City Council

southburlington VERMONT MINUTES CITY COUNCIL 17 NOVEMBER 2025 The South Burlington City Council held a regular meeting on Monday, 17 November 2025, at 6: 30 p. m., in the Auditorium, 180 Market Street, and by Zoom. MEMBERS PRESENT: T. Barritt, Chair; E. Fitzgerald, L. Smith, A. Chalnick, A. Pugh ALSO PRESENT: J. Baker, City Manager; Chief S. Locke, Deputy City Manager; P. Conner, Director of Planning & Zoning; I. Blanchard, Community Development Director; J. Slason, C. Forde, C. Shaw, B. Sirvis, J. Mitchell, C. Baker 1. Pledge of Allegiance: The Pledge of Allegiance was recited. 2. Instructions on exiting building in case of emergency and review of technology options: Chief Locke provided instructions on emergency exit from the building and reviewed technology options. 3. Additions, deletions or changes in the order of Agenda items: No changes were made to the Agenda. 4. Comments and questions from the public not related to the agenda: Mr. Shaw thanked Council members for their participation on the Board of Civil Authority. Mr. Shaw suggested better signage to welcome people to South Burlington, specifically at the Jug Handle and Route 7. He also suggested putting the City' s name on the new water tower. PAGE 1 Ms. Sirvis noted traffic confusion during the weekend at Dorset St./ Garden St. 5. Councilors Announcements and Reports on Committee Assignments and City Manager' s Report: Council members reported on recent meetings and events they had attended. Ms. Baker: The budget proposal will be finalized this week. The first Committee meeting for the permanent Superintendent of Schools was held this evening. 6. Consent Agenda: a. Consider and Sign Disbursements b. Approve the submission of a loan application in the amount of 30,202, 470 to the State Revolving Loan Program for construction of the Bartlett Bay Wastewater Treatment Facility Reconstruction Project c. Receive the City staff' s preliminary assessment of Governor Scott' s Executive Order # 06- 25 Mr. Chalnick moved to approve items " a" and " b" of the Consent Agenda. Mr. Smith seconded. Motion passed unanimously. With regard to item " c," Mr. Chalnick noted the impact is for EV charging spaces, specifically parking standards. Mr. Conner said the Order reverts to the 2020 standards. Mr. Chalnick questioned how the City will react. Follow it? Wait and see? If " follow it" is the answer, can the LDRs be changed? Mr. Barritt said there is a question as to whether the Executive Order is legal. He suggested doing nothing until that is determined. Mr. Chalnick asked if the Order is determined to be legal, can the City pass its own ordinance to get what it thought it had. Mr. McNeil said a number of other communities have the same questions. He suggested approaching it with an eye to what impact it has on South Burlington. CITY COUNCIL 17 NOVEMBER 2025 PAGE 2 Mr. Chalnick asked if while the City is waiting to see if the Order is legal, could what the City thought they had be " hard- coded" into the LDRs. Mr. McNeil said it would have to go through the whole Planning Commission process. Mr. Smith asked what the repercussions would be for agreeing/ non agreeing with the Order. Mr. McNeil said the question is what authority the Legislature has. Authority comes from the State. Whether it is from the Legislature or the Governor, the municipality needs to comply. Mr. Chalnick said he thought the Order seemed to be a" bit of overreach." The question is whether the City waits and then deals with what happens if an applicant takes the issue to Court. He felt the City should act quickly to correct the hole." Mr. Barritt did not want to take any action that might be wasteful of time. Mr. Chalnick said they need to be " nimble" to react to circumstances and not be wedded to schedules and plans. Mr. McNeil said he can do some research to see if the City can draft its own energy code. Ms. Pugh said she did not think the City Council is the right body to question the legality of the Order. They need to focus on the budget. There are other State organizations better suited to take on the legal question. Ms. Fitzgerald asked what other priorities may be " slow- walked" if staff/ committees were reassigned to review this at this time. Mr. Chalnick said it is already in the LDRs. It' s just a cut/ paste job. It would fix the rules to be what they were thought to be. Mr. Smith asked if there are projects in the pipeline now that would be impacted by the Executive Order. Mr. Conner said there have only been a few applications that would trigger the City' s 2024 code. He noted that the Executive Order does say a municipality can comply with the 2024 code if it chooses. Mr. Smith added he wasn' t opposed to having Mr. Chalnick write up something so it is ready if needed. Ms. Baker said her preference is have the Council provide policy direction and let the professional staff do the work. CITY COUNCIL 17 NOVEMBER 2025 PAGE 3 A straw vote of the Council opposed doing anything at this time by a 3- 2 vote, with Smith and Chalnick in the minority. Councilor Barritt then shifted to suggest that he would support Councilor Chalnick drafting something. Mr. Smith then moved to accept item " c" of the Consent Agenda. Mr. Chalnick seconded. Motion passed unanimously. 7. Receive the Annual Report of the Chittenden County Regional Planning Commission: Mr. Baker reviewed his written report. He noted the number of projects CCRPC has worked on with the city including: the active transportation plan, parking management plan, road crossings and This year' s projects have water quality. include scoping for Williston Road/ Mary Street, phase 2 of the active transportation plan, and EV charging in multi- unit buildings. Other projects, not specifically related to South Burlington have included the Regional Plan, housing, water, and the Regional Transportation Safety Action Plan ( which makes all communities eligible to apply for federal funding). They also try to do an elected officials forum several times a year. The next Legislative Breakfast will be on 10 December 2025. 8. Receive the Annual Town Meeting TV Annual Report and FY27 Budget Request: Ms. Mitchell reviewed history of Town Meeting TV and whom they serve. She the noted they did 1, 657 programs last year, 351 of which were municipal meetings. They did 5 meetings a month for South Burlington, 53 of which were for the City Council. She urged the City to reach out of there are areas they are not covering. Ms. Mitchell noted that funding from cable revenue is declining. They are asking for a 5% increase in FY 27. This would 25, 525 for South Burlington plus mean $ 28, 275 for production ( no increase from last year). Mr. Barritt asked if their hard drive files are backed up. Ms. Mitchell said they are, at several levels. They have digitized most DVDs. Ms. Fitzgerald asked if the City decides what meetings are recorded. Ms. Baker said it is by Statute. CITY COUNCIL 17 NOVEMBER 2025 PAGE 4 Ms. Baker praised the work of Travis Washington and other Town Meeting TV people who record South Burlington events. 9. Receive a presentation on the City' s Parking Management Plan and consider accepting the plan substantially in the same form as presented: Ms. Blanchard noted the new businesses moving into City Center and noted the City had contracted with RSG to look into a parking management plan to addressed concerns with on- street parking. Mr. Slasson of RSG showed the area they had considered in their study and also identified the City Center " core." He noted there are about 10, 000 parking spaces within a 15 minute walk of City Hall. Not all of these are in high demand. Activities in City Center are changing which creates new parking demands. The proposed plan identifies options to leverage all available parking spaces. In the absence of a parking management plan, highly desirable parking spaces in front of residences and businesses may not be available for those with 2- hour parking needs. Mr. Slasson then outlined the parking management goals as follows: a. Enable visitors to park once and then walk to all destinations b. Respond to changes in parking patterns, demand, sensitivity to prices c. Operate in a fiscally responsible manner d. Support continued development and redevelopment of City Center, including the Williston Road corridor and San Remo Drive Strategies to attain the goals include: a. Options for walking b. Time limits ( 2 hours) c. Paid parking ($ 1. 00 an hour) d. Shared parking: a public system of signage and enforcement and pricing across lots e. Monitoring and adjusting over time f. Improved travel options by non- automobile modes Mr. Slasson then showed graphs of proposed impact and management strategies. CITY COUNCIL 17 NOVEMBER 2025 PAGE 5 The expectation is that on- street parking will be highly utilized. If that is managed, the anticipation is that parking there will go down and people will use off-street lots or private garages. There are 273 on- street spaces. The proposed plan includes on- street parking management, kiosks and mobile applications, off-street parking coordination, and optimized parking limitation. Overnight parking would be free. Mr. Barritt said he would want it to be highly visible that someone is pulling into a non- municipal parking area. People also need to be warned that there is no overnight on- street parking from December through March. Ms. Pugh asked if there will be fines for " overstaying." Ms. Baker said the Council will have to decide that. Ms. Pugh said there should be consideration for people attending events at City Hall. Mr. Slasson said they have considered that. City Hall parking fills up then moves further out. People will have to walk further. Mr. Chalnick said he would like to see 2- hour free parking with a test to see how it works. He also said it feels wrong to charge people coming to City Hall for meetings and also seniors coming to activities at the Senior Center. He suggested some kind of permit system. He would do a pilot before full implementation to see how it works. Mr. Slasson stressed that the goal is flexible implementation. Ms. Fitzgerald said it would be hard to " visualize" Market Street with all that hardware" on it ( signage, kiosks...) Ms. Baker asked the Council their " risk tolerance" of using other funds to enable free parking, etc. Mr. Chalnick said he would like to see how it works with free parking. Forget the kiosks and eliminate the visual impact. Mr. Smith questioned why someone should have to pay to go to City Hall. Mr. Barritt said the only way to control the demand is to have people pay for it. Ms. Pugh supported keeping it as an enterprise and noted it will take a " mindset change." She also suggested the possibility of " free parking days." CITY COUNCIL 17 NOVEMBER 2025 PAGE 6 Ms. Fitzgerald said equity issues big for her. She suggested scaling it so the are initial investment goes down over 3 years, then it is an enterprise. Ms. Baker said staff will now spend time developing an implementation plan. Mr. Chalnick said it seems wrong to ask people to pay to do a community service by attending meetings. Mr. Smith then moved to accept the Parking Management Plan. Ms. Pugh seconded. Motion passed unanimously. 10. Receive an update on TIF District revenue and expenditure projections and TIF District capital projects: Ms. Blanchard said the district is doing very well. If the City did nothing there are many years in which the City would carry TIF debt. If the City does more, it is possible to reach a benefit by 2038. What is needed is to improve the permitting processes in order to keep development happening. The City is on track with growth, depending on when it happens. If it happens earlier, the City get more benefit. More development at the tail end is needed to pay off the investment. Ms. Baker noted that what has been done to date was green field development and infill development will require more coordination. Ms. Fitzgerald asked if market forces are also involved. Ms. Blanchard said the City continually adjusts its projections. Despite everything, there is still an appetite todevelop. What is needed is continuing communication to know what challenges developers are having. Mr. Barritt said there isn' t much development left on Market Street, but San Remo has a lot of parking lots. Ms. Blanchard said there is interest there; it will be a process. Mr. Chalnick asked when the bonds mature. Ms. Blanchard said the last payment is in 2038. The City will have to provide additional funds until then. Mr. Chalnick asked that the Council get information on the year the bonds were issued, when the bonds are paid down, and the net balance. CITY COUNCIL 17 NOVEMBER 2025 PAGE 7 Mr. Barritt asked if there is anything else the Council can do to promote development in the area. Ms. Baker said the Council has made some helpful changes over the past few years. Mr. Barritt cited the need for more housing. Ms. Baker said staff is talking with people every week. Mr. Smith asked how to make use of the TDRs and to make good on the system the City set up. Ms. Baker said those conversations are happening. Ms. Blanchard said last week there was a walk- through for Garden Street East. She cited the amazing job done by Public Works and noted there will be lights in the spring and bike/ ped connections on both sides. The City Center Park is also making strides. The first section of the boardwalk is being installed and will be open to the public in the spring. Mr. Smith asked if the park is open at night causing the need for lights. Ms. Blanchard said because it is a path to the schools, the decision was made to install low- level lighting. Ms. Blanchard also noted the Williston Road streetscape is also underway. The City is still acquiring property for that project. The walk- ride bridge bids came in substantially higher than anticipated, and the City is working to rebid the project as soon as possible so the federal grants don' t erode. Some changes to the project include reduced landscaping on the inside of the project, the barrier along the bridge for pedestrians will have no handrail, etc. Staff is also looking at other projects to see if there are funds that can be re- allocated to the bridge Some connections will be put into a phase 2 that project. can be bid later on. With all of this, there is still a $ 2, 500, 000 funding gap, and the City can' t go to bid until they can prove the funding is there. VTrans has a funding program that opens in April, and the city should be competitive in that. Using funds from Garden Street ( phase 3) and capital reserve funds may make up the deficit. 11. Receive the FY26 Policy, Priorities and Strategies Report # 1: Ms. Baker reported that progress has been made. Mr. Smith asked about progress with the Sextons piece. Ms. Baker said the Council will receive a recommendation with the FY27 Proposed Budget. CITY COUNCIL 17 NOVEMBER 2025 PAGE 8  12. Review the significant agenda topics for the Council' s 1 December 2025 City Council meeting: a. FY 27 Budget: City Manager' s Proposed Budget b. TIF Financing of capital projects and potential Vermont Economic Progress Council ( VEPC) substantial change request c. Discuss integrating the Safe Routes to School Task Force with the Bike/ Ped Committee and possibly take action. 13. Other Business: Mr. Chalnick said not building condos is creating friction. Builders can' t get construction loans because units have to be pre- sold, and they can' t be pre- sold because of Fanny May/ Freddy Mac rules. He felt there should be Council discussion of this as people want to build equity in their homes. Ms. Baker said it would be interesting to bring in commercial banks for that discussion. Ms. Baker noted that the ribbon- cutting for the shared- use path at the Airport will be on Wednesday at 9 a. m. As there was no further business to come before the Council Mr. Chalnick moved to adjourn. Mr. Smith seconded. Motion passed unanimously. The meeting was adjourned at 9: 45 p. m. Clerk CITY COUNCIL 17 NOVEMBER 2025 PAGE 9