By Katy Savage, Standard Staff
There are no official plans or permits but residents in four towns are trying to do something, anything, to stop a developer from building a Mormon village sprawled across Royalton, Tunbridge, Strafford and Sharon.
If fully developed, the village would hold 15,000 to 20,000 people — a lot considering these towns have populations of 1,000 to 2,500.
NewVistas Foundation has purchased nearly 900 acres so far; the bulk of which is in Sharon and the developer, David Hall, has a team of 150 engineers and $100 million invested to create a sustainable living habitat. He plans to buy 5,000 acres before he’s done.
Local residents are decidedly fazed, questioning the project’s feasibility and fearing its mass. “This is a factor beyond anything we’ve ever seen,” said Two-Rivers Ottauquechee Regional Commission Senior Planner Chris Sargent.
About 100 concerned residents and public officials gathered at a TRORC meeting in Randolph on Monday, looking for answers — and ways to stop Hall from building his massive community.
TRORC suggested several solutions: concerned residents could form a grassroots movement to buy open acreage before Hall can meet his goal or towns could update their town plans and write in language restricting developments like Hall’s.
TRORC also suggested planning commissions consider instituting controversial zoning ordinances — something that’s proven unpopular in the past, among residents.
“A lot of Vermonters feel like they should be able to do what they want to with their land,” said Sargent.
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TRORC is a nonprofit that towns employ to help draft zoning ordinances and town plans.
A town plan rewrite can cost $8,000 to $15,000 for TRORC’s assistance. A zoning ordinance can cost the same. Costs can be offset by the Vermont Municipal Planning Grant.
Sharon has tried “several times in the past” to have zoning but any attempts have been “soundly defeated,” said Paul Kristensen, who has been on the planning commission at least 25 years.
He guessed the last time zoning was turned down was 17 years ago.
“We tried to convince (residents) that it’s nice to have something in place…but they didn’t want it,” Kristensen said.
Sharon restricts what can be built in floodplains and it reviews requests to subdivide. Beyond that, there is no zoning ordinance.
Now might be the time to bring one up again.
“Now people are like, ‘We should consider this,’” said Sharon planning commission member Kevin Gish.
The Royalton planning commission wrote a draft of a zoning ordinance and presented it to the Royalton select board about two years ago but there was so much resistance it was never brought before voters, said planning commission chair Tim Dreisbach.
Zoning ordinances are ultimately approved by voters after passing through select boards. They may include sections pertaining to setbacks, illuminated signs and lights, among others.
“People don’t want other people to tell them what they can or can’t do on their private property,” Dreisbach said.
But Royalton, too, is reconsidering a zoning ordinance as one of the few local controls the town has against big development.
“You’d never want to put in place bylaws for one specific development, but because of the interest in this, we may relook at zoning again,” Dreisbach said.
Tunbridge has development restriction around watersheds. As far as an ordinance, “I think with every planning commission it just hasn’t been something we’ve wanted to pursue,” said Tunbridge planning commission member Susan Clark.
Strafford is the only town with a zoning ordinance. The 51-page document was adopted in 2005. It requires site plans and conditional use permits prior to development.
The document, in addition to the town plan, can protect the town and residents.
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The developer of this new village has yet to submit an Act 250 application and until then, “We really have nothing to react to,” Sargent said.
Act 250 permits are required for any development that involves 10 or more residential units. This is what some in the four municipalities hope will be enough in lieu of zoning ordinances. Act 250, established in 1970, considers a number of criteria prior to large development. Land use, transportation, aesthetics and wildlife are reviewed — as are town plans, the documents municipalities use as a vision for a town’s future.
Royalton’s town plan was updated last year while Tunbridge is in the process of rewriting its town plan.
“We’ll definitely be keeping large development in mind probably more than ever,” said Clark.
Sharon’s town plan, updated last April, shares the sentiment of most town plans: large development is meant for town centers.
The town center argument is what TRORC is using to oppose a large development project in Quechee that would involve new housing, restaurant and office space. The lengthy Act 250 process has created challenges for developer Scott Milne who first spoke of the Quechee Highlands project about a decade ago. The project was given an OK in Superior Court last November. TRORC is in the process of appealing the court’s decision.
“I think all the plans in that area could be stronger in terms of how they interact with Act 250,” Sargent said.
Some aren’t concerned about the potential for development in Sharon and surrounding areas — yet.
TRORC board chair Billy Emmons of Pomfret said the development is “pie in the sky.”
“I think it’s bogus,” he said. “That’s way overboard, it’s hard to even comprehend,” Emmons said, comparing the development plans to the city of Burlington. “How do you make a Burlington in the hills of Vermont?”
Kristensen felt the same.
“Crazy. I think it’s crazy,” said Kristensen. “I just can’t imagine how you would have a density of that scale and still have the quality of Vermont.”
Some have asked where the additional 20,000 people will work.
“Some of those people have to have jobs. What are they going to do and where are they going to be working?” said Royalton planning commission chair Dreisbach, who shared his opinion independently of the planning commission.
Others are erring on the side of caution.
“We have to know that the concepts he’s aiming for are in part consistent with Vermont,” Sargent said.
The community would be a sustainable, walkable, community that grows its own food.
“One part of me says this is hard to believe it would come to pass…the other side of me says I’ve been wrong about things before. I wouldn’t want to take chance and be wrong,” Clark said.
This article first appeared in the April 28, 2016 edition of the Vermont Standard.