 the visual aid with them as today. So are we ready to go, Rob? OK, the Bridges Group. Who would have thought something like this could come out of Cabot, right? All right, it's been a long afternoon, and you've been inundated with a lot of information about four fairly similar proposals. Our proposal, however, is quite different, and I'm here to tell you why and how. And perhaps more importantly, to outline the steps that the public and private sector need to take to begin to implement our vision, because a vision without an implementation plan is merely a dream. So why is our proposal different from the others? It begins with our team and the diversity of it, of geography, of education, of experience, of perspective. We're 11 individuals representing over two dozen specialties, hailing from Pittsburgh, Brooklyn, Boston, New Hampshire, and throughout northern Vermont. One thing we do share is an appreciation for Montpiedure and Vermont. From the outset, our work has been guided by three beliefs. First, we don't view downtown Montpiedure as an isolated island. Second, we see it as a holistic city shaped by natural forces. And maybe most importantly, we see that city as an integral part of a five-town capital corridor that's linked by existing rail lines. The capital corridor, consisting of Waterbury, Middlesex, Montpiedure, Berlin, and Barrie, has over 26,000 residents, over 23,000 jobs, and is host to a million and a half square feet of state facilities, nearly half of which are located outside Montpiedure. Those million and a half square feet represent nearly a half billion dollar investment by the taxpayers of Vermont. The capital corridor is already the state's second largest city, trailing only Burlington. But it should be even larger. If Montpiedure and Barrie had maintained the same percentage of Washington County's population that they had up through the 1960s, Montpiedure today would have an additional 3,700 residents and Barrie 5,500 additional ones. A half century of rural sprawl has not only robbed these communities of potential residents, it's resulted in much higher fossil fuel usage, wasting of time and money on long-distance commuting, and a lack of affordable housing. So our challenge is, can we reverse 50 years of rural sprawl in central Vermont and convince long-distance commuters to move closer to their places of work in the capital corridor? We begin that, we think that process starts by focusing on the existing spine of Montpiedure. And that spine consists of both banks of the Winooski River and the existing tracks that parallel the river and run for 3.5 miles from one end of the city to the other. Using that spine, we create a multimodal transportation system that includes a wide range of travel choices. When that spine is eventually extended from Waterbury to Barrie, residents of all ages and income throughout the capital corridor will be able to enjoy employment opportunities, housing choices, shopping and entertainment, recreation and culture located for the full length of the corridor. We add a network of parks, paths and art that will enhance Montpiedure's reputation as a center for the arts and greatly increase the opportunities for residents to connect with the rivers and the outdoors. We link the spine to a series of new walkable mixed-use neighborhoods stretching along the length of the city. While adding housing downtown is certainly important and something we contribute to, creating new neighborhoods within walking distance of the streetcar line and aerial tram is equally important. The key missing ingredient is just this, the key missing ingredient in Montpiedure is a wide diversity of housing types to meet the needs of people of all ages and incomes. But only by looking beyond downtown will we be able to supply the full range of housing choices that are required from single family to townhouses, apartments, live work units, cooperative housing, cottage clusters, senior housing, and yes, even micro units. So how is our proposal different from the others that you've been listening about this afternoon? It starts with our parking strategies. We relocate more spaces from the downtown area, 751, and create more satellite parking spaces, 3,000 than any of the other proposals. We add only 120 new spaces in the downtown area and those are set aside for the exclusive use of the shared vehicle program. We, however, do not remove any parking spaces from the downtown retail district east of the North Branch, the spaces that merchants and shoppers rely on. We will not build any new parking garages in the downtown area for the new development that will occur. All of the relocated spaces, as well as the so-called 540 shortfall spaces, I think that's people that are driving around when their car is still looking for spaces in Bonfigur. And all parking for the new downtown development will be provided at satellite lots, primarily at East and West Station, located at the terminal points of the streetcar line. These two lots will serve many more purposes than simply a place to leave your car. Users will be able to get gas, have their car serviced, generate electricity from the solar array over the parking spaces, make use of a convenience store in cafe, sign out a shared bike or shared vehicle, and even put a canoe or kayak into the river. We've already spoken to at least one of the gas station owners where we're going to be putting the food hub on the South Bank with those gas stations wanting each relocating to these satellite lots. All right, downtown is where it all comes together. But once you establish a spine of streetcar service running from one end of the city to the other, there's simply no need to cram all or even most new development into an already crowded downtown area. We identify only 11 new buildings that we're proposing for the area between Main Street and Bailey Avenue, primarily housing along with the multi-purpose farmers market building. Other proposals have suggested 28 or 32 or even 57 new buildings in this area. We do not want to overwhelm the city's existing fabric with a wall of 21st century buildings that cut off access and views to the river and to the state house. Unlike all the other finalists, we will not be adding any new buildings west of the state house and DMV building. Instead, we're proposing a new park, capital park that would be enjoyed by people working along the state street and residents in the nearby neighborhoods. Unlike every other proposal, we do not suggest that the Shaw's grocery store should be demolished. We think it's far too critical an asset to not feed your residents and attempting to relocate it runs too high a risk that the town actually loses the store. Instead, what we propose is carefully inserting a band of micro housing to continue the building line along Main Street that doesn't eliminate any of the existing parking. The popular farmer's market would remain in its current outdoor location. And we propose adding an adjacent multi-purpose building that would serve as its winter home. Both of these would be surrounded by an active park at the confluence of the Winooski and North Branch. One of the most talked about features of our stage one submission is the proposed aerial tram running from downtown to national life. And I might say as an aside, there's a difference between efficiency and effectiveness and efficient bus that doesn't serve the purpose of actually being used by anybody to get to national life isn't an effective solution. There's a reason that there's 60 urban aerial tram projects underway in France alone right now. In any event, in this submission, we're going further. We're proposing a mixed use development on a portion of national life's parking lot that'll include a conference center, hotel, retail, and restaurants, as well as housing. By doing this, we integrate the national life campus and make it part of downtown and create another transit-served urban neighborhood. Recognizing the renaissance of the Vermont College of Fine Arts, it's an importance to the economic and cultural life of Montpeger. We're proposing a neighborhood for lifelong learners on a small portion of the college's undeveloped land. This neighborhood and the college itself would be connected to the streetcar line by autonomous jitney service that would run along a dedicated street. We believe Montpeger needs a place where it can embrace all that's new and exciting about the future. Our proposed pioneer district offers just that and a wonderful counterpoint to the city's historic downtown. This innovation neighborhood, bracketing Pioneer Street, would provide entry-level housing, shops, restaurants, makerspace, galleries, studios, a training center and classrooms for the next generation of Vermont's doers and dreamers. With the streetcar line running down through the center of it, the trip back to downtown would be a matter of a few minutes. So how will these differences impact the people's daily lives in Montpeger? A state or private worker living downtown will only be steps away from work and will be able to think about getting rid of his or her car and relying on the public transit choices we'll be offering. A colleague of theirs who may live elsewhere in the capital corridor will have the option of either taking a train to work or driving and parking at one of the satellite lots. All of these workers will be able to use the rail line to get to business meetings throughout the capital corridor during the work day. For a local business person, what this means is they aren't going to lose any of their parking in the current retail district and they'll have a greatly expanded customer base both within walking distance and people that can take the train ride from other locations in the capital corridor. Everyone, not just business owners, will benefit from a huge expansion in the city's tax base. Anyone working in the National Life Campus will have the option of now living on that campus, having lunch on the campus or taking a tram ride downtown in Montpiedure to shop and have lunch. A young entrepreneur or even an old one like me will be able to find housing and work space at affordable rents in new architecturally interesting buildings in the pioneer district. They'll be able to plug into a community of like-minded artists, inventors, programmers, designers and creators. A tourist visiting Montpiedure or anyone living or working here is going to enjoy a much wider range of shops and restaurants including the Food Hub on the South Bank. They'll be able to take a train ride or a aerial tram ride and get a spectacular view of Camelshump and the Green Mountains. Stay at one of two new hotels that we're proposing and also enjoy the bounty of Vermont's farms at the year-round farmers market. So how do we work together to get this underway? It's a matter of the public and private sectors at times working together and at times working each on their own. With respect to transportation, the state of Vermont has to make the rail line available for passenger service. Montpiedure needs to finish the transportation center and the bike path. National life needs to construct the aerial tram. All three parties have to be willing to move a portion of their parking to satellite lots. On the open space and art front, Montpiedure needs to construct the multi-purpose farmers market building. Capitol Park would be built by the state. Riverside Park by the city. On the housing front, we're envisioning three to 400 new units during that first five year period. Primarily done by National Life, the Vermont College of Fine Arts and landowners in the downtown area and the pioneer district working in conjunction with their development partners. With respect to energy, all levels of government are going to need to encourage and facilitate the increased use and production of renewables, the shift away from fossil fuels and managing Vermont's forests for carbon storage. Finally, the state needs to create the Capital Corridor Partnership, a new entity that would be tasked with planning for, regulating and developing projects of special importance located throughout the Capital Corridor. By the end of 2021, we think all the primary pieces of public infrastructure will be in place. And then responsibility will shift to the Capital Corridor Partnership, nonprofits and private landowners and developers and users to continue the plan through 2030 and beyond. So it's our belief that team bridges is the only proposal that transforms Montpiedure without destroying the character of its resident treasure and offers a politically and economically realistic way of accomplishing this transformation. I'd invite you to read the details, further details about this and the project workbook that you'll be able to find on the NetZero website. And feel free to email me with any questions you might have as you review these materials. Thanks for your attention and we appreciate your support. We're almost done, excellent job. All of the teams have done an amazing job. Barbara, you wanna ask for a pick up? That was a very effective presentation. I guess one of the questions that came up for us really was have you run any numbers on your NetZero energy proposal? Have you put together any kind of a overall concept for achieving NetZero? Yes, there's some additional information in the project workbook as well as a series of eight technical appendice slides that are at the end of this presentation that time didn't permit to get into those details in this setting. We have a question here from the floor. Your plan is very nice, but we'll have... Thank you, Sally. People who live in Cabot and want to get to live in Montpil... Wait a minute, I'm trying to see what this question is, having a hard time reading it. Sometimes density isn't what people want and rural sprawl are looking for. I think that what we're getting at here is that there might be differences in Cabot and Montpilier and the need for different living. So how do I actually move between Montpilier and... Okay, well, I don't think that one of the challenges we have as a state is having not enough rural sprawl. I think we have plenty. And anybody who wants to live in a rural part of the state, as we do, there are plenty of choices there. What we've not done a good job of for 50 years is building a wide range of housing, including market rate affordable housing in historic town centers. And that's what our plan seeks to redress. You have another question from the floor. How does your plan account for Montpilier's aging population, namely access for disabilities and our difficulty walking? Well, first of all, all the public transit modes of transportation would need to be VA, so they'd be accessible to those folks. We think with the range of housing types that we're talking about and giving people an option of being directly in the downtown area, some of the existing neighborhoods near downtown and some of the new neighborhoods that we're talking about that a range of housing choices for senior citizens from cottage clusters to independent living complexes, to apartments or condos in three or four storey buildings would be available. Another one from the floor here is, can you elaborate on how you will reduce energy usage in new and existing buildings? Well, all new buildings are going to have to meet in that zero standards. That's for certain. In existing buildings, it's really the same menu of choices that all the other groups have talked about. It's a tougher task there because you have to work with existing property owners and find ways to encourage them to make investments in their buildings. One reality is when you have a market that has such a low vacancy rate, like Montever does, landlords have no incentive to put money back in their buildings. They're making money hand over fist now. Get some more housing in this town, create a competitive housing market and you'll see landlords open up the purse strings to be able to compete against new products. Clarifying question here, where is Pioneer Center? Pioneer District is the bridge that comes across where the laundromat used to be on one side and the VFW building is on the other side, on the south bank of the Winooski. Is that good? Yeah, when it comes around, right? And could you give us more details on the Court Street neighborhood? The Court Street neighborhood, I think all the groups look at that very similarly. You've got a big change in gradation there, and so there's a natural ability to slip a level or two of parking in. That's where the 120 shared vehicle program spaces would go. Like I think really all the proposals, there's sort of a plan to create and then we have a townhouse style broken up building neighborhood development at the top of it. So it doesn't feel from the street level like it's a megaplex. It feels more like a piece of the rest of the fabric along Court Street. You have an easy question here. Oh, good. Who did the great illustration? Yes, it's sometimes you just get lucky. Doug Cooper, who's a professor of architectural illustration at Carnegie Mellon and his wife, Stephanie, who's an architect. That's our Pittsburgh crew. Their daughter lives in Montpiedure. They're retiring in Montpiedure and Janet Van Fleet, who's our public art person on our team. Her son is married to their daughter and one thing led to another. And it was a very happy collaboration. He's brilliant. Thanks for that question. We have two questions on stormwater which may require more time than we have today, but how will you integrate the area, infrastructure, stormwater mitigation into your plans? And the second question is, how do you address stormwater runoff? So integration and runoff. All right, my only request, I'll answer that question, but only if we finish up with a more exciting question than stormwater. Okay. That very good question, valid question, but those kinds of things you really get to address when you're starting to design actual buildings for proposals and for a construction proposal, a development proposal that's gonna go through the regulatory process. So that's something that's going to have to be done and we recognize that. I think getting into details of it at this conceptual stage was beyond what we had time to do. Very good. Well, this may be a more fun question than the last one, I think. How do you handle two-way traffic on a single rail line? Great question. And we had some fun conversations about that. What we probably do is put a very small siding at the Multimodal Transportation Center on Taylor so that either the trains would come and would be timed so that they both arrived there and no one, neither train could leave until the other one was there and then they would go on their way or each train would run only from one end to the center and then back and back and forth. The last thing I'll say about this because I had a question during a break. If my period is serious about wanting streetcar service and trying it, don't go to a transportation consultant and spend three years and have somebody come back with a $50 million plan to have a 21st century state-of-the-art system. There's no reason this town can't have the beginnings of streetcar service in the next 12 to 18 months. Very good questions. I would like to ask all of our team members to come up and stand up and give a bow and everybody that's still here, come on up. All of the team members, come on up. This is an amazing amount of work these teams have put into this. I am humbled and extremely excited. We're all grateful. Thank you very much for what you've done, guys. Any single project that goes forward, we will be just most gracious. And now next steps. Okay, quickly, because I know people are drifting out already. In your program, you've been taking notes. It tears apart very quickly. It's been perforated and we paid for that. On the back after your notes, here's the voting. We need your vote. We need you also to ask your neighbors, friends, and everybody else you know in the area to also vote. And you can vote online at netzerobt.org and you can see these presentations thanks to Orca being streamed. Finally, we want to just say thank you for coming. I had, we were interviewed by a guy from Channel 22 outside in the hall during the break and he said, I've been to so many public presentations where you get seven, eight, 10 people. He said, this is amazing turnout for Vermont. So we have to thank you for coming, for paying attention, and for being part of this because this is really a way of trying to create a future that we can all live and dream in. We have now one. Right. We will be having the vote online through Thursday the 12th. We will then be compiling stuff on the morning of the 18th of January. We will announce the winner at the Cedar Creek Room in the Capitol. So please stay tuned. But please also, like I said, get everybody involved. And again, it is your vision now, okay? It is your responsibility to try and make a future happen that we can live in. Questions like, where's this gonna get paid for? How many senior citizens live around here in housing that they're growing out of? Would they rather be living in a smaller, more sustainable place downtown? You bet. How many young people would like affordable places that were small, tiny house size they could move into because there's no place affordable in central Vermont? We have a lot of opportunity here. We have a wonderful community. Thank you very much for your attention. And I hope you're gonna stay involved because this is just the beginning. The hard work begins now. Thank you.