Killington village plans advance with RRPC support

By Josh O’Gorman
STAFF WRITER | May 23,2013

Rutland Herald

 

Killington Village Ski Plaza is shown at dusk in this architect's rendering which shows the contemporary style for the village.

The town of Killington and the developer of a proposed $100 million construction project scored a victory during Tuesday night’s meeting of the Rutland Regional Planning Commission.

SP Land Company has applied for an Act 250 state land use permit to build 193 residential units, 32,000 square feet of retail space and 32 subdivision lots on Killington mountain. The state Agency of Natural Resources has granted party status to the Rutland, Southern Windsor County and the Two Rivers-Ottauquechee regional planning commissions.

The three commissions worked together to create a joint letter — addressed to the Agency of Natural Resources — that suggests permit conditions for the project, conditions SP Land finds unacceptable.

Tuesday night, by a near-unanimous vote, the Rutland Regional Planning Commission withdrew its support of the joint letter and decided to write a letter of its own, ostensibly with conditions SP Land will find more agreeable.

The vote followed impassioned pleas from SP Land representatives, as well as elected and appointed officials from the town of Killington.

“It wasn’t the arguments from SP Land,” said Kristen Mark Hughes, executive director of the Rutland Regional Planning Commission, of the reversal. “It was a show of support for the town of Killington.”

At the heart of the dispute is a proposed permit condition requiring SP Land to pay as much as $25,000 for a transportation improvement plan for Routes 4, 100 and 103 as they connect Killington Resort to Interstate 89 and Interstate 91. Under the proposal, the plan — which is estimated to cost upwards of $70,000 — would be a public-private project funded by SP Land, the state Agency of Transportation and the three planning commissions.

That plan contains 133 miles of road and 17 major intersections. A completed traffic study has shown the first phase of the project — the only phase for which SP Land has applied for a permit — would not have any major traffic impacts.

SP Land objects to being forced to participate in the traffic improvement plan as a condition to receive an Act 250 permit, as well as being the only private entity required, so far, to participate in the study.

Stephanie Hainley, a consultant working with SP Land, asked the Commission to think about the precedent they would be setting if they made the recommendations to Act 250.

“What happens if we come back for the next phase? Will we need to pay another $25,000?” Hainley asked. “We think this Commission needs to make a decision, independent of the other two planning commissions. We have a hard time having these other two planning commissions involved from here to eternity.”

Richard Horner, town planner and zoning administrator for Killington, asked the commission how involved they were in projects outside the Rutland region.

“I don’t see Okemo approaching the Rutland Regional Planning Commission,” Horner said. “There’s not a fair balance here.”

In the end, only two members of the Commission voted against withdrawing their support of the joint cross-commission letter to Act 250: Annette Smith of Danby and Fred Nicholson of Rutland Town.

The Commission will now work with SP Land to draft a new letter, independent of the other two commissions.

“I’m pleased that we’re all back on the same side,” Hughes said. “We’re all trying to achieve the same thing, which is good, sensible development up on the ski area.”

The vote won’t affect the position of the other two commissions, said Peter Gregory, executive director of the Two Rivers-Ottauquechee Regional Commission.

“Each individual commission is an independent entity and I respect the decision reached by the Rutland Regional Planning Commission,” Gregory said. “We will just modify the letter to indicate two commissions instead of three.”

Tom Kennedy, executive director of the Southern Windsor County Regional Planning Commission, could not be reached for comment Wednesday.