By Katy Savage, Standard Staff
QUECHEE — Two Rivers-Ottauquechee Regional Commission voted on Wednesday evening to appeal Vermont Superior Court Judge Thomas Walsh’s November ruling that gave the go-ahead to the first phase of the Quechee Highlands development.
Representatives from 25 of the 30 towns who serve on the TRORC board voted to appeal the ruling last Wednesday. One (Hartford, where the project would be located) voted against appealing. Other representatives were absent.
TRORC’s main argument is that Quechee Highlands would modify an existing settlement pattern. It would go against the 2007 Regional Plan written by TRORC and voted on by town representatives that says retail space should be in villages and downtowns, not at rural highways or interchanges.
“When you start putting mini-villages outside of (downtowns) it’s going to effect them, that’s what planners say and I believe them,” TRORC chair Billy Emmons said.
Pomfret resident Scott Milne, one of the developers of the Quechee Highlands project, said he is moving forward with his plan to build 115,000 square feet of residential space, office space, a restaurant and retail space — though he’s frustrated about another delay. The project has been roughly 10 years in the making. The Hartford planning commission first approved a zoning amendment for the project in 2005. Milne and B& M Realty submitted an Act 250 permit application to the state in 2012, and he’s been fighting through appeals since.
He’s confident that another ruling will result in his favor.
“It’s going to continue to brand Vermont as a place that’s not friendly for business. Two Rivers is bad for the affordability and economic vitality of Vermont and I’m looking forward to them being defeated in court again,” Milne said.
The parties haven’t spoken between the appeals.
“I find it shocking you have an organization that claims its mission is to create a vibrant regional economy yet you have somebody who’s willing to invest $30 million in private money in growing the economy and they’ve never invited us once into talking to them,” Milne said.
Milne said he has spent more than $4 million to build Quechee Highlands, and construction hasn’t even begun yet.
Milne’s spent $2.5 million on the 168-acre land acquisition, he said. The rest has been spent on engineering, consulting and landscape. He’s also spent $120,000 on legal fees due to opposition from those who are concerned with losing the small village feel and TRORC, which says the development doesn’t fit existing plans.
Milne says he’s about to cut another “onerous check.”
TRORC has spent about $17,000 so far fighting the project. It’s opposed the project since Milne filed the Act 250 permit. Gregory said he warned Milne before he submitted the application that if there was retail construction in his plan “it was going to be a problem.”
This is the first time TRORC has been involved in court appeals at this level.
“The regional plan hasn’t changed, nor has state planning laws. The nonconformity of the project to our plan still remains,” TRORC Executive Director Peter Gregory said. “The board felt, respectfully, the judge didn’t read our plan as it should have been read.”
TRORC has argued Quechee Highlands would modify an existing settlement pattern.
Milne said his project could create roughly 300 jobs. He considers the project “thoughtful economic development.”
“We’re going to continue to dispute the oppressive regime of Two Rivers to impose its will on the town of Hartford,” he said.
This article first appeared in the December 17, 2015 edition of the Vermont Standard.