While South Burlington’s current regulations provide for only fifty foot buffers and in certain cases one-hundred foot buffers, the best science, along with the Vermont Agency of Natural Resources, advise us to provide 300-foot buffers around wetlands, rivers, and streams in order to provide functional connectivity for many wildlife species. The Mapping Vermont’s Natural Heritage report concludes that “in your town, your specific conservation goals will dictate how wide an area to consider for protection around a stream or lake. These areas are often referred to as riparian buffers … a 330-foot buffer will protect nearly all the functions we value, including high-quality cover for many wildlife species.”
South Burlington is presently blessed with abundant wildlife as documented in this map of local mammal sightings and these videos captured by a backyard camera. While South Burlington has now mapped its habitat blocks, the City’s own consultants said in their study that this is insufficient to really protect the wildlife that lives among us. They advise that we need to also provide buffers around the habitat blocks and protect more of the surrounding fields and shrubby areas.
Equally critical is the protection of South Burlington’s remaining grasslands for ground-nesting birds and pollinators, and the protection of our remaining agricultural soils for food security in the face of a changing climate.
With the climate changing, the need for the environmental services provided by our natural resource lands will only grow.
The 2021 Vermont Climate Assessment concludes that roughly 70 bird species are expected to disappear from Vermont in the next 25 years, including the common loon and hermit thrush. Climate change is making conditions less favorable for several Vermont tree species—including the iconic sugar maple—and exacerbating threats (invasive plants, insects, diseases) to forests. Warming waters will have adverse effects on lakes and rivers, including increased risk of harmful algal blooms and reduced biodiversity.
The draft Vermont Climate Action Plan assessed how much carbon and other greenhouse gases are being stored in Vermont’s AFOLU — agriculture, forestry, and other land uses (grasslands, shrublands, wetland, water bodies, urban and developed lands) and concluded that Vermont’s AFOLU currently offsets about 41% of the State’s gross GHG emissions, but since 1990 there has been a 36% decline in the strength of Vermont’s AFOLU’s carbon sinks. The plan states “[t]he capacity of Vermont’s AFOLU sector to continue to sequester and store carbon depends on its continued existence (e.g., land use conversion to development releases stored carbon and prevents future sequestration), health (e.g., AFOLU sector can be negatively affected by climate change, pollution, and degradation), and human decisions on land and water management, all of which can affect the rates of carbon sequestration and GHG emissions” and stresses land conservation as one of the keys to address climate change.
Building massive residential developments on natural resource lands will not only contribute to accelerating climate change, but it will also will eliminate the very natural resources which mitigate climate disasters.
The important natural resource areas in South Burlington are well known after numerous studies commissioned by the City and City committees. Among some of those studies are:
- The Open Space Report (2014)
- The Sustainable Agriculture Report (2013)
- The Leduc Farm Landscape Report (2006)
- The Wildlife & Natural Resources Assessment of the Southeast Quadrant (2005)
- The Study of Breeding Birds in the Southeast Quadrant (2004)
- Where the Wild Things Are in South Burlington (2002)
- South Burlington Open Space Strategy (2002)
The results of these studies are reflected in the maps of primary conservation areas (Map 7) and secondary conservation areas (Map 8) contained in the City’s 2016 Comprehensive Plan. The Comprehensive Plan states that primary conservation areas are “off limits to development, regardless of their setting or context” and only “limited encroachment” is permissible on secondary conservation areas. The results are also reflected in the Open Space Interim Zoning Committee Final Report (2020) which after assessing 190 of the largest parcels in South Burlington identified the 25 highest priority parcels for open space conservation.
Yet, many of these areas have already succumbed to development. Seventy-five percent of the agricultural soils that at one time existed in South Burlington have been transformed into highways, airport runways, parking lots, buildings, lawns, sports fields or solar farms. South Burlington has already been fragmented into 7,700 separate parcels of land and has 9500 residential homes. Many of the remaining areas – including priority parcels identified by the Open Space Interim Zoning Committee – are under intense threat from relentless development pressure with another 1465 new residential homes in the pipeline (click here for a map of pending homes) and several other large development proposals under consideration.
Studies also universally show that building residential homes on open spaces results in higher taxes. One study concludes that for every dollar of property tax revenue from a new residential home built on former open space the cost to the City and taxpayers will be $1.19 for new infrastructure and services. Another summarized dozens of studies and concluded that “While residential development brings with it new tax (and fee) revenue, it also brings demand for local government services. The cost of providing these services exceeds the revenue generated by the new houses in every case studied”.
VOTE acknowledges the report commissioned by the City which purported to find that residential development would not lead to higher taxes. This report is fatally flawed because it did not take into account the impact of a growing population on homestead education taxes. By neglecting this, the report fails to factor in that as South Burlington’s population increases the need for more school infrastructure increases, which leads to a higher budget spend per pupil and – under the State’s funding formula –a proportionate increase in education taxes. This is exactly the concern that led to the debate – and defeat – of the $209 million bond proposed in March 2020 for a new high school in South Burlington.
When eco-system benefits from these natural resource areas and the increased taxes that result from developing these areas are considered together it becomes obvious that developing natural resources for residential homes is fiscally unsound.
VOTE recognizes the need to provide good quality affordable housing. South Burlington should be proud that while it has only 13% of Chittenden County’s population it contains 23% of the county’s affordable housing and over 800 “income restricted” homes. Also, based on the latest re-appraisal, over half of all residential homes in South Burlington are valued under $325,000.
VOTE adopts the smart growth recommendations of the draft Vermont Climate Action Plan to conserve our natural resources and to provide more affordable and climate-friendly housing in urban cores. There are infill and redevelopment opportunities in South Burlington in and around City Center and along public transit lines which are a win-win for the environment and housing. There are other creative opportunities, such as described here, to re-purpose large scale commercial areas in the City that no longer function as intended.