Potlucks and Planes: Seven Votes to Watch on Town Meeting Day 

click to enlarge

• Dreamstime.com

There's more than one way to do Town Meeting Day now, thanks to pandemic-era changes. A number of municipalities, including Dorset and Norwich, like deciding local issues by mail so much that they will continue to make it an option. Other towns are committing more deeply to in-person decision making. In Panton, for example, this year's meeting will start with a community potluck to "rekindle the feeling of traditional Town Meeting Day," the town website promises.

Whether in-person or mailed-in, the votes cast on March 7 will settle issues as varied as Vermont's 200-plus communities. Seven Days pored over each and every town's meeting day warnings to deliver a sampling of noteworthy ballot items under consideration.

Not Cleared for Takeoff

Although a 2018 proposal for a 2,000-foot private airplane runway in North Hero was withdrawn, residents are considering steps to ensure that airstrips are permanently banned from their quiet lakefront town.

Vermont already has more than 70 of these runways, known as "restricted landing areas." But in North Hero, Larry Dupont and Glenn Cotton's 2018 plan for a grass airstrip on their property met fierce headwinds.

"The place is magic," Scott Richardson, a North Hero resident, told Seven Days in 2018. "We just don't want the magic being wrecked by some rich guys playing with their toys."

Because North Hero does not regulate airstrips, Dupont and Cotton's application went to the state Transportation Board. At a hearing in 2018, dozens of town residents voiced their opposition; shortly afterward, the two men withdrew their application.

"We don't know to this day whether the state would have approved it or not," said Andy Alling, chair of the town Planning Commission. The uncertainty led a group of residents to seek a town meeting vote to prohibit private landing strips and helipads altogether. 

Alling said he wouldn't be surprised if residents backed the ban. "The people that are opposed to landing strips are very vocal," Alling said. "And there's been a lot more people opposed than in favor."

Running on Grounding

South Burlington City Council candidate Jimmy Leas insists he's not waging a one-issue campaign. According to his website, he cares about affordable housing, tenants' rights and climate preservation. But, he adds: "Each and every one of [those issues] is made far worse, and solutions to each are sabotaged, by the 115-decibel F-35 training flights in our city."

Since 2013, when the U.S. Air Force revealed that 20 or so next-generation fighter jets would be flying from the Vermont Air National Guard base, taking off roughly twice a day, Leas has become the most outspoken and persistent critic of the decision. Now he is running, he said, to give a voice to the people who feel there is nothing they can do about the extreme noise.

The 75-year-old patent attorney maintains a large noise complaint database and has a Substack newsletter titled "Cancel the F-35." Leas believes that SoBu, home to Burlington International Airport, which hosts the planes, has the legal power to ground the jets. He argues that if the F-35s were banished, 44 acres of land near the airport could be made available to build much-needed housing. (On Monday, he announced he'd received an endorsement from famed linguist and leftist political theorist Noam Chomsky.)

In the race for a three-year term, Leas faces political newcomer Andrew Chalnick. Chalnick, the global head of tax planning at JPMorgan Chase, has been endorsed by the city council chair, vice chair and a lengthy list of South Burlingtonians active in city government. His campaign has focused on supporting smart growth, combating climate change and increasing affordable housing.

Chalnick told Seven Days that he plans to advocate for those affected by the noise, though he does not believe the city has the power to get rid of the jets.

Said Leas, "We want to improve our community, and we all have ideas of how to improve it in different ways. Let the public decide which program sounds best. That's democracy."

Dismissed

Lincoln may finally be able to pull the plug and say goodbye to Mount Abraham Unified School District after Town Meeting Day. Its four fellow towns in the district — Bristol, Monkton, New Haven and Starksboro — will vote on whether to approve the financial details of Lincoln's withdrawal from the school district. 

After Mount Abraham announced in 2020 that it would likely close Lincoln's K-6 school due to dwindling enrollment, town residents voted by a 3-1 margin to withdraw from the school union. The state Board of Education ratified that decision in 2022, giving Lincoln unconditional approval to leave the district. And last May, Lincoln won begrudging approval from the Board of Education to separate from the Mount Abraham district and form an independent Lincoln School District.

At stake on Town Meeting Day are the terms of Lincoln's exit. The item on the ballot would transfer ownership of the Lincoln Community School and $74,754 of the district's reserve funds to the Lincoln School District.

"The fact of the matter is, it is in the best interest of all parties to make the [break] and keep moving forward," said Jennifer Oldham, board chair of Lincoln School District.

Mount Abraham district superintendent Patrick Reen agreed. "I think this is something that the taxpayers should support," he told Seven Days. Until the deal goes through, though, Mount Abraham owns the Lincoln school building, which would create complications if the exit agreement did not pass.

In the meantime, Lincoln's newly formed school board has been busy building a school district from the ground up: creating financial systems, setting up payrolls, purchasing technology and coordinating transportation. The board has raised more than $90,000 in donations to cover these startup costs.

"One of our goals is to demonstrate the viability of small schools and the value of them because of the unique opportunities they provide for children's education," Oldham said. "We want to challenge the de facto assumption that bigger is better."

A Rec Center at Last?

After nearly 22 years of planning, Colchester residents will decide whether or not to build a $16 million recreation center. Glen Cuttitta, the town's parks and recreation director, remembers discussions about a rec center dating back to 2000, when he started his job. Since then, he's been working to make the idea a reality, jumping over monetary hurdles that he said have slowed progress until now.

Article 7 on the Town Meeting Day ballot asks voters to approve a $6.9 million bond, and Cuttitta said he is optimistic. "Vermont winters can be cold, dark and lonely, with not a lot of recreational opportunities," he said.

Revenue from the town's 1 percent local option sales tax — approved by voters in 2015 — would pay for the center. To date, the tax has raised roughly $9 million, all of which would be applied to financing the project, along with the $6.9 million bond, which would be paid off by the existing local option tax revenue over 10 years.

"People like the way it's funded from a capital perspective," said Aaron Frank, Colchester's town manager.

The 29,427-square-foot recreation center would be built near the intersection of Blakely Road and East Lakeshore Drive and would feature an elevated track, gymnasium, weight room and studio spaces. It would have rooftop solar panels to reduce electric bills. Residents would be able to rent rooms for events and gatherings, which Cuttitta hopes would help bring the community together post-pandemic.

The parks and recreation department would manage the center and charge tiered membership fees for residents and nonresidents. A Colchester resident could expect to pay $50 a month, or $600 a year, to use the facilities. 

"That's kind of been the push all along," Cuttitta said. "To find those indoor recreation spaces to keep people socializing, active and healthy."

Justifying 'Just Cause'

Last May Vermont lawmakers fell just one vote short of overturning Gov. Phil Scott's veto of a bill that would have required landlords to have a "just cause" to evict tenants in Burlington. Now the "just cause" cause is back, with similar tenant-protection proposals on the March ballot in Brattleboro, Essex, Essex Junction and Winooski.

"Having multiple 'just cause' eviction charters across the state shows that this is not just a Burlington problem, it's a statewide problem," said Tom Proctor, an organizer with Rights & Democracy, the group that spearheaded the "just cause" eviction campaign. The ballot items were added as a result of resident petitions in all four communities.

In Winooski, the proposal follows a landlord's attempt last spring to evict 24 low-income, mostly refugee families from a downtown apartment complex in order to raise rents to market rate. While landlords Mark and Rick Bove later reversed their decision, Mayor Kristine Lott said the situation opened residents' eyes to the disproportionate effect eviction can have on already marginalized community members.

Lott said she believes a majority of residents support the "just cause" measure. "Anything that can be done to help people feel more stable in their housing feels like a good move," Lott said.

Still, opponents worry that "just cause" eviction measures would make it difficult for landlords to evict problem tenants. Proctor's response? "These are ballot protections to protect good renters from bad landlords. Good landlords don't need to worry."

No Troubled Teens in My Backyard

A number of Newbury residents have been loud and clear in their opposition to the state's plan to convert a former bed-and-breakfast into a juvenile detention facility. Now they hope the town's voters will turn up the volume even louder.

The center would help fill the void created when the state closed Woodside Juvenile Rehabilitation Center in Essex, the state's only youth detention center. The Newbury home could house up to six boys ages 12 to 17; its program would help teens address behaviors that could lead them to commit crimes.

But some residents feel Newbury is not the right place for such a project, citing the center's remote location and the town's lack of a police department.

The local Development Review Board unanimously denied the state's application in 2021, citing reasons including the adverse effect the detention center would have on the character of Newbury. State officials appealed to environmental court, where a judge overturned the local decision last fall. In a last-ditch effort, the town appealed to the Vermont Supreme Court, which has not yet ruled.

In the meantime, local opponents have succeeded in putting a question on the town meeting ballot, asking voters to tell the state "it is not appropriate to locate a high-security facility of this type in a conservation district designed for low-density agriculture, forestry, and residential use."

"We have no power," said Alma Roystan, chair of Newbury's selectboard. "I think [opponents] are hoping the outcome of the vote will have some influence on the state. But we won't know until after it happens." 

Calais Considers Giving a Dam

click to enlarge

• Jeb Wallace-Brodeur
• Curtis Pond in Calais

What would the village of Maple Corner be without its beloved Curtis Pond? Would there still be neighborhood ice hockey games, community swim lessons or "Dockstock," the floating pontoon boat concert?

Or worse: What would happen if the Curtis Pond Dam collapsed? Would homes be flooded? Would people be hurt?

These questions have been on residents' minds for nearly 25 years. State engineers classified the dam, built in 1900 on a tributary of Pekin Brook, as a "significant hazard" nearly 18 years ago. Its deterioration has continued, and neighbors say they've noticed the dam has a pronounced lean — as well as leaks.

"The fear is something we live with every day," said Jamie Moorby, vice president of the Curtis Pond Association.

Confronted with the possibility that the dam could collapse — and with no prospect of state money to fix it — Maple Corner residents have spent the past few years raising money to save their pond.

The five-year-old Curtis Pond Association has amassed nearly $220,000 through fundraising projects, including a summerlong concert series and by-donation pontoon boat rides. Alas, the sticker price for a dam renovation is still out of reach, at $700,000.

Those who love the pond hope voters in Calais, Maple Corner's town, will approve a $350,000 bond to help meet that price tag. The selectboard has agreed to provide an additional $100,000 in federal funds if the bond passed. The Curtis Pond Association hopes to reach its $250,000 fundraising goal in March through a GoFundMe campaign that's under way. If the bond and the fundraising are successful, reconstruction of the dam would begin in the spring.

"I've been talking about this issue for more than half of my life," Moorby said. "It will be great for it to be done."