to the development of the Shelburne Street Rotary redesign project It has two purposes what you're doing tonight The first is to determine necessity and the sex the second part is to determine compensation So the first to determine necessity the purpose of a necessity hearing is for the City Council to hear interested parties on The issue of whether the public good necessity and convenience of the inhabitants of the city Require the taking of certain property interests needed for the Champlain Parkway Highway project if the City Council Determines that the project is supported by reasonable necessity It will approve a written decision that will have the effect of condemning certain interest in property Mostly temporary and permanent easements that the state of Vermont is not yet secured through negotiation under Vermont law necessity means quote a Reasonable need which considers the greatest public good and the least Inconvenience and expense to the condemning party and to the property owner and that's from title 19 of the Vermont statute section 501 Necessity is not measured solely by expense to the city and includes both a reasonable need for the project in general as Well as the individual property interests that make up the project the term does not mean an imperative Indispensable or absolute necessity, but only that taking be reasonably necessary To the accomplishment of the end-in-view under the particular circumstances So that's the first thing that you're going to be asked to determine as the city council And I wanted to make sure you had that in mind as you go looking at the site The second purpose is to determine the compensation or damages to which Affected property owners are entitled if you determine that the project is supported by necessity The city anticipates you'll hear evidence that it needs to acquire minor easements from only one property Which you which you will have reviewed at the site visit the law defines damages as the value for the most reasonable use of The property or right in the property and of the business on the property and the direct approximate Decrease in the value of the remaining property or right in the property and the business on the property The added value if any to the remaining property or right in the property which accrues directly to the owner of the property As a result of the taking or use as it Distinguished from the general public benefit shall be considered in the determination of damages and we can go over this again When you are making a decision the value of the most reasonable use of the property is the market value of the land's highest and best use As of the date of the condemnation So those I've recognized that I read it very quickly to you But hopefully you keep that in mind as you are going through the site visit tonight and then the Mr. President you'll open the hearing when you come back from this and that's when we'll get a presentation from mr. Rose correct Thank you Anything counselors need to know right now. This is not a final action on this Correct the the thinking is that you'll have a presentation tonight. You'll hear from the property owners You'll essentially hear all the evidence have it come in and that you will then do a motion directing the staff to create findings of fact in accordance with what What has been heard tonight what has been seen in any comments that you give them? All right Thank you. I think then we should be ready to Recess this meeting and head on to the buses and it would be great if we can be back here at maybe around quarter to seven We have a lot to do tonight and a huge presentation later on so With that I'm going to move to recesses regular city council meeting and we will Reconvene it as soon as we can Actually For the impact Majestic property here. We are going to obtain a temporary right to Resurface repain the parking lot At the point of which we originally designed it the parking layout was a little bit different But it's going to be identical to what you see here today And and that was at a request of the owner because they wanted that angles are We're going to be maintaining this driveway. It's going to look a little bit different And there'll be no rights for that because it's all And then the the only permanent easements that we have are down at the corner by Ledger so if we want to walk So the permanent easement is about It's about where the pickup truck is and it's the the permanent easement is To install and maintain a water line that the city has re-designed Required it's also for a drop in it like a catch basin and an associated height that would outlet that structure Where's the boundary of the city right away on this portion? It is I would say it's probably in line with this crack give or take Probably behind the sidewalk and then following this following that crack To So the easement that's shown on the plan in front of you is the permanent one is shaded in blue That will be grass. It'll be a grass strip that will still maintain that will still be under the ownership of the property It's just a permanent easement so that if the city ever needed to come in and Repair that water line or drop in let catch basin or pipe. They can come and do that They have that they'll have the rights to do that But it's gonna be a grassed area and and they'll they'll still be responsible for mowing it and maintaining it You know, so will they lose a parking space out of this? There will be no loss of parking in this plan. Yeah Cushion you only mentioned the permanent easement for the water line is there also a permanent easement Try to speak lots everybody can hear and channel 17 is filming so okay, so he mentioned the install and maintain permanent easement for the Water line. I believe there's also an install and maintain permanent easement for the sidewalk itself. Is that correct? There there is yes, that is true There is in that same blue area on the map. There is a small triangle Which the the bike path the shared use path that's paved will will traverse as well Can I ask another question? Sure. Okay in in your Documentation of what is temporary what is permanent and then the valuation My question is if indeed the the majestic can't access some of their parking or their business Is their compensation? acknowledged in the Is there a dollar amount of college for loss of access to the business I'm actually gonna I'm actually gonna defer that question to Rosa who's our was that can you repeat it first? Yeah, so Rosa if you don't mind coming in Rosa is our appraiser And so my question is because of the Permanent easement and the construction that's going on right on top of this parcel basically right right around this parcel in your Compensation package did you put in a dollar amount that would talk about a Limited access to the site or limited activity for the business during that construction Yes I think it's $2,400 was a cost to cure so the property owner could park vehicles at another location during the four to six weeks actually recalculated eight weeks and Gosha who did the appraisal? Researched rental rates in Burlington and estimated at $100 per vehicle and since they have 12 parking spots Those 12 were multiplied by two months What about the fact that customers might have difficulty accessing this spot to begin with how does Well, I believe that during construction everybody has access to the property. Yep. I understand that but it's going to be altered and might Deture people from coming here. I don't know how you Yeah, and that's something that our contractor will work with the individual property owners during construction to Try their best to minimize impacts both physically and you know to their to their businesses and their homes Not that I'm not that I recall We only met them with the one time which was several years ago answer to that question So we have questioned it a two-year-long project is going to put me out of business we all know time is money and as If you need to rent a car in a 24-hour period, you're not going to want to sit in traffic To come and get your car you're going to go elsewhere to get that car because you don't have the time to sit in traffic To come in and get out It has been brought up and brought up at a meeting with Department of Public Works brought up at that meeting was a joint meeting With v-trans and it was told that that was my problem not theirs So at the end of the day, we're gonna have this conversation. I think back council meetings But at the end of the day, my biggest concern is I have a an operation here that is Provides service to the community and for two years. It's gonna get disrupted and We got to figure that out. It's not the $8,000 that I'm concerned about for a grass strip, which I do believe I'm gonna be losing a parking spot But also, what are we gonna do about the loss of the business? And thank you for asking these questions And like to walk back and forth daily, this is a nightmare, I'm scared to death to cross it So how is the traffic flow going to balance? Pedestrian flow and of course bicycle flow because we all know that's the trend for the future And children road is another Yeah This isn't probably the best place to have a dialogue, right? So if you're thinking that we just are here to see the physical aspects, okay, all right Just it just looks like the parking is a little extended maybe right now So this if this truck is a space, it's in the probably the right away I think it's losing a space. It looks like it's because it's supposed to be a sidewalk there and think but That's just what it looks like from here. If you follow that line, it goes right up the middle of the truck Okay Okay, we're gonna reconvene the city council meeting at 742 And we are going to councillors, we take the seats and we are going to now going to juggle this Our agenda around anybody here. We're gonna do item 7.04 now, which is a excuse me 7.05 which is the Shelburne Street roundabout necessity here And I would like to invite city staff up to give us a brief presentation on this and please identify yourself My name is Olivia grease Engineer Assisting the Vermont Agency of Transportation to develop the Shelburne Street literary redesign project This has included a substantial amount of effort in coordinating the combination process Our team has printed written comments in my full testimony has been presented to the council They're binders located over there on that table For anybody who would like to look at the exhibits and the exhibits have also been posted on board docks These have been provided to the council and I'd like to introduce those into the record The city supports v-trans v-trans's efforts to develop this project, which will not only enhance safety for all users At this location, but also establish a gateway into the city's south-end neighborhoods and the Burlington's growing South-end Arts District the project is consistent with the city's transportation plans vision and guidelines The trans has secured all but one of the property interests needed to proceed with the project development These property owners have been fully compensated. We continue seeking interests from RJL south-willer management LLC shown as parcel 16 on the project plans and represented in exhibit one a Description of the outstanding property interests for this parcel are being introduced into the record as exhibit two Notice of the site examination and necessity hearing were sent via certified mail to persons interested in the outstanding affected property our JL Willard management LLC and the Mortage Holder North Country Federal Credit Union more than 30 days prior to this hearing Those parties were formally served at least 12 days in advance of the hearing Notice was sent to the city of Burlington planning commission and posted in the city of Burlington clerk's office The notice was published published in the Burlington Free Press on October 14th 2019 copies of the notice proof of mailings proof of sheriff's service and proof of publication are introduced into the record By the city as exhibits three four five and six This concludes my testimony. I would like to introduce VTrans project manager Michael a Croy who will be sharing his Background his role on the project and a project summary Thank you Once again, I'll be very brief. I just wanted to reiterate like Olivia said my Written in comments to the council are also provided Two points of clarification from the site visit. I just want to Make clear I did misspeak at the site visit regarding the blue piece on the exhibit to that you had in front of you I did say that that was grass that was incorrect. It is it will be paved It is not grass There will be no loss of parking spaces for the particular property At issue and I do want to reiterate that all properties along this project will have access to the properties at all times during construction if their primary Access to any of the properties has to be closed for a short duration and alternative access will be provided Again, we don't anticipate that a very very many impacts to those accesses This is the best engineered solution to the safety issues at the intersection Modern roundabouts, especially single lane roundabouts have a proven track record for addressing excessive vehicle collisions across the United States with almost 3000 constructed and operated at some roundabouts in Vermont We have seen injurious crashes go to zero after a roundabout installation There is no reason to expect less results at this location with this engineered solution Thank you All right. Thank you, and we now are gonna open this up to the public Comments by the public City Attorney Blackwood is that the excuse me president, right? Yes I believe we have one more witness that you need to hear from about compensation. Okay and value of the property Point of order point of order counselor Mason. What's your point of order? Aren't we in the necessity hearing now and the compensation hearing is next? counselor Mason The hearings can be combined as long as the city council hears both issues in full. Okay gives effective property. Thank you Chance to respond. Thank you. So we'll proceed and if you would please identify yourself You need to have the microphone right close to you very close to you My name is Rosa Benor I am the right-of-way appraisal chief for the agency of transportation I Accompanied Gosha Carr during the site inspection. She was the appraiser trainee for this parcel Prepared the appraisal and I supervised her during that development for parcel 16 The appraisal process included the analysis of highest and best use of the subject property as if vacant and available for development In particular, the project does not impact improvements and when that is the case we value the land To its highest and best use and that conclusion was to be commercial use We chose the sales comparison approach to develop the opinion of land value using commercial land sales and The opinion of land value was $34.54 per square foot That price per square foot was used as the basis to value the two permanent rights The two temporary rights were given nominal assignments of value because of the minimal impact of those rights The appraiser determined that there would be no permanent parking loss however, there was a given a cost to cure for potential temporary parking loss during the period of construction and My written testimony and the approved appraisal report are for parcel 16 are also included in the exhibits All right. Thank you, and now city attorney. We're ready to hear from members of the public Who would like to speak on the necessity for condemnation here? Anyone want to speak on this? Come on up sir. Please identify yourself and pull the microphone in close Good evening, and thank you for your time. My name is Bob Lake, and I am the owner of 616 South Willard Street I'm here tonight. I've got a multitude of issues with this project. I Have spent I've been at 616 since somewhere 2007 mid 2007 I purchased the property Pull the microphone a little closer. I'm in trouble hearing you. He's got to be right on it. Okay. How's this? That's better. All right, so I've been involved or I've owned this property since 2007 I've sat in that parking lot or stood in that lobby and overlooked the Quote-unquote most one of the most dangerous intersections in the state. I I question the engineering I question the the number of Accidents that they claim have been there I Also find it hard to believe that they're going to take a This road that that has three access points essentially into Chittenden County Which is South Willard, St. Paul, and I believe South Union and they're going to choke it down Into one lane before you can enter either of those streets You're going to back traffic up That's a huge issue The next the the next issue I have is going to be my own business if This two-year project with absolutely no concern about my revenue the people are not going to be able to access as Smoothly as it's been portrayed that we're going to be able to just come and go come and go as they please When I query the engineers about this there's going to be backup. There's gonna be backup coming in and leaving my Property I'm I don't understand how They this the state as well as the city can say that there's going to be absolutely No effect that people are going to have access and if we block one access that there's going to be another And when you take into consideration they want me to park off-site Well, if you come to me to rent a car and then I got to put you in another car to take you to your car It's a ridiculous. It's it's ridiculous to think that that that is a business sustainable business model I and I when I've asked including at a DPW Joint meeting with the state. I was told that that is my problem not not theirs So you can see my frustration and why I'm not just quick to sign off on having some of to giving up For right away on my property So before you guys sign on to this thing Don't let them build it only to find the problems We already know what the problems are going to be with the road itself Then think about the the fact that it is going to put my business put me out of business there There's no there's no question about it They there's a proven track record and timelines don't seem to matter. We go four months eleven months twelve months It doesn't seem to matter when when these projects get going. There's always issues something they didn't know about either By trial by fact by tribulation. There's always things that come up so What I if I were you if I were the city council before you sign on and give the nod to The state to go ahead and start this project and join them I suggest maybe you borrow some of the the barriers that they used out on North Avenue and And and block the street off show people what's actually going to happen. I don't think people are actually taken in into consideration What's the clogging of that road is going to do I mean you're gonna back it up all the way down? Down to home Avenue. It's it's simple. I mean you just One one streetlight one cross when you guys crossed tonight from my from Self-wildered back to your bus it back traffic up as far as I could see down Shelvern Road So think about what that's gonna do When you when this project is down to one lane into that roundabout so Again, please consider my business the fact that there's no way I've been told to quantify the compensation for the loss of business and Also think about taking that road and narrow it down to one lane, please. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Lake Anyone else in the public that wants to speak on the necessity issue? hearing none We will close the necessity hearing and I will recognize councillor mason for a motion President right is there excuse me? Do we take questions from the council before we move into the next motion? That's right. I think yes council city attorney blackwood. We should take questions first. You should but you should also make sure that everyone Makes any comments they want to make about compensation at this point as well In the public or in the public Anyone else want to speak on the compensation issue in the public and Also, does staff want to respond to anything that's been said You should ask that yes Staff want to make any comments to the remarks that were made councillor shannon my question about compensation relates to to what we just heard and a little bit of what we heard when we were out on the site about how the business is being compensated for parking and what we heard was the The going rate to rent parking off-site is a hundred dollars per car per month And so the calculation was done that way, but in this case This isn't just parking for your employees or something like that This is actually parking the inventory itself The thing that is the business at that site and it does seem like there's a difference Between compensating For some kinds of parking that you can just move off-site But when it's the business itself that Seems like it would dramatically affect the business and potentially Potentially cause a loss of the business It's hard for us who are not running the business to really say how you would compensate for that and Haven't there been other cases where? The property is actually purchased by the state of Vermont outright and And then they can sell it at the end of the process I Think that there's you know the first question is do you need to take the property that you're talking about to do this project and I Don't doubt that you do But I think that the effects on this business will be profound and is there another way to look at Compensation and what is the authority of this body with regards to compensation? Council Shannon, I could speak to the authority of the body on compensation briefly and Since this is a federal aid highway project compensation rules are set by the federal highway administration There's some flexibility for negotiation in that process but the value presented by the By VTrans today is the value set by the state and therefore by federal highway, so there would be some risk at valuing it above what federal highway allows That that VTrans wouldn't be able to cover any excess Excuse me compensation If someone can from VTrans could speak to how Compensation is is determined Related to the issues that you brought up We could probably find someone here to do that someone from VTrans able to speak to that and One more time everybody you got to have the microphone right close in In relationship to the loss of parking for the two months It was based on the vehicles the 12 spaces that are Holds the vehicles for the business being located to a Nearby property that would be easily Accessed during those that two month period As far as business loss business loss is based on the loss to the property Over and above the acquisition of the permanent rights if the property lost value because of a change in the use of that property after the project and in this case there isn't a loss of parking spaces the ingress and egress is the same and The business will still have the same value other than the price paid for those permanent rights Yes, Councillor Shannon isn't there a change to the value of the business during the period of the construction When when the business is renting cars and when you're taking away the ability to store cars on that property How does one maintain the business in that in that environment? the Business loss is not dependent on the actual project taking place because it's a general Problem for anybody who's on the project There there is a business loss form that can be filled out to request business loss it requires five years of tax information and we submit it to an economist to Determine if there is business loss So if I Laura wheelock Department of Public Works, so I think what they're what Rosa is leading to is that business loss really can't be truly Effectively determined ahead of time, but it is looked at after the project has already been underway and that losses could be Valued or is it ahead of time? Okay? Because it analyzes the change that will take place to the property because of the project specifically So can you speak more about the timing of that and how one applies for it and what the likelihood of getting it is? I think at the time usually when we do the appraisal if the property owner Believes there's going to be business loss. That's something they asked for at that time Have businesses requested that at this point Not that I know of I'll say councillor Shannon. Yes. Thank you councillor pine councillor present councillor shanning got to some of my questions and What I see here is really the greater good is being served by this project if we all believe that and accept that and that in order to do that the certain property owners make sacrifices and the compensation is attempted to Is an attempt to compensate for those sacrifices? It seems as though this property owner this business owner has made a case that the city is taking a project without providing Or taking on a project in the state without providing adequate compensation for those Anticipated business losses has there been have have have negotiations been attempted and have they've been exhausted or we Not having negotiations at this point. That's what I'm not clear on A question that Yeah, good evening. My name is Bruce Melvin. I'm the acquisition chief for right away in V trans some of the questions are related to the temporary disruption of access or the construction activities That are going to create issues of getting people in and out of his business The the fact is if he was not in him if he there were no rights being acquired He wouldn't be even here tonight for the hearing you have to be directly affected by the project to be at this hearing tonight So this is why he is here and claiming maybe some business loss But if you were to do your highway project without touching his property putting a new water line a new sewer line Sidewalk staying within the existing right-of-way There'd be no compensation at all so There is going to be disruptions there and the in circuit duty of travel is not a non-compensable item under multiple court cases and Temporary business loss Isn't something that happens unless you have a direct taking from the property that's which is causing The business loss now if we were taking a parking spot or if we were changing the configuration of the property so that Business can't operate in the same manner in the after that's a business loss But it has to be taken mostly taken into account when you have a direct taking now if we're near a gas station In the tanks maybe Sensitive and we may be doing some blasting there. We may have to pump out the gas tanks During a period of construction and then compensate the owner for the net loss of sales Directly tied to the loss of the gas Not being available. So this isn't the situation that's happening here He's making an all claim for a couple of different points one of them it goes to your necessity Which is the project is going to put him out of business due to this reconstruction But if you like I said again if you were go out there and do this project without even stepping a foot on his property You'd have the same issue, but he wouldn't even be off being offered any compensation and negotiations went South because he could have asked for business loss form during negotiations, but he was not responsive to the negotiator with what his attempts were made by emails telephone calls and stopping by the negotiator is here if you wish to speak with him We could have given him a business law again Only one person can do this Pull the microphone in all the way everybody can have the mic of these microphones are weak So you've got to be right on the microphone because we're not hearing it Okay, we have the negotiators in the room with us tonight and through multiple attempts the negotiator was not able to make a Get a response out of the property owner from the left for the last six seven months During this time period if you had made a claim to business loss He still could have asked for a business loss form and one could have been provided the time for compensation is on you right now Because you're the ones to be determining necessity and the compass final compensation tonight or act when you go into chambers later so the business loss form is something that wouldn't be a Pick up a look right now because you're making that determination of compensation I'm just gonna interject to say we are not gonna do now the compensation hearing till the next meeting So we're only gonna vote on the necessity hearing and necessity if counselors are ready to vote on that I Do I have one I don't want I don't want to this is again. It's just necessity We have a lot going on tonight, so I do not want to get bogged down over and over on this sure the last question is the process closed at this point is that what you're saying that the Process around what level of compensation this business owner receives is that closed completely? Yes, because you're making you will be making a determination. Otherwise, you'll have to extend your hearing and There's again, there'd be no guarantee that business loss would be available Based on what's the claim okay city attorney Blackwood just to clarify I think what we're suggesting is that because there's so many questions about compensation That maybe you turn your focus tonight on to necessity and then make a motion to end the to finish your conversation on Necessity tonight make a motion to close the necessity hearing but to continue the Con the the compensation hearing for next time So it will need a formal motion to that effect when you get to that point after you've finished your questions about necessity Everybody understands that Counselor y'all second spring councillor busher so President right I I think that some of the people I'm not sure will be here at the next time and I have two quick Questions, I don't feel I feel I really need to know this gentleman just President right just Responded to councillor pines saying that he gave an example of inventory for if indeed gas station you had to empty their tanks and then You could calculate the loss of revenue from not being able to sell gas I think councillor Shannon made the comment that the cars were inventory and so if you couldn't Access the cars then I would see that as being the same kind of Calculation and I'm surprised that Wasn't really discussed So that's one observation. I'm just listening to comments and making my own observations The second thing was and I didn't fully understand this I would like the answer to this question is that there was a discussion about there was a way for Compensation, but you had to go back five years to look at tax returns and And then the business could get compensated But then I heard you say that that window had closed even for that process Is that window closed sir? As far as the hearing tonight would be concerned. Yes, because it would okay. Thank you Thank you councillor but sure with the business loss form you have It's a form given to the property owner and it asks them to provide five years of back income taxes It also has asked the property owner to claim as to where the business loss is directed from and caused from And at that point it would be given to an economist The economist would look at it and they would calculate if there is any net loss and That we get compensated for at that time would be the net loss to the to the property owner if any was found Okay, thank you councillor Tracy So one of the things that within the necessity hearing is the notion of the temporary easement in the two-month period And I'm wondering what that two-month period is based off of and given what we've seen in other parts of the city With regards to contaminated soils contributing to longer timelines if that two-month period is Going to be adequate to take care to get into the site the area of the project that we're Discussing as part of the necessity hearing I would have to speak to somebody back here We'll show with a two-month timeline came in Is there someone else that can speak to that? Yeah, real quick That was our initial estimate based on projects of this size and other locations For that type of work adjacent to that property Thank you. Okay. Thank you. All right ready to vote on just moving forward on the necessity hearing I'm gonna recognize councillor Mason I just there's make a motion to close the necessity hearing direct staff to prepare findings of fact question conclusions of law and in order for City Council consideration at our November 18th meeting and to postpone the compensation hearing until our next meeting Which is scheduled for next week That's the motion. Can I also make one quick comment after motion? It would be beneficial to have a little better Understanding of what the positions of the respective parties are as from where I'm sitting I'm not entirely tracking where the dispute is. I think it's in part the amount of compensation But I think it's also the period of time that for which compensation is being sought So if there's a way to get the council some written submission that will focus us that would be helpful Thank you. Thank you for that clarification Counselor Mason appreciate that city attorney black, but I just want to make clear a vote a yes vote here on this What does that lock the council into? Yes vote is saying that you're finding necessity But you're going to subject to having issuing findings of fact that are going to come back to you So if counselors had problems with this they still have an opportunity to vote no if they wanted to at a subsequent meeting Yes, you probably shouldn't vote yes If you know that you're definitely in the end going to vote no you probably should vote no now But you certainly can vote yes today and then read the findings of fact and say you don't agree with them All right. Thank you Cousins council roof. Did you want to be recognized eat a second on the motion? Okay, you're seconding it second by council roof all those in favor of the motion. Please say aye Any opposed I'm also going to be in opposition. So there is two nays councillor Polino and right that passes by a vote of 10 to 2 and We are delaying the next item the compensation hearing until the next meeting Or the compensation issue. Okay, we will now go back to the regular order on the agenda and the next item is I'm on the run Singing by the Ethan Allen residents Good evening. My name is Susan Herrick and I am director of resident engagement at the Ethan Allen residents And I've brought my friends tonight here to sing for you just a little bit But let me say a few things before we do that The Ethan Allen residents is an assisted living facility in New North Burlington and We Provide memory care and we also provide care for age-related challenges memory care memory loss dementia Alzheimer's when I say those words Does it make your heart flutter a little bit? Well, what if I said you can live well with dementia? That's my challenge tonight to say this to you and to say that we as A society we're always talking about we need to be more present Let's be in the moment be here now Live in the moment and in fact, that's what people with memory loss do They live in the moment. They have the moment. That's it so what is our charge as a community as Caregivers as family as friends. What is our charge? Well, it's to find the silver lining and Well, the silver lining has already been found my friends. It's music and if you were to Google dementia plus music You would discover that there's pages and pages of research and scientific Data that show the part of the brain that remembers music is not affected by this disease That part of the brain doesn't go so the opportunity there is immense The opportunity is immense and at Ethan Allen residents We know this and we are participating in music every single day one two three times a day We make sure as a nonprofit that we provide this because music causes a transformation It's called being asymptomatic Asymptomatic so sadness turns to joy When music making when singing when listening to meaningful music sadness turns to joy Anxiety turns to enthusiasm Confusion turns to clarity and Disconnectedness That's a big one. It turns to connection We experience that every single day so at Ethan Allen residents we celebrate the moment and what we do is we Do gardening we do art making we do movement with rhythm we do music and what that does is? It brings our residents alive, and it says there is still so much life to be had and so we are here as a microcosm of a global local and And Well a local and global that's plenty Opportunity we are looking forward to hearing them sing I know I have three more words to say opportunity responsibility and imperative that we provide for people through the end of their lives All the way to the end good care seriously focused care on what works for their lives And it's music. Here's the silver lining choir Great, let's hear the singing I'm so glad that the Burlington high school girls varsity soccer team could be with us here tonight We are so proud of all of you And we want and uh, if I may I'd like to read this resolution in their in their honor. Absolutely That whereas the Burlington high school girls varsity soccer team was inspired by the u.s Women's national team to advocate for equal pay And closing the wage gap and in particular Megan Rapinoe's charge to do what you can and whereas the student athletes took it upon themselves to Connect outside the classroom with a credible community partner in change the story vermont A partnership initiative of the vermont women's fund vermont works for women And the vermont commission on women to learn more about wage inequity Can you Shannon? I apologize. Do you want to wait for just one minute? Let's give people a chance to Yes, we are. Thanks again everyone Councillor shannon. Sorry back to you. Sure Whereas according to the change of the story data women in vermont make 84 cents for every dollar that men do known as the wage gap and whereas the wage gap for black latinx and native women is significantly greater And whereas women who work full-time are disproportionately employed in low wage jobs in every age group at every level of And whereas women are significantly more likely than men to live in poverty or economic insecurity in large part because They have primary responsibility for the care of minor children And whereas the team worked with their coach and their partners to create custom branded jerseys with the popular slogan equal pay And whereas the team raised the money from eight different community partners in less than a week to be able to fully fund jerseys for each member of the girls team And to subsidize 84 of the cost for each member of the boys soccer team to symbolize the wage gap Good going Whereas the student-athletes recognized an opportunity for community engagement and support and created a way for community members to purchase the custom equal pay jerseys And whereas the profits from the sales of equal pay jerseys will support women's programs in vermont and specifically Toward helping diversify the greater burlington girls soccer league alleviating transportation issues that keep some girls in the city from participating And whereas the team has now sold more than 2,500 equal pay jerseys that number is probably really old by now To to people in more than 38 states And whereas while celebrating a goal four players received a yellow card penalty for removing their game jerseys To reveal reveal their custom equal pay jerseys Which they were wearing underneath and whereas after receiving the penalty Each member of the team team conducted themselves in a respectful and appropriate manner And whereas the story of the student-athletes Movement for equal pay and their celebratory penalty has been told on good morning america This american life cbs news today.com hln The athletic fox news The athletic fox news anderson cooper Full circle and all local media outlets including but not limited to the burlington free press And many more since this resolution was written And whereas this news coverage has allowed this team's story to be shared with millions of people across the world And whereas the team has skillfully Patiently and energetically and intelligently represented themselves as well as their team Coach school school district community partners in the city During this process while coming closer together as a team Managing school workloads and competing at the highest level of high school soccer in the state of the of vermont Now therefore be it resolved That this burlington city council hereby recognizes each member of the burlington high school's girls bar city soccer team As a changemaker influencer and role model for our city and our youth And be it further resolved that this burlington city council thanks each member of the burlington high school's girls varsity soccer team For their leadership on an important community issue and for inspiring us all to do better and fight for equality And president right i want to acknowledge that we too Have rules in this council chamber about excessive celebration And i think it's time. We all take a yellow card Yellow cards for all of you Um, I know every counselor would like to say something but we are not going to be able to do that So please don't start raising your hands. We can't have 12 people speak Um, just on behalf of the council Councillor shannon said it But uh, we are all extremely proud of you. It's been an incredible story As councillor shannon also mentioned it's the story went viral. It's been all over the news It's been international news and we could not be more proud of you And yes, we are going to bring you up for a picture We should let everybody know that along with this great story about equal pay It's also an incredible soccer team and And they play the semifinals right maggie semifinals lidia and everybody else CVU on wednesday At what time three three o'clock So good luck to the team beat CVU and on to the championship against maybe colchester We don't know what it might be colchester and i've heard there's some bad blood there, so So, um, can everybody come up front and the mr. Mayor did you want to say a quick remark? I was going to wish them luck. It's against cvu too president right, so thank you We're all on board with that. We're all on board with that beat cvu. You have made us all proud. Thank you Nothing against cvu, but bc view Okay, if everybody can come up here in the well and we want to get a picture And I'd like to see a show of hands how many Of the girls varsity soccer team has been coached by counselor mason And let me also mention that we have We have coach jeff haze here Congratulations coach go ahead jeff give us a couple words First of all Counselor shannon, thank you so much for those great words and and the rest of the city council and The mayor we really appreciate this opportunity to come here and this group this group is such an incredible group It makes me so proud to be their coach the way they handle themselves on and off the field. They're amazing they're gonna do great things and Thank you so much Thank you coach Who once again to the Wellington high school girls soccer team best of luck in the next game wednesday at three o'clock I have a feeling there's going to be a lot of interest in that game Um I am going to recess Okay, everybody's got to be a little quiet though or i'm gonna have to yellow card you again And it will count in your next game Okay, um, i'm gonna recess the regular city council meeting At 732 we didn't vote on the resolution. Oh good point. It's good point We have the the resolution has been moved and seconded it was seconded by It was second counselor pine all those in favor of the resolution. Please say aye Hi And he knows Passes unanimously congratulations once again. Thank you all Now I heard I heard councilor mation Councilor mason vote yes as well. He did he absolutely did and we are now going to recess to the regular city council meeting for At 733 to adjourn the to adjourn to convene the liquor control commission and I'm going to turn it over to the chair commissioner roof Thank you, president right. Uh, I will move the agenda. I'll make a motion to adopt the agenda Moved by seconded by councillor hanson moved by councillor roof commissioner roof seconded by commissioner hanson Commissioner roof move 2.01 approval of a 2019 2020 first and third class Restaurant bar liquor license application for einstein taphouse at 165 church street with the following conditions All city permits need to be closed out contingent upon fire marshal approval with all standard conditions Thank you. Commissioner roof seconded by councillor hanson. Uh, we already had any discussion Hearing none all those in favor, please say aye Any opposed That passes unanimously commissioner roof 2.02 I will move the approval of a 2019 2020 second Class store liquor license application for riverside tree 500 riverside av with all standard conditions Seconded by commissioner hanson discussion by the commission Hearing none all those in favor, please say aye Any opposed that passes unanimously Commissioner roof move to adjourn Move to adjourn seconded by commissioner jang all those in favor, please say aye Any opposed we are adjourned and back And we now reconvene the regular city council meeting at 7 35 and open up the public forum I have a few people signed up to speak And if you do want to speak and you haven't signed up there are slips over here on the table in the corner If you want to speak on an issue bring them over here to the clerk's office and they'll get them to me So at 7 35 I will open up the public forum and the first first person scheduled to speak is brad pet pettenville pettenville Good evening. Welcome petten gill petten gill. Oh, there we go. There is a g there Okay, just hand them to somebody and have them pass them around Thank you I'm brad petten gill. I've worked at one main street for 30 years in that time Our beautiful waterfront has emerged from an industrial wasteland to become burlington's destination for recreation tourism exercise education culture and business With the echo center the bike path in waterfront park. We truly have a unique amazing gift People come here from all over the world for our quality of life With fresh air mountain views and a vibrant economy. We are a healthy place to live Work and raise a family We're a top vacation destination. We're leaders in sustainable energy We care for and protect our environment and our waterfront is a shining example of all this So i'm extremely disappointed that the city of burlington is considering a second rail line here of all places Imagine the thousands of people who enjoy this area every day confronted with diesel fumes sewage disposal Noise and crowding imagine walking down to the lake to see the sunset and two trains are blocking your view Imagine this wide open uninterrupted space with direct lake access cut off Imagine your restaurant or store closing because no one wants to deal with this mess and your foot traffic dies People of all shapes sizes ages and abilities enjoy this area freely Safely and without fear the bike path comfortably accommodates cyclists runners people in wheelchairs families with strollers Seniors kids and people walking their dogs all at the same time At a second rail line all that goes away International fire code says a fire department access lane has to be at least 20 feet wide So how can this path be reduced to eight feet? How does a nine foot wide emergency vehicle fit down an eight foot wide corridor between a train and a building? And still have room for firefighters and emt to do their job Please don't destroy 30 years of progress. Don't return this area to a stinking smoking wasteland Please protect this unique treasure for all the people who visit here work here and play here. Thank you Thank you, mr. Penn gill Melinda molten is up next to be followed by richard molten Good evening. Welcome My name is melinda molten and i'm the ceo of main street landing. I've spent the last 36 years of my career With lisa steel redeveloping the burlington waterfront and i'm back and i just wanted to share with you very quickly That when we built phase one which included the cornerstone the wing building in the union station we were required By the in our permit that was given to us by the zoning department to Get an easement On the west side of our project and the reason why they wanted an easement On the west side was for security reasons and safety issues and the ability to deal with emergency vehicles to access our property We had to get that easement in order for us to get our permit To build the building so our building would not have been built without getting that easement from the city The state and the railroad And it's a 20 foot easement and now we have the potential to have that by that bike path pedestrian walkway Reduced to eight feet On friday. I have some pictures up here on friday There was an accident on the bike path and I Somebody went down. I don't know if it was if it was a heart attack or what it was what the reasoning was But the emergency vehicle had to come down And and you can see in the photos which i'm going to hand hand you that in order for those people to be careful It literally took the whole entire Bike path pedestrian pathway to get serviced and to be treated and to be taken out on a gurney So my concern I have very very deep concerns I have another picture here that i'm going to hand out to you Which shows where the bike path is now and when what's going to happen when two trains are brought in We're big supporters of amtrak. I've spent 36 years of my career fighting to bring amtrak back We built the train station We want to see the train there, but we do not believe that there needs to be a second track amtrak could pull in tomorrow It could pull in tomorrow at a union station We do not need a second track and I believe that that bike path should be it should be maintained As a pedestrian walkway at the width that it is in order to To create a safe environment and an ability for train travelers to be able to walk north and south from king to college street So if you've ever been down there, even when the dinner train is parked there for six hours, you can see what that's like Imagine another train parked there and believe me if there's a second track put up brought back on the waterfront We expand the rail yard. There won't just be any kind of train or dinner the dinner train There will be fuel trains and there will be service trains You know emptying emptying sewage and it is going to change Incredibly the character of this beautiful place that we've created. So I'm going to hand out these pictures and We'll be back. Um, this isn't the last time you're going to see me. I apologize for that, but Thank you very much Richard molten is up next to be followed by sandy win Good evening. Good evening. Welcome. Thanks for letting me speak I have the good fortune. I have the honor to read to you a A letter from howard dean I'm governor howard dean to this august body As as you know, I spent a lot of energy in my public life fighting for public Access to the waterfront and the creation of our magnificent greenway I have also spent much time helping to bring amtrak to burlington Many of you have also worked hard on these things Now we find that both efforts could collapse at the last moment because of a lack of adequate public input Unreasonable demands by the railroad whose property is owned by the state of vermont and leased to the railroad As well as the requirement of this proposal to put a bike path along battery street for several blocks This proposal is a disaster the bike path belongs west of the current tracks And yet there is no agreement to do this with the landowner who currently Owns the needed property The idea of a second track created by destroying much of the existing passenger platform is ludicrous Given the existence of alternatives Which include an entire Rail yard to the south and a long spur to the north which currently serves as a storage track for up to 75 tank cars There are other alternatives in addition to this Surely all of us with the assistance of the state which owns most of the land We're speaking about can come to a reasonable compromise which will allow Amtrak to come to burlington without delay and improves the bike path in its most congested area We do not need a choice between destroying the bike path and bringing Amtrak to burlington The plan put forward recently is such a choice and as a champion of both efforts I will pick the bike path over Amtrak if we're forced in that position We must have a guarantee of the relocation of the bike path to the west of the track and a plan which provides For a far more reasonable solution than constructing a new track We're none as needed or wanted Thanks. Thank you. Mr. Moulton Sandy win is up next to be followed by lee turhune Good evening, miss win. Welcome Oh, we get We get treats They'll pass it around so this uh This year Americans will spend nine billion dollars on halloween candy Just for this holiday this week nine billion The number one candy you will buy is chocolate Fair trade chocolate is not a huge part Of that amount you're going to spend But the people who Pick the cocoa who make our chocolate That would be children slave children Women who do not get fair pay And men who do not get fair pay This is a fair trade town And I would love to see us all to commit if you are going to buy chocolate Consider buying fair trade chocolate. We have a wonderful Company right in town called lake shampoony chocolates There are other companies as well You don't have to buy chocolate But if you do if you're going to support equal pay, which we clearly do Please support fair pay for the people who make our chocolate And there's not a lot in that basket because I shared it with the soccer team so you don't give as much Thank you. Thank you miss win lee turhune Felt by isabel swaz Good evening, mr. Hewan. Welcome Good evening My love that the theme tonight is equality and fair trade. I'm here to talk with you about the mural Masking you to reconsider leaving it up as long as 2022 You can remove it by 2022, which means you could remove it tomorrow Five years was what was advertised in the rfp in the contract template and is reported by donors five years That was up two years ago You're the elected leaders of our community and you can signal our community values of inclusion and unity by declaring that all belong Moving the parade mural into storage now While decisions are made regarding its highest and best use We know more about the parade mural now its wall life how it was sold to those who paid to be included Vara writes as they pertain to the previous mural and the parade artists sensibilities when doing his commissioned work Wall life the rfp the contract template the testimony of a major donor to the task force All assigned a five-year life to the display of the mural Vara Vara protects the original muralists work Not the commissioned elap commercial work And and replacing panels that have been removed constitutes a second Vara violation The expectation was that the parade would be displayed for five years based on the rfp the contract and the testimony of donors I repeat this over and over because this information was not given to the mural task force And I don't believe it was given to you either City government school department police department. They're all trying for diversity Everyone in our community is harmed by the parade mural because it institutionalizes white supremacy The mural task force discussed the mural as a commercial billboard illegal in vermont And noted that it includes an advertisement for tobacco also illegal Advice from the city attorney provided to the task force and city council did not address these issues And at the time the city was denying the billboard violations of the synex boards around the pit Now removed after the state ruled that they were billboards But please take to heart the most essential issues here that our community is harmed by promoting the Notability of white people advertised and embedded in this reflection of our so-called history that excludes non-white people rendering others Invisible ignoring notable contributions to our community by many different colors of people and thereby institutionalizing white supremacy The social construct and the racism it engenders makes a false claim that the privilege of superior white people is earned By merit hard work a higher capacity of intelligence when in fact that privilege is the result of a racist construct Thank you. Mr. Hewn subjugates people of color and unfair isabel suarez is up next Thank you, mr. Hewn isabel suarez is up next to be followed by ali has Good evening. Welcome Do I is this okay. Um, hello all i'm isabel suarez, and i'm a junior at the university of vermont I'm here today to hold you all accountable because i'm frankly disturbed and disgusted that the at the inability of those in charge Of berlington's public works to not keep this space inclusionary and safe for all people who come here who come here The everybody loves a parade mural is a monument and testament to colonizers to white people stealing what is not theirs And it exempt and is exemplified with the panel of champlain Discovering the lake and his meeting with a Huron or Algonquin native person a group that does not even hail from vermont This is not the beginning of vermont history No vermont history started long long before any colonizers came No notable native americans are present in the 400 year timeline depicted by this work Many wish to tout berlington as a liberal bubble and a safe space, but don't want to put in the work to do that After reading pierre hardy's response to people's complaints about the mural I was even more outraged and disgusted that it wasn't immediately removed It is a monument to racism It is a monument to white supremacy and its harmful colonialist rhetoric In addition, I believe that hardy's comments were completely inappropriate and racist in and of themselves Making me wonder further why the mural still stands He claimed that without everybody loves a parade marginalized groups would not have a voice And things are evidently improving because of the mural In his response, he cited abraham lincoln as one of the four instances of african americans in elip That makes no sense considering that abraham lincoln was a white man But he said it anyway and was not penalized for it at all the absurdity of that statement is mind boggling And he didn't even he's not even from vermont The idea that there are no notable people of color in vermont history is disgusting astounding and cruel There are many people of color that have enriched vermont and made it the place it is today In fact, many people on the mural are not vermonters at all. So it mystifies me how still barely any people of color made it onto that mural hardy also mentioned that he never had to deal with race as a key factor in his life and he does not see skin color My identity as a proud as a brown Puerto rican girl with native heritage never leaves me ever It is something that has marked me and my family forever and will always mark us Leaving a it has left a trail of intergenerational pain and trauma and now i'm able to take pride in that identity However, that history has been stolen from me and has continued to be stolen from people of color every single day This land that we stand on is stolen land. I want to know my history, but there's so little access to it And i'm tired of having to come and do the work for white folks in power And explaining that people have a right to their history and a right to know their past In conclusion, i'm imploring city council to remove this mural that is a lousy excuse for public art And a disgusting testament to white supremacy in Vermont. Thank you very much Ali house is up next to be followed by nick flourish Good evening. Welcome Hi, how are you all? My name is ali house and i'm a junior social work major at the university of vermont and I would like our city council to know that this mural has no place in our town In a place that's so rich with history There is no room and no tolerance for images that portray a whitewash history and such overt racism as this Look at your shirts and look at the shirts of all the girls who are standing back there. That's what this town stands for Justice and what is right? Please know that this mural has caused hurt And you alone have the power to change it We as a university of vermont social work students will not stand for this Stand up for what is right And be more than just politicians be people And see the harm that it's causing Make space for history to be retold the right way Thank you Thank you very much. Nick flourish is up next to be followed by steve goodkind Good evening counselors mayor city hall staff My name is nick flourish captain of code for btv local chapter of code for america I'm here to give you an admittedly belated report on the event the city council sponsored on september 21st with your discretionary fund The event was our local celebration of the code for america event the national day of civic hacking The theme this year was to push forward local and national criminal record expungement efforts in concert with national expungement week We really want to engage the public and learn more about how the expungement process in vermont Looks through the eyes of those who need it the most We decided to start by using the event to engage with legal professionals that know about and deal with expungement There were two key desired goals to create a clear plan for how to discuss the expungement process with citizens at future expungement clinics And to share the work we have already done to automate much of the expungement process for vermont legal aid with other lawyers A total of 16 people participated which is not a large number But the people that did attend were key individuals in this community and it allowed for the event to be a real success This event that you funded was the first time that some of these key individuals had met or been in the same room As a result some new relationships were formed that are allowing continued progress With pushing expungement forward in the state Here's a list of outcomes we've identified a clearer and broader picture of who is impacted by expungible criminal records How and why a clearer definition of the various stages that these individuals move through in the expungement process Sparking new collaboration opportunities with attorneys in the area a much better idea of how to discuss expungement when we're at the clinics with citizens the beginning of a conversation with the state judiciary Brigade engagement invisibility as well as a cctv video of that event that we're going to be using to share with the national organization Energizing our team and perhaps most surprisingly a direct path forward for expungement work in vermont With the slowing down of vla's expungement clinic effort So on this last point, let me clarify the vermont legal aids grant that funded the their push starting in july of 2018 To run multiple free expungement clinics has expired or is expiring They will still be holding occasional clinics, but they will be fewer and farther between vermont legal aids next clinic will be in new year One attendee to our event was state attorney denis wigman of addison county Mr. Wigman is working directly with our team to coordinate an expungement clinic on november 8th at the addison county courthouse Using the software we built originally for vermont legal aid We expect the teaming up this way will demonstrate to other state attorneys that this software could be used throughout the state with Minimal training and will allow a small number of legal professionals to process three times as many justice-agreive citizens Then if they did the work manually Thanks again to the council, especially councilor roof and beth Anderson for working with us through some confusing issues to help Keep the event on track. It all came together very nicely. Thank you Thank you very much. Steve good kind is up next to be followed by benjamin glenn peters Good evening. Mr. Good kind. Welcome. Thank you. Any more extra t-shirts by the way No Anyway, I wanted to talk about are you kidding? These are loners I'd like to talk about environmental justice as it relates to the shamp plan parkway. I I sent you a letter It's it's in your packet. Maybe you've had time to read it If not, I just want to try and make a talk to a few high points of it. I really would encourage you to read it The department of justice federal department of justice is requiring that the shamp plan parkway undertake An environmental environmental justice review before the project can proceed This review has an opportunity to be A game changer for the project We have the opportunity now to see that this project actually is a project that we want Project that I think most people support and not the project that's been imposed upon us by the record of decision That the federal government made in 2009 I think it's fair to say Some of you have voted this way in the past and we brought this to the board back in the 2000s that There's one thing that everyone agrees is wrong with this project. I think for myself the mayor everyone's sitting at this table That is the project should not be directing its traffic through the pine maple king street neighborhood It's wrong. It was never what the city desired for 40 years. The city Had many different versions of the project all of them Took the took the traffic around that neighborhood In 2009 during the last environmental impact process The city fought actively against a route that the federal government Was preferring and that's the route we have now to take the traffic up pine street to main street Some of you are on the council at the time We made presentations the council was unanimous in its support. I think i'm not joan I'm not sure you were supporting it, but you weren't at that point Maybe not in favor of the project at all, but I think this part even this you agreed with if it's going to happen It should not take that route We made an environmental Justice argument, but we're told at the time that the rules for environmental justice weren't very strong and it couldn't trump the other environmental issues it Forced that selection process to take place as it did Things have changed in the times since the last eis the rules for environmental justice have been greatly strengthened and now The project must comply with them those rules basically state that the project should not Not uh, what's the right word? disproportionately impact low income and minority neighborhoods And if it does that the project must show that there's no other no other alternative It couldn't be done another way Well, I think everyone is familiar with the project knows there were about three or four other ways It certainly could happen the city has never taken the position to this day that really supports The route that's been proposed now. We've accepted it. I'm not sure we've ever actually said we like it or want it And I think there's a real opportunity now if this council takes some action That you can pass a resolution Well, okay, if i'm done you have my letter. I just suggest you read it It's I think you can make a real difference now. We can have the project we want. Thank you, mr Good kind. Thank you our final speaker tonight is benjamin glan peters Is there somebody that has a name similar to that because the writing's a little Okay Good evening welcome You need to you need to take a seat so we can you can use the microphone and channel 17 and everybody else can hear you Can you hear me? Can you hear me? We can hear you speak right of the microphone. All right I'm not the best public speaker and I don't really want to do this but I do want people to Think about their own kids and also their parents and Basically themselves too, but everybody in the community because Especially children and especially elderly people And especially girls are being affected by This problem that I want to talk about and it won't take long However many years ago probably eight or nine or something All of us have gotten fancy her phones and also We all have wireless transmitters in our house And there are meters on everybody's house now that put out a lot of electricity And because human beings have within their own body an electrical system That's how you operate that's how you can Live that's what the heart does it moves blood through your body electrically And when you take Special energy and you move that throughout your environment All day long you get sick And all of the kids in our schools or I would assume probably but I see it in my cousin. I have a younger cousin. She's in college or she just graduated and she's tall she looks like She looks like the guy in that nightmare before christmas movie, you know, she's wicked tall and she's skinny and everything and now Because of that It's harder for people who are Wiery or more sensitive or whatever. It's hard for everybody But because of that now she's can't stop moving her fingers And she really Has a hard time. She has a lot of anxiety Socially and things and this is not because of anything she did wrong it's because She lives in a home where there's a wireless device that's filling up her environment with electricity All night and all day And then she goes to school and there's lots of them in the school doing the same thing I appreciate you listening and I think we can Fix this problem because I think there's a solution to it Especially if we work together. Thank you. Thank you, mr. Peters. Yeah And with that that concludes our public forum for this evening. Thank you everyone who spoke to us tonight And we will now go back to the agenda to item number five, which is the consent agenda Councillor busher. Yes, I'd like to move to adopt the consent agenda and take the actions indicated Moved by councillor busher seconded by councillor roof Any discussion on the motion hearing none all those in favor of Passing the consent agenda and taking the actions indicated. Please say aye Any opposed that passes unanimously We will move now ahead to item Gotta find my place here 7.01 An indoor entertainment permit application council roof I'll move approval of a 2019 2020 indoor entertainment permit application for einstein taphouse at 165 church street with the following conditions All city permits need to be closed out contingent upon fire marshal approval with all standard conditions Moved by councillor roof seconded by councillor tracy Any discussion on the motion Hearing none all those in favor. Please say aye Aye. Any opposed passes unanimously Item 7.02 is a presentation from zoe richards director of burlington wildways And alicia daniel can we get the slide presentation up? I think I sent it along to the council Do we know how to do that? Oh, she's working out. Oh great. Yes. Sorry Thank you all right Just an interim. I just wanted to um Thank the council for letting us have an opportunity to report on what we're doing at burlington wildways and While we're getting the presentation up. I can Just say that burlington wildways is actually A partnership group that was formed right here in the council and It we started up and were formed by the council two years ago Um by our city council resolution And the goal of the city council resolution was two things It was to recognize the amazing natural areas that we had in the city of burlington And it was also um put together to uh foster ways for us to continue to conserve those areas into the future As well as allowing access for people to those natural areas And I thought we would just start if we could move on to the next slide. Yep I thought we would just start um with just a little bit of a reminder of how incredibly fantastic it is out there In our natural areas in burlington, and i'm going to turn that over to alicia to share with us. Thank you Yeah, we we've had an amazing Meeting this evening has been quite interesting and it's clear that we have a lot going on socially in burlington Really very active community, and i'm excited to be here and hear what's happening We also have an incredibly rich natural heritage. We live in a beautiful city So i'd like to can I just point at you for the slides? Thank you So, uh one of our most iconic wild places is rock point People fly from all over the world to see this thrust vault just a very famous Geologic feature, but also just incredible habitat for plants and animals these lakeside uplands that we have We also have promontaries like euthan island park Rocky places where people enjoy views, but also animals and plants live in the city We also have wet places like the burlington intervail It's always going to swing back to a good story about the intervail in a few minutes But it's uh just provides diversity and ecological Habitat for animals that don't live in the rocky places And then we have kind of a combination of both we have a wet cave system the intervail sea caves. It's called Where plants and animals? Come for all kinds of reasons, and this is a black crown night here and hanging out in front of that cave So when you think about the city of burlington from a wildlife Diverse an ecological diversity perspective the green heart of the city Really is the place that helps cool our air and filter it and It provides Ways to slow the water down and make it fresher as it enters the lake So the green heart of the city is key to burlington But the wild edges are too the river That runs through town and the lake shore are places that that animals hang out Regularly and we're i'm going to get to that part. It's not the only place we see them When you combine An urban environment with wild edges you get crazy things that happen like this moose that ran across the uvm campus A couple of years ago, and it's not the only one that's done that We have kind of unique cultural things like our Tallest filing cabinet that exists next to a wet area where you can see here and see tree frogs in the spring time wildlife Biologists tend to think of cities as either being bear cities bobcat cities or squirrel cities you sort of have a choice in the way that they're designed and planned How wild they can be and for a moment in june of last year Well this year actually we had a black bear on the uvm campus So we became a bear city for a fleeting moment, and it was kind of an exciting time it had been about 20 years since we'd seen a bear in burlington And we know that because we've been gathering wildlife data And so our more common residents are things like red fox who exist in the intervail and sort of Farmers down there have relationships with some of these foxes that have been there through generations But they're spread as you can see from the data from the points on the map They're spread pretty thoroughly throughout the wild areas of the city. We also have gray foxes I'll just flip through these quickly. You can just keep going We have bobcat that we find along the river. We have fishers that roam through our woods We have as we continue moose as you know that visit occasionally coyotes There's a they've been heard howling down at rock point We have mink and beaver and otter that all love our wildlands So in addition to the wildlife, they're also beautiful and unusual plants these flowers all flowered the spring in Arms forest which is behind the high school and connects to rock point. So we have things like gay wings and lady slippers And also wild birds that migrate through and sometimes live in the area particularly in the flood plains of burlington and taken together all of our just unique and unusual wildlands create habitat for Plants and animals that really exceed the expectations in vermont. We are really one of the most wild and diverse places In the state and i'll turn it back to zoe to tell us more about what we're trying to do with that Yeah, so um, I think this next slide illustrates why we have formed the partnership organization called burlington wildways So on the left you see the open space that we have On the right is the political reality of that open space. So the left is the open space. The right is the open space by ownership And we're in a sort of jumble of ownership And in order to make sure that we still have this open space and functional natural areas in the future We really felt like a lot of the major landowners needed to start to work together To provide access. It's one of the reasons that it's hard to find your way around the arms forest behind the high school Because it's under multiple ownerships with no one jurisdictions hard to have signage and wayfinding So as a group, we're really working to push that agenda forward if I could have the next slide Yes, so um, the city council resolution two years ago recognized that It recognized the value of what we had it it outlined some of the problems that we have with Conserving those natural areas and allowing for access to those And what the resolution did was it asked two things one was for the conservation board The wanoski valley park district and the parks and rec department to sort of get together and figure out how to solve some of this And then it asked for a second thing which was to put together a summit And that summit meeting would Gather lots of experts and try to figure out. How do we have ecologically sensitive access to our natural areas? And how do we conserve them into the future? So if we could have the next slide, so we're we're really just here to report what we've done since then Since two years ago So we had that summit meeting out at rock point. We invited we hoped to have a meeting of about 30 experts And we invited 50 people hoping we'd get 30 and we ended up with 70 So we knew that we had struck a chord And this is local land trust. It's Nature conservancy. It was the state of vermont fish and wildlife department. It was the bishop. It was I'm probably missing lots and lots of people local parks commission Conservation board all kinds of people who shared a vision for natural areas within the urban context And if I could have the next slide So we came away from that meeting realizing that we had to form some sort of a Functional partnership in order to push forward some of those items Originally, we were called the burlington open and natural lands conservation and connection initiative, which was a huge mouthful So we started meeting regularly here. We are in cindy whites office at parks and rec We formed a steering committee And we thought about lots of different names For our organization and thought about sort of you know logos and if I could have the next slide We really settled upon burlington wild ways, which we think you know says what we do And it is a partnership organization between burlington parks and rec Winooski valley park district the intervail center and rock point which are Some of the major public facing land owners who own these natural areas and have a vested interest in sharing them with the public and keeping The wildlife that they've got on them still there if I could have the next slide, please So what are we working on the things that we're really as a partnership group focusing on Oh, I just wanted to just take a moment to recognize the partners that we have here We have uh, cindy white from parks and rec and Lauren chicote from the winooski valley park district Kate cruisy who's a local botanist a member of our steering committee and dan Cahill who's the city land steward for parks and rec who are all Really active participants in pushing all of these agendas forward So we're working on things that really we can only do in partnership And those are uh Creating a connected trail that moves across the landscape through multiple Landowners, so if you want to get from one side of the intervail to the other We're creating a connected trail to help you do that We are working on conservation issues that affect all of the landowners and coming up with Uh Ways that we can involve the public Consistent stewardship of landscapes We're trying to work on access increasing the numbers of people who Can feel comfortable coming into the outdoors and diversifying what types of people make their way into our natural areas We're also protecting Rare plants Considering, you know trying to inventory what we have in the city and make sure that we keep it there And we also One thing that I think I really want us to continue to work on is really elevating the status Of natural areas and the for the function that they can provide for the city Especially in the face of climate change. I think they're Natural areas and natural based nature based climate solutions are often Considered to be sort of the forgotten climate solution And I think we as a city can do a better job of elevating the role and function of our natural areas in climate Change mitigation if I could have the next slide So what have we done? We have built a first section of A connected trail that runs called the burlington wildway and councillor busher joined us for that opening along with The mayor in early september This is a picture of the system map that you'll find out on the trail And it really runs right along the wanouski. It starts at salmon hole It crosses through the intervail but along the river, which is not the way that most people make their way through the intervail through to the ethan alan homestead and it Goes along the 127 bike path and then crosses over Ethan alan park and then you're really one very long city block away from the bike path It's five and a half miles long And uh while it is not it is a new trail because it's newly marked It actually just knits together Existing pieces of trail that were very poorly signed Other than the original section, which I think Councillor pine told me that he worked on many years ago in cedo the river walk below Riverside avenue If I have the next slide and amazingly the trail is beautiful it mostly runs through flood plain forest It's quiet and serene and lovely to walk on and easy to get through And I could have for you to have the next slide. It's marked with these blazes, which is our logo Walks through multiple ownerships Next slide, please It sometimes pops out of the forest and is along the agricultural edge within the intervail This is a section that runs through private property in the intervail There are many owners in the intervail even though many of us think of it as one entity Which is why we haven't had clear consistent signage through it If I could have the next slide, please and the trails been open a little bit over a month and We Anecdotally we have the sense that it's getting tremendous usage. It's gotten some publicity Many of the institutions have noticed that there's a real uptick in people asking about the wild way trying to find it Getting on to it and actually using it So that's great We always had the sense that if we built a you know if we had clear well marked trails It would encourage people to come out and use them and if I could have the next slide, please And I just want to say that this is an example of that about a week after the trail opened vermont adaptive sports got in touch with Dan Cahill the city land steward to say hey, can we Run an eco able adventure out on the wild way. We heard about the wild way They serve people with both physical differences and cognitive differences And they're really trying to encourage people to get out and they really have very few programs in burlington. So this is Nick marinelli who's a rec specialist with parks leading a nature walk through along the wild way across intervail land let's forget the next slide and The wild way doesn't go in all the places that we'd like it to go because we have a lot of broken infrastructure As a group we're talking about how we can fundraise for that And how we can repair some of that infrastructure We feel like if we continue to build that infrastructure It will widen the net of who we can bring into to our areas Next slide and I also just want to say lastly that I really think that We need to elevate the status of nature-based climate solutions. We need to value what we have in the city And and its contribution to climate change We're already doing some of that. It's not something that we need to do These are two pictures of parks and recs tree planting using trees that are grown in the intervail conservation nursery Restoring a wet softball field to to a forested area And if I could have the next slide We're trying to identify a lot of what we have that's of value in the city We're inventorying all of the natural areas that we have across multiple ownerships and trying to figure out what their contribution is towards ecosystem services such as canopy cover Flood control Water purification so on lastly And I'm just going to end with this final slide which is a picture of two green herons in a ditch Anglesbury brook next to Champlain school a wood duck male and female on the left and right caught by A wildlife camera that a parent put out and what I'd like to illustrate with this Is there are many places that are really beautiful that we're going to you know, that are great places for the public to move Through and to and to enjoy but there are also places that have a lot of value ecological value for the city that That really aren't going to be great spots for the public to be in this is a this is a Anglesbury brook that runs from the golf course Long prospect parkway underneath shellburn road by china express next to the Champlain school and out into the lake And it's pretty scrappy in there, but it's got a lot of it's got a lot of Value in terms of wetland and water purification and as a wildlife corridor. All right Thank you very much for that presentation And now I'm going to open up to the council. I'm going to recognize councillor busher for a brief comment or a brief question So I don't have a question president, right? But I wanted to thank you for this and it was really exciting to be part of that opening of the first wildways path I wanted to just acknowledge that in this room. There are not only councillor pine but air heart monka who was a city councillor And they all lived in ward one and were involved in in the initial pathway along riverside Making that happen for all of us and youth conservation also got involved in helping Create some safe places where it was mucky So I just I think that this is that was the beginning and we had all these parcels of of trails that weren't connected And so wildways has done a wonderful job in connecting all of those My one thing that I always am concerned about is Abuse or overuse and you touched upon that at the at the end of your presentation And so I think that's the only cautionary statement that we all have to really look at If these become really popular will people stay on the trail and just enjoy what they see and not go On off the trail and potentially damage some of what is so valuable to all of us So that's it And I'm glad you gave a plug for our natural air being really one of our huge resources for climate for the climate crisis and climate control. Thank you Thank you councillor busher councillor jane Be very good. Thank you for the presentation And I'm just remembering mr. Consulate dean who used to be here was a leader around this area But my question is specific to your work around Be pollinations How is this participating in that aspect and also do you have a network of you know Residents who are working toward that aspect I've got to punt this to alisha In dan thank you councillor dang We are actively Working with with groups. I you you know because you're on the council that we became a bee city A pollinator city Through a resolution and so we are charged with now And we wanted to do this anyway Finding places that can be converted maybe from mowed grass, you know to meadowlands Or go through the process of being restored as a meadow and then maybe later as a forest So we're definitely looking at native plants that can be grown in burlington We have a group of uvm students Who are working on a project for their capstone project with a parcel of land That has a stormwater retention pond on it So we're trying to look at these pockets of space in the city that could be enhanced For pollinators because you're absolutely right the decline in number and also diversity of pollinating insects is alarming And also, you know parks has been doing an amazing job at really sort of looking at its mowing and Seeing if it can grow some things up, which I know dan can speak to a little bit more I'll just paraphrase for him Or you want to come up? You need to move along. We if you want to make a brief comment dan Wait, yeah, okay. Yeah, but but parks is really addressing parks is really addressing that in how they're mowing mowing less Letting things grow up for pollinators Yep, maybe lastly next presentation to touch on it. Great. Yes. Thank you. We will thank you any other counselor All right hearing none. Thank you very much zoe and alicia for that presentation And we'll look to hear more from you in the future. Thank you item 7.03 is a yearly report from the church street marketplace district commission Chairman jeff nick welcome Hi, thanks for having me First of all, I just start off by saying um bill true acts just happens to be in the audience here and it was uh bills wisdom way back in the day that Made this all happen and we could be thankful for his uh his vision and um Before I get started I would like to talk about the marketplace strengths today of some weaknesses and some opportunities moving forward But before I get into that, um, I would really like to on behalf of the entire commission Give a heartfelt thanks to ron redmond for his years of efforts and um an inspiration and leadership In um for the last 20 years ron's retiring in a in I guess another couple of weeks here And he couldn't be here tonight But when ron got started there was still traffic out on this part of church street We had vacancy problems on the upper block and um with ron's vision and uh his efforts to get a million dollars from uh center lehi's office We really brought the street along and today Thanks to your vote to approve einstein's tonight. We are 100 occupied on the street So that's uh, that's great news Some of the things we've um, you know to run a street like this in a northern climate in a small market It's it's amazing how successful we've been over the years And a lot of effort goes into that What makes that happen is a healthy mix of um nationals and retent local restaurants and and retailers We've got um some unparalleled audiences, you all know And we have um a great student population that keeps this place humming. Uh, the other thing that really has um Given us a lot of energy lately is the additional hotel rooms in town. Um, we can be very thankful for that. Um That's uh, that's really helped a great bit I will say also parking management Has been been really helpful lately Thanks to the vision of uh shape and spencer bringing on um jeff pageant to help manage the um the parking resources that we have Working closely with the bba That's really been a nice Jolt of energy and and listening to our customers and what they need Um, so we we do have some limited parking resources downtown, but we're putting those to the best use And I would like to give a shout out to our maintenance team Jim daily Our maintenance foreman and his crew they do a yeoman's effort out there in all kinds of weather And they always rank very high in terms of customer satisfaction whenever we poll our merchants Some of the things we're we're we're worrisome of and hopefully um when we hear from bookfield We're going to learn a lot more but obviously the loss of macy's and the mall stores And those parking spaces Um has been um Been a bit of a struggle for us Um not to say that we didn't want this to happen all the merchants are a hundred percent behind us redevelopment Um, and we're all looking forward to seeing the next transition of that um I would also like to um Mention that um some of the national some of the things we're worried about though on the national front is um Some of the national retailers are teetering and so this all could change, you know our success Is fragile I guess I will say So we want to be be do everything we can To keep the uh the momentum going down here So that's uh something else we need to be concerned about and lastly um The anti-social behavior that we witness on the street And it's where it goes in ebbs and flows But uh that we're hearing from all of our customers and fee payers that that has arisen to a level where it's giving us great concern um And one of the things the commission did vote to ask the council to consider a number of Of ordinance proposals, but one in particular. I think that could be very helpful Is to limit the sale of alcohol off-premise alcohol sales Before 10 a.m I think that's causing a lot of the disturbances out there And I think that one little change could could uh could could really make a difference So I will see a close and just saying Oh, we're very successful today, but the success is fragile And we'll have to do everything moving forward to make sure that we stay strong. So thank you Thank you. Mr. Nick Open it up to the council for questions of jeff nick Councillor tracy So two questions The first of which has to do with an issue that was raised by a constituent having to do with The fact that Some business owners will leave their doors open when active cooling and or heating is taking place And just wondering how we can really get a hold of that because it seems like a complete waste of energy and one that May or may not actually draw customers in so Wondering how you think we can deal with that and then the second question Has to do with bike racks on church street and bike parking I feel like we can do a lot better in terms of bike parking on church street and wondering how the commission is seeing itself as Being involved with or considering addition adding additional bike parking to the church tree marketplace. Thank you great questions The commission has discussed these issues in particular but to the the doors Um, it is it is disconcerting. I will say, you know, I don't like wasting energy and it It's it's something that is hard very challenging to manage um, some stores, I mean I'd like to say yeah, we could mandate that everybody keeps their doors closed But some people some stores have airlock entrance ways So the front door could be the outer door could be open the inner door still be closed We're not sure who's heating the place, you know at different seasonal times It's okay to leave a door open because you're not losing any energy um So there's a lot of moving parts when you really think it through in terms of Is it reasonable to suggest that we could just mandate closing the doors? Um, whether or not it does bring in customers. I I hear that it does But i'm not a retailer so I but I think it the the thought is that it helps helps bring in retailers So I hope that asks you your question Um to bike racks. We have so many things on the street I'd like to think that we could put bike. We do have some bike racks on the street I like to think that if we found locations that they would kind of be on the corners if you will Just off the street still I mean there's still bike racks on the street, but we have so much activity And sometimes when the street is just overloaded with people it would they would tend to get in the way Um, so I'd like to think that we could find additional spaces just kind of on the periphery of our street So I I certainly appreciate both of those things I think that we can certainly do more on the the closing of the doors factor And then additionally on the bike thing one of the things that I think we see is that a lot of people When in the absence of bike racks will lock them to nearly anything And I think that that can really create kind of a junky look to a street when people just Lock bikes willy nilly And also I think that we hear from shop owners that parking is an issue And I think that we need to draw a clear parallel to when people are able to bike and able to do so easily Inconsistently find finding parking at their destination It becomes a much more viable alternative to to get them out of their cars So I think that anything you can do to to drive that bike parking on the street up would be really helpful. Thank you Thank you. Councillor Tracy Pine and then councillor busher. Thank you, mr. President um the Voters didn't obviously Care for the downtown improvement district the way it was proposed. I'm wondering if the commission It's not really the commission's issue per se But it is definitely since you all are invested in care deeply about downtown What are the thoughts on how to move forward on that issue? We would like to continue the effort to see if we can expand the downtown improvement district We were very disappointed that that did not succeed Um, I think a lot of the the thought was I think the word privatization was thrown around a lot And there was some fear that the business community would would take things over and I tried to explain to folks that that's Wasn't the effort at all It's really largely what we do other than the maintenance on the street Is marketing and branding and advertising for our merchants And that's something city governments typically don't do the business community does So, you know with that in mind And with the understanding that anything else we do is really would be really under contract or through What the city might allow this new downtown improvement district to do So I think the city really has all the control Moving forward if this effort were to gain speed again And we did expand the district and made it a private entity right now It's a little challenging. Um, and I will say that the mayor has done a great job working within the kind finds of the charter To remove some obstacles for us That We're in the way that we've been dealing with for many many years So that's been very helpful But now we've kind of reached the the end and what we can achieve vis-a-vis what the charter limits us to do So I'd love to see this gain momentum again Since the president got up to leave I think I'll ask one more question Um, did Did the Did the issue of using capital funds did that issue get addressed jeff could you speak to that? No, it has not. Um, how do we do that? Do we have to go to the voters to do that? That would be the charter change as well. Yes So councillor bushers next followed by councillor jang and then I think councillor freeman Thank you My question and and I missed a little bit of your presentation I apologize has to do with your report regarding retail sales And your forecast. I mean your recap of 2008 which seemed pretty straight on And I really wish that brookfield was listening to this So i'm going to wait for just a second Because I really think that this is germane to have them hear this and read in addition So in 2008 Your your recap of retail sales was pretty constant, but in 2019 Your retail sales are not tracking as well as they have in the past and you say that there are a number of concerns and that the That the retailers have identified a few things. It's the loss of the mall parking It's the loss of macy's And other mall retailers which were an attraction And the increased popularity of e-commerce And also some of the other Behaviors that we have on the street that are Troubling to some people that come downtown I know that this time of year Oftentimes ramps up And so sales are out for holidays Usually is when we do a lot of our business Can you can you at least give me an indication of What How much would have to Do in this period of time do you have any idea in order to come out as out the same level we were in 2018? Yeah, that's that's a lot to answer but um The um what i'm hearing is that uh with all those things the loss of them all in the parking were huge impacts on on I think the the increased number of hotel rooms kind of softened that blow for us So you know And in this holiday season is actually six days less shorter than the last holiday season So it is going to be challenging um and e-commerce and all of those things are are real challenges And I think we have to do everything we can a lot of One thing I was the biggest thing about a customer experience is coming downtown parking conveniently and easily and Not Witnessing anti-social behavior. Those are the two biggest things That stand in our way of future success so You know we have a lot of parking But it's kind of in the wrong location So everybody gets to this one garage and then they have to cross church street to find another garage And we're doing a better starting to do a better job of showing people where the other parking is But for years we did not and so to show people where that parking is the other thing we're doing is to To relocate hopefully relocate some employees out of this garage And this is where the parking management comes in if we can relocate employees And reduce the cost in the outer garages down by the the um Macy's the old macy's that would certainly help. Um, we're trying to do everything we can to free up parking for customers Okay, well, thank you. I mean it it was a difficult question to answer but I'm I'm really concerned about this and the long time that we're going to go without activity in macy's and and the Lack of parking. I will say one thing. I would thank thank brookfield for their their, um their donation to the marketplace and and that is going to go towards Advertising and parking management efforts to enhance the customer experience. Okay. Thank you. Thank you. Councillor busher Councillor jang Thank you very much for the presentation and for your work for our commercial downtown district I think it's it's important But I wanted to go back to one aspect you just raised here Pushing for the sale of alcohol to be like around 10 I just wanted to know how would you know that and also If there are lists of recommendation that you can send us in writing in making sure that our downtown is safe for everyone Yes Well, I park in the marketplace garage every morning and between 7 and 7 30 I see people drinking blood light on the street So and by by 10 or 11 o'clock in the morning. They're drunk So just my witnessing that alone and I know I've talked to police officers on the street And they also agree that if we could If we could eliminate the the ability to purchase alcohol that early in the morning Um, it would they believe and I believe that it would really Really help us deal with these antisocial behaviors and it really a lot of it just stems from alcohol. It really does Um, I mean there's other things too, but that to me seems like an easy one to to figure out Thank you, councillor jing. Um, all right, I'm gonna thank Councillor Freeman and then we're gonna wrap this up Thank you, and I'm I'm glad that councillor jing. I was asking about the alcohol related behavior that was I think you covered a lot of it and um I was just sort of wondering in general I guess my only and I'll do I can do more research onto this because I've heard it come up several times about sort of the influence on alcohol and alcohol sales and The hours available of availability and how that's impacting maybe like crime or violence and or behavior in our community and The only sort of red flag for me is what underlying issues are being exacerbated by alcohol in in the sense that Perhaps the alcohol alone isn't really It's a factor, but it's not necessarily the key or I'm not sure to what degree it's a key Influencer, but the you know the information that you just provided is helpful and I can certainly do more research onto it but that was the only red flag for me because it does Yeah, I just wanted to make I wanted to make sure we weren't just sort of saying well It's just the alcohol or it almost in like a prohibition sort of sense Like if we get rid of all the alcohol then all the other problems will go away and I think there's some underlying issues That can cause people to be violent So that was really my question and comment, and I think you spoke to it and I'll do more research I don't know if you have any more Information to speak to that point, but I've just heard it come up several times now Mr. Nick any you did address it, but you have any other comment to that? I'm not an expert I just see I know what I see with my own eyes and I know that that would be kind of an easy Fix if you will there's certainly other issues at play here that I'm not qualified to speak to But this would take care of a good portion of our our problems Okay, thank you. Thank you councillor Freeman. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Thank you, mr. Nick We appreciate it. Thank you for your service on the marketplace commission And with that we will go to item number 7.04 and that is a communication and an update from Brookfield on city place project and if you would Each identify yourself for the record And we have only two microphones, but you can pass them between you And again remember as I've said everybody else tonight make sure the microphone is really close Because I promise you everyone wants to hear what you have to say Thank you, my name is Anand Olson that's spelled a a n e n o l s e n My name is peter colkins c al k i n s and just to say that's not close enough My name is gonna need to be very close like this is where I have it. All right right there Yeah Chelsea Siegelbaum. I am a manager with Brookfield Thank you. Good evening. Like I said, I'd like to reintroduce myself. We were here Almost exactly 60 days ago My name is Anand Olson. I'm a vice president of development of mixed-use development with Brookfield properties You we've introduced peter colkins peter colkins is a senior member of our team works out of our boston office And will be an integral part of the project going forward. He has a a long history in office development and just complex downtown mixed-use developments So we're happy to have him join the team We'd like to just you know, thank the the council and the public for their patience with this process We've been working diligently over the last Two months to craft a plan that delivers A project that is right for the city the market and our partnership Additionally our our local team of local contractors has been working hard to complete the temporary restoration Right of way and reopen the public restrooms within the mall The temporary parking plan on cherry and bank street is well underway and will be available for public use very shortly All fees associated with the encumbrance license have been paid And renovations to the public restrooms has commenced and will be operational before the holiday season We we'd like to kind of show you our thoughts on where we've been for the last 60 days We've got some graphics that we're going to show Kind of the headlines are The while the the scope and Density and scale of the project is is largely the same What we have have kind of learned are the housing market is very strong There's there's strong demand for housing downtown There is uvmmc And its relocation to downtown is an extremely important element for us and for the city And then Street level retail is vital to the success of any place making so The the plan will Continue to show Retail at the at the street level The other kind of big headline is that while the the the scope is is the same it's now spread out over two blocks And what this allows us to do What what this allows us to do by taking the office component out of the middle block which was the What is affectionately known as the hole in the ground is now Located in the Macy's building. So what we're proposing is a an adaptive reuse of the Macy's building putting our office tenant in there thereby Producing the overall height of the project of the middle block by more than 50 feet It's 25 less desks dense. It simplifies the structural system Meaning it kind of simplifies the construction technique thereby lowers construction costs The plan also maintains the connection of the street grid Um as well as some of the previously approved amenities like the rooftop observation deck in the community space So I we can kind of walk through What we brought here Yeah, no, I want to just go back. Okay, so What we started to talk about the last time we were here is we're taking this three block approach All the way from church street through Macy's So what you see here to the right is church street The the existing mall The middle block and then what you see in blue is the is the Macy's building This is a A cross-section of the middle block So it shows what it's designed to show is kind of a stacking diagram and basic massing of the of the proposed project This is not architecture. This is just kind of a what we use is for planning purposes As you can see the dotted line is the previously approved project And our the new proposed project is is eight levels of residential over over retail A simplified parking structure in the middle And a hotel use over Retail along bank street. So it's kind of cherry street on your left bank street on your right Again a similar cross-section through Macy's through the existing Macy's building what we're proposing is You know reusing the existing building And Using it for an office tenant With retail restaurant entertainment something else on the on the ground level We started we started playing with some um schemes to Reskin the Macy's building open it up Transform it from a You know kind of an historical Department store building which is you know blank walls. They really only care what's happens on the inside of the building to a more street focused Outward facing Outward facing building. That's why you see new new windows kind of punched in the the cherry street facade And this is kind of a It's not really to scale. It's it was kind of a quick artist rendition of Of kind of the new massing of the plan Like I said, it's a little bit out of scale, but it kind of gives you this the scope of of what we're talking about So our Our plan over the next Two months is to kind of advance the design To a point where we can start The public approval process we can negotiate with our tenants and You know try to be under construction next year We're you know, and we're happy to answer any questions All right. Thank you. So we'll open it up to the council and again I want to emphasize when you are answering questions Have the microphone as close to your mouth as you can Um council roof Thank you president right. Thank you for the presentation Sort of I want to jump right to this and i'm not going to take a ton of time I think we all have a ton of questions, but a big part of the value of this project for me And I know a lot of others Was the the added benefit of new housing in the downtown With this shift looks like eight eight stories of residential Can you give us a sense to the degree that you you can and I hope that you can be relatively specific On what the what the differences might be around the housing that was expected in the original plan And what we're what we can expect to see with with new housing units coming online as part of this plan This this new plan actually preserves Every single unit that was proposed in the original plan and may even have space for more So we're we are tracking someplace between 280 and 300 units as was originally approved Okay, and then second question again high level with regard to the the three block plan Just to be clear the block Three the church street side There's no contemplated improvements or changes to be made on on that block. Is that correct? Not at this time. We um, it's strategic We we want to kind of tackle the big problems first the the mall We've got a fantastic leasing department. We own malls all across the country We're we're going to sick them on it and and do their best to kind of fill that space as well So as of now it would go block just looking at the at the at the diagram start with the macy's block block three and then move to the The main the main block right now blocks here and then block one would be Essentially the same as it is now until further notice correct and we we will start we will continue to work on that and and as Tenants present themselves as opportunities present themselves. We won't let them pass by but it's it's it's an operating asset today and We want to concentrate on the the the bigger picture And last question again high level Can you speak at all to the agreement or the the conversations that are are being had with the medical center? We are working with them to fulfill their needs their Um, their largest issue is honestly is parking Like some of the previous speakers have have talked about is is the availability of parking downtown We are also working with the marketplace. We're working with the bba. We're working with the city To kind of do a comprehensive audit of the of the parking downtown and figure out how we can be a How we can be an asset Okay, thank you Thank you councillor if ms. Rolls, and I just want to make sure I heard it Did you say the current plan now has 200 and 280 to 300 apartments? That's correct And what was the number before it was 289? It's the same number. Yeah Okay, thank you councillor Pine is up next to be followed by councillor busher Thanks, mr. President the um the process for securing tenants is obviously Your your big focus for the Additional for the office space that remains and the retail. It sounds like that's correct About how much office remains on account of for assuming that the medical center takes its portion Chelsea do you remember? I think it's about 30 to 40 thousand square yeah, or of magnitude. That's what I was wondering Do you believe that you'll be able to You have an existing financing commitment, but I assume that's contingent upon certain variables that are related to percentage of office that is already Leased and and such like that and retail that's already committed to to tenants. Oh, yeah. Yeah, there are There are large format retail tenants out there retail entertainment kind of these hybrid Tenants that are out there. So yes, they are available The question also goes back to maybe last it seems like almost a year ago We we discussed financing and whether you had You know essentially a term sheet and an executed term sheet and at the time that was the case Where does that stand now it it remains executed? the the bank we've asked them to kind of To hold our place and they're doing so so we you know We owe them an update and they're kind of getting it right now and lastly the um Well, let's just say the word was around this around the community was that some of the Office rents for very let's say extremely On the high side beyond competitive, but really pushing the market So I'm wondering if that issue is is come into more balance with the local market conditions It's something we're it's something we're reviewing as we speak. Yes. Okay. Thank you Thank you councillor pine councillor busher and then tracy and then jane. Thank you. Well, first of all, thank you so much for giving us an update This is appreciated by the whole community um, and um, I'm Really happy to see something and to hear the words and also there was an electronic Submission also for us to look at earlier I hadn't really had too much time to really digest that but Uh, I have a couple of questions you said So I'm I wanted to understand or just make sure that I understood the process going forward with the new design um It's really important that the public have a chance to weigh in and I just didn't know how that was going to unfold and what your expectation was for that This question is more is broader and so you might just touch upon it But it really is important for the community because they're anxious to see What's being proposed? There'll be ecstatic something is being proposed And um, but they'd like to have a chance to look at that Having having asked that question about process These are more nitty-gritty questions. You said hopefully you would um Get going next year. What is next year? Is it 2020 or 2021? That is 2020 2020 I think you said within the year 2020. Yes. Okay. I just wanted to make sure I understood I mean, that's what I think next year is too, but I wanted to make sure I got that Okay, thank you. Um You talked you talked about people are asking you things that I know you can't Answer completely but You did touch upon the number of housing units The square footage for retail has that shrunk from the original plan or is that about the same? What can you say about that? Um, the square footage of retail has shrunk from the original plan Mostly though in that we took away most of the second story retail that we had in the second plan Because we think the ground floor retail is more valuable and is probably more of an amenity to the community So it has shrunk in terms of retail space But we also now do plan to add more retail space to the macy's building, which we didn't have before Obviously since macy's left And then we just pretty much eliminated the second level of retail So the reason I ask is that the original plan had a lot of retail And then there was and that was early on and then it shrunk because of changing times And so I am concerned because I do think we need to augment the retail downtown And and so I I'll look forward to understanding what What you ultimately end up with but I I certainly hope that people still go to stores I just want to make sure everyone knows that they may not buy in the store unfortunately But they go to stores to look yes, I do think if you look at those sections, you'll see that along the street frontage On both sides We're pretty consistent with having full retail other than entries into building lobbies and that kind of thing So as chelsea said, it's really the second story Less accessible retail that we've taken away And you touched upon and then I want to have you just go back to the process because I can see president Right having a fit here The number of parking spaces the number of parking spaces you really can't speak to that is that what I heard you answer to For counselor pine when he was talking about this Because we had We wanted to make sure there were enough spaces for the units that you create We wanted to make sure there was enough space for the medical center and any other commercial And we wanted to make sure that there were enough Spaces for people who wanted to come downtown to shop and so What can you tell me about parking space? I I guess we can only say that it it will be adequate for the the uses that we're proposing plus You know some additional spaces for public We we all come from a retail background our company owns 150 malls. We We we completely understand the need for parking and and readily available parking So parking is is a big part of our focus at this point And working with your team And just in analyzing The the data that's coming back from your new parking management system is is going to be You know, it's going to be very valuable to to the kind of the whole community Okay, and covered parking for bicycles, etc would be really important. Okay And then the last thing was the question that I asked which I know is a little difficult, but How do you envision? How do you how do you see yourself intersecting or or with the community as a whole with the new plan? What do you see that process looking like? We are We've already Kind of indicated to the cdnr that we would come and meet with them I believe there are a couple of npa's in the in the area that are obviously interested So we are kind of putting together What we're calling our comprehensive community outreach program. So we we will you will see us around I'm not going to speak for anyone else on the council, but I would really like to see I'm going to speak to the mayor. I'm looking at the mayor just But I think it would be really nice to have a meeting in this room So that it doesn't matter whether you live in ward one or ward six or wherever that you could come here And and see what's being proposed. I'd like that to be really open. Thank you Thank you, councilor busher councilor tracy to be followed by councilor jeng polino mason roof Thank you very much. And I would say also. Thank you for the update. I have certainly, you know, appreciate The you know, the developer is actually coming and doing what they told us that that they were going to do I think it has been incredibly disappointing for the public to continually be given Essentially non-update. So it's nice to actually have something substantial on which to go However, what I would say is that I view this as one among many steps that you need to take in order to restore trust with this community because it's really at a Been at a real low point and the the impact that the The failure to execute um and to move forward has been pretty pretty substantial in the community and I look at this design and on the one hand I'm you know, happy to see a project that is significantly scaled down because that was one of the big concerns And something that we said was problematic about this project from the beginning Which is that it was out of scale with burlington However, it is incredibly frustrating to have been saying those things And having been pretty much ignored Throughout the process not hearing a lot of not seeing a lot of responsiveness to those comments And then to have the larger project fail have it have a tremendous impact on our city And then have us, you know have to be in a position now of taking much more time with those impacts playing out over The course of several years. So I think that councillor busher's point regarding public Engagement and actually listening to the people who live in this community Is crucial. I hope that it's not just something that is Just a perfunctory step that you see is as sort of checking boxes, which is very much what it felt like in the last case And that that that there is real input that's taken Specifically because we see the program of use has changed substantially Namely the inclusion now of a hotel at no point was a hotel discussed in the initial Design of this that's a substantial change. We've seen Numerous hotels come into our downtown in recent years In terms of different, you know different uses and it seems as though The public should have an opportunity to weigh in if that's a use that they want And if in fact the public is not in favor of that that we look at some other potential uses for that because I think that folks know what they would like to see in their downtown and they need to be legitimately included So MPAs are a step having meetings here as a step, but it's not just having the meetings It's really in my mind engaging the public and actually listening to them because it quite frankly doesn't feel like you did that And that's a big reason why we're here today Thank you, councilor tracy Any comments or we're going to move on Councilor jang Yeah, thank you very much again for being here and I feel as if you starting to like burlington I love furlick But you know, I really From my heart, thank you. Thank you for being here and also i'm very glad to hear that Somewhat you have listened to the concern of the citizens of burlington The project was too big and it seems now it is tailored down to 10. Is it 10 or seven? eight stories eight nine eight nine, okay, so I think that is a great step from my perspective And also the parking, you know, even though it went down, but the parking will still be the same I think all of those are great things that we need to celebrate with you But We had an agreement, right? We had an agreement of that 14 story and I don't think What you're trying to do here is not to alter That agreement are you thinking of bringing a new agreement and we start over and go forward or would you like just Alter the previous agreement and then we try to move forward I want to hear I mean we we don't have any thoughts on that right now I mean we're working with the administration and and your your planning department in You know in kind of working out the technical the technical steps So we really don't have any thoughts on that right now Okay, so I really wish then you had us an idea, you know about at least when you're coming in front of the council to tell us a little bit But in any case In the construction industry There is this term that we use that called liquidated damages Have you spoken to the the administration about it and you probably heard many concerns that were raised here By our church street marketplace by our residents here around the lack of services around the lack of business because of the The project that felt And well was just wondering if you had a chance to speak with the administration about it and how we will work that forward No, we we have not Contemplated the the concept of liquidated damages It's it's not in our existing agreement and I would hope that it did not would not get to that point And now I wanted to also know who is your Owner project manager. Do you use to have one in the past? with Like someone who represents you here To really work with the city around the project to move forward You're you're looking at them. You're you're looking at, you know, the the project team As well as we do have on the ground management, we've got our mall manager Our operations manager from the mall. So we do have a number of employees on the ground here Our development partner also has a number of Employees on the ground in burlington. So it's it's going to be a real team effort. Okay Yeah, and our our entire contracting and Design team is all local as well. Okay So basically You just telling us what's in your mind But we haven't get into the nitty gritty of what you want to propose to us. That's correct. Thank you Thank you. Councillor jane. Councillor polina Well, I want to thank you for coming and really For submitting these drawings that I I know that they're just drawings. They're very preliminary, but I think they say a lot I think that you've spent a lot of time doing some due diligence I met with you guys back in I think it was may And we were talking about the different components to what could make a project profitable I speak on behalf of myself It would be my goal to make you guys the biggest taxpayer in vermont And we want you to be successful. So I welcome substantial changes. I appreciate You know the hotel One of my more nitty gritty questions actually Was one how big is the hotel in terms of do you have an idea in terms of rooms? Right now we have approximately 175 rooms And my second also question that I thought Uh Is On that drawing the mid block drawing. There's a shaded area Over the parking. Does that mean that this uh project has a potential to expand in the future? On if you go down to the last slide Make sure you're using microphones, please microphones What you're looking at is the the residential building is a u-shaped building and you're looking at a piece of it in the background I I see what you mean. So it's like an L shaped. So that would be It's in the in the back. Yeah, but all right and uh I think councillor jane talked talked about the fact that you know, we're no longer talking about 14 stories 10 stories Is the mid block and that includes the hotel as well. That's correct Um, sorry, I appreciate that because there are a lot of people who really support this project But we're concerned about you know the facade of burlington terms of height and obstruction views of the lake from uvm and so forth and so on um Lastly, I think I'd like to end with a positive note that is as much hardship as you've had You know in working out the kinks of this project with your partner Um, you still included the community space on top of the hotel And I think that if that comes through that would be very very positive for the for all of burlington. So thank you All right, thank you councillor polino councillor mason. Thank you president right. Um, thank you for being here tonight um It's encouraging to hear the deadlines or at least your soft commitment to the deadlines you've put out but to sort of avoid The over enthusiasm. I think some of us have magnified Like what are the potentials? You know for delay as you're looking I appreciate you're saying here But construction projects have delays so rather than be lucy, you know who sort of gets snuckered by charlie browner again like what are What are the potential delays that would you know not permit a construction on the time frame that you're looking at so They're regulatory Any regulatory delays going through the the public approval process The any legal challenges Would also be a delay and any Kind of delays to our our leasing velocity trying to kind of lease the Lease the space. Okay. Those are our big hurdles. Okay. Thank you Thank you councillor mason councillor hanson councillor roof. I'm going to come back to you when other councillors have their first shot councillor hanson Thanks, so we talked a bit about the parking. I think There's two ways to deal with parking issues and parking constraints. I hear a lot of folks that are stuck in this ideology of Simply adding supply and more supply In the electricity sector in vermont, we took a different approach which was to actually reduce demand As a more economical environmentally sustainable way to deal with the issue Um, we focused on efficiency and bringing down that demand rather than just continually building more infrastructure to meet A growing supply. Um, I think it's really critical that we take the same approach In transportation and actually focus on demand management Um, so getting people out of cars that we don't actually need to provide that provide this high level of parking Um, so especially being right in the heart of downtown Um, and as we're having a lot of conversations around parking around sustainable transportation And around getting the city off of fossil fuels. Um I'm curious to hear about any transportation demand management plans that you have. Um In order to support folks, um traveling to and from this development Without a car. So for example Not, you know, not having Folks who who maybe live in the building and don't own a car not having them subsidized parking for other residents So decoupling the price of parking from the price of Housing as one example charging the right amount for parking so that the users are paying rather than Everyone else subsidizing it. Um, and anything you're doing with, you know, transit incentives or information surrounding transit to to really help Folks who are using this space who are living in this space To be able to travel sustainably. So that's my first question is any plans around transportation demand management We had not Contemplated anything yet specifically on that topic. Um, I mean, they're all Great ideas and a noble effort and we'll we'll work with the city in any way That you'd like us to to work with you on on those initiatives Great. Yeah, I'd love to follow up on that and a lot of times It's it's about the tenant it's about and those workers In the building and their individual needs, unfortunately We're kind of the As the developer, you know, we're yeah, we're the vessel for these people to kind of get their their jobs done and It's important for especially Office, you know office owners and and office operators and retail operators to be able to get their employees to these to attract employees to these downtown businesses and Parking ends up being one of them. So, um We're happy to work with with the city and with our tenants to to try to find a solution Great. Yeah, I think that's that's a critical point. And yeah, we absolutely need to work with perspective tenants to to make that system work Um, look forward to working on that. And my other question is around District heating and and utilizing that to for heating of the building and wanted to Ask where your commitment lays there. This is something that's obviously been Baked in from the beginning and and just want to hear you speak to your commitment around district heating Uh, I mean, it's it's an ongoing issue. And as we get into the like, you know, nuts and bolts of the the design We will address it at that point Okay, and and are you still committed though to to using a district heating system? I I can't I I can't commit to to that today. Um, if if there is an existing agreement in place We will honor it But it's it's something we will get into as we Start designing the project Okay, I All right, I for one find that a little bit concerning, but um, we'll continue to push on that front and I really hope that you will follow through on that. Thank you. Thank you. Councillor Hanson. Councillor paul Uh, thank you president right. Um, so I'll echo what everyone else has already said. Thank you very much for being here this evening and thank you for sharing Um, sharing information with us and with the community We've all been waiting for this Certainly everyone in this community has been waiting for this So, thank you. Um, I for I I always like to feel that the glass is half full as opposed to has half empty I I don't I don't think that we need to go backwards. I think we need to move forwards And I think that you have to a large degree listened to the community um, if there is one thing that We have heard time and time again and you've heard it time and time again for me as well as for many at this table The built the project needed to be more In line with the skyline of burlington and I think that you have done that so thank you I think that's extremely important and will be Very important to many people in this community. So thank you. Um I also think that we need housing um, I'd like if if you could to talk about Uh, if you if you know at this point if you have any Um, any plans in terms of how you're going to be working the residential side of that? Um, and as you I'm sure know our our inclusionary zoning What you what your plans are with that if there's any plans to do? um, anything More than that And then the other is retail you had said that you know, I look at this and you can see that there's less parking Or where the parking was in the first iteration That's where the some of the height came from on the other parts of the of the structure With that gone the um uh, the retail Does seem to be Less retail Than before although there's now retail at what isn't what was the macy's building Which in the first iteration that we had a couple of years ago They didn't have the macy's building. So there was no retail there So i'm not really sure if it's a gain or loss on retail and maybe you could speak to just those two items Please um, so as far as I I think your residential question was going to unit mix like Like Well affordability we're going to meet the originally approved requirement, which was 20 percent We're committed to that. Yes. Um, and the retail being retail developers we We're kind of focusing on The most important Frontages of of the of the project, which is cherry street and bank street And and it's it's kind of a simple urban planning exercise as well where your kind of your main streets or your main You know pedestrian connections back and forth to the lake back and forth to the hotels Um, and then the side streets become more um service oriented Where we can kind of enter parking garages and and just take some of that you know Kind of some of the car traffic and things like that and kind of put them on the side streets So we're we're kind of concentrating our our retail efforts on the on the most valuable places Because just vacant retail doesn't do anything for anybody. So um, what we're doing is we're just concentrating on the most important spaces Okay, um, and then the last comment I had is that uh, I think it would be um I think a few people that maybe someone has mentioned this as well Is that the community space being at the top of the hotel? I hope that there will be an effort to Not only to engage the public on the project itself But also to truly engage the the the community on the community space A lot of people are really going to value that space and uh While you can't make everyone happy. I think it would be great to have some sort of ability Um either through a meeting but also through some sort of uh, web presence To be able to hear from the uh, the public as you move forward Okay Thank you very much Thank you councillor paul councillor shannon Thank you Thank you for this presentation and I want to say that I think this is very exciting on many fronts I think that um, I mean first of all to to actually hear progress Is you know relieving a lot of our fears even though there's still long ways to go and a lot of hurdles That still need to be overcome This This certainly makes me more optimistic um I was never fond of 14 story buildings I said it many times in the approval process That I was willing to support that because the site really needed to be redeveloped And I can see here that um The opportunity that came up when the macy's building was acquired Really had not been taken advantage of until you Took a step back and redesigned this and that also provides the opportunity for reducing the height um, and still including the whole program that was what we talked about and um And getting the office space built for the hospital, which is a high priority for us I I also um Want to kind of echo counselor Hanson's comments that That the parking I think that the parking for the hospital is probably gonna You know, they're gonna demand what they demand and you have to provide it And I know even ve ic left downtown because of a lack of parking which Is concerning So you're probably not gonna have you probably gonna have to do what you have to do to accommodate them But on the residential sign Side, I think that that this community really values You know trying to live without a car and it's really hard to do here And anything that you can do within your program to help people Live without a car it is a community value and it is an amenity to your tenants And it's a lifestyle that we aspire to and you may have a real opportunity here to help us Reach You know what what we're hoping for and I also think that district heat is a really important part of that as well And I would Strongly encourage you to do whatever you can. I realize it's not easy and timing is a piece of it We've had a long delay. So I would think the timing piece is getting a lot better for you But I really would It's it's just such a great opportunity and we don't want to miss that And I hope that you will work really hard to make that work in this project because I think it means a lot to the community It's an amenity to every resident in there And uh, I also want to say on the hotel that uh, yep, that's something new but It's a great thing In terms of Of all the things that bring taxes to the city hotels do bring more taxes than probably most other things you could put in there So thank you very much for that Thank you councillor shannon councillor roof Hotels bring taxes and not by berlingtonians, which we really like Yeah, um, my my question is about the public improvements the streetscape But I just want to I'm going to pile on with the strategic as well I supposed I do believe that in the existing development agreement There's language that that kind of dictates that the city needs to perform as well So to a degree it's it's on us and and sorry while I understand that you're not given that and maybe some other Reason is not able to commit tonight. I do hope that if the city does does our part You're willing to step up and into yours as well with with all the circumstances Already being recognized With regard to the public improvements in the in the street level improvements. I just like to Just give you an opportunity to just to talk for a minute about your commitment to making sure that those improvements Do do come to fruition and if you can talk about how they fit into the phasing like I asked about before Uh, you mean the the public improvements of The reconnection of line in st. Paul, but then the associate improvements as well Yeah, I mean it's it's uh, it's been an integral part of the project from kind of the beginning since we got involved and we Will reiterate our commitment to reconnecting those streets It goes to Our are also our existing tiff agreement We have in the very near term. We've got a a meeting with your Assistant attorney to start Talking through our documentation that we need to be submitting to the state kind of very shortly as well So we are committed and we'll continue to be Thank you for rewriting that that commitment. Appreciate it. Thank you council roof Um, okay, I think I'm going to ask a couple of questions um so My feeling always was what people are asking me about this was that the slowdown started last fall and that there was a difference between You and your partner don synix about how to proceed move forward And while mr. Synix has receded and you've become the face of the project He is still your partner, correct? That is correct And he need he did retain rights Of having to sign off on the proposal that would come before the council. Is that correct? That is correct And he has now signed off and is agree in a full agreement on this proposal. That is correct. Thank you um, will the proposal now that's being put forth before us service the 21.8 million dollar tiff debt That is something we're we're working on as we speak, uh, and we are confident that it will okay and the Apartments has the has the price structure changed from what the original proposal was as the price structure changed for those apartments um, I I believe we have Become aligned on our Our revenue projections. Um, so that's you know, but that was part of the The the delay Was where those rents need to be In order to sustain the project and I we've become aligned on that If you said this I missed it. So I apologize the first proposal the if you will the don synix proposal Which was the 14 stories and everything else was I think projected to be about 225 million dollars. Can you tell us what the total cost of this project is? I can't Not tonight Okay, it's something we're we will talk about but we we can't talk about that tonight Okay, can you give us some idea? Is it drastically different? Is it I mean don't give me an exact number but Chelsea Maybe I guess something out of her She's a fault she'll never get anything out of Not not going to the price but also going to your previous question when you were talking about The price structure and everything like that One of the reasons why we also lowered the height of the building was because we also changed the construction type Our previous construction type is more expensive than what you see here today. So it's not necessarily that we had to Build fewer units or more units to make this project work But because we were able to change the construction type We were able to make it more economically feasible for us to build Thank you. And my last question and comment is this so So now we have a proposal before us and thank you for that This is something that we've been very anxious to see in terms of um an actual proposal Um how we're going to move forward I would like to hear how you're going to meet the upcoming deadlines if possible Maybe you can't say that tonight, but those are obviously we have some Deadlines that are coming up very soon But what I want to ask you now is I I think there's now a burden does to me does shift somewhat to us we've complained And rightfully so that there's been a hole here where it's frustrated the administration has been frustrated the public has been frustrated Now there is a proposal What can we do? To assist to make sure that this proposal moves forward as quickly as possible Um Like I said, it's uh, it's regulatory The the approval process as we as we get into into the into the actual process Um And we we thank you for your your commitment and to the to the team here As well as um finding parking solutions, and I think that's kind of a A city-wide Initiative you guys have started to do your part. We're doing our part some of our um our fellow developers are Are understanding the the need and Um, so so parking is kind of another kind of big issue that we're going to you know to tackle Um, can you think of anything else? Okay All right, thank you Counselor jane did you have a hand back up? Yes. Um, thank you president and I think From what personally what I heard today there is still a hole in the ground That's is clear And I we don't know the cost of your proposal We still don't know if there will be a new agreement development agreement. We don't know a lot of things We still can feel that this is maybe still we hope That this is not another dream That we hope But what I want to ask is what is next from here Today what is next what should we expect from you next and when should we expect it? Thank you president so Like we said earlier, we're committed to a Kind of an open and public process. So before we get into Real architecture. We'd like to get some community feedback Our our architects are sitting behind us and they're you know, they're ready to start drawing but I'm meeting tomorrow. Yeah, and um, but we we would like the you know, public input on aesthetics and and programming needs and things like that as we develop the plans So that that is kind of the next step. We're gonna start drawing and um come and talk to you guys about it Later this year Listen, there's what there's only about nine more weeks of the year so Thank you councillor jang Any other councillor councillor polina How many parking spaces did you say that already are you are in design we didn't say it's It's still we're still kind of working on the exact number. Okay, and it goes to tenant need Needs of our our future residents. It's kind of a it's an elaborate calculation I just think that You know, it's an interesting issue that following up on what councillor right said We're here now and it's put potential that the burden's on us Now that you've presented a proposal and You know our our next step is how serious are we about transportation? You know on the one hand, we come to public forums talking about eliminating parking requirements um And now we're going to have a hole in the ground for one more month two more months three more months six more months because of parking So we really need to find A way out of this and it'd be hard for me to imagine that A couple hundred parking space can keep project like this from going forward Thank you councillor polina councillor busher Yes, um, I I just want to share my perspective. I don't feel the burdens on burlington I feel like the burlin that the issue is that we had a project that Didn't work and we're back here and we've got a proposal that looks Hopeful I think it's your responsibility to deliver and it's our responsibility to work with you to make sure you can deliver it But I don't feel that the ball's in our court I feel like you still have the ball and I just want to be really clear about that Thank you. Thank you councillor busher councillor tracy councillor paul Thank you. Um, just wanted to follow up on what you had said. Chelsea so that there so that we all understand We don't live necessarily in the construction world when you had said That you feel that you're able to Change the dimension of the build of the of the of the structure because it's a different building type Could you explain what that means? Uh, yes, um, it's The original proposal was a kind of Admittedly a high rise construction technique steel and concrete Like you would see in any kind of major city It's expensive, especially in a market like this that doesn't do it every day There aren't the subcontractors and and just the the people that actually perform that work would have to be imported So In going to a kind of a a steel stud Construction technique. It's it's much more readily available that the labor is here The materials are here. It's um, it's just It's more of a kind of a local market function That's kind of easily executed Well, I am so glad to know That all of us who wanted these buildings to be shorter are saving you money Thank you, mr. Mayor Thanks, president right Think thank you to brookfield for being here tonight and presenting tonight. Um, I I do think tonight represented a step in the right direction. I'm appreciative that um, this comes after brookfield has met the other steps laid out in my september 27th letter and I think was important that that You've started to turn the direction of the project around I agree with councillor busher and others who express the sentiment though. I think there's a lot more work to do In in the couple months ahead to get this project back on track Certainly the administration will be continuing to do everything we can to assist you in the effort that effort Um, I do think what you've laid out tonight represents the potential of achieving All the major goals that the the city laid out as we set down this process years ago Hundreds of new homes hundreds of jobs in the downtown millions of dollars of additional public revenues to the city and the state the restoration of The streets that were lost during During urban renewal I Do you think that Uh This represents again a step in the right direction towards fixing a part of the downtown that has long been problematic But uh, we certainly a long way to go after tonight. Thank you Thank you, mr. Mayor. Thank you And i'm going to just close this out by clarifying my remark Of course the burden is on you as a developer. That's not removed whatsoever We understand but I do think that we now that there is a proposal out there that we've now heard There's more details still to be plugged in and I will say I'm surprised that we can't say that That this proposal will service the 21.8 million dollar Tiff debt. I'm a little surprised. We can't say that now because that it needs to be able to do that for sure Um Can you say anything more on that before we close out? I thought I thought we did I thought we work We are confident that okay, I thought you said we were I thought you said we're working on that No, we are working on it, but we are confident that the okay the revenue will cover. Okay, because that's very important But I do think that We are all happy today to see to see some progress To see that there is now a plan that we can look at there's more details to go and deadlines that are coming up But we appreciate now seeing some forward progress I think now that it is it is though On us also to assist in this process and see it move forward. So thank you very much Um, we appreciate very much you being here tonight and giving us a full real presentation time Thank you very much for for seeing us and we will be back and with that. I actually will 7.07 is a public hearing regarding Burlington comprehensive development ordinance ZAA-19-06 article 7 signs Should I go to no just open the public hearing? We'll open the public hearing on that Anyone that would like to speak on this ordinance Please come forward Mr. Monkey I don't know if you folks need a moment to clear the palette so to speak but um Thanks for the opportunity to speak a heart Monica Live in ward one 60 Grove Street And I will completely Resist a temptation to talk about them all That not being appropriate, but I will um say it was really gratifying Just briefly if you'll allow me It was really gratifying to hear from the Burlington Wildways project earlier and thanks for the recognition councilman busher That project actually started 30 years ago when I work with green mountain power to Get what is known as the salmon whole park dedicated to winoski valley park district that used to simply be leased and That's when we started that project. Um, really it's had a long trajectory And it's very gratifying to see where it's at now Including the river walk and I'd be remiss in not mentioning the debt that we all owe to uh, herb bloom and fall who Herb and I worked together for many years to get the river walk funded and and going so on the public hearing though I'm here to basically say I Hope that you pass what you see before you on the inclusionary zoning. It's been a long process it's been a thoughtful process by so many different players and Not to go into the details. There's so many good things to say about What went into it and the changes that have been made and uh, all I'll say given the time Is I hope you, uh, I urge you to pass it as as presented to you Thank you, mr. Monkey. Thank you any other member of the public that would like to speak on this Come on up and then kelly divine My name is betsy. Um, I am speaking about this because I spent I graduated from uvm in may and I spent the entire year doing my senior thesis on inclusionary zoning in burlington And so I spent a long time in the weeds of it And I specifically looking at the spread of inclusionary zoning construction among Census tracks and in the way those those areas were zoned And so I also first want to start by saying that inclusionary zoning is an incredibly limited tool It's almost frustrating how much time we spend talking about inclusionary zoning when we could be talking about like livable wages or rent control Which would be doing a lot more for affordable housing in burlington So I specifically want to speak about the decreasing the payment in lieu kind of across the board, but specifically Making it easier to build affordable units off-site so like outside of the building in low-income neighborhoods and So it's decreasing the payment in lieu. Oh and and make it easier to build off-site And so a part of the intent of inclusionary zoning is to be building economically integrated buildings and creating economically integrated neighborhoods And I think this is kind of sacrificing Well, I feel like the intent of these changes was to make it make more affordable units being built in areas that are higher income neighborhoods And I think that's a good goal I think this is kind of the wrong way to go about it because by making it easier Like what these two things are doing is making it easier for developers to buy their way out of building inclusionary zone In zone inclusionary zoned units in in low-income neighborhoods And making it easier for them to not create economic diversity in buildings So we're going to see more all market rate housing being built specifically in low-income census tracts And You know, I just think that that will feed into the gentrification of burlington that we're already seeing And that's you know where people get pushed out of their housing and and out of their neighborhoods And so by building exclusively market rate housing in low-income neighborhoods The naturally affordable housing that may have been there is being like is now being taken over by market rate housing and is not being adequately replaced and then It also creates the the land around it more valuable, you know If you're buying a home you look at or how how much the home down the street went for so by having more market rate Units in low-income neighborhoods the rest of the housing there is also going to see an increase in price And so again, I think that These changes have been made to increase the amount of housing Um low-income or affordable housing in wealthy neighborhoods, but I do think this is the wrong way to go about it Um specifically the zoning Requirements are so low in high-income neighborhoods Like we have single family neighborhoods in burlington where you can't build more than five like five units in a building Which would start to trigger inclusionary zoning in those neighborhoods those single family neighborhoods Are the ones that have the most wealth anyways where we would want to be seeing more economic diversity being built in um And so again, I think if you want To do that you would have to increase the zoning of high-income neighborhoods and single family neighborhoods rather than like messing with inclusionary zoning And making it easier to build all market rate housing in in low-income neighborhoods So I I know that it's like super wonky and again I think this is frustrating that to be spending this much time on inclusionary zoning when it's so limited in the first place um But I just hope that you are critical of those pieces. I can't remember exactly what lines they are in the law, but they're kind of I just think it's going to increase the gentrification that we're already seeing in burlington Thanks. Thank you Kelly divine It's late. I'll try to keep it brief. Um, thank you President council president right first. I want to start by thanking all the folks who spent I think it was almost two years on this process of revising our inclusionary zoning laws And I'm going to ask the council urge them to vote this forward tonight Following the housing policy in burlington closely is an important part of what I do to represent our members because we all Know that housing and the cost of housing affects every part of our community So I'm really excited for all the work that the council and specific committees and the administration are doing to address this problem And we know that from data that under the prior inclusionary zoning law very little Of any type of housing was getting built both market rate and inclusionary So I do think that this comes along goes a long way. I also want to thank Former councilors dean and no del for their work on this and I think it'll really help to move forward The city in being able to develop a wide range of housing types including housing that is affordable If we advance this tonight. Thank you Thank you, mr. Vine anyone else mr. Monty Long time no see It's more fun watching you on tv frankly It's a good evening to be here. Michael Monty. I'm chief operating and financial officer of Champlain housing trust and I want to come and support the ordinance about 30 years or so ago I think the ordinance was passed. It took a few years for that ordinance to pass and at the time city of brilinton was at the cutting edge of doing inclusionary zoning It took about two or three years. I think they get these modifications done and And now about 900 communities around the united states do i z as a regular basis and more are happening in And multifamily home builders are embracing i z as a way to do development So let me just say for those of folks who think i z may be controversial In fact, it's being seen as a tool to in fact ensure that communities are inclusive And I would say that the changes that were made were done with folks who I think have been paying attention to the issue For a long time and working through the details of these Discussions. It was an open process. People were invited. I participated at least in one of those groups And it was brought forward. I think to the committees as well as to the city council It's been a really pretty good process. I think the the couple of changes that were made I just want to address them real quickly here the notion that in fact Inclusionary zoning was only being built in lower-income neighborhoods principally and not in high-income neighborhoods is an issue You should be taking up and I think you are moving towards that National home builder types talk about exclusionary zoning And in fact, you sort of have that still in the city of burlington where you don't allow that at density to occur The changes that are being made here will allow for more income to come into neighborhoods where in fact you can build Some affordable units and or at least support affordable housing of different kinds and different types We do affordable housing. We do rental. We do home ownership There's a range of things that in fact can be done This provides some flexibility to the small developers who might take A house and build three or four units and now can add a little bit of cash into a housing trust fund That could support a larger development Especially in some of those neighborhoods, which I think need to have their zoning reviewed So I would ask you to support this. I think it's a it's a good step forward. It's a good step forward Maybe another 30 years will come back. We'll take a look at it and make some of the other adjustments But for now, this has been through a fairly rigged process. I do want to say one thing This is not the only tool you should be looking at right? This is one And in fact it's it is somewhat limited, but it does it is a good one But there's more to be done in lots of other ways and so you should be paying attention to that as well Thank you. Mr. Monti anyone else who would like to speak in the public hearing on this Hearing none. I will close out the public hearing Go to item number 7.08, which is the ordinance, uh, mr. Chairman Chairman of the ordinance community councilor mason Thank you, president right. I'd like to make a motion to waive the second reading about the ordinance Ask for the floor back after a second second by councilor busher Councilor mason Thank you president right. Um, I'd also like to take this opportunity to invite maybe david white to come up to the who's been Shepherding this process. Um before us tonight is a proposed amendment To our ordinance as recommended by the planning commission after its public hearing on november 27th regarding article 7 signs The this proposed amendment is a comprehensive revision and modernization of the city's sign regulations Like many communities across the country This review was undertaken in response to a supreme court decision and read versus gilbert That uh necessitated movement to content neutral regulation These amendments purport to accomplish that objective by creating more prescriptive and objective series of sign types That will be used to regulate the dimensions size location lighting and general design of each type Finally the amendment retains most of the current limitations and restrictions Such as the overall sign of permitted signage and lighting for example And if there Content or specific questions, I would direct them to david the expert. Thank you Thank you councilor mason before we go to the council Did you have anything you wanted to say mr. White? No, I'm all set councilor mason summarized it perfectly Okay, council busher So I want to just acknowledge david white's role in this ordinance it is I think Not only is it a good ordinance for people to utilize that work in this arena But it's also user friendly for someone who wants to figure out What they need to do if they want to get a sign and sometimes our ordinances I think are not as user friendly So I think this reflects a lot of work and a lot of effort on David whites part And others he can reference, but I really found it Well done I know that you will be coming back with one minor amendment because late in the game I asked what about banners over a street and that wasn't Nailed down clearly so that will be coming back later, but this is really a very nice product And I hope anybody in this council who wants a sign will find it as user friendly as I do. Thank you Thank you. Councilor busher anyone else Are we ready to vote? okay, all those in favor of Waving the second reading and adopting the ordinance. Please say aye Any opposed that passes unanimously Item 7.09 is another ordinance councillor mason. Thank you president right I'd like to make a motion to waive the second reading adopt the ordinance as drafted and asked for the floor back after a second Seconded by councillor jane councillor mason I don't envision this will be as seamless as the sign ordinance So I want to sort of start for the public's benefit To sort of go back a little history to sort of explain how we got here This is for the public's benefit. This is the inclusionary zoning proposal amendments So way back in 2015 the housing action plan identified the need to review the inclusionary zoning standards In no. Oh, did I just miss? Oh, we're on zoning amendments. So this will be as hopefully as non-controversal. Forget what I just said Same motion I'll take that up after the proposed amendment simply brings our ordinance in compliance with our charter Which was approved by the voters in march by a majority So with that I have nothing else to say Councillor busher Yes, this is straightforward and and trying to be true to my original position and vote on this I did not support splitting up planning and zoning And this is the final step in that process. So I will not be supporting this. Thank you It's already happened. I understand but I still need to reflect that this is not a direction I thought was the right direction. Thank you Councillor jang I apologize. I just need to know since that was a different motion. Are you still seconding that? Yes. Okay. Thank you All right, any further discussion on this one Hearing none all those in favor. Please say aye Any opposed That passes. Well, there's what's right. There's one just one Councillor busher votes. No. So passes by 11 to 1 margin 7.10 Councillor mason Now I'm right So I would like to make a motion to waive the second reading adopt the ordinance as presented and ask for the floor back after a second Second by councillor pine councillor mason. Thank you. Now. I'll give the speech. I started Um So for the benefit of newer councillors and the public The 2015 housing action plan Started this process it identified the need or suggested a review of our inclusionary zoning standards That necessitated the hiring of an expert or a consultant in 2017 Who provided a report evaluating the inclusionary zoning standards and offering some initial recommendations Following that there was an inclusionary zoning working group Consisting of members of the council planning commission Affordable and non-profit housing developers some of whom were here tonight housing advocates who Analyzed the consultant's report and made further recommendations to the full council Regarding which of the proposals should advance That group also recommended a greater focus on inclusionary development by enabling fee and lieu and off-site compliance options Based on the demographic characteristics of census tracks throughout the city The recommendations were forward to the full council in 2018 who felt there still needed to be more process So that that the council then tasked a joint committee Of the ordinance and cdnr committee to review and make further recommendations on each of the working groups recommendations That group met held in a series of meetings Or walk through each of those recommendations That was then presented back, you know, the summary was then presented back to this full council This council adopted the final report of the joint committee in december of 2018 and we tasked this was a neat little trick We did we tasked the planning commission With doing you know coming up with a relevant language That language then came back And is attached to this memo That or the proposed language addressed each of the joint committee recommendations The planning commission made some further edits and recommendations to address technical amendments Based on the housing trust managers administration To create and they tackled something that we had been struggling with and the consultant really had to move forward Which is how do you deal with off-campus institutional housing projects? Also to deal with development bonuses associated with proving isa units and to enable voluntary participation The ordinance committee then took the recommendations of the planning commission And work through those over a series of hearings A couple things to call out So I am not intending in my speech now to sort of walk through the policy some of the policy objectives We as a full council adopted the report and test. I appreciate not everyone may be there But i'm not going to walk back through all of those policy determinations And I respect that there are differences, you know, some of us received a communication from one constituent I know there was some people here tonight I respect those positions, but these were policy determinations that I would say were worked through over a course of You know multiple years and countless hearings We ultimately reached that point unfortunately sometimes where we have to move forward and I think we're there So I want to talk about just two things briefly. The first is sort of the parking requirements for iz Units which became a bit of a flash point during our hearings Um To be clear the recommendation The initial recommendation from the working group was to eliminate any parking requirement That felt to the joint commission like a little abridged too far And so the planning commission came back with a different proposal Which was to reduce the parking requirements by the percentage of required inclusionary zoning So the example that's given in the ordinance itself Is if it's a project that has a 15 izy requirement The parking requirements are reduced by a commensurate 15 percent and you guys can correct me if I'm saying anything incorrectly um Finally just to highlight what what went on in terms of off off campus institutional housing The framework that's presented in here creates a parallel standard for applying izy requirements to off campus institutional housing That accounts for differences in how student housing is rented Student housing is beds not units How income and subsidy are assessed Obviously, there's no household income for students Um, and the limitations that we were facing in terms of disclosure of financial information Um, the attached ordinance does require that the izy requirements applied off campus housing That is exclusively used by the students In those cases 15 percent of the project beds must be offered at 80 percent of the institution's estimated off campus housing costs Um and to be eligible to lease those beds students must have received a need-based financial aid award On top of that the ordinance committee worked with sort of ensuring that there was compliance So we did in in this ordinance that's proposed We built in a you know an annual reporting requirement as well as audit rights Um in faith, you know through the housing trust manager The last issue just to briefly touch on uh, it laid in the process There was I think it was sort of punted multiple times because it was too complicated quite honestly to deal with is the concept of smoothing Um, there had been concerns that you know our AMI had you know, there are some anomalies in AMI And what became apparent is that really was in part attributable to the the size of the sampling and you know Who you happen to talk to um on that given day So that our committee, uh with former counselor no del's help tried to come up with some concept to work smoothing into the process we did um Reach out through the planning the planning staff to the developers and others that were involved in the izi working group Um, and in summary, I think that the the conclusion we ultimately came on was you know Maintaining the current system that adopting a smoothing mechanism was was quite complicated Potentially created reporting uh requirements for you know various nonprofit developers And also made it uh unnecessarily complicated and the other piece. I think that that came through pretty clear was If adopted it potentially would impact the borrowing capacity of these projects Which would further limit the number of units that were available So the ordinance committee did not adopt a smoothing. Um any smoothing policy has presented So with that I know we have a very uh large group that has been um of great assistance throughout this entire process And I would defer to them if there are questions from the council. Thank you Before I turn over to the council any remarks anyone wants to make to set it up or go to the questions I I think councillor mason summarized The process and the ordinance very well As I think is very clear It has been a long and a very detailed process. Um, it's a very complex ordinance. It has a lot of moving parts we've got staff from City planning cito and permitting inspections here to to try to answer questions as well as Councillor pine has been involved in this conversation for Quite some time and I think michael monti hasn't left the house yet. So He's a wealth of information Thank you, meg and you seem to be Pulling the microphone forward. Did you have anything to add? No, I was just going to say that as usual councillor mason did an excellent job summarizing We can all agree with that Okay, councillor busher and then councillor pine and then councillor hanson so First of all, I want to thank the people that i'm looking at because and the people in the audience because they were and Obviously other councillors who took part in this process because they were invaluable You know, I got involved as part of the joint committee and then followed it Through the planning commission and learned a lot and I think that the planning commission really did a wonderful job with with trying to address the off-campus housing and trying to link not only the fact that we put an inclusionary zoning component But we had that but it wasn't linked to the right population of people It was just linked there just hung there And so I want to really commend all of you for getting the institutions to come Work with you and to come forward with a with a proposal that I think is is good And so I I really wanted to speak to that The other thing I wanted to say was that This is chock full of information And I had to look to the experts. It's not this is not i'm not an expert others On the council maybe but i'm not And I think that what I've learned though and what I knew from the get-go was inclusionary zoning Is not It is a way to make to just as it states. It's a way to integrate Mixed income People in one housing project. It's not it's not a Catalyst to create affordable housing it accomplishes that and it integrates it But there there have to be other ways to really get affordable housing built So I think that for those people who look at this and say they feel let down by this process It's because the process has a a primary purpose and that primary purpose is not to Fill our affordable housing need it is one part of that process, but it's not the only part of that process So I respect the comments made tonight During the public forum part of this But I really feel that this is an improvement on what we had Councillor Mason came up with a part of it, which was we were having people not build Affordable units because they couldn't afford to deal with the Fees that are being proposed in Where is this? This is such a lengthy ordinance, but payment and lieu option Some of these were deterrents and so now we He came up with this tiered recommendation And now we believe that this will allow Some of these smaller projects to move forward. So I think that there are lots of things in here That are good the other piece. I just wanted to speak to was the fact that You know We talked about inclusionary zoning You can have off site options if indeed the Area is 51 percent or greater or lower moderate income And I think that the fear is that this will then create an area that has higher income Well, if that's the case then it won't they you won't have the off site option So I think that there are checks and balances With this ordinance and I'm hope I'm hoping that that will come to be realized. So thank you Thank you councillor busher councillor pine Thank you the Yeah, the history of this ordinance goes back quite a ways And it was a compromise to get the ordinance that we have Not just the one you have before you tonight, but the ordinance from 1990 which took five years to pass So if it took a while to amend it it took a lot longer to come to agreement on that I think the key thing that councillor busher just mentioned, which I just want to reiterate is that Don't look at inclusionary zoning as a production tool And if you do you're looking at the wrong tool So if you keep it in your mind that it's an inclusion tool and if it's inclusive It if it achieves its objectives We have neighborhoods and we have developments that are more economically inclusive If we have small developments that don't ever happen because the ordinances has a chilling effect on smaller developments You're getting zero so 15 or 20 or 25 percent of zero in my math still equals zero So it's really important to remember that small projects that are not feasible with today's Requirements become more feasible and they generate revenue that goes into the housing trust fund So I think it's really critical that we think about that and we'd be realistic about what's feasible and what isn't feasible We heard From the for-profit developers what was and wasn't feasible But we had non-profit developers and John Davis was with us who's one of the nation's foremost advocates on this issue Looking at their numbers to determine if what they said was actually legit Or if it just was a type of belly aching that you might hear from certain segments of the economy But so I just want to say that the the changes that are proposed tonight Really do acknowledge that smaller developments had a very difficult time Taking those costs that are real costs It's a drag on the on the cash flow of a project if your rents are that much below What you could normally charge that if you amortize that over time you've got a significant deterrent to doing smaller developments So that was really important the current payment in lieu is over $150,000 for each inclusionary unit you would have to pay who you'd have to create That is ultimate. That's a de facto prohibition against a payment in lieu So that's our current policy that's on the books before we adopt this change That just means we have a Theoretical provision that allows for payment in lieu, but it's actually in reality No one can actually afford to do that that would drive the prices of all the other units through the roof It would make things incredibly economically not feasible. So We arrived at these tiered amounts through a pretty diligent process that involved looking at data crunching numbers Looking at performance having Champlain housing trust and housing Vermont Tell us if the numbers we were getting from the private developers made sense And basically the committee was in a process of continual education and really trying to understand what this meant in reality. So Many of us might have felt better saying let's keep the dollar amount really high. Let's keep the percentages really high You know, let's really make sure we get everything we want But if you're getting everything you want and you get nothing you're still getting zero So I think just keep in mind we've got to try and move the needle here. And that's what we tried to do Thank you councillor pine. I think that crystallized that point very well councillor hanson Thanks so much and yeah, thanks to all who who worked so hard on this process And and got us to where we are I do have a specific question and concern and want to discuss further. Um, it's uh Around the waiver of fees. So I'm looking at lines 26 through 29 um And specifically that the 25 percent waiver of fees Um for qualifying units in a project that initially sells for a price that is affordable For households below 90 percent of am i or that initially rents for three period Or for a three-year period for a price that is affordable for households below 75 percent of am i That's the language. Um And i'm wondering is there anything in In place that would prevent um these units from You know after the three-year period The the rents being jacked up substantially or for the units that are selling being resold at a substantially higher price A year to three years um down the line So I can speak to part of that and perhaps others at the table as well the section that you're referring to Is a waiver of the impact fee So the the amount of the impact fee that's assessed on on affordable housing units Most of the units that are covered under the inclusionary zoning Have a affordability Long-term affordability requirement is 99 years Anything you want to add to that? As the CETO staff person who's responsible for making a recommendation about impact fee waivers It's extremely rare for me to see projects that take advantage of this typically all the inclusionary units that we That we write waivers for fall into the 50 percent or 100 percent Category And that being said, so what is the Can I just hear more about the rationale behind that 25 percent? um inclusion So I would just point out that these three provisions items one two and three the 25 50 and 100 percent Pull the microphone a little closer. Sorry Is that close enough? There you go. Um, so these pertain to Um affordable units above and beyond Meeting the minimum requirement. So your typical project has 15 20 25 required inclusionary And beyond that if you have an additional number of dwelling units That would qualify for 25 waiver a fee they could do it Todd said it's Pretty rare. I I can't think of a single case where someone has done that above and beyond the minimum Is possible. Um, is there anything that precludes the prices going up after that three-year period? No and the to address the rationale perspective, um, it's really Concerned that the iz working group and the subsequent bodies that have reviewed this have considered in terms of creating balance between What's required of the ordinance and what the offsets are that a developer receives from that ordinance? The issue specifically with looking at fees is just to help balance some of the costs involved with actually Executing an inclusionary zoning project and to provide a minimal amount of relief from those costs Thank you. Um, so yeah, all of that being said I The fact that it's it's not regularly or practically never used but also The concern about you know, the prices then being increased. I don't In my mind, this isn't necessary and I don't think it serves a strong purpose to give this fee waiver. So I would just like to Um propose to simply strike lines 26 through 29 from the resolution Councillor Hanson is proposing to strike lines to amend by striking lines 26 through 29. Is there a second to that? Second by Councillor Freeman I will put out an email in the future asking councillors to try to do amendments before we're on the floor again But nonetheless it is on the floor count city attorney blackwood Yeah, this is a an ordinance and it's a zoning ordinance and so the When you want to make an amendment to a zoning ordinance What it will mean if you want to make this amendment is that you have to re-warn the public hearing And and come back and vote on the ordinance another evening because uh, It's our belief that this is a substantive change to the ordinance Okay, so the so the amendment can be acted on but it what it's it means we have to restart the You have to go back and warn a new public hearing. Yes Councillor pine let me just ask for clarification on that point. Would it also require going back to the planning commission? City attorney blackwood the way that the the state statute reads is that You warn you have to warn the public hearing You have to have at least 14 days notice and at least 10 days Before the hearing you have to send it back to the planning commission But that you don't have to necessarily wait for any action by them It's just a notice more than anything an opportunity for them to come to the public hearing and Yeah, I can try Mr. President if I could the 25 waver just to be clear is Simply there in the event and this happened I did this for 18 years. I think it might have happened once or twice Where a private developer comes in and their market rate units meet this requirement and then their inclusionary units fall below that So this is extremely rare. This was I can remember it was dentists rule on Manhattan driving me. It was that specific who got this waiver and it is Really recognition that the initial rents or sale prices being this affordable is extremely hard for market developers to do So it's just intended to be A little reward for that. That's all this is here for Thank you councillor pine for that clarification. Appreciate that any discussion on the amendment Yeah, am I Councillor Puglino, do you have your hand raised to be recognized? Yes, councillor Puglino Uh, I think you mentioned Ms. Tuttle that this is never well, it was I think it was you that said that, um, sorry Could I get your name again scott? That it's never been taken advantage of or that it's extremely rare to actually go beyond The minimum requirement I wouldn't say going beyond the minimum requirement. Generally, I'd say specifically this provision Agreeing with what councillor pine has just said Right, but I think I guess my point was since councillor pines left there still hasn't been some like huge uptick No, no, it hasn't been used at all since he left Thank you councillor Puglino Any other further discussion? All right, let's vote on the amendment all those in favor of the amendment. Please Raise your hands those opposed that amendment is defeated by a vote of 11 to 3 the three No votes Three no votes are councillors Three yes votes. You're right. Excuse me. Three yes votes are councillor Freeman, councillor Hanson and councillor Tracy Got that clerk's office. Okay. We're back to the ordinance any further discussion on the ordinance Hearing none all those in favor, please say aye any opposed One more time all those in favor, please say aye Aye Any opposed Passes unanimously just wanted to make sure it was very very low Item 7.11 councillor mason Thank you president right and I can make a motion to waive the second reading and adopt the ordinance and ask for the floor back Very briefly for a second Moved and seconded by councillor busher councillor mason as the floor back. Thank you president right. So this is the Sister to the one we just adopted adopted this relates to illuminated signs And I would also note that mr. White is here to answer any questions Director white anything to say before we go to the Council for discussion or questions simply that this this is not zoning, but this is part of the other portion of the city code of ordinances that Is being eliminated because it's redundant to what is Required by the zoning ordinance as well as by the building code and that particularly Matters related to electrical service and construction. Thank you director white now open it up to the council Any questions from the council Hearing none all those in favor, please say aye any opposed Apparently passes unanimously That brings us after concluding all those items. Thanks to the good work of the ordinance committee councillor mason and the other members of the ordinance committee 7.12 resolution by councillor busher councillor busher Yes, I've moved to waive the reading and adopt the resolution and after a second I'd like the floor back briefly seconded by councillor hanson councillor busher. You have the floor back Thank you So chris burns is here tonight and um To in case there are questions, um for BED but um as the resolution states After we had the um resolution on climate crisis You know, I I tried to figure out what to do what what we could do collectively and um I met with um a developer I met with eric ferrell and talked about new construction I also talked to darren springer about new construction and significant rehabilitation and um Realized I got educated um as I always do that that significant rehabilitation of Units or structures is a whole different ball game so um I focused then on um electrification of heat and air conditioning in new construction only as the first step Um, I think the resolution speaks for itself um Most of the details were hammered out by BED and um Our permitting and inspection services department To put in what was possible and to set a timeline for us to have proposed changes to our permitting and building code ordinances by the beginning of 2020 So, um, that's where I'll stop. Thank you. Thank you councillor busher Discussion by the council Hearing none all those in favor, please say aye I any opposed Passes unanimously councillor busher. Thank you And we will now move on to item number eight committee reports any committee chair who would like to speak on committee activity Councillor tracy So we had a transportation energy utilities committee meeting This past thursday and we discussed a number of topics The first of which was the narrow streets Policy folks don't remember we had discussed in previous years Streets that are very narrow and become even more so during the winter time Which hinders emergency vehicle access? So they started last year with some of the most narrow streets specifically germane street And trying to address some of the the concerns that fire had raised around that They're continuing that conversation with both with Charles and russell streets and they're going to be actually having a meeting on wednesday. I believe at six or 6 30 To continue that conversation around Those particular streets it becomes really an issue of As I said before access and figuring out how we do that at least on a seasonal basis So they're having that conversation with neighbors on that. We did also discuss Green mount we did also have green mountain transit come to us And share some information about How the new system next gen has rolled out. Unfortunately, we're seeing Decline in ridership with ridership down about four percent right now, which is certainly troubling They said that the colors system has been sort of challenging to follow So in order to address some of that there's some there's a definite intention to Add back some of the numbers in addition to the colors so that folks have that point of reference that they may have been used to So giving that as a as a piece There's also blue line scheduling was it was an issue that they're trying to address And then they feel like they need to they've rolled out the app that gives you real time tracking They're working on that as well as the they've changed the contractor at the downtown transit center with regards to the displays You might have noticed that it's time displays. It doesn't tell you where the bus actually is they're working on fixing that too So ridership is down, but there are other issues that are at play there They did also talk a little bit about they also did address the fair free aspect of it and they said that That they're open to considering additional fair free routes It's just a matter of the communities having to pay for those routes and for instance, they said that You know a city loop might be an option In the $200,000 range So it's it's a significant cost and something that we would have to think of but That there is a willingness at least if communities are willing to shoulder that that additional cost to consider thinking about that and looking at that So that's something that I think that there is you know, at least on my part continued interest in exploring um, we also heard from um, the about the street seats and uh, and parklets program update, which If you don't remember was in front of the In front of different areas in this in in the city and we heard from will clavell about that It got pretty pretty strong Feedback and in favor of that project and continuing it In future years from those who did respond to the survey The question is you know, how do we what does that look like in future years and any feedback? I know that will would be certainly welcoming of any feedback that counselors have so be sure to to share that with him We heard briefly about the the amtrak's storage and servicing though the the the council's the the the question around amtrak was really with regards to A continued desire there's a lot of complex issues to hear about that at a future council meeting and Director Spencer did state that he would like to to see us address that at future council meetings so And then finally the last thing I would like to address is the water resources rate study update We had a big conversation about that um at at the council level And I just want to draw folks attention to the fact that there'll be a meeting here on the rate study Issue um, that's going to be coming up Tomorrow night at six I believe so if folks are interested in water rates, please come join us Join us for that conversation. So sorry for the long update We had a lot of important topics that um, I know the council has been deeply involved in thank you councillor tracy councillor pine Real quick, um the community development neighborhood revitalization committee We have a tentative meeting that we just set up sitting here tonight just so you know So there's some multitasking But the purpose is to discuss with the brookfield folks How to include the community in community engagement going forward the issues that we discussed Tonight in response to the resolution that councillor freeman put forward back in I think august So we'll be getting to that and we'll report back to the council and that's it Thank you councillor pine. I'm going to recognize councillor mason for a motion Just like to make a motion to suspend the rules to complete our agenda councillor mason has moved we suspend the rules to complete the agenda that motion seconded by councillor hanson Any discussion hearing none of I just want to note that our shirts expire at 10 30 the shirts by the way Yes, don't before I forget to say everybody give me your shirts back, please what You just want the shirts off our back. That's all what's that you just want the shirts off our back That's all I want the shirts off your back. That's not asking for that much. So yes, uh, everybody I am bringing them back where they belong We leave here So all those in favor of the motion to suspend rules, please say aye Any opposed rules are suspended. We'll complete the agenda councillor shannon Thank you the PAC committee met and uh, we There are three main things we discussed One is the mural which has had the plaque replaced now in both french and english Um as well as it has been repaired and remounted and some of you may have seen that um The memorial auditorium At our last our last meeting was the day that the rfp went out for memorial auditorium Those vids are due back on december 2nd And we're going to meet again to take a look at how productive that was we were told that there were no national bidders um in that uh, there was a requirement that Any any bidders actually go on October 17th to for a tour of the building um, I think there were I think there were only two two bidders that that took advantage of that though There might be somebody else that um can make a special appointment to do it And as a reminder to the council The plan for that is that If we have a successful proposal we would go to the voters for approval of a 15 million dollar geo bond and We still have a lot of other Money that we would need to provide to move this forward to Save memorial auditorium. So there's a lot of ifs with that and the vote would be in november of 2020 um also we We supported and a new awfully stog ordinance that I expect to be coming to the council I'm not sure if it'll make it onto our next agenda, but if not Um, it would be the one following that which would be sent to our ordinance ordinance committee for further review. Thank you Thank you. Councilor shannon any other chair to update us on committee activity Just checking to see if anyone else first. Okay, we're all set. Well, we'll go to you after council. Sorry Councilor mason. You are also chair of charter change Councilor tracy. Councilor tracy. That's what I said. Thank you Thank you So I just want to let you know that we had a couple of charter change potential charter changes referred to us That we are going to be taking up those being The we had the the the non-citizen voting rights and then the housing trust fund issue Put forward to us as a committee and we'll be starting to meet on those issues on tuesday On november 5th at 5 p.m. We are still figuring out a meeting location But just want to let the council know about that now remind you again next week. All right. Thank you. Councilor mason councilor tracy councilor tracy Councilor jang I don't know. Thank you president. Um, so the hr committee will be meeting on tuesday The fifth and it will be a 5 30 at 200 Chair street and we will be reviewing some policies related to hr in general about the city And also get some update about the diversity equity and inclusion director position. How many people have applied and things along those lines Thank you Thank you. Councilor jang Was that we will conclude that item and item number Nine is city councillors on general city affairs any councillor on general city affairs councillor hanson Thanks, uh, two things briefly one is this coming sunday There's going to be a tenant summit from 12 30 to 4 30 at fletcher free Library i'm excited to attend and hope to see others there as well The other is i just wanted to report back that councillors shannon councillor tracy and myself and many other city staff had the amazing opportunity to um go to montreal on friday and Get the opportunity to see their their bicycle infrastructure Much of which has been implemented over the past, you know, five to ten years They have moved very boldly and aggressively forward on adding protected bicycle lanes And you know removing parking removing travel lanes and really In improving active transportation infrastructure and it's it's made a huge impact And I hope that we can uh learn learn some lessons from from what montreal has done and and move forward here in the same way Thank you councillor hanson councillor who was the next councillor Councillor tracy so I Just want to echo councillor hanson's words about the the trip up to montreal It was absolutely phenomenal to get to get a chance to go around with a city councillor to hear directly from their public works And to understand not specifically how they're managing such a system in winter That's oftentimes a concern that's that people bring forward And it was amazing to not only be there with other councillors but also a variety of different members of city staff from People who drive the plow trucks to run our snow fighting operations so that they could actually interact with the same folks Or counterparts on the montreal side of things Which is particularly helpful and one of the big takeaways is that if you build it and plow it And are willing to adjust over time you don't get it perfect right away But if you're willing to adjust over time you can really see some increase some dramatic increases in ridership I think they said they saw an over 150 percent increase in winter ridership over a three-year period in montreal so Pretty substantial and exciting things and I think that this is all geared towards safety I heard just from a constituent today. He was really concerned about people Blowing through stop signs and a concern about that So we continue to hear this on people's minds and I think that when we start to embrace these solutions We're able to to create a traffic calming effect. Um, that really helps to make people feel safe on the streets Thank you councillor tracy councillor paul Thank you. Um, so one of the items that's in our budget one of the many line items in our budget is a, uh a It's in the regional programs for the vermont international film festival Um, it is definitely money well spent um I uh, I went on sunday to see one of the one of the films it was called that uh the report on uh sarah and salim and um There were maybe two or three empty seats in the theater Other than that it was completely filled And um, I spoke with one person who said they have been to they had been to 15 films Over the nine days of the film festival But that was quite a few until I spoke with a couple who had been to 25 So they have a tremendously loyal following and whether you've been to 25 or 15 or you've been to one It is definitely money well spent and uh I'll be looking forward to next year's if you haven't gone Try to keep that in mind for next next fall. Thanks. Thank you counselor paul counselor roof Very quickly. I did get a call from our good friend, uh, jared wood Today and and actually a call last week from him as well And he did ask me to bring up that he someone who walks a lot of pedestrian Mostly in ward one, but he gets outside of ward one once in a while He is continued to see he's continuing to see people rolling through stop signs and still concerned about pedestrian safety And so I just wanted to highlight that to the council on with his request And say that I think we do need to be pursuing a mix of kind of built infrastructure solutions as well as enforcement To make sure that we're keeping our pedestrian safe. Thanks Thank you counselor roof counselor pine just uh Dovetailing with what counselor roof just said the um concept that I asked the chief about and I'd like to Get counsel sense at some point is is basically Stoplight mounted cameras that that shoot cars that shoot through red lights. That's just an idea that other cities have used I know it's controversial, but it's extremely effective without putting a huge burden on our police force. So Think about it. Let's talk about it another time. Thank you counselor pine counselor jeng Yeah, um, this is just an announcement especially for people who live in the new north end You probably don't know that every third Wednesday at our npa. We start with a great wonderful dinner It's a free dinner and every single person is welcome The past two dinners that we have over 75 people attended 75 people so there are people great people like there such as carina keenan christianson Carmen george and so many people building communities out there. So counselors if you have the time next one day Please show up Thank you. Thank you counselor jang anyone else hearing none I'm going to pass. There is no city council president update mr. Mayor Take us home Thanks prisoner rate It's uh, you know has been three weeks since the last time we met so a number of things happened that I did just want to note briefly First of all st. Paul street is fully open for anyone who hasn't taken That walk recently the uh, and and i'm happy to say the complaints concerns about the design have largely Have basically stopped Positive reactions have been flowing in in recent weeks. There will be a celebration of sorts To kind of mark the opening of these streets and the first great streets effort It probably is not going to happen until the spring when the final final piece Which is a public art installation will also be done But in the meantime, I do particularly encourage people to check it out when it's raining down there the It's worth going and seeing how the the storm guidance That are the real innovation with those streets actually work in the rain It's it's it's interesting to see in action and it's satisfying Um, I want to congratulate our our colleague council roof on a successful innovation week within his new role as a head of btv ignite and Heard lots of positive feedback about the week this year The at the last time we did meet the council um supported the Lengthy housing resolution coming out of the housing summit work and did want to let the council know for those who not on the committee The committee has already met two times Since that passage another meeting happening this week There's a lot of work to be done coming out of that resolution but the the joint committee between the ordinance committee and the planning commission has uh Jumped right in and is working on the details So that that work continues related to that work Um, I Council should look for the memo. I've mentioned before the cedo team has been exploring Um, also coming out of the housing summits, uh, the question whether burlington should be doing more with respect to tenant protections And you should have that memo Shortly as was committed previously that it would be out by the end of the month um Finally, I did just want to give people a heads up the council's heads up that President right and I have talked and we are anticipating a executive session on Before next week's meeting on the rail issues, which obviously you're hearing in public forum Are coming towards us some decisions are coming towards us. Uh, we should be ready to talk about the possible negotiations With the council Next week and we're looking forward to that So uh details about that to come with that personal rate. That's all I got tonight Thank you, mr. Mayor Motion to adjourn Moved by council roof seconded by councillor hanson. All those in favor, please say aye And opposed we are adjourned