Wards 4 & 7 NPA

10/22/25 NPA Monthly Meeting notes 6:00 Free Community Dinner from Stephen Brown | 30 mins o Baked Ziti Vegetarian + meat option; GF option; Salad; Dessert 6:30pm Welcome | 5 mins Additional agenda items suggested and needed to be voted on to add to the agenda last minute: o Remove “share volunteer opportunities” o Yes = 37 o No = 0 o Abstain = 1 o Add presentation about North Avenue Bike Lane Pilot o Yes = 39 o No = 0 o Abstain = 2 o Add presentation about Free Speech o Yes = 34 o No = 1 o Abstain = 3 Adopt the agenda+ Ground Rules: Reviewed o Listen to each other o Treat others respectfully o Share your opinion politely o Respect the agenda and process 6:35pm Introductions | 5 mins Introduce ourselves with name, pronoun and ward 6:40pm Open Forum | 15 mins Invite residents to make short announcements, share neighborhood updates and upcoming events – Several community members spoke about local events and concerns 6:50pm Kimberly Rojas - City Planning | 15 mins o City of Burlington Comprehensive Plan presented by City Planning – Sarah Morgan came to speak on behalf of Kimberly Rojas. Powerpoint presentation to talk about planBTV: 2050. smorgan@burlingtonvt.gov o planBTV has several subsections (NNE, Open Space, Walk/Bike, and others) o last municipal plan update was 2019, new ones are every 8 years o looking for holistic and coordinated planning for livable and equitable community o Importance of Mobility; Economic Development; Parks, Rec, Waterfront; greenspace o Visioning Sessions upcoming o www.burlingtonvt.gov/planbtv2050 o Plan BTV: NNE – currently at the end of phase 2. There will be another large scale meeting before the end of the year. www.Burlingtonvt.gov/planbtv/NNE o Questions – there was not time for questions, so folks were directed to talk with Sarah Morgan. 7:05pm Gather Input re: North Ave Bike Lane Pilot | 20 minutes o Jack Evans informs about North Ave PBL Demonstration project – Presented information about the current pilot project to the group. They received 500 survey responses in less than a week. The project is supported by the DPW and community citizens. Project is low cost. The posts belong to the city; some have been damaged during the pilot. Regarding concerns were reviewed by the fire department chief and they have no concerns. Contact information for the presenters – flyers were distributed with survey option – community can contact: Jack@localmotion.org o Questions – We did stacked questions so that there was fairness in people being able to ask questions. Conversation became quite contentious. One person left after being told they would be asked to leave if they didn’t calm down. 7:25pm Information re: Free Speech Open letter to City Council | 30 minutes o Explain the initiative to put the Apartheid Free Community Pledge on the Town Meeting ballot. Joy Ming Social Studies teacher at Hunt Middle School was lead presenter. He gave overview of what apartheid is and how it is happening in Israel/Gaza currently. Resources for more information were provided. Including how US and Burlington and Vermont tax dollars are used to fund military aid. o Duncan Kreps (?) spoke about local efforts, specifically the “Apartheid Free Community Pledge.” (AFC) History – Per city charter if 5% of the population sign a petition then an issue can be put on the ballot. He shared an open letter to the city council and the mayor. o NPA can write and pass resolutions – is this true? How is this done? o Individuals were asked to sign and submit a pledge to the city; share on FPF o Questions – Contentious discussion followed o Motion to add 5 minutes to the meeting time due to long discussion o Yes - 25 o No - 0 o Abstain - 2 7:55pm Future NPA Meeting Suggestions | 5 minutes Did not have time for this item, but we did collect written ideas from participants answering 4 questions: 1. What is your favorite part of the NPA meetings? 2. What is one thing you would want to see improved about the NPA meetings 3. What ideas do you have for future NPA meetings? 4. What topics, people or organizations do you want to see on future NPA agendas? o Take feedback and ideas about what residents would like to see or hear at upcoming NPA meetings o Presenter Request form: https://www.burlingtonvt.gov/221/NPA-Request-Form 8:00pm Adjourn o Our next meeting will be Wednesday December 17th. See you there! Ward 4/7 NPA Steering Committee members: Annie Lawson, Joanne Hunt, Amy Bielawski- Branch, Sarah Diaz, Stephen Brown, Jane McDonald To email the full steering committee: wards4-7npasc@googlegroups.com Notes submitted by Amy Bielawski-Branch