Burlington's city council took another step towards what could be the biggest development in the history of the city. A new between the city and the developers of the Burlington Town Center established a series of checks to keep the proposed development of the mall and surrounding streets moving forward.
The agreement contains several proposals including reconnecting St. Paul Street between Bank and Cherry Street and doing the same with Pine Street a block down.
The plan would also , expanding retail and office space, building up to 274 apartments and a parking garage with 925 park spaces.
When he first saw the mall, Don Sinex didn't think it was meeting its potential. Sinex is a managing partner at Devonwood Investors and he owns the Burlington Town Center.
"What we're trying to do at this point is take a suburban mall out of the downtown and in its stead place a mixed use project which complements and deserves fittingly to be in a downtown," Sinex said.
The new structure would be the tallest building in Burlington, and its height has drawn criticism.
During the city council's public forum, resident Genese Grill brought a cardboard cityscape up the table. The representation of the new building towered over the rest of the model city and Grill, hidden behind the structure, voiced her concerns.
"The current height of the city can be folded into the proposed future skyline," said Grill. "It's literally twice as big. Other locations, if we waive the height restrictions will also want to go high. Developers will knock down historic, unique, beautiful buildings to get the height."
Others were uneasy about the rapid pace of the project, the mix of housing being built and lack of a physical model that would give the public a sense of the development's scale.
But not everyone was skeptical of the project. Many people voiced their support, saying they hoped it would revitalize the downtown and allow more people to actually live downtown.
Scott Baldwin, a former member of the Burlington Planning Commission said he took a walk that day and tried to picture the new mall.
"In my humble and somewhat educated opinion, given the planned siting of the 14-story building away from what planners call view corridors, this building is not too tall." 鈥� Scott Baldwin, former member of the Burlington Planning Commission
"While this whole exercise was not very scientific, in my humble and somewhat educated opinion, given the planned siting of the 14-story building away from what planners call view corridors, this building is not too tall," Baldwin said.
The city council overwhelmingly voted to approve the pre-development agreement.
Many pointed out the predevelopment was just another step in a larger process and there would be plenty of time to address concerns about the project in the future.
One of the next steps is for the city council to approve an amendment to the zoning ordinance to allow for a building up to 160 feet high.
