 Yes, you can go ahead and jump right on into it. To everyone out there, to our ongoing election coverage by town meeting television, my name is Helen Morgan Parmet, and I'm the Edwin W. Lawrence Professor of Speech and Associate Professor in the Department of English up at the University of Vermont. And tonight, I'll be your moderator of this election forum. So this is one of many forums we're bringing you in advance of local elections and town meeting on the first Tuesday in March, which this year is March 1st, 2022. Now town meeting is traditionally where voters weigh in on local government representation, municipal budgets, school budgets, and local election forums. Town meeting TV election forums introduce you to community decision makers and connect you with the issues that shape your local community. So if you're watching this live, this event live, we welcome your questions. You can give us a call at 802-862-3966. And you can also watch town meeting TV on Comcast channel 1087, Burlington Telecom channel 17 and 217, as well as online at town meeting TV's YouTube page. So I'll introduce you to the candidates, the incumbent Megan Emery and Chris Trombly in the South Burlington City Council election. And so each candidate is going to have two minutes to give their opening statement and give their kind of overview of their, of their, why they're running and their positions. So we're going to start with the incumbent Megan Emery. Go ahead when you're ready. Well, thank you very much, Helen. I'm very glad to be here tonight. And I'm a huge supporter of channel 17. So my name is Megan Emery and I have served for 12 years on the South Burlington City Council. And I have lived in South Burlington now for 20 years. And the University of Vermont brought us here. My husband and I arrived in 2002 with two little boys. We now have three children and we have raised all three here two are in their 20s and we have an 11 year old. And we deeply value the school system and the community that is so strong in South Burlington. I got into the community when I, you know, had my sons at the public school Chamberlain Elementary, which is just two blocks from my house. And I was involved in the PTO and introducing foreign language after school programs. And it became quite clear that the city was, was eager to have more control over the city budgets. There had been a referendum to that effect. And I became involved in the charter review committee. And I was appointed there. And after serving for a year, a counselor urged me to run and thought about it and decided I care deeply and I will do so. So I ran for the first time in 2008 and I did win. And my priorities then are my priorities today that is affordability, quality of life, conservation of our open spaces, fiscal and environmental sustainability. I care very deeply about the city. We have worked diligently to reach our community goals. And I know that we are a leader in the state and I will work, I will continue to work in order for us to remain. So thank you. Thanks so much for that, Megan. We'll turn it over to Chris Trompley. Well, good evening, Helen. Good evening, Megan. Glad to be here with you. I think it's the first time that we've been gonna spend together and discuss the city's future. So I'm excited to have this discussion tonight and to continue that discussion of the town meeting day. You know, I got involved with this race when I moved into South Burlington. One of the first opportunities was to join the citizen budget advisory committee at the school. Got to know some great volunteers and get more involved with my school. My children, my two sons also attend Chamberlain and we're very satisfied with the education that we're receiving here. It's one of the reasons that I chose here. I quickly pursued an opportunity for the affordable housing committee where I currently serve as chair for two terms now. Statewide, I'm also a board commissioner for the Vermont State Housing Authority. Vice chair for the board of civil authority and a treasurer on other nonprofits. So service to my community is a priority for me. You know, I think some of the priorities, you know, for this campaign is really going to be affordability focused, balanced leadership, common sense priorities and fiscal responsibility, you know, and it's really fulfilling that vision for South Burlington residents so that they can have a great place to afford a home, pursue a work path, raise a family and enjoy their golden years here. So I look forward to your support on town meeting day and I'm encouraged for this discussion this evening. So thank you. All right, thanks so much for that. So we're gonna jump into questions and just a reminder that if you're watching at home, you can give us a call at 802-862-3966 and ask your own questions. And until we get a call or I'll just jump right in. And so one of the big issues in South Burlington is housing and growth especially. So South Burlington's facing a lot of pressure as the natural housing site for Chittenden County residents alongside efforts to conserve open space. So what do you see as the guiding principle to manage these conflicting pressures? And I'll let you go first, Chris. Sure, thank you. So as a committee, we have shared values for clean air, clean water, being an inclusive and welcoming community but we're also a growing community. Since our last census, you know, we've expanded up to 20,000 residents and we're feeling that push and pull and tug. And it's something that as a community, we're trying to find out. So, you know, we can't have a robust improvement and meaningful change without that democracy where we're here bottom up from residents about the changes that they wanna see. Early adopter of Article 12 changes that explain that our floodplains conserved a lot of our land, you know, those are state leading changes and you know, we don't wanna see us move backwards on that. And so as we think about where do we go and where do we grow? Some of the things that we should be talking about is where do we build out for our city center along our transit corridors? You know, we hear that we wanna see more about the redevelopment space at University of Mall. There is upcoming opportunity where we might have a new purchaser and with that opportunity, we can revision that area so that it can be mixed use where we can leverage both commercial revenue, sales tax dollars and mixed use housing. The vision for our community center is that we'll be able to continue that build out in that area where it's transit oriented. One of the things we don't talk about with affordable housing or just housing affordable in general is also the network of alternative transportation that will be required to support that. So as we wanna target our emission goals, how do we get more people out of cars and on the bikes or rolling a different way? So that's our housing strategy and if we wanna get into nuance, look forward to that. All right, Megan, what are your thoughts about balancing housing and conservation? Yeah, well, what Chris said, I definitely agree with. And so I'll focus on where we differ. He says that he supports the protection of our natural resources and most of our natural resources are currently protected in fact, the current land development regulations only extend them by a few percentage points. What it does do though, is that it makes sure that there is not encroachment on them. It really specifies what land is billable and what land is to be conserved so that there is no question. And I think that where we differ and perhaps Chris's views have changed, we have talked about our views and our vision for the city, is that I see that it is important for us to use different tools as a priority in order to expand our affordable housing throughout the city, including U-Mall, we hope that that will be the case, but also into open lands that have currently been the hotly debated topic. And Chris's is a huge proponent of inclusionary zoning. I am a proponent of inclusionary zoning. I see it as one tool however. Our city center currently has over 200 perpetually affordable homes and it's not because of inclusionary zoning, it's because we have grants, federal grants and state grants. We are in a unique opportunity here where we have grants. Governor has dedicated $240 million at least to affordable housing. We can use those grants to make more affordable homes than inclusionary zoning would allow. And the catch about inclusionary zoning is that you have to build at least 12 homes to have one owner occupied home, one, okay? Whereas if you want more than 200, that adds up to a lot of homes. Thank you very much, I know I'm out of time. There's a lot more to be said on this topic. Yeah, I mean, this is a really complicated one. I think one of the reasons why we started here is I think this is maybe like the big issue in South Burlington right now. Chris, I just wanna give you a quick 30 seconds to just maybe respond to what Megan was saying since she's sort of pointing out that there's a difference here between the two of you. So I wanna give you a chance to respond to that. Yeah, absolutely. I think one of the challenges that we've seen with the development that we see is, there's a question that's still left answered for some folks is, why don't I see more homes built for people like me? And so when we see new developments, if we are gonna see those traditional neighborhoods that Megan supports next to the cider mill, those larger footprint homes, we do wanna see that a portion of those are set aside that they're affordable. So when you have a large, I guess, my time's up. We'll have ever opportunity to discuss housing here because this is a central topic for the voters here. Yeah, may I respond to that? Yeah, I'll give you 30 seconds to respond as well since I think this is a big issue. Thank you. Megan, not in favor of larger footprint homes. We have enough of them in the city. And if we're gonna use the affordable housing funds available to us through the state and federal grants, they're gonna be small footprint homes. That's what we need. They're environmentally responsible as well. And that's what people who look like me, and I don't know who Chris is referring to, I know where he lives, I know where I live. If I'm talking about the person serving us food in the restaurant, they're not gonna be living in a home that he hopes to make available through the market. And that is where the big catch is. For three years, we didn't deliver any zoning changes in our downtown that would have delivered workforce housing. It's a real mess by the city council and they haven't applied the focus that our workforce deserves. So they have an opportunity for upward mobility. Incorrect. Incorrect, we have inclusionary zoning. I'm gonna jump in here so that we can get to some other issues. Clearly, there are some differences here for the voters to consider about what direction that they wanna go into. Both of you indicated in your opening statements that schools were a big issue for you, one of the main reasons why you got involved in city government in the first place. And so South Burlington's educational infrastructure is aging while the student population is growing. So what do you see as the role of the city council in helping to envision a way forward? And since you went first to last to Chris, I'm gonna let you go first this time, Megan. Yes, it comes down to our planning and zoning. And we definitely need to have injections of new workers for our workforce. And they are going to, of course, I hope settle here and have families providing children for our schools. That is a must and our zoning is a big piece of that. And we need to make sure that the housing available to those new workers and young families is affordable, not $500,000 homes, which the market is currently providing. And I would also add that we need to think about how we manage that growth. Right now we have two elementary schools that are cracking at the seams. We have heard from the school board that they're gonna have to put up what they call trailers. I would call them different, I would call them mobile units where they're gonna put their administrators to make more classrooms. It's clearly not sustainable. Our high school is cracking at the seams. Two years ago, when Chris and I got to know each other, we were facing the voting down of a huge bond, $210 million for middle school and high school campus. We also had the budget voted down. So we are facing very difficult choices here as a community. We have grown beyond our taxing capacity and growth does not add to fiscal sustainability. It's how you grow, it's not just growth. It's how you grow and it has to be managed. And so I truly think that this is worthy of discussion. And thank you for the 30 seconds. I will add that city staff is the same in terms of being stretched thin. And if we need to provide the snow plowing to have our children get to school, we need to make sure that we have highway crew. They are incredibly stretched thin. And so we are what we would call a tipping point. It's what our fire chief as well as our public works director has talked about. And we have to be very careful now. All right, thanks for that. I'm going to let you answer that question, Chris. And then I'm going to take a call. Excellent. I think Megan and I overlap a lot on school values. And as I got to know Megan, I understood her commitment to passing a budget that the voters could support. So and I don't think we disagree in a lot of areas. One area and I think there's some opportunity to explore more is getting the city council out of city hall and into the schools and having regular conversations in the schools and see firsthand the condition of our schools. Strategic planning sessions with the school on a more frequent basis. Where do we meet these changing needs? I see the city manager and superintendent talk more frequently. How can we share resources? Demographics was cited as an issue where they didn't anticipate some of the growth that was coming, largely because of some of the city center growth. And that's growth that we want to see and that we can accommodate. But we can't have competing priorities with the city and the school. So as an economic driver that attracts talent to our school, that investment in the high school, the middle school, and how do we rebalance our elementary school so it meets student outcomes. It's just one thing that gets more attention is policy that would steer more students into the trades and technical training. We have a workforce sorted specifically for the trades. There's a lot of areas where how can the city and the school overlap. Those are positive discussions in an investment out of community. I think that's an area where we have a lot of agreement. Thank you. Love to welcome a caller. If you could just state your name and where you're calling from. I'm calling from South Burlington. With your question. Oh, so I thought I was going. I'm watching as I'm talking. I thought I was going to be talking live to them. No. So listen on the phone. That's what they told me. I can hear you now. I can hear you on the TV. You are talking. Just in the phone. So it's not just the OK. So they're talking and I'm trying to watch them talk. So they're not going to stop talking when I start talking. So listen on the phone. And if you ask your question on the phone, they can hear you right now. You're live right now. But on the on the TV, my name is Lynn Vera. Hi, Lynn. So I have I have a comment and a question. My comment is sorry. There's all kinds of stuff. Let all that go by and ask your question. Here I go. So now I'm lying. So I so I want to know. Lynn, if you turn off your stream so you're not listening to the stream, listen on the phone. So if you ask the question on the phone, you're like my concern and my question has to do with just what Megan was just talking about. The conflict between providing housing and accommodating people who either already live here or want to live here and trying to somehow manage that the point of that is community, not what the market will bear. So I live in Queen City Park. I am just befuddled and shocked by what's happening to the housing value just in my neighborhood. And I know that it's happening all over South Burlington. And I worry that the tax base can't just be what supports our community. So I'm concerned that development of more, quote, affordable housing is looked at in the Southeast Quadrant because maybe one of 12 will be, quote, affordable. But as Megan is saying, what is affordable? That's a huge concern of mine. I am upset by the development in the Southeast Quadrant. I'd like it to sort of slow down. And I do support affordable housing that isn't just high rise. So I'm excited to hear about, perhaps, some changes to redevelop these ridiculous, huge, empty malls. There's another one over on Schobern Road. Yeah, thank you so much for that question. How do each of you? I'm sorry. Thank you so much for that comment and your question about affordable housing. Yeah, I'd love to hear more. My question has to do with school, curriculum, critical race theory. I know it's a big punch word. My concern is let's keep that flag, Black Lives Matter flag up. And let's talk about diversity on a real educational level. Who are the people who built this country? So what are each of your feelings about that catchphrase? Thank you. Yeah, thank you so much for your comment on affordable housing and your question about critical race theory as a classroom curriculum. Let's start with you, Chris. Do you want to give some commentary on both or either of those points? Both. The preservation of the existing housing that we have, we've seen that eroded since our reappraisal. Values went up 27%. So that's good if you own your home and to see your values go up. But folks trying to enter into the market. But also at the same time, we're seeing residents outplaced. So I have residents coming in and they can afford to buy at a higher price. And so our residents are feeling that pinch. And that's all neighborhoods. That's down by Red Rocks. That's Chamberlain Network. It's in the orchards. So just losing the sense of community of what I had, that's impactful. So there's that. On the critical race theory in schools, there's an exciting bill that's in the house that will ensure that race or anti-racism is taught in the schools at a state level. And that was something I've supported by local activists. And it's very exciting to see. It's important that we see what the cause of some of the segregation and the impacts of the institutional issues are. But it's not just that, in the Affordable Housing Committee, we led a discussion regarding the color of law. And with the color of law, you really understand the impact zoning has to opportunity for everyone. Just when we talk about zoning and where we put homes, it's kind of what kind of city are we building in for who? So thank you, Lynn, for that call. I appreciate you making that connection between housing and racial justice, right? That's intimately connected. So Megan, why don't you go ahead and give us your thoughts on these important issues? Yes, this definitely, these are two very linked topics. And this summer, I organized alone and put together a forum on land use and equity because it very much has to do with environmental justice. And we had UVM professors. We also had two Abnaki chiefs attend and a student who is talked about the housing situation for students. And so that is also an equity issue with regard to age. The city terribly lacks housing for students and young professionals. And they do not need a $500,000 house. They need to have a home that is on a route toward either their school or their place of employment. And I would like to see those homes affordable. I would like to see green space around those homes. I would like for the new families and newcomers who can make use of a home out with a yard that could provide to them. I would like that to also be affordable and be able to see that there is access for people of all income levels throughout our city to go on our walking trails and to take advantage of simply the peace. And I think it's really important for us to know that there is a minimum of four units per acre in these land development regulations. So it is built in that these will be affordable. What I would like to say also with regard to environmental justice is that a lot of people move from Burlington to South Burlington when their children are a school age. Chris Chombly is an example of that. And I think that there are some Burlingtonians who are disappointed in his choice of leaving Burlington to attend our schools. We need to make great progress in our schools. And I think that is another topic that I would very much like to take part in, yeah. Thanks, Megan. Chris, I see that you were wanting a chance to respond to one of the points that Megan was making. So I'll go ahead and let you have a short response to that. Yeah, just as a lifelong Vermonter, I've lived in different places across the state. Sometimes your job moves. And so I was happy to live downtown, or not downtown, but out in the new North End. And we were very happy there. We were able to take the bus to work it was a 10 minute commute. We had walking distance to our school that walkable, compact living community is we need more of those. But my job moved, I went to a 45 minute commute that's time away from my family. That's more miles traveled. I value time with my family. So I've worked in South Burlington and this is a great investment in that time. So somebody has a problem with me taking my kids to, I welcome a conversation about that. So thank you. Yeah, I mean, these are tough issues. These are tough issues and they're personal, but also political. So we only have one left. So I think we only have probably time for one more question. And it doesn't look like we have another caller. So I have so many questions that I still wanna get to and ask you. But one of the questions that I think is really pressing for me is the F-35s. So what are you hearing for residents? What's your position? What do you see as the role of the South Burlington city council and kind of responding to resident concerns or what are the resident concerns right now that you wanna be responsive to? Yeah, is that, do I go first this time? Yes, sorry, Megan. Yeah, you go first this time, apologies. No worries. Yes, I have been going door to door. Campaigning is a really good process. So we do receive calls and emails, but there's nothing like knocking on someone's door and talking to them. And sometimes up to an hour, it is definitely on the minds of the residents of South Burlington. People very concerned that they cannot enjoy their property. And there is currently an airport rezoning task force in place and that is a result of homes that were purchased and demolished because primarily of the military jets and the noise envelope that they created that encroached on this neighborhood took away 200 affordable homes. And so we now are faced with a request made by the director of the airport for rezoning 11 of those acres. And what will those acres become is of prime concern to the people who live in the Chamberlain neighborhood. Now, it will not reduce the F-35 noise to zero. But there's also, I wanna add, this program that the airport has just engaged in with the FAA's approval, which is for noise insulation. So new windows, new doors and making it possible for people to have some coolness inside of their homes with the air conditioning and when they cannot open their windows because of the F-35 noise being too, too loud. People are not satisfied with that. They would much rather have open windows and be out in their yards. My view is this is not the place for this kind of jet. It wasn't in the 1980s when we first got our first fighter jets. It's not now. People made a mistake. I am not a senator, I am a city counselor. So all I can do is wrestle back our right to a place at the planning table, which the FAA recognizes. All right, thanks for that. And we're just about out of time. So we're just gonna finish with your, your thoughts on this, Chris. Sure, you know, I think if elected city council, you know, this was a very personal issue for me. My, I had a family member who lived in one of the affordable houses on, you know, that was removed and, you know, that, that displacement, you know, was impactful. So how do we protect the neighborhood that's there now? You know, looking at this, this, this rezoning piece, you know, I don't think the airport hit the target on that design, you know, on the Kirby, you know, the bringing in the airport hanger and snow removal equipment. I don't know that's compatible with the existing residential. And so is that gonna compound the issue? You know, the Chamberlain residents have, they've been through a lot. They have a lot of pride in their neighborhood as they should, tried to find a place there, but there wasn't anything available. So, you know, it's just really protect the neighborhoods, make sure their voices are heard and be a staunch advocate for, for your residents. And if that means you gotta stand up and represent more seats on the airport commission, then that's what you gotta do. If it means you have to advocate for different flight schedule and coordinate with different cities, so do that. You know, it's the right thing to do. So thank you. All right, well, thanks so much for that. This has been awesome to talk to both of you and we're out of time. So I just wanna thank everybody for tuning in to Town Meeting TV and our ongoing coverage of local community candidates, budget and ballot items. You can find this and more forums at www.ch17.tv. So don't forget to vote on or before the first Tuesday in March, Town Meeting Day, which is March 1st, 2022. Early voting by mail is available by contacting your town clerk's office and polls will also be open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Thank you so much for watching and thank you, Megan and Chris, for joining us here tonight and giving the voters, I think, a lot to think about. Thank you very much, Helen. Thank you so much. Take care. Thank you, Chris. Thanks Megan, take care.