Calendar of Upcoming Civic Engagement Opportunities
March 6 Development Review Board (DRB)
7 PM City Council Chambers, City Hall and on Zoom
Join Zoom meeting Link: https://us06web.zoom.us/j/83338204128 Call In: (929) 205-6099 Meeting ID: 833 3820 4128
On the agenda is an application for final subdivision and site plan review of related infrastructure requirements for the proposed Stonewall Meadows Neighborhood housing development (aka: 0 Isabel Circle).
(See Commentary on Housing Development and Public Engagement, below)
March 7 Town Meeting Day Voting
The City Clerk’s Office will be open 7AM-7 PM for in-person voting.
Early voting ends Monday 3/6 at 4:30 PM. Until then you can still go to the City Clerk’s Office to drop off a ballot you’ve already filled out OR obtain a ballot and fill it out there OR take a ballot home with you to fill out and drop off later that day. It is too late to mail in an early ballot.
March 8 Homelessness Task Force Meeting
11:30 AM - 1:00 PM City Hall and Virtual Meeting via Zoom
Meeting Agenda, Meeting Room, and Zoom Invitation link not yet posted but should be available by 11:30 AM 3/6/23 under Agendas & Minutes Click on “Homelessness Task Force” (3/8/2023).
(See Commentary on Homelessness in Montpelier, below)
March 8 City Council Meeting
6:30 PM City Hall, City Council Chambers and via Zoom
Join Zoom Invitation link: https://us06web.zoom.us/j/82048636899?pwd=WUdNbTZ0QVFSeDV1TjJOb09NOGhldz09
Meeting ID: 820 4863 6899 Passcode: 411837 One tap mobile: (312)-626-6799
(See Commentary on Engaging with a new Mayor and City Council, below.)
March 9 Vermont College of Fine Arts Community Meeting
7PM at the VCFA College Hall Chapel (36 College St.)
(See Commentary on Housing Development and Public Engagement, below)
March 13 Public Hearing on Proposed 102-110 Northfield St. Project by Central Vermont Habitat for Humanity (CVHFH)
5:30PM Montpelier City Hall, Memorial Room
In-person only; no video recording will be made. Anyone needing special accommodations should contact Zachariah Watson, Executive Director, Central VT Habitat for Humanity zach@centralvermonthabitat.org.
(See Commentary on Housing Development and Public Engagement, below)
Commentary: Engaging with a new Mayor and City Council
There has rarely been a time when Public Engagement in Montpelier civic affairs has been more important than at this time, due to:
- repeated infrastructure problems affecting city residents (potholes, water main breaks, water pressure damage, etc.)
- Town Meeting Day voting on a large city budget and bond issues that may not have been well-understood by many
- a housing crisis at all levels, especially for workforce and lower income folks
- the evolving plans for the now City-owned Country Club Road Site
- the imminent sales of most of the buildings on the Vermont College of Fine Arts (VCFA) campus and the transfer of their educational programs to the Colorado Springs campus of Colorado College
- uncertainty about the impact of property value reassessments
- increasing homelessness
- increasing municipal and school district budgets and their impact on property taxes
- and more.
All of which leads to this plea to Montpelier residents: Get involved
There are those in city government who clearly believe (and have even publicly remarked) that the majority of Montpelier’s residents are satisfied to leave it to the “pros” to take actions if/when appropriate or, as some officials have suggested, most residents simply “don’t care” about such matters; that it is only some of those who are most directly impacted by issues who speak up (as if this were a disqualifier); and that some of us who call for greater municipal government transparency and pro-activity are somehow promoting “their own agenda.”
All residents of Montpelier are urged to demonstrate to the City Manager, the City Council, and the relevant City Departments that you do care about these matters; that you want the city to be more proactive in matters such as the City’s loss of VCFA and NECI; that you expect appropriate City departments to be more accountable for planning and implementing ways to successfully address critical needs such as resilient long-term water, sewer and traffic infrastructure; and that you are concerned about the city’s lack of clarity and transparency about matters such as budgets, bond issues, city contracts, and performance reviews of the City Manager and city department heads.
Readers are encouraged to attend in person or via Zoom the first post-election City Council meeting to be held under the leadership of Montpelier’s new Mayor, the first new mayor in five year. Attend and help to welcome newly-elected City Council members from District 2 and 3 and to welcome back veteran members Dona Bate and Lauren Hierl from District 1, “sophomore” member Cary Brown from District 3, and “rookie” member Pelin Kohn from District 2.
We owe all of these fellow-residents of Montpelier a real debt of gratitude for being willing and able to put in the time and effort required to carry out the substantial responsibilities of being a City Council member (or Mayor).
At the same time, by the numbers of our presence and through what some of us may wish to state at the meeting as members of the public, we should let these public servants know that we expect the Mayor and City Council to exercise their due diligence and fiduciary responsibility to oversee the efforts of the City Manager and the departments that report to him and hold them accountable for results.
How can you, as residents, make your voices heard at City Hall?
Attend City Council meetings in person or on Zoom and speak out on issues you care about.
Write letters to the editor or Commentaries in VTDigger, Seven Days, Times-Argus, and The Bridge.
Email the City Manager, all City Council members (especially those from your voting district), and relevant City department Directors and staff.
Attend in person or on Zoom and speak out on issues under consideration at appropriate public hearings by the Development Review Board (DRB), Planning Commission, and other regulatory City entities, as well as meetings of any city committee, all of which are open to attendance and speech under the State of Vermont’s Open Meeting Law.
If you’ve never or rarely attended a City Council or other City committee meeting, scroll to the bottom of this Issue for PEN Tips on how and when to do so.
Commentary: Housing Development & Public Engagement
In the Commentary on Housing Development and Public Engagement PEN in Issue #5, we stated:
PEN strongly encourages developers and property owners to meet early and often with neighbors (not just abutters) and the community at large to share their goals for a proposed development, to listen to the concerns raised by community members, to seek resolutions that will be win-wins; and to do so well before entering into any of the required permitting steps:
the Sketch Review, which the Zoning Administrator refers to as “informal” although it is anything but informal
the Final Application, which may or may not involve a Development Review Board (DRB) public hearing, as staff often may rule on permitted uses without having a public hearing before the DRB.
Appeals, which needless to say feature lawyers and can get ugly pretty quickly
Over the next 10 days (March 6-13), there will be three excellent opportunities for Montpelier residents to participate in discussions about three major property development possibilities that could shape the city for decades and to compare and contrast the manner in which each of these public meetings is carried out and the extent to which the public has been engaged.
The March 6 Development Review Board (DRB) meeting to consider the final subdivision and site plan review of related infrastructure requirements for the proposed Stonewall Meadows Neighborhood housing development.
(See Calendar above).
Attending this (or any other DRB) meeting may give members of the public a clearer idea of the highly formal manner in which these meetings are carried out and the circumscribed opportunities for public comment at such meetings.
To prepare for attending this meeting, whether in-person or via Zoom, it may be quite useful to read “What should I do if I’m interested in participating in a remote meeting? “ and “What can I expect at the meeting?”--- two sections of the otherwise somewhat out-of-date (4/21/20) instructions for attending DRB or Design Review Committee (DRC) meetings, provided on the city website here.
The March 9 Vermont College of Fine Arts (VCFA) Community Meeting
This open community meeting at VCFA is being held by the college along with the team that plans to purchase three of the campus buildings in order to begin a constructive dialogue with the community and provide Montpelier residents with the concrete information they need to help them participate in determining the future of the campus and the College Hill neighborhood.
As most readers of PEN are aware, the Vermont College of Fine Arts had previously announced that it had withdrawn its Campus Master Plan/PUD application to the DRB “after careful and deliberate consideration of community feedback.” And that they stated: “although the college is withdrawing from the DRB process, our goal is not to end the conversations with the community about our future plans.”
March 13 Public Hearing on Proposed 102-110 Northfield St. Project by Central Vermont Habitat for Humanity (CVHFH)
CVHFH is hosting a public hearing to provide community members the opportunity to review and comment on the results of the feasibility study that was conducted for a Carbon Negative Affordable Housing Development to be located at 102-110 Northfield St. in Montpelier. CVHFH will review the concept design plans and present the results from the feasibility study as well as the cost estimate for the proposed project. They will also discuss possible next steps.You can see the official public notice on page 18 of the Feb. 22nd edition of the Montpelier Bridge here.
This will have been the third public meeting run by CVHFH regarding their proposed mixed-income neighborhood development project, all as part of their thorough public engagement process, which has also included a number of smaller meetings on-site and elsewhere with abutters, other neighbors, stakeholders, and other interested individuals. In addition, the Planning Commission has held 2 public hearings and a final public meeting regarding rezoning to make this development possible.
I suspect that any reader who attends one or more of the above opportunities for public engagement (or has done so in the past), will understand why the Commentary on Housing Development and Public Engagement in PEN Issue #5 concluded with this statement:
It is to be regretted that the City government does not appear to encourage developers and property owners to make such public engagement efforts early and often. In fact, the previous Montpelier Community Development Specialist actively discouraged such efforts, claiming that the primary barrier to housing development in Montpelier was NIMBYism, a view that still seems to be held by others in City government who persistently cite “community interference” as a principal reason why developers aren’t much interested in Montpelier for their projects.
Commentary: Homelessness in Montpelier
This issue of PEN was originally scheduled to focus entirely on Homelessness in Montpelier, but so much is up in the air right now---in the legislature, among the various regional social service agencies, and here locally in Montpelier--- that we’re postponing a deeper dive until at least some of this is resolved.
In the meantime, we urge residents to stay abreast of news related to homelessness in our region and the state (VT Digger, Times Argus, The Bridge, Vermont Public) and possibly to participate in efforts to address this growing challenge.
Some of the issues and events to watch, understand, and perhaps even become involved with include:
The FY 2024 State budget provisions for emergency housing. The Governor’s budget calls for roughly $30 million ($26M for general assistance and adverse weather emergency housing and under $4 M for emergency shelter maintenance and expansion.) This is tragically insufficient to meet the needs of the more than 2200 adults and 600 children who were living in Vermont without permanent housing, as of January 13, 2023.
Over the next few weeks, the Vermont House will be working on its own budget proposals (to be followed by the Senate’s proposals shortly thereafter), so the time is now for concerned citizens to write and/or call the appropriate* members of the House to urge that they appropriate sufficient funding to provide basic shelter for every Vermonter experiencing homelessness until there is enough permanent affordable housing for all who seek it.
* House Speaker Jill Krowinski (jkrowinski@leg.state.vt.us and https://speaker.vermont.gov/content/contact), our own representatives (CCasey@leg.state.vt.us and kmccann@leg.state.vt.us) as well as members of the House Committee on Human Services (listed here, click on their names to get email addresses.)
The Homelessness Task Force (HTF) special meeting this Wednesday (3/8). The primary agenda will be to discuss possible ways for the community to prepare for the likelihood of an increase in homelessness in Montpelier over the next year.
Despite the legislature’s Budget Adjustment bill that would extend the emergency housing program through June 30 (VTDigger, 2/28/23), even if approved by both houses and signed by the governor, according to this Digger article: “it would limit eligibility after May 31 to only people fleeing domestic violence, families with children, those aged 60 and over, pregnant people, people with disabilities, and certain households that recently lost their housing.”
Thus, on June 1 people who are considered to be “non-prioritized” are likely to be exited from the motels where they have been living under the state’s emergency housing program, many since the start of the pandemic. The Department of Children and Families (DCF) estimates that eligibility after May 31 would be limited to 1045 of the 1800 “households” (which include more than 500 children) now living in motels under the current emergency housing program .
Then, what happens after June 30 will depend on the FY 24 budget. However, right now the amount of money proposed by the Governor and even the amounts being discussed by the legislature are woefully insufficient and are likely to exit significant numbers of people statewide from the motels with no certain prospect of emergency housing, a number of whom will end up on the streets and woods of Montpelier, Barre, and Berlin.
Where will they sleep? Benches along the multi-use path? In their cars? Where will they shelter? Tents in Hubbard Park? Where will they relieve themselves? The alleyways of downtown?
No one wants this to happen, but what actions are we willing to take to make sure it does not come to this? What can and will we do as a City (government) and a community of compassionate individuals and faith communities to address this challenge?
Readers are encouraged to attend the special Homelessness Task Force (HTF) meeting this March 8 (see Calendar above) and regular HTF meetings every other week. (Check here for regular HTF meeting dates and Zoom links.)
PEN Tips: How to participate in Meetings of the Montpelier City Council and City Committees
Consistent with the State of Vermont Open Meeting Law, members of the public in Montpelier are afforded basically two kinds of opportunity to speak at any and all such meetings:
During an Agenda item (often called “General Business and Appearances”) that usually occurs near the start of the meeting and is often used by members of the public to speak about matters that are not otherwise on the agenda for that meeting.
During discussion of a matter that is on the agenda
The way both of these opportunities are generally managed in Montpelier is that members of the public who wish to speak on either of these occasions, must raise their hands (in person or via Zoom), be recognized by the chair, and make their comments completely and concisely; i.e. If they have more than one question or comment to make, they are supposed to do so at that time; they generally will not be allowed follow-up questions or comments even under the rare circumstances that they get a response from the chair or other member of the body.
This is how “public participation” is managed in Montpelier “open meetings,” so prepare yourself. We recommend that ahead of the meeting, you write out your comments, time yourself reading them at an understandable rate, and edit them so you get it down to roughly two minutes. If you feel that what you have to say simply cannot be handled in that time frame, you should consider presenting a brief oral version of your statement at the meeting and emailing your full statement ahead of time to the appropriate committee staff to include in the agenda packet for members to read before the meeting and/or bring printed copies to be distributed at the meeting. Anyone choosing to go this route is free to email us for some further coaching on how to meet agenda packet deadlines.
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