By Josh O’Gorman
STAFF WRITER | June 28,2013
STAFF WRITER | June 28,2013
Rutland Herald
KILLINGTON — The developer behind a proposed
$100 million project on the mountain has objected to Act 250 permit
conditions suggested by three regional planning commissions.
S.P. Land Company has big plans for Killington Mountain. The Village Master Plan includes 2,300 housing units and 150,000 square feet of commercial space. While the scope of the project is monumental, S.P. Land has applied for a permit for the first phase, consisting of 198 residential units, 32,000 square feet of retail space and 32 subdivision lots.
The state Agency of Natural Resources has granted party status to the Rutland, Southern Windsor County and Two Rivers-Ottauquechee regional planning commissions. It’s up to the Environmental Commission to decide what conditions will be required of SP Land to receive a permit. However, the Environmental Commission solicited suggestions from the three regional planning commissions.
At one point earlier this year, the three regional planning commissions issued a joint letter, suggesting S.P. Land be required to partially fund a traffic study encompassing more than 100 miles of highway from Waterbury to Bellows Falls.
Since then, the Rutland Regional Planning Commission withdrew its support of the joint letter and issued its own. The remaining two planning commissions went forward with a joint letter. Rebuttals issued jointly by Steve Selbo, president of S.P. Land, and Stephanie Hainley, a consultant working for S.P. Land, address both letters.
In the case of the Rutland Regional Planning Commission, the two object to language requiring S.P. Land to include 495 units of affordable housing during the construction of the entire project, with portions of that number of units to be included in each phase.
“Phase I has already been designed and no workforce housing has been included within the plans because this is not necessary given the current housing stock within the Town of Killington and Rutland Region,” Selbo and Hainley state, referencing a June 4 letter from the Town of Killington which asserts “workforce housing is currently not an issue within the Town of Killington.”
According to approved minutes from the May 30 meeting of the Rutland Regional Planning Commission, the workforce housing suggestion was prompted by a requirement of an Act 250 permit issued in 1998 to a different landowner for the same project. That project never broke ground and the permit — for the entire development, not just the first phase — is long expired.
Selbo and Hainley also object to the letter from the Southern Windsor County and Two Rivers-Ottauquechee regional planning commissions, requiring S.P. Land to partially fund the traffic study, which would be performed after the completion of the first phase. A completed traffic study has shown the first phase will not have any traffic impacts.
“We have no idea whether any future phases of the Village Master Plan will ever be constructed, and if so, how large they will be, which parcel they may be on and when they may occur,” Selbo and Hainley state.
Their letter cites a 2010 court decision that upheld an Environmental Commission’s decision regarding a proposed development in St. Albans. In that case, the Environmental Commission declined to consider possible future developments’ impact on traffic in an area where future developments have not yet received permits and might occur at an undetermined time in the future.
The Environmental Commission is expected to issue a decision about the Killington project in the near future.
josh.ogorman
@rutlandherald.com
S.P. Land Company has big plans for Killington Mountain. The Village Master Plan includes 2,300 housing units and 150,000 square feet of commercial space. While the scope of the project is monumental, S.P. Land has applied for a permit for the first phase, consisting of 198 residential units, 32,000 square feet of retail space and 32 subdivision lots.
The state Agency of Natural Resources has granted party status to the Rutland, Southern Windsor County and Two Rivers-Ottauquechee regional planning commissions. It’s up to the Environmental Commission to decide what conditions will be required of SP Land to receive a permit. However, the Environmental Commission solicited suggestions from the three regional planning commissions.
At one point earlier this year, the three regional planning commissions issued a joint letter, suggesting S.P. Land be required to partially fund a traffic study encompassing more than 100 miles of highway from Waterbury to Bellows Falls.
Since then, the Rutland Regional Planning Commission withdrew its support of the joint letter and issued its own. The remaining two planning commissions went forward with a joint letter. Rebuttals issued jointly by Steve Selbo, president of S.P. Land, and Stephanie Hainley, a consultant working for S.P. Land, address both letters.
In the case of the Rutland Regional Planning Commission, the two object to language requiring S.P. Land to include 495 units of affordable housing during the construction of the entire project, with portions of that number of units to be included in each phase.
“Phase I has already been designed and no workforce housing has been included within the plans because this is not necessary given the current housing stock within the Town of Killington and Rutland Region,” Selbo and Hainley state, referencing a June 4 letter from the Town of Killington which asserts “workforce housing is currently not an issue within the Town of Killington.”
According to approved minutes from the May 30 meeting of the Rutland Regional Planning Commission, the workforce housing suggestion was prompted by a requirement of an Act 250 permit issued in 1998 to a different landowner for the same project. That project never broke ground and the permit — for the entire development, not just the first phase — is long expired.
Selbo and Hainley also object to the letter from the Southern Windsor County and Two Rivers-Ottauquechee regional planning commissions, requiring S.P. Land to partially fund the traffic study, which would be performed after the completion of the first phase. A completed traffic study has shown the first phase will not have any traffic impacts.
“We have no idea whether any future phases of the Village Master Plan will ever be constructed, and if so, how large they will be, which parcel they may be on and when they may occur,” Selbo and Hainley state.
Their letter cites a 2010 court decision that upheld an Environmental Commission’s decision regarding a proposed development in St. Albans. In that case, the Environmental Commission declined to consider possible future developments’ impact on traffic in an area where future developments have not yet received permits and might occur at an undetermined time in the future.
The Environmental Commission is expected to issue a decision about the Killington project in the near future.
josh.ogorman
@rutlandherald.com
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