Ward 5 NPA — Burlington, VT
Date: 2025-06-19
Time: 18:30

Ward 5 Neighborhood Planning Assembly (NPA):
 Agenda
 Thursday June 19, 2025
 6:30 PM – 8:30 PM​

 Join in person: 645 Pine Street (DPW Building)
  ​ Join virtually: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89574495720
​
Facilitator: Jason Van Dreische Note Taker: Cathy Foley


6:30 PM​ Community Dinner​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ | 30 Minutes
7:00 PM​ Welcome + Public Forum​ ​ ​ ​ ​ | 20 Minutes
 ●​ Introductions
 ●​ Open floor for community concerns
7:20 PM​ Open Space Plan: presentation and discussion​ ​ | 15 Minutes
 ●​ Presented by Sophie Sauvé from Burlington Parks, Rec, and Waterfront
 ●​ The Open Space Plan sets priorities for Burlington’s open and green
 spaces and is currently under revision.
7:35 PM​ Baird Park master plan kick-off meeting​ ​ ​ | 30 Minutes
 ●​ Presented by Sophie Sauvé from Burlington Parks, Rec, and Waterfront
8:05 PM​ Alternate vision for the Pine Street Barge Canal ​ ​ | 25 Minutes
 ●​ Presented by Friends of the Barge Canal with time for discussion and
 revisiting the call for an additional public meeting about the development
 proposed in May
8:30 PM​ Adjourn

Neighborhood Planning Assembly Draft Minutes
 NPA: Ward
 (choose one) 5

 Date of Assembly :_6/19/25__ Start Time: (Commence): __6:45PM___
 Location: DPW building, 645 Pine St. Finish Time: (Adjourn): __8:36PM___
 Note taker: Cathay Foley Please forward these official minutes to:
 smelinn@burlingtonvt.gov
Steering Committee Members in Attendance:
Jason Van Driesche, Cathy Foley, Faried Munarsyah, Jak Tiano, Primrose VanWolvelear
Discussion Topics
● Open Space Plan presentation and
 discussion
 Actions Taken / Decisions Made
● Baird Park Comprehensive Plan
 None
 Kickoff Meeting
● Barge Canal Alternatives
 presentation by Friends of the
 Barge Canal

Agenda Items and Actions:

6:45 PM Community Dinner

 ● Dinner was served by the People’s Kithen and consisted of tacos and salad.

7:02PM Welcome & Public Forum

 ● Jason started the meeting welcoming everyone
 ● Signup sheet goes around: everyone who signed in is added to a spreadsheet to be
 emailed a few days before NPA meetings to let them know it’s coming up
 ● Praise for People’s Kitchen - give them money!!!
 ● ward5npa_btv@googlegroups.com is our email
 ● Public forum opens

 ○ Faried: Reminded the NPA that the people's kitchen serves food every Friday,
 Sunday and Tuesdays from 10:30 PM until midnight in City Hall Park. They are
 also looking for donations of sleeping bags And blankets as donations to help,
 keep unhoused individuals warm during months. They accept PayPal and Venmo
 for donations and their phone number is 802-491-3491.
 ○ Greg Stefanski: Spoke about the six new folding benches for Callahan Park that
 can be converted into three picnic tables. The materials are scheduled to arrive
 the week of June 25th and will be put together by two groups of volunteers. The
 first group will meet on July 1 at 10:30 AM at Callahan Park to cut the boards to
 lengths and prep them with sealer. A second group will be scheduled to finish the
 project hopefully before July 4. Andy Simon mentioned the benches were paid
 for by the Pennies for Parks program.

 ○ Melo Grant: (City Counselor Ward 2 &3) Reminded everybody that the
 Juneteenth celebration will be in City Hall Park on Saturday, June 21 from 2 PM to
 10 PM. There will be multiple events throughout the day. She also mentioned
 there will be a community connections event from 2 to 4 PM that day with
 herself and Counselor Buddy Singh from the South End. She also mentioned the
 BTV cleanup crew that goes around the city cleaning up trash and drug
 paraphernalia. To report areas that need to be picked up they should use “See
 Click Fix" on the Burlington city webpage. People reporting should attach a
 picture of the location so the cleanup crew will know where to find the debris
 and the information can also be used to create a heat map of where needles are
 found throughout the city. She then went on to talk about the Burlington police
 have implemented a new strategic recruiting plan. That plan can be found on the
 last Police Commissioners meeting notes.

 ○ There was an online comment/question asking if the path between Callahan Park
 and Birchcliff parkway would be paved at some point in the future to allow better
 access. The main issue was ownership of that property and that had previously
 been owned by the Birchcliff Home Owners Association and there would have to
 be some pro bono legal work done to get that track transferred over to the city of
 Burlington before any kind of renovations could be done.

● Open Space Plan: Presentation and Discussion
 ○ Presented by Sophie Sauve from the Burlington Parks, Recreation and Waterfront
 Department.
 ○ Detail of the plan can befound at:
 https://www.burlingtonvt.gov/288/Burlingtons-Open-Space-Plan
 ○ The survey on the site can be completed until June 27, 2025
 https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/ZLBFSQ6
 ○ To date there have been 7 outreach events around the city since last fall.
 ○ Next step is Phase 3 to Create the Future Roadmap
 ○ Burlington's Open Space Plan is intended to take an interdisciplinary
 approach to documenting the City’s open spaces, updating open space goals,
 and identifying specific resource targets and timelines through a robust
 community-focused engagement process.
 ○ Open Space consists of natural areas, urban agriculture, parklands,
 greenbelts, rain gardens and pocket parks.
 ○ This Open Space Plan update will build on and expand the previous ones by:
 ■ Connecting it with other city plans, like the Urban Forestry Plan.
 ■ Working across City departments to make sure the plan is visionary and
 feasible.
 ■ Partnering with private owners to expand stewardship to more than
 City-owned land.
 ■ Finding more ways to not just conserve open space but expand it as well.
 ○ The full presentation can be seen at:
 https://burlingtonvt.gov/DocumentCenter/View/7688/20250121_BOSP_EngB
 oards

 ● Baird Park Comprehensive Plan Kickoff
 ○ Due to the NPA meeting starting late due to a logistics problem opening the
 meeting, this presentation will be rescheduled to a later date.
 ○ The plan is still being worked on by two UVM interns
 ○ Parks Foundation is raising additional funds
 ○ Most funds will be dedicated for a playground but the completed plan may
 change that.

 ● Barge Canal Alternative Plan
 ○ The Friends of the Barge Canal (Ruby Perry) made a short presentation via a
 slide show with their vision of an alternative plan for the site instead of the
 housing project proposed for the Pine Street
 ○ Andy Simon made comments on why the Barge Canal should be protected.
 ○ The full outline for this alternative plan can be viewed on their website at the
 following link:
 https://www.pinestreetbargecanal.org/updates/jurw436fhjt2qdbilq23dzaszwty3
 d
 ○ The Friends of the Barge Canal continue to have discussions with developers
 and other local leaders and stakeholders.
 ○ There was a brief discussion/question-answer session.


8:36 PM Adjourn