 All right. Well, my name is Tom Derenthal. I'm going to be the moderator tonight and first I'd like to welcome you and second give everyone a chance to introduce themselves and I think we're gonna start With this room and we're gonna go around the table and Richard Bunchick start Richard Hilliard High Growth Court Ward 1 Keith Pillsbury University Terrace Ward 8 Carol Livingston Colarco Court Ward 1. I'm also on this during committee Angie Jeff Sokol North Prospect Street Ward 8 What Again, my name's Tom Derenthal. I'm in Ward 1 as well. I'm on the steering committee Jane Stromberg the outgoing Ward 8 City Councilor College Street. Nice to see everybody And then we're gonna go through the zoom Participants and Kathy you want to start? Kathy all well East District School Commissioner Awards 1 and 8 but I live in Ward 1 and Excuse me if I pronounce yeah, yeah Yeah, hi, my name is Saja and I'm Ward 8 I was Ryan Hi, is Zariah. Hi tower board 1 City Councilor on Hiltria Drive Jack Everyone's Jack Kansan the East District City Councilor. I live on College Street in Ward 8 Jean Jean Hopkins Ward 1 Cynthia Hi everyone, I'm Cynthia Cook. I live on East Avenue in Ward 1 Olivia She's presenting later. Oh, okay, Laura. She's presenting later. Oh Achilles Achilles Yes, hello everyone my name is Achilles Locosu and I remember sending Ward 1 Cyril Cyril flash Ward 1 Madeline I'm with the APW presenting for the sidewalk. Okay, and Debra You're mad at you're muted. Did I miss anyone who wants to introduce themselves? All right hearing none We're gonna move forward to speak out People online if you just raise your hand I can call on you and I'll keep an eye open for people in the room here Cynthia You got you're having trouble with the mute This I just wanted to request that when Madeline speaks for DPW. She addresses the pretty egregious safety issues regarding sidewalks in both wards as I think Jonathan and Angie and Carol may recall there was a meeting Two and a half years ago now at least when there were 14 people at the NPA meeting and and seven of them had had Serious injuries in the in the past couple of months from tripping on sidewalk issues So so we'd love for you to speak to that not alone when it's when it's your turn I know you have limited time, but but it's a pretty big problem. So thanks anyone else on the zoom call All right, we're going to go to the room here then Richard you had your hand up Yeah two months ago Brian Cina was on a zoom call talking about various things and he started to talk about the police and his He came up with a phrase that I take serious exception to and I think it's the sort of Characteristic of zoom calls is that people can say things and we move on instead of addressing them But he said blah blah blah until the police started killing them killing people and I think that is such a disgraceful representation from an elected official and I just like to rep Represent my formal complaints about that and I regret that it was accepted and I regret that I didn't speak out at the time He's an idiot. Okay. Thanks Richard Keith I wanted to thank the volunteers from Ward 8 Ward 1 and the student government for helping us out to run a pretty Secure and safe Election on a town meeting day. We really rely on out of Ward 8 representative or volunteers to help us do the the work of the Poling and making sure that everybody gets an opportunity to vote and have a private has their privacy and Security etc. So I really want to thank those who stepped up from Ward 1 Those who stepped up from Ward 3 and those who stepped up and helped us out from the student government. Thank you Thanks Carol are you gonna say something about winter? I was oh, okay. Thank you. Thank you. Yes So winter lude was put on by the old East End Folks again, they've already done it earlier in the season They happened to hit a Saturday and Sunday right after our most recent snowstorm So it was it was wonderful. It was the same thing. It was Parks and Rec brought lots of Winter equipment for for people to try a lot of kids tried tried out skiing and snowshoeing There was a fire In a controlled area and the The barn itself is a really wonderful space. So if you see that happening again, I know they plan to do Something for kids day in May It's a wonderful space and I would invite all of you to try to stop by at some point I know Zariah did a couple weeks ago So, please please come when you have the opportunity just to see what that's about. Thank you Thanks. Are there any other announcements or speak out? Oh Don I actually have two I've got one right going to cry and then I go I've got a rant myself So this is a this is from Glenn McCrae who could not be here tonight But he sent this to be read into the minutes After the last NPA discussion on future UVM plans for housing and the proposed changes to the Trinity campus There was an inquiry as to whether UVM could be held to an agreement not to increase enrollment Without having a corresponding number of new housing units to accommodate them As it turns out the city of Berkeley has done this and done exactly this with UC Berkeley And it was recently upheld by the California Supreme Court And he puts a reference in and we can put this in the minutes. Okay So it is worth worth considering whether this should be a path taken by the city in negotiating with UVM Students represent great assets and opportunities to the city But having the burden of housing them in neighborhoods means less available housing for everyone Including those students who graduate want to stay in Burlington But can't because there's no affordable housing and they don't want to live like students as it works We've seen how fragile a housing situation is recently with the evictions happening when you see We don't have any surplus capacity while UVM seeks to compete with other universities whose students get to live off campus Maybe they need to consider different comparables and change their branding Creating a campus life that attracts students to be part of a vibrant and exciting campus Living in quality and affordable quarters with local local board food. This doesn't seem to be too much of a stretch goal You're right. And in the in the email he sent to me he suggested There may be the steering committee would like to invite the organization from Berkeley to come to one of our meetings and tell us what they did I think that could be very interesting And I'd like to just do it Just make a quick statement and I hope nobody takes on verge of office because it's not there's nothing personal in this But I have three I have three brief brief comments about last week's election The first is please make sure you've collected all your signs even today. I will walk the town I found signs on the ground so Everything else about everything else about the campaign. I really appreciate it. I think everybody did a wonderful job I really thank you. Thank you for all that but the signs are still there second, I Find voter turnout for this selection quite disturbing and disturbed because Burma comprises itself on its activism Civic involvement in community engagement Overall turnouts across the city based on the school budget vote was just under 30% The wards one and eight were much worse In Ward 8 the winner got fewer than one in 10 registered votes to vote for her This isn't about you Alex. This is about voting. You are preaching to the choir. Yeah. Oh, yeah So if you're a 110 so we got a room with 10 or 10 people in it, you might have gotten one of these votes It's incredible And and in Ward 1 it wasn't really much better. It was one in seven One in seven registered voters voted for the winner. I Do not believe this is the fault of the candidates and I'm convinced it isn't about it being too hard to vote I believe in mailing voting. I believe in all resident voting, but neither of these things really addressed the real problems I don't think I don't think that's what the problem is Comparing with previous elections is difficult because each is unique in some way national primaries mayor elections on opposed candidates It's complicated. Perhaps we should form a committee or hire a consultant to understand the real problem and identify solutions This is Burlington after all So final observation is the voter turn up this year and in the past strongly correlates with home ownership strongly correlates In fact, if you make a plot of votes cast at each word against the number of single-family units Being single-family homes and condos you get a nearly perfect relationship really perfect And I won't go to the weeds I can put the charts in the minutes you can look at them But the relationship is quite compelling. Of course, it's a correlation. It's not causal But it's but it's but it's compelling The other very interesting thing is that if you look at voter turnout by word Compared to the number of rental units, there's an inverse proportion So the more rental units there is there are in a word the fewer voters come out The words of war is actually have smaller voter turnout the correlation is not good, but it's still disturbing I hope that the city council in the city can give some thought to the poor engagement that we have in our election We have to do better the city have to do better Last call for speak out Hi. Um, yeah, so I I know I haven't met all of you in person yet But my name is Ali and I was just selected for 40 city council So yeah, I just want to let you all know that I'm like looking forward to like, you know Being representative for this district to learning having dialogue and also supporting students and long-term residents like okay, um that brings us to City council updates and as an intro to that I first I want to congratulate Ali and Zariah for being reelected being reelected and Jack you'll have a chance. I guess next year. Yeah No, you're you're smiling, but you're not saying yes Your term go Jack I'm not gonna decide now My term is up next year. Yeah. Okay. All right. Well, I was just saying that your time will come to be reelected next year And on the city council or updates We have three subjects that we were hoping to hear about and one is public safety the second is housing and the third is energy efficiency and so counselors you can Take it away Like who would like to speak first? I Sorry guys, I can't tell if you're trying to hop in but I'm happy to like kick it off with public safety Because that's the most fresh in my mind since I had a committee meeting yesterday. If that's okay cool awesome so For the last few Tuesdays with the exception of town meeting day We as a committee a public safety committee of the city council have been meeting every Tuesday to go through the CNA report and look at the recommendations look at what the BPD and PP BPOA kind of say about a lot of the recommendations that are made and then what kind of consensus we can come to within a committee and within a working group around those things and and trying to rank and prioritize which recommendations we want to kind of implement and And then which ones we want to look into a little bit further and work on and so we've been We've been categorizing things in terms of like, you know q1 q2 q3 q4 and then also our comments as a committee So we're going through every single one of those recommendations and we've gotten through We went through section one section two and we just completed section three yesterday We're going to continue sections four five and six which are shorter Then there's previous sections and the in the following Tuesdays to come so next week. We're having a meeting Following, you know for rest of the my Tuesdays on council. I'll be on this committee and and having these meetings and then This committee is going to continue working through this until it is done. It should be done soon. That is, you know, I counselor Paul Actually stated stated the timeline yesterday and it looks like things are going to somewhat conclude soon on that front And we'll be able to move forward in terms of what things can be can be implemented for the betterment of our city in terms of the police department and how things are functioning within the department and then Just as a community too and we talked about a bunch of different things. These are public meetings You're more than welcome to look at them. They are only available on board docs right now They aren't on YouTube. We're actually trying to work that out like in live time as a committee But they are available on board docs But we were talking about a lot of different things in terms of having a public information officer How we can kind of really open up the dialogue between the community and the police department, of course a lot of other things are Around the union contract and things like that. So it does make things a little bit more Complex but important and something we are we're just trying to appropriately Categorize so that's the main update from me in terms of where we are in that there is a lot of progress being done and I know Zariah can definitely speak to that too, but Yeah, I'm really proud of the work we're doing in that committee and I'm excited to finish to finish that project because it is It is quite large and quite important. So thank you And Jane, maybe if I can just add some background for folks who don't know, right? so the CNA report had about I think 200 recommendations I'm writing me like that number now and It's the public safety committee and we also invited Kind of a working group to help us work through them, which includes The church Street Marketplace, sorry one representative from the church Street Marketplace food not bombs The Vermont Racial Justice Alliance one member of the BPO a orange has been representing them and then Generally, Taisha and John so Taisha from our AB and John mirad from the BPD tend to join us for those. I don't know if I'm missing someone. I think that's it So and I apologize for interrupting, but I just want to ask that people in the room if you can Move your microphones when you're not speaking It's very difficult for me to hear people in the room. Ironically, it's very easy for me to hear you Zariah, but There's just minor noises like typing on a keyboard or moving papers Have a big effect on the microphones So it was it was very hard to hear the last presentation and I I really want to hear what the counselors have to say so They're really quick fixes that just appreciate it and sorry for the interruption I'll jump in on housing which I know I'm supposed to limit it to one thing on housing But maybe I'll talk about a few things on housing because they can't resist Which is one on the speak out. I think on UBM. I don't know how much we've talked about this as an NPA But I know they came and presented last time But I was very disappointed with the presentation that they gave the council Which very much had a tone of UVM is already such a great neighbor You can't expect anything else from us because we're already doing so well I didn't quite get that. It was also different representatives. I think it's the folks who show up at the NPA Are usually the folks that we work with directly in there, right? but oh goodness, I'm about to run out of battery um but I think that Yeah, I think having the representatives from Berkeley would be great to hear about how that went and then I think generally I think the council And I'm not gonna say everyone but I think the majority of the council is pretty committed to using Trinity campus as an opportunity to create an agreement with UBM that has some teeth on how many students they're housing versus how many they're not housing So I don't know what that looks like yet Obviously the council isn't directly in the negotiation rooms that tends to be the mayor's office, but we definitely have the As we often usually only do the veto power on any agreement So and of course on any of the final zoning changes that UBM wants Which I think means And I've got a meeting with the mayor tomorrow. I'll definitely push him on this which I think means that we can ask for Something that really is enforceable whereas right now we just have a soft agreement The other things on housing That I want to talk about is I don't know what folks know I Don't remember. I think we talked about this as well last time. Maybe it was even as part of a debate I don't remember but I feel like this came up in NPA How the ARPA funds are being used around housing because housing was the number one priority It came out of the city-wide survey That CEDO did which is one of the best Surveys we've ever done in terms of how many folks responded to it Which is great that the city finally get that much input and it also shows that people are excited to talk about how to spend money And what came out of that is that the city is setting aside, I think roughly five million dollars for Housing and a lot of that has already been Used or has already been allocated towards houselessness and specifically short-term housing and I think one of the things that I guess is kind of lacking in the proposal is how to Any long-term proposals to help kind of long-term housing and affordability which with you know the amount of money that we are talking about now, which is Kind of 15 million that's left to be used that We say is you know up to the discretion within the limits of how that funding can be used But I think that's one of I guess one of the points of feedback that we're giving staff in terms of something we'd like to see And maybe I'll pause there. I do have one more housing thing, which is just to say just cause eviction I won't pause I lied It's just cause eviction did make it through the house and is now hopefully going to go to the Senate Where I don't think it'll have any trouble passing and then the only other thing would be the The Governor who could potentially veto it, but that would be a bummer That's right. Can I ask just a real quick question about the just cause eviction thing? I Thought that that the house made some changes to what had been submitted. Are those in your opinion Substantial or do they really change much? There was one change which would have been extremely substantial in terms of Not Or the saying that small landlords weren't included which would have been almost Unenforceable for the city just in terms of the amount of LLCs that we have that we just don't have the team to go through and try to figure out Who owns all those LLCs? So the city attorney's office And Sarah carpenter did a really good job of going back and convincing the house But that wasn't going to work And so I think the most substantial change is that they and this isn't how they talked about in committee So I don't know why this was the final change But that the moving cost so one of the things was you can evict first some no-cause reasons Such as substantial renovations, which I think is defined as 50% of the value of the home But then we said but then you have to provide moving costs and the house changed that to be that the maximum Moving cost could be the cost of one month's rent, which is and what we're envisioning We're thinking a thousand dollars because I think that's similar to what Champlain Housing Trust does So that's that's one change but generally it went through Pretty close to what we drafted and I feel I feel good That's definitely I'm fine with how it is even if it is that that with that one small change And there were a few other things but those aren't substantive Okay, thanks Jack Sure, I can go now. So I had offered to speak about A policy around regulating new development around minimum parking But I think I was asked to put it in the context of other climate policy and I think that It's as much housing as it is climate, but I can start there, which is You know in the context of the climate crisis transportation is our biggest source of emissions and it's It's the area of society that we need to change the most dramatically And that's especially true here in vermont or super car dependent in vermont Even in burlington where there are alternatives ways of getting around and It's more walkable We still are heavily car dependent in burlington and a lot of that has to do with policy and infrastructure one of the policies that has created and reinforced Car culture in burlington is minimum parking requirements, which were Put into place. I think in the 60s originally they've been changed over time and expanded But it's the requirement that any new construction builds a certain amount of parking spaces and the logic at the time was basically that everyone drives and Having a car is part of the american way of life So if you're building and building you have to provide parking for everyone to get to and from that building that was the original logic and it was somewhat self-fulfilling Prophecy From the standpoint of it. It actually really encouraged people to drive and created that infrastructure and it took that very expensive cost of building parking and put it into housing and Basically forced everyone to pay Um for it whether they wanted it or not and provided them that parking. So it was a huge economic and infrastructural incentive for people to to continue to you know rely on cars in burlington We made a big change to that policy in 2020 where We eliminated any requirements to build parking for the whole downtown core and then Anywhere where there's transit where there's bus routes. So along the major corridors in burlington New develop wouldn't would no longer be required to build parking and that was a change we adopted in fall of 2020 I've always Been affirmed but and and we also replaced those requirements with sustainable transportation requirements. So developers still have to take accountability for the transportation impact of their That their development is going to have but Rather than just putting that only into car infrastructure We required them to support other modes of transportation for for their tenants or for employees. Um So if we added in those requirements I've always firmly believed that this policy should be citywide and last September I think I introduced An expansion of that ordinance that would get rid of these requirements citywide and add in these sustainable transportation requirements That's been moving through committees or I and I are on the ordinance committee. We've been Working through that policy and we're about to bring it back to the full council So if anyone's interested we have our ordinance meeting tomorrow at five This is the only item. I think well, maybe one of their item, but we're going to focus on this Policy, it's probably our last time looking at it and then it should go to the full city council For the last meeting In march, it's also really important for housing because it significantly lowers the cost of building new housing in burlington to get rid of this requirement And yeah, I guess I don't know if I'm over time But I'll try to just quickly zoom out looking at the climate crisis what we're trying to do transportation is huge the other major source of emissions in burlington and in vermont is buildings heating buildings So the rental weatherization is a big piece of that and that's underway that's being enforced now the The most inefficient rental units in burlington are being weatherized this year And it'll in the next three over the next three years It'll work its way down and we're going to weatherize A huge number of of even that's all the ones that need it Essentially in burlington are going to be weatherized in the next few years, which is huge Only a few cities in the country have done that But more broadly We need to move all the you know aside from energy efficiency in buildings We also have to move all these buildings off of fossil fuels We've already adopted strong requirements for new construction to heat Renewably without fossil fuels But this charter change that we approved last year was would allow the city to actually regulate Existing buildings and start to move those off of fossil fuels We have really strong incentives in place already to make people make the switch But we also are going to need policy as well So that charter change has also been working its way through the legislature It's moving. I can't remember exactly where it is, but it is on course. It hasn't been amended It's moving We'll see what the governor does if he supports it or not, but I've already been talking with The head of burlington electric department about You know, if we do get that authority from the legislature and the charter change gets through We can move pretty quickly on some policies On that front So i'll stop there, but those are a few of the things around the climate crisis All right. Thanks, jerry Do we have questions for city council? people on zoom questions girl Hi, I just I'll speak to that one. Um, just really can Wondering jack. I know you've dealt with this to some degree, but just the impact that the parking ordinance has on on folks who have lower income who Um, still do have cars or still do need parking. I mean, how has that been accommodated in your plans? I mean, I'm just wondering if that's been a factor that you've been considering Yes, so The parking minimum requirements. It's not preventing We do have parking maximums. We're not amending those really other than just Small sort of technical changes. We're not really changing the maximum parking allowed for new to development We're just eliminating the minimum. So we're not it's not like we're preventing Developers from building parking. They still have that choice But what and they're still going to build the parking that they think they need to make the project work So if they have units regardless of what income level, maybe they have a mixture of Market and affordable they're gonna still build the parking that they think they need to fill those both affordable and more expensive units and and fine tenants that are going to live there. So That's really not going to change But what we're what we're stopping doing is forcing them to build more than they think they need Which is currently what we do and it's created a situation where we have Tons of access parking throughout the city that's private That you know, that can't really be used. I think part of what we're doing is to actually share that existing parking Because there's so much extra existing parking. We're making it easier now to actually Open that up and allow it to be used across different developments. So Yeah, and then and then the other thing is we're actually Unbundling the the cost of A parking spot from rent and so right now Developers will basically just charge more for rent in order to Recoup what they spent to build the parking But a lot of tenants, especially lower income tenants Don't have a car or can't afford a car yet They're forced to pay for parking. They don't use now We're forcing developers to actually break that cost out. So only that only someone using a spot would actually Do it but the overall cost of rent and housing is going to go down now because it's going to cost less to build And you're not going to you're only paying for the unit not for the parking space so I think this should be really good from an equity perspective and Making it more affordable for people that live in Burlington and we it's also we're also forcing them to provide transit passes for tenants and subsidies for car share To for people to use car share and bike share services as well the developers are going to have to provide that for tenants and employees of the building All right. Thanks jack. Uh, sir. I do have your hand up I do. Sorry. I just have one more quick comment, which I think I If I have time because I want to do more of so I think around the Just so folks know because I think the mayor may veto the short-term rental ordinance. Um, and then coming week or so And I just want to make this comment because I saw Jonathan space on the video camera Which I think is that some of the votes on the short-term rentals were six six Um, which was fairly along partisan lines with jones and I switching and me voting with democrats and independents and her with the progressives But I just want regardless of like where we end up on the short-term rentals I just want to emphasize how far we've come like on agreement I think like the policy space that we're in right now is pretty narrow in terms of like where we could have ended up and where We planned it So I think right now there's some disagreement on how to like do the final pieces of it but Like by and large we've eliminated a lot of the other options just such as you know, like allowing folks who don't Live in burlington to have short-term rentals unless they truly are compensating it with some kind of very low-income housing So, um, I just want to say that for like however, this is going to be portrayed I think that we're actually in a very like We're largely agree on almost all the policy issues And I think there's a few more kind of changes that we're debating and I don't know how that what's going to happen with that But I wanted to make sure folks knew that Okay, thanks um Oh This is probably not a question. It's a comment. We live in in the east district. We're around the hill and are the side hill and many of our constituents in ward 8 are student age of a population and if you go on my street You have you have parking you have parking Driveways that if they're four in the in the house, there's four cars If there's seven in the house, there's seven cars in the parking So when you talk about car culture It I think one of the things that you ought to be talking to the university about it Maybe students shouldn't need to bring their cars to burlington if we're going to be a biking and walking place You have a lot of cars on these small streets That are taking up a lot of space And I think that's the one that's one comment I have Secondly, I have a hundred-year-old house and I've done everything I can for efficiency When burlington electric said we should have solar panels on our houses. I went out and did it A couple years ago. I was told by the current director. It was a stupid investment And now you're telling me I need to go out and figure out how I can get a heat pump for my house I don't know if I could do that in a hundred-year-old house So I think we need to think about the housing in the east district Which is probably not the same as in other districts and the population is different And let's see if we can think about solving some of the issues in our own area and not the whole city. Thank you Is there is there time for me to respond or are we over? We're sort of over but If you're brief, you can go Okay, I'll go quick, which is just I can't respond to everything that Keith said, but I I think Quickly the uvm component of the transportation thing is huge. That's a lot of what we're going to talk about tomorrow because UVM has agreements with the city that are part of this ordinance that we're amending Around how they deal with transportation and it is highly regulated and I agree that they're not doing enough If you look at their own data They made a ton of progress on reducing car use among employees and students between like 2020 10 but really since 2010 they've made Really very little if any progress on on reducing that. So I think we need to be stronger with how we regulate um, their transportation impacts and I I agree they can they can do a whole lot more there Okay, thanks jack. Um, Tom. Can I just have one Richard? Very very quickly, but uh, I don't know where the city council is as far as redistricting is concerned But as I was the award one rep I would just like to say to Ali and to Jane and to Zariah and jack that the presentation that was led by lia to hoon at the city council meeting in january did not reflect the Discussions that the uh committee that was appointed Discussed in the six or seven meetings that we had so Just just to the city councilors if you're interested in what we actually discussed rather than what lia to hoon would like uh, I'll be glad to Help you if you want to give me a call or email me. Thanks Thanks Richard. Um, I just want to say uh, Ali You know, we're not firing line here, but you can see that it's it's a robust conversation So, uh, we're looking forward to you participating in that So next is, uh, school board And new commissioners Kathy, do you want to introduce our new commissioners? You're on mute first Sasha, I can't see who's on but I I heard them earlier. So Sasha. Yeah, I'm here. Okay. There you are. This is Sasha. I'm a galley and She is a senior is it at uvm or a junior? You could say senior because I'm graduating at the end of this year. So I guess senior junior So maybe you want to introduce yourself and Tell everyone about you. Yeah. Yeah, for sure. For sure. Yeah, again. Hi everybody. My name is Saja. I'm a galley and um technically junior at the University of Vermont studying biology and health and society I graduated from Burlington high school um Not a while ago. I think during the pandemic in 2020 I think yeah, and I live in a ward eight where the school I live on campus and yet I Went to Burlington high school. I graduated from Burlington high school. My family live in brumont. I'm from brumont um Not originally from brumont. My family is originally from iraq. We immigrated here in 2017 um five years ago And we settled in brumont. Burlington was the first place we settled in And recently I became a u.s. citizen. So not a while ago Yeah, that was very exciting and my family too did and um Yeah, I don't I don't know what else you want me to say Feel free to ask me questions or anything. I probably won't know much, but I definitely will get back to you You're gonna continue. Okay. I think and next is Achilles or I'm I hope I'm now The coat Uh, it's pronounced Achilles. Look, oh, okay. Sorry That's fine Uh, well, hello everyone. Um, my name is Achilles. Um, I am a senior Out of city Plansburg across the lake. I am a psychology major um, I have Decided to join uh, Clairvies out. Uh, I've not heard for a while now and uh, different family and so I'm I just recently got into uvm graduate school for, um clinical mental health counseling and also With a dual dual major. So I just thought it'd be a good idea to get back involved with community a lot out of your home and getting back involved with public plans taking place with the new school and making sure I can express my opinions to school board and in the town and I'm just looking forward to getting started and being everyone else Thank you And I would just like to add that We from the school board are very happy to have your voices on our school board so we're looking forward to working with both of you and us Here you're gonna say something about the uh new high school. I am but I just wanted to welcome them. Oh, yes Okay Yeah, so as far as the high school goes we have gotten back the the first best estimate and that is truly an estimate somewhere between 161 million and 207 million The 161 million is based on a building size of 273 thousand 40 square feet and the 207 million Is based on a building size of 315,850 square feet So this is a cost range Nothing is set in stone and they haven't finished The drawings and and it hasn't gone through the critical phase of people looking at these drawings and Deciding what it is they need and don't need but we had asked To have at least the beginning Of it, so we knew what we if we are going out to start Fundraising because we don't feel like this should be held on the backs of only the taxpayers that we actually Are planning to do fundraising. We're also planning And I think it has already started to Talk to the federal and state about Monies they will put towards these to build it. I mean it's one building, but it's the equivalent of a tech center in a high school So That's where it is. I know there were some questioning about why we Let it be known on election day We did not get this It was actually not supposed to be back to us until this week and it came back early The cost estimate and so we put it out as soon as we got it. It was probably Not exactly the best Time to do that since most people had voted by the time The pr came out on it. So We hope that people will understand that there are There are now The next steps timeline is out there that by mark second That was The estimate but then on march 18th. There's a draft conceptual design option completed March 28th would be the final conceptual design option and project cost estimates should be completed April 5th present the cons the conceptual design Options and project cost estimates to the school board April 12th public forum presents conceptual design options April 21st the school board chooses a conceptual design for next phase of design Summer 23 the construction begins and summer 25. We hope is the grand opening of this school So we know it's a very tight timeline but Having kids down at macy's Is not always the best option for schooling and so We're trying to push this To get it done as fast as possible So I know you may some of you may have questions and please fire away if I can answer I will but Do we have questions here in the the room? Or anyone on zoom jack Yeah, thanks kathy. Um, do you know Is the design going to be net zero? They are going to try to get it as close to net zero as they can because that has been brought up to them To the architects in in the discussion about this that it that they try Net zero is not always the cheapest model on that 200 million where you know, so it's all What can we do for the cost? and What will the taxpayers support? So, yes, it is it is something we've actually told them that we would like It to be as close to net zero as possible Thanks, cat Jonathan This looks like the the cost is like 600 odd dollars per square foot That's just you know, taking the two numbers and dividing them That's just what that's just taking the two numbers and dividing them. It's not like this work going into it But that's that's a pretty high number for new construction. Is that because the tech center has special There are special things about a tech center to require More expensive space or something like that. What's driving the high cost per square foot of the space? I I'm I have to say We found this out and on Tuesday there wasn't I I Don't actually know what the cost per square foot is an average cost But I have heard and they have also said this that they don't know right now what the cost of all the Um buildings price are going to be it's an estimate because they keep going up every month I mean anybody who's built anything in the last two years knows First of all, it's very hard to get the building supplies and secondly It is often that the price just continually goes up. I hope that will change now that COVID is calming down, but I think they're trying to give us A price that they think we can do it within I and and it may change By the time they finish their drawings and get back to us what Once they we've decided what the drawing what the Architectural drawings are going to be and what the building is supposed to look like Then we have a better Estimate of what this is going to cost and then also you start having to cut back on certain things because We just can't afford it all Always and I mean at least that's exactly what happened with the 70 million to renovate the high school. I know by the end of it I you know, it was like God all all your kind of dreams of what you could have put out there Just got welched because it was so expensive that we couldn't we had 70 million We knew that and that's all we could spend and it really didn't go very far. So Sergeant Yeah, I have a question. I might missed it, but How many companies submitted a proposal? Is this like From one company or like different companies and it's still the bedding open or No, so we we had different architectural firms Come to us with and We chose one. Well, it's not one. It's three. Actually, it's three architectural firms together are working on this project and They then are giving us this is not where you can put out a bid and you get the best bid you can do that for the supplies you're using but you you know They're going to give us a drawing of this building And we decide do we go with it or not and then we start going back and forth about what we can afford in it what we can't so it's This is What they estimate the cost of the building would be right now from the There's been groups of people looking at the school Staff members teachers students Parents and community members have all given the input into what they would like to see and so that's Kind of on those views. That's what we're getting this estimate at And it will probably change you'll have you will see as it goes Perfect. Thank you sure Kathy. Thank you very much. We're gonna have to move on to the next item And that is a I'll read it to you. It's how can the npa facilitate stronger connections between residents and city counselors and I think jonathan's going to introduce this subject for us and And then we can figure out what to do Yes, thanks Tom. I'll I'll try to be very quick My rant at the beginning is just a piece of this, but it's part of it We have we have what we think of as a very active community We don't see they seem to be engaged in a lot, but we feel like there's there's connections that just aren't being made And we like to think I mean you look at the npa and there's um How many people are here today? 16 17 A pretty small number. It looks kind of like voter turnout We would like the npa to do better At making connections between the community and their elected officials And and I and I think the whole goal of this was to ask Ask our city counselors what their ideas are to do this It's just it's a start-up conversation. All right, you know, my great start at this morning was um, We have money you give us money We can do big, you know bagels with a city counselor This you know we the the money you give this npa could conceivably be spent On some kind of thing some kind of thing like that. That's just a thing But we're wondering kind of what it is that you think we make it easier for you to connect with the community And how the npa may be a part of that So I don't know wants to start talking I'm happy to start. Um, which is I think that For me, I don't know how much of a drive that I am. I don't know how many people want to talk to me I'm not sure bagels of the city counselor are gonna draw More than we have here, but I do think um, I also feel like there's At least in ward one and I imagine more data is much the same as there's just so many different groupings of people There's like very distinct neighborhoods and I wish that we I mean, especially, you know now with it being in the Fisher conference room or before it being in uvm um, I Wish that we had more of a community Feel at just the npa meeting. So I think even if we had which I know is hard to do but if we had More and I guess I'm thinking about the survey That we just did where you know, like we asked people how to spend money and that was like the number one Kind of survey that we've ever done. So I feel like there's something about like Having the community food feel the potlucky something event style as well as having Folks have some kind of I know that at some point I was The npa Was considering a resolution Which I think is one of the first times where I met jack actually because like we both came out for that meeting at middle It should be like we don't want this resolution, but like I think it's just having A little bit more space to make decisions as a community and give feedback to the city council I think those are And that's not Succinct ideas, but I think that those are two things that help Get different kinds of people excited about coming How come we're Is someone in the room talking here? No, we're good Oh, okay. Yeah, I agree with a lot of what Zariah said. I mean we've we've talked about this before but the old north ends You know the community dinners that they would do before their npas were We're super well attended and a lot and I I had been to those even Before I got really deeply involved with burlington politics I had just been invited to to go to those community dinners and a lot of people leave After the dinner or would this is you know pre-covid. I don't know if they've even started it back up or not, but um Most of the people would leave after the dinner and wouldn't really stick around for the formal npa Component of it. So that's a whole other conversation. I guess of how do we How can we you know address that or foster that but The fact that so many people come out for the dinner and have those conversations with city counselors and with each other Often about these issues is key So I think creating space for just more conversation in a little bit more of a casual format than this Could be really helpful just mingling free food So I think these like the winter ludes events are a great example of Just having different types of events and especially these kid friendly types of events of events I've had a great time going to some of those things at shamanica park and just kind of chatting with with neighbors and stuff and You end up Talking about city stuff just as part of the conversation usually anyways. So I think that's a that's a component of it for sure And sorry i'm going to cut and I think that's one other thing is We've had really great events at shamanica park and I wonder if there's other places in Ward one and eight that would be conducive to that kind of thing so that we can Spread into other neighborhoods a little bit. I think that's a great idea Yeah, I was also going to say like maybe Have it like intermission style with the dinner so people don't necessarily leave and keep it like sandwiched in the middle I've been to things that where that was kind of the format. It was very effective And it's also a nice break like you you can kind of get up stretch your legs talk to folks across the room Um, and then I also was just thinking like uvm is such a huge Entity. It's also I I think there's a divide. I mean, we're not seeing a lot of uvm students here tonight and maybe it makes sense to host these like in the davis center Or even have like a separate Monthly meeting that takes place at on the campus. So The east district counselors can can meet on campus too to to have you know get feedback and stuff from from folks there because sometimes it's hard to Make everyone make this time And I think we've proven that in some ways for better or for worse So I think that that's Another big thing. I think I mean you might have a better insight on that Yeah, and I wonder too like sort of uh about the uvm piece. I know that they're like, I you know, I've heard from a lot of folks there's there's kind of like mixed feelings about You know potentially like ways that like uvm students might treat neighborhoods and stuff, but I think that the npa can really be A place like to have those discussions and kind of come together in this like You know neighborly way and I guess um I mean, I I don't know like how many of you are aware, but I'm studying social worker social worker Um, and so what what comes to my mind when I when I think about this meetings or I think about low turnouts are like barriers You know like Zariah had mentioned that there are some like pretty distinct neighborhoods within words one and words eight and and I Would also like echo that and say that that that I that's something I've noticed as well Um, and I think um, but but you know, thinking about these barriers It's like is it a lack of just like awareness that these npas exist? I know it's something that I wasn't aware of for a long time at uvm Is it a matter of like transportation for folks with mobility issues or folks up on campus? I know like I know the davis center is a pretty convenient location for a lot of students so potentially like Having something there or even a separate meeting might help Some uvm folks to come to the table. Um, and is it you know, like is it I know Um, I I mean I can imagine for some students It might feel a little bit like intimidating like they don't know a ton about like what an mpa is and like is it You know a place that You know I can go to and so I I wonder about maybe just bringing some more like information about what an mpa is um to some of these more like Cindy you you have your hand up I do indeed. Yeah, um And I I wholeheartedly agree with the sentiment about adding some more community feel to to these Meetings and food is a it's a great way to do that We did that some at the hospital back when we had meetings there I would love to get out of an institutional setting and into something more Um, you know more community feeling and we spent a lot of time on this But three or four years ago Richard. Maybe something like that. Oh looking around asking uvm. What do you got? You gotta have something for us seems like 24 years. Yeah And they came back with we get nothing for you Um, we you know, we we looked at you know, you know, what about the data center? What about waterman and they just uh, didn't have something and I don't know if that's necessarily bad because What would be really great is if we kind of place that was part of the community um, unless part of a uvm or city government but more just, you know Something with a little bit more soul to it for for lack of a better word And we came up empty a few years ago. Maybe things have shifted. I hope they have because um, you know Frankly looking at this from a zoom perspective. I'm seeing a very U-shaped structure of tables and it's not a very welcoming kind of a feel to it And that's I know there are all kinds of factors here, and I'm not describing any Negativity to anybody. I have to say We can do better. We can come a lot closer to the old north ends Big meals with 150 people at them. And so I would love to continue this conversation because If the npa is is anything it should be about community. So Let's keep the conversation going and see what we can come up with Kathy you have your hand up I was just thinking about like the friends meeting house, but I don't think they could hold 100 and something people but I They have a big room in the back. That's very nice. And and then also, what about the the old Jewish, um synagogue synagogue down on on archival It's I thought they were trying to sell it or it was empty at least Oh Yes, it's not word one Kathy Can I say something yeah, um So I wasn't being facetious when I said to send if it seems like 24 years because I have been involved in this for about 24 years We have had meetings at obviously watermen for a long long time So the first meeting I went to was at Trinity College when it was still Trinity College So that dates it a little bit. Um, they were well attended then We have had local meetings up Macaulay Square Uh, we had one there which was quite well attended in the summer. We've had meetings at Uh, the barn at Schmanska Which is a great place to go until it got condemned Um, but hopefully the remediation means that we could hold community meetings and I The the the notion that we should go around the communities. I think is fabulous. I'm not big fan of food As a draw, but it's very very effective um And I think the work that cindy and carol and um, caron long Initiated proved that the numbers all of a sudden exploded um So That is definitely a draw um That's my two uh, two cents worth. Well, I um we're gonna We're running a little bit behind so uh, we're gonna have to move on but I will I'm the guy who unfortunately writes the minutes after these meetings and I'll capture all the ideas that people had With regard to this issue But in in addition, I would encourage people to email the steering committee and say hey I had this idea or this place Which you didn't think of tonight, but it's like You know, it should be considered because it's it's in a unique neighborhood And I'll just give you one idea one Perhaps not a great idea, but it's an a idea and I know that in our neighborhoods. We have a lot of these garden parks that are sort of triangle shaped where the roads are Have been cut off and there's a little green space and we could we could have a potentially A rotating event on on these things where different months you go to different parks So, um, that's just something that came up to the top of my head. I'm not saying it's a great idea But it's an a idea and if other people have ideas, um that they didn't get a chance to voice or they they think of later Please send them So, um, I'm gonna move on Okay, the next up is the sidewalk study Maddie uh You're up Yeah, uh, I'm actually gonna kick us off. So I'm laura wheelock. I'm a senior public works engineer with the department I've been working with maddie on our updated sidewalk inventory She's gonna go through a few slides kind of the progress that we've made This is our fourth inventory that the city has done. Um, since trying to work on assessing our sidewalks So honey, whenever you're ready to start sharing feel free to bring that up Right. Hello everyone. I am um maddie sender and associate public works engineer with the city of berlington. Um So just to start off. This is our transportation overview of some of our big capital projects over the last couple years just putting out that we've been doing typically three miles of Sidewalk work. Also, you can see my screen, right? Yes. Yes, okay um Three miles of sidewalk over the past couple years The past five years and and around three miles planned for this year as well So as laura mentioned, we just redid our sidewalk inventory. Um, the last inventory was done in 2014 The inventory was done by a consultant. They essentially had this Wheeled device that had a bunch of sensors on it. They rolled it over the entire sidewalk network and collected what we call barrier scores, so We added a few extra barrier scores roughness and gapping through this effort And these are just raw condition of the sidewalk. So any heaving cross slope running slope puddling roughness or gapping Was collected through this And then we combined that with the activity score, which I'll go into next And that creates the sidewalk condition index. So this map over here shows The barrier score by block groups. So the yellow block groups their census block groups They have the highest amount of barriers. So those are the worst sidewalks versus The darker colors have better sidewalks Over the average of that block group. So that's just kind of a brief snippet into What our network looks like from a high level So this map shows the barrier scores of the entire network Zero being the best sidewalks and 100 being the worst sidewalks And then through the middle you can see What those scores kind of correlate to And these barrier scores can be Things like this here how this kind of shows a gap in the sidewalks or heaved panel Cross slope issues running slope issues. So many things can Give a bad barrier score I'm excuse me, Maddie, but I don't understand the slide. Could you just talk us through it a little bit more? What what does the bar chart at the top mean? Oh this for instance here this shows their Or maybe here this shows five miles of a barrier score. That's right around 10 So five miles of sidewalk that are essentially brand new over here. We have sidewalks that might have some minor Shoes like minor cracks, but they're not really lifted or maybe The cross slope might be a little off. So the panel might be tilted just a bit. So this shows, you know, we have 20 Or maybe more like 50 sidewalk miles of sidewalk in this. It's, you know Five miles here 20 miles here all of these add up And then over here we have 50 to 75 score which could be something like their panels are starting to corrode They might have some lifts some like huge panels So this is the mileage in that group and then over here. These are like the worst of the worst sidewalks You can see this panel up at the very top of the chair. It's like totally cracked over here. There's a major piece missing so this is Over here, I should say these axes show miles in parentheses and then feet Easier kind of to conceptualize the miles and then this is the actual barrier score along here Is that that help verify? It does. I have just one other question. I assume the different bars within each Category are areas of the city. Is that right? Yeah, so this is You know, this might be one mile of the city. This is five miles of the city's sidewalks This bar, this is, you know, a mile of the sidewalks six miles Is that No, I think it's six miles within a particular region No, so it's it's a total of the city's 130 miles of sidewalks Broken out into its general condition So if you were to add up all of these bars, they would add to 130 which is the entire city sidewalk So, sorry, I'll let's have a conversation offline because I still don't understand what all the different bars are for Um, yeah Okay, so moving forward to the activity and equity score This was a major Uh focus of this updated inventory in red this shows all of the updated activity producers for equity scores that we included We essentially have a map of all of the transit stops schools city attractions, which could be anything from Like a markets to senior centers or community centers or anything like that and then pedestrian centers kind of goes into that as well employment centers medical And then we added a downtown district Uh mobility challenges, which considers age and neurodiverse populations Um, we added from the census data High minority population high low-income population and high no vehicle households So those last three are all provided in block groups so over here we have a heat map of Just like the career score map this just shows the activities score So I block group it shows which portions of the city are the most activated based on these criteria So I unfortunately have another Similar graphic, so I'm sorry if this is hard to grasp and I've included it twice in two separate ways But this is essentially mirroring the same map or the same graphic above But this shows the activity and the barrier combined. So This shows just the curve of how much Sidewalk we have in the condition that it's in so The lowest priority being over here and then highest priority worse condition sidewalk being over here To give the total sidewalk condition index so then This graphic is really just helpful to understand an order of magnitude That would fall within an area that we would start developing work plans or target for future funding It's helpful that it's kind of a smooth curve as you head into this 100 to 150 area But that's really where you know, we still have very minute data that would focus on a work plan to address The sidewalks that are kind of represented at the tail of that graph So this next graphic Is a lot on one page, but it essentially shows the entire framework of This model that we have created. So we first Split this up into two things blocks. So these would be entire block sections of Sidewalk that are in core shape and then segments of segments are smaller sections It could be two panels that are deteriorated and the rest of the block is fine or maybe a stretch of like 52 100 feet But the rest of the block is fine So first we Have a three mile annual work plan that we are creating So we prioritize a half a mile of the worst block sections based on barrier only so this is half a mile of The worst sections of sidewalk just based on their barrier score And then we take the next mile and a half of the blocks to create a two mile work plan and that next mile and a half is The worst barrier scores plus activity score. So that kind of Helps us decide if there's two sections of sidewalk that are in identical Shape, they're both very poor, but one of them is On the outskirts of town and the other is right downtown next to a school and A grocery store and a senior center. I'm making a Theoretical but that one that's right next to all those pedestrian generators would get bumped on the list Seeing that it's an identical shape as another sidewalk that's not being used as much So that gives us two miles that we would give to a contractor to do a full block section So two miles spread throughout the city of various blocks And then we would move to the segments and we do a mile of segments. So those are just the short runs that we do every year We again take a half mile of the worst segments just based on Or based on barrier scores. So just the worst condition sidewalks And then we have a half mile of those and then the second half mile that we do for Short runs is based on barrier and activity So for this year, we have roughly a mile and a half planned and out to bid As of this week to give to a contractor Um, and we should be getting bids back by the end of the month And then we have a mile of short runs that we will do with our own in-house crews And they will be doing those that mile of short run segments versus The mile and a half roughly two miles of block segments for a contractor And then we also have new sidewalks, which I'll go in let's let's just pause for one second What all this is really trying to say? So we've been with you guys a few times over the years and and you've asked us, you know Why are you not doing this sidewalk? Why are you not doing that sidewalk? And that was one of the deficiencies with our previous inventory is that it didn't have a way to create these four groups in a way that gave us at DPW a way to see them And really be able to focus on repairing what needs to get repaired and so this Really descriptive slide Is our attempt with this new data to be able to do that We're still going to have to test it out. We're still going to need the feedback and Maddie will get to that But that's really what the slide is trying to show is All of the feedback that you guys have given us over the last few years is is put into mostly what's here organizing that so then Second portion of this is the new sidewalk. So that's where there's not existing sidewalk on a street and The next slide goes into how I really prioritize those. So this is a map of All of the sections of sidewalk throughout the city that are missing So I tried to zoom in to ward one and eight as well But we essentially prioritize these based on activity score only And then we also give consideration to if there's sidewalk on one side of the street already So if there's no sidewalk on either side of the street, then that gets prioritized Higher than a sidewalk that might be on only one that already A street that might have sidewalk on one side of the street and not the other So these are funded through state and federal grants So we have to apply to that there are no current grants in progress for this Summer so there won't be any new sidewalks constructed this summer And this again shows the highest priority being in yellow lowest being in the darker What we are working towards with this effort is Applying to the ccrpc To help have them help us study the streets that don't have a sidewalk on either side to start Doing that scoping Working with the community doing outreach so that as we do Look towards applying for grants, you know, we have a much more solid application and this effort and this work product But you didn't have previously I will really help with that So for outreach, um, we are in the final stages of development for this tool And as we do finalize we will be reaching out With any new information We will allow for some user input For some of the activity components and equity scoring So there will be a public notification to follow and and Guidance for how we can seek that input And then moving forward we are still going to be using ccrpcs and any other methods of contact that people come to us with And for user driven requests, we can just kind of see exactly where they fit into this prioritization rank Um, and also where things might have Fallen through the cracks And then that's really all I had just my contact information. I don't know There's questions or if I want to add anything do we have do we have questions in the room here? I have Jane. Yeah, I Hey, um, thank you so much for that. Um, I've just two logistical questions one for the first category of Mile and a half. That's out for the contract. Um, do you have like a timeline on that? Like what that looks like And then the second question is if we're adding more sidewalks, this might just be a really general question You might not know the answer or you do or um But like if we're adding more sidewalk mileage, are we going to up the yearly Sidewalk repair to like four years eventually or I mean sorry four miles or something like that eventually like how does that work? Those are great questions. So to speak to the first one the We put the bid out right after the bond came through for the approval. Um, so thank everybody for that It's greatly appreciated The bond approval does speak to fiscal year 23 And so while we are getting contractor pricing now the work wouldn't start feel to start until july 1 We do still have our own crews that are out working and their fiscal year budget through 22 Is still active. So there's a total gap in sidewalk work, but Certainly a lot more starting july 1 As it relates to visiting the overall maintenance budget as we do add mileage We will need to revisit that maintenance schedule at the moment sidewalk work is really only Accomplished at this level by going to bonds to the voters We've had conversations internally at our capital committees how we need to find a more sustainable way to fund our sidewalk infrastructure Hopefully we'll figure that out in three years Thank you Cindy Yeah, thanks tom so I think I missed this madeline. Maybe you included in the presentation. I missed it, but um I think a lot of people in this room are interested in in what specifically will be happening in terms of sidewalks In wards one and eight I think one wards one and eight are some of the areas that have some of the worst sidewalks in town because they're so old and For a bunch of other reasons in terms of hydrology and stuff So if if you could help us with that either Now or after this meeting it would be great if we knew specifically what we can expect in terms of Of improvements to the sidewalks in wards one and eight This year that would be and and next year if you if plan that far ahead Yeah, okay, I want to start with this. I want to I want to remind everybody We still do have our construction portal Construction portal up and running on the city's website and that will list out any of our you know tentative work plans for this year Major capital work that's included in ward one and eight this year is Mansfield abs side path replacement So that's that asphalt path on the east side of the road that's been out to bid it goes to the city council On the 21st for a ward of a construction contract University place is has expansion sidewalk and also Widening of sidewalk in that area that goes Probably to the city council in april Um adi, there's also a few other locations Larger locations right inside of one and eight that we had Prospect hill is being done through me or that was put out to bid All right, the lights time that um prospect hill it was included in our contract um And also hungerford terrace, which isn't quite in ward one eight, but is right on the border Those are the only two that were in The sidewalk contract that was put out to bid already the short run list of all the segments Has yet to be finalized. So as that is created as Lara said that will be published to the construction portal which is updated Pretty much daily during the construction season so you can see When things are planned when they're done And you all also get notifications Throughout the season as work is in your neighborhood So one more quick question, then I'll shut up, but um, there are a lot of dangerous sidewalk conditions in wards one and eight and A number of people in this room either literally or figuratively have you know have had serious injuries from from tripping on sidewalks So i'm hope i'm wondering and hoping that the dpw segment Um Section of the work will address some of those fairly significant trip and fall hazards because there are a bunch of them out there and people in this You know in this meeting have been walking with me and have tripped a number of times and you know That didn't hurt and so I'd really appreciated if you can address Um, you not you specifically. I don't don't mean to target you. I'm sorry about I really am not a harsh person, but I just I really would like for For this program to focus on the most egregious issues and there's some serious trip and fall problems out there that That could be addressed more strategically and not through the through the big I forget what you call the Not the block program, but the segment program. Is there any chance for that? And No, certainly. Um, I mean we are prioritizing Every sidewalk throughout the entire city. So ward one and eight has been prioritized in this. There are sections that came up through this segment prioritization That we will plan to get to and I I know over the past couple years I have received a lot of input For the ward one and eight sidewalks and I know we have Uh addressed a number of them And there's always more, but we do I do hear your concerns. I I get the calls and I I get the emails and I do read them I do go out there and look at the sidewalk and Um, I'm in constant communication with our right away crews that are doing the work So we are always trying to prioritize the the worst of the worst and that includes Those that fall into the ward one and eight. Hey Madeline and Laura. Uh, thank you very much. Uh, we're gonna have to move on So thanks for giving us the update showing us your metrics and how you determine what sidewalks are going to get repairs And that brings us to the barge canal Conservation Andrew Unmuting hi, um, I'm Andy Simon. Um, hello to my friend You're on you're on me. You're on mute Unmuting there you are. There you are. I I keep I keep on muting and I keep Hi, I'm Andy Simon I uh live in ward five on locus street and um I just wanted to say hi to my friends in ward one and eight who are here tonight or listening in I am here with Ruby Perry my partner and um We are part of a group called save open space burlington and right now we are focusing on conservation and remediation of the pine street barge canal We think there are we really appreciate you giving us space in your agenda and we think there are many reasons why The the fate of the barge canal Is is or should be a concern for the whole city and not just the south end We would like to do a short presentation and Should be about nine minutes total and then we'll have time for a question and answer and we really would love to have some Participation questions, so I need to get to You No, it's not letting me do that You can't share share Um, I can share but all I get is I'm not getting my Let's say Okay, you got that we are not saying you're sure sure Okay, you see it No, no You're not seeing it. Hmm Okay, could be that I got in on um, I had trouble getting in and I so I did it through my browser Is that going to cause problems? Maybe Ruby maybe you could share it you have to register as a participant to share I don't know if that's helpful I am a a panelist. Is that what you mean a panelist. Yeah, that's what I meant. Sorry. I I am a panelist And uh But I wonder if it's just because I am Um We're seeing something now There we go. Okay Let's see if I can get back on there Are you seeing that? Okay, great Okay, so I just need to grab a power cord. Ruby if you could give me a power cord that would be great I just need to get to 25 Oh, is this your screen room Okay, sorry about this Yep. Yeah, sorry about that I ran out of power. So I just needed to get back on So, um This is just a general map of where the pine tree barge canal is we assume a lot of you know where it is But just to sort of be Together on where where uh, we are This is um, you see where it says site. It's west of pine street just north of Burlington electric And um, you may have seen it from the bike path. Let's go to the next one group Good to have a bit of historical context for um For this sort of complex piece of land. This is Um before the night the middle of the 19th century this was all wetlands So we're looking at the barge canal pre-1850 1850 and uh It's a transitional zone between the growing city and lake shamp plain. It was a fishing hunting Hunting and gathering place for indigenous people and for early euro-american residents next week So this is the first major ecological change that happened to the uh to the barge canal It was the completion of the ruttland and burlington railroad Uh in 1849 and if you look at this next map you can see The this time the the map is turned sideways and you can see the lake At the top of the map and a railroad that goes right across the Between the lake and the barge canal land we'll come back to this slide because it's got some interesting features in um In the lumber industry then came in in the second half of the 19th century and Vermont's one for months forests were Depleted by the by the lumbering that was going on Most of the lumber started coming in from kebabs down the lake on barge use Um as the industry grew the wetlands were filled in with sawdust and wood chips And to keep the mills going through the winter because the barges were coming in on the lake They had to have more storage space and to that end Lawrence barns who was one of the big lumber barrens in burlington Had a canal excavated right there Where we call the barge canal now And into the filled wetlands made a drawbridge across the railroad that you can sort of see there um And solve at least momentarily the lumber storage problem then um the lumber industry declined in the end of the um 19th century and another enterprise took its place at the barge canal. This is a manufactured gas plant um manufactured gas plants Run on pan is that time on coal from pennsylvania that was shipped up on barges and on the railroad The burlington gas light company Manufactured gas from coal And supplied houses and businesses in burlington for 60 years from essentially 1900s till it was closed in 1966 Next slide, please Manufacturing gas from coal was a dirty business And the coal tar saturated wood chips and other waste products were essentially just dumped out back Out in back of the manufactured gas plant on pine street This is an image of that In the 1970s and 80s with the growing environmental consciousness The newly created epa took control of the barge canal as a federal super fund site. They identified 56 contaminants of concern In the soil and water including various hydrocarbons and heavy metals In 1998 after a long Fruit float but sometimes contentious process the epa issued its record of decision on the barge canal It was decided to cap the coal tar at the bottom of the canal of the water And essentially it leaves the land alone with reviews every five years and regular monitoring of soil and groundwater contaminants Next please So we're back to this slide and here's the situation now Trees and other plants have grown back some natives like cottonwood and red osier dogwood others considered invasives like buckthorn and frag mites Beavers herons ducks geese populate the wetlands the major contaminants in the undisturbed land have according to the epa remain largely stationary Next please This is the current zoning map of the barge canal again churned in the other orientation With the lake to the to the left You can see that the area In the green line inside the green line is zoned for conservation So all of that land is conservation land According to city zoning If you could go back just one more room quickly The yellow line on this map is the superfunds boundary. So the federal superfund site is delineated by the Yellow the yellow line the the Some of this land in the conservation zone is private land And some of the center land the center area is public publicly owned city-owned land There are two parcels right on pine street 453 and 501 that are private land and are currently for sale Okay group you're on So am I unmuted? Okay, so here's where we started our campaign to conserve and remediate the barge canal On a cold day in mid november 2021 we gathered the friends and neighbors to consider How much the barge canal had done to heal itself and protect the lake? With debris from the land late flowers and herbs from our gardens and paintings of mushrooms and birds We created this collective offering of our gratitude On that day in a very real way we committed ourselves to caring for this land There are many many reasons to conserve and care for the barge canal site So we'll take a short drone Tour of the area while we discuss them The most obvious benefit to burlington is a healthy functioning wetlands Habitat in the middle of the south end home to mammals birds insects plants fungi and microbes The living barge canal protects the lake by providing flood control for the south end and helps the city manage its storm water runoff It stabilizes the soil Containing and slowly transforming the toxins left over from industry The living barge canal sequesters carbon creates climate resilience and nature-based solutions to climate disruption The barge canal also has the potential to remind us of our history indigenous natural and industrial history at this point The city of burlington owns 11 acres At this point the city of burlington owns 11 acres in the center of the barge canal land and That was purchased decades ago in preparation for the construction of the southern connector highway The rest is privately held the small private parcels along the railroad track are wetlands and are already zoned for conservation This is where our regeneration work needs to be started immediately We can begin this spring to care for the land There is extensive debris from decades of neglect at the barge canal Starting in april there will be a volunteer effort to inventory the plants and animals on the public land Non-native buckthorn has taken over large parts of the site along the canal and native polycultures need to be planted and nurtured We're envisioning the site as a forested parkland Perhaps a botanical garden of diverse native species We imagine the barge canal as a center for education with interpretive pathways to learn about our natural history Indigenous presence on the land as well as the obvious industrial history embodied there We imagine it as a research and training ground for scientists a living laboratory for much needed cold climate Bioremediation research a UVM class in plant and soil sciences already designed their semesters project there A wildland park could offer safe public access with boardwalks and a possible route through the bike path Ideally we see the land already under conservation expanding to include the private land at the barge canal We're exploring the idea of rematriation of the land opening to its original inhabitants For ritual and traditional uses by entering into partnership with our Abenaki neighbors And we've been active these last months at least the last few months Our main strategy has been to learn as much as we can about the barge canal and to get as many people aware and involved as possible So we've talked we began with talking with Indigenous elders and leaders in terms of really how to read the land We launched the petition and that that'll come up momentarily and we can that'll be in your notes We've talked with all the city boards and commissions. We've provided information to city council We've just we've had discussions with CEDA with EPA with the Vermont DEC We've had discussions with land trusts. We've engaged with private landowners work with UVM students and teachers Made contact with Vermont environmental groups held pop-up events on pine street Talked to the south end residents and leaders presented at NPAs You can help your voice is essential to conserving and remediating this land Now is the time to get involved to develop your own relationship with the barge canal Visit the barge canal write your city councilor speak at public input sessions at south end rezoning On south end rezoning talk to neighbors and friends show up for pop-up events like this one Participate in citizen science projects sign the petition We send regular updates out to petition signers We have a facebook page and a nascent website and we need help with all aspects of the campaign The city of burlington needs to be a partner in this effort to help with the active regeneration of the land Including cleaning it up as well as restoring and protecting the natural ecosystem In order for this to happen the city government needs to hear from burlington residents that they care about the barge canal We will ask that these links be included in the minutes Of this of this meeting or you can contact us directly by email and we will send you all the links We see This ground field transitioning with our care into a green field Our vision for conserving the barge canal land is a paradigm shift A different way of thinking about development and open land and about our responsibility to clean up after ourselves A different way of thinking about our relationship to our home We'll leave you with a poem by judy dow and a benekies elder and educators Chipsies and pirates were derogatory terms used by some people in burlington for a benekies and french canadians The canal barge A little inlet where one goes to seek refuge home to the ancient ones big and small Gypsies sell their ash baskets to those going by while pirates Doc their barges for a temporary home Lumber stored in piles mountains high brought flames red hot and smoky tones of gray throughout the sky A cemetery for three barges wide and long Skeletons from a time long ago sit side by side with a schooner While bare bones of others sink deep in the mud their silhouettes outlined in the archaeological reports The basin dredged and filled over and over again protected by breakwaters today The canal stands calm Field shut until 1961 An opening was made for barges to once again enter where they sat abandoned Along came the burlington gaslight company the beautiful wetlands filled to their top with cold tar Years of abuse left behind a huge superfund site The wetlands plants fight to survive hanging in there for another day, but they can't do it alone We need our help our feet have led us there back many times leaving only footprints behind We've watched nature struggle along the canal for far too long Those that have benefited from this land need to remember now That's by judy dow Well guys, thanks for that presentation. Um Do do we have a question to hear in the room? From zoom Kathy Is there some plans to build on that land or Are you getting any pushback from the city that they don't want this? Well, there those are two questions. Um, the reason we started this campaign last fall was because there's a for sale sign on those front Those front parcels and they are for sale And in terms of the city we have gotten no support from the city. They have no interest The message from the mayor is that he wants to redevelop that land What would he it's wetlands? What would he redevelop it as? The Kathy the the redevelopment land is essentially those two parcels in the front Um, the 453 and 501 pine streets that are private and there have been several Over the years. There have been several different projects that have been proposed for it, but it's always been Unfeasible for mostly for a financial Reason because there's so many different restrictions on that land now. There are More funds that are available for for brownfield remediation. So there's sort of Closing that gap between what? What's proposed and what's possible and there seems to be someone who is interested in Buying it though. We don't know exactly what who that is or what that project is It is not according to rick davis who owns the land or Scott mape who works with him. It's not housing It's not a residential development But um, there are There are interested buyers the rest of it as you say is wetlands, but the wetlands also need city support in terms of Remediation the remediation that happens there. There's so much that needs to happen starting with cleanup then thinking about what plants should be removed what plants should be planted and Learning about what kinds of bioremediation strategies would work there to actually address the the pollution on that land Okay, uh, Andy are you could you? Did you send us a copy of your presentation and the links that that you described? I didn't but I will tonight Send it to should I send it to to you jonathan or tom sent it to tom Okay, and I'll and we'll be uh putting a link The city will post it on the npa site And then we'll put a link to that site in the minutes Great and people who want to contact us directly. It's just sos burlington at gmail.com That sounds good. Oh Thank you for your time. I'm sorry about the uh, thank you very much. I'll pull out the beginning Okay, uh, the We're uh, we're sort of pressed for time. So we're going to skip these the local or coupons handout And we're going to just close the meeting with the great streets discussion. Olivia. Are you on? Olivia and I are gonna give the presentation together. I actually have Shared down our slides a little bit just knowing that we are a little tight for time. There is a full presentation available on the great streets website for some of this material. Um Maybe next month, um, maybe in may as well But I do want to just kind of there is some information in here for people who are still here And that we can give you quickly right now So the city Is uh, especially with the vote so we appreciate the the positive voter feedback Has the opportunity to redevelop our main street from battery street to union street This is More substantial than even st. Paul's street was this has the opportunity to do all of our utilities water sewer separated storm water And then as well as the surface features lighting bicycle facilities wider pedestrian facilities A lot of different functional features As well as the other things that really can make a street great We want to think about establishing our safety connections Providing transit opportunities really being able to manage storm water within the corridor Uh, means she has a lot of impervious surface and a lot of impervious surface that feeds into it So we want to take that opportunity To really do something great with the street These are the kinds of things that the city and our design team have But we also want to make sure that you know, we take a look at who's using the street And you know really make sure that the pedestrians that are there cyclists other residents vehicles drivers property owners have the opportunity And know how to get in touch with this project team to be able to provide your feedback This image was done from our previous effort So it's really just kind of a to spark conversation. It speaks to some of those wider dedicated facilities You also see the tree belt that has a lot of infrastructure underground to be able to support healthy trees But it speaks to reestablishing a tree canopy along main street that can thrive There are rain garden facilities New lighting and new pause places that you want to be able to develop and these are some of the Elements the pause places the activation the local activation. Maybe something that supports adjacent Uses on the street that we really need our community to provide us to be back on As we work to develop this concept The project would take the diagonal parking. It's our pitch and our proposal But it's not guaranteed until the city council acts on it But we're proposing to take the diagonal spot our parking spaces Convert them into parallel parking. So they're still parking along and throughout the corridor But really take that space and rebalance the way that main street operates and offers to people So the consultants kind of look at um the the street in three significant categories Um the functional elements which you know hit home to dpw the utilities that are underground What the roadways made out of what the sidewalk area looks like But then also the kind of the flexible and unique and beautiful spaces where the the trees exist the furnishing the sign The elements that are going to make main street be unique From other streets within the city But also maybe even within its own blocks because there's a lot of different character that exists along main We also want to make sure that there is community influence throughout the corridor And that there are spaces that can continue to be activated in different ways and be flexible for that So some of the stuff that I cut out tonight really goes over the outreach that we've done to date But we've been to a lot of npas. We've been to a lot of other city structured meetings. We've held a neighborhood meeting Um, we also have focus groups that speak to some of the groups that don't necessarily attend these structured meetings So we've met with youth groups. We have a meeting with a mobility focused group We just also met with immigrant an immigrant and refugee group Um, we've spoken to the businesses several times and we'll continue to do so throughout the course of this project And then we also have a ipoc focused Meeting that happens later next week So all of that is trying to take an input trying to grab all of our residents grab anybody who's interested And have them get in touch with us have them communicating with us so that we can really Hear the feedback and get that into these concepts That we plan to come back to the public with in late april And into the city council and whatnot into may so We're just really trying to Get the information out there You can see on the screen is contact information for alivia daris She is one of our project managers. I am one of the other project managers, but that's her email The great streets btv website is at the bottom So I'm leaving this up for a little bit as I talk about our schedule But those are the primary contact points if you want to find more information about this or find out how to How to get in touch with us So what happens after may? Ideally we find a concept that we can kind of come to a good understanding Compromise What's gonna be out there? Our design consultant will continue our outreach and working with the community May through next summer as we work on defining the designs Specific elements are going to go into that And then targeted a start of construction in the fall of 2023 This will take a minimum of two years and there's some elements that we'll discover throughout the design that may Have you know a block to take a little extra time or maybe won't start quite at the fall of 2023 mark But that's also part of the things We're going to keep the community informed of Main Street is is this entire community's main street It just because it's located in the downtown or you know in in words word three Um, doesn't mean that it doesn't mean any less to the entire community So with that I'll leave you maybe with a thought-provoking question that you can reach out to us that we've we've kind of provoked in some of our other focus groups is Do you or people in your community visit main street? Why or why not? And if why not, you know What what could make it better and what could make it so that people really want to be on main street? That's why a super fast pitch Um, I appreciate the the time that you guys gave us tonight. I know it's definitely tough with somebody's uh got lots to go on so Okay, uh question Not in the room anyone on on zoom have a question I actually do have a question I guess I'm just curious the number of like parking spaces that there are now versus like when that diagonal parking is converted to parallel parking Um, we don't know the exact numbers right now I mean I I could try to remember how many about how many spaces are out there, but it's certainly something that we're looking at Our consultant said that they should have us information by mid april our first kind of Probably public information on that will come out at the dpw commission They're the ones who do regularly on street parking. It's a presentation to them. They're it's not an action to them Um, but the design and the feedback that we get from the community really will dictate How many spaces that we take do we take an extra space to make our brain garden facilities or a larger pause place? Um, or do we keep and retain as many parking spaces as we can because there is a balance that is being lost But there's not an exact number unfortunate right now As to what that is Laura, I've got a quick question for you. You know when I looked at your the slide of the layout I didn't see any moving sidewalks that people can get to place to place on um, which presumably it would be electric which jack would really like Or um, and I didn't see cut out cutouts for buses Which also would be electric Yep, um moving sidewalks in our climate is challenging, but we can certainly uh explore that option But the the transit facilities most the conversation we have had with GMT Is that they do like to be curbside and stay in lane? um, and so these bumpouts would really provide a larger Landing area for buses to still stay in their lane Um, and kind of facilitate pick up and drop offs. So we've had a preliminary conversation with GMT Certainly more to be done That this should provide enhanced off locations so that that's better Any other questions? All right. Well, thank you very much. I apologize for the short time As you can see our dark is jam-packed Yep, no, we we appreciate just being able to let you guys know that we're here And then, you know, the one-on-one conversations are also great. And uh, do we have a copy of your presentation? You don't I'll send you the super short snippet, but I think probably put you Uh, providing the website where there's a lot more content is is going to be helpful too So you're going to send me the short one plus link to okay And my email is on the npa site that the city has Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you Thank you all for attending We will uh, we will look forward to talking to you