Wards 4 & 7 NPA — Burlington, VT
Date: 2025-09-24
Time: 18:30

Wards 4 & 7 Neighborhood Planning Assembly (NPA):
 Meeting Agenda

 Wednesday, September 24th, 2025
 6:00PM-8:00PM

 Join in person: Robert Miller Center 130 Gosee Ct
 Join virtually: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/85494151752

 Facilitator: Sarah Note Taker: Annie Time keeper: Stephen Greeter: Joanne


6:00 Free Community Dinner - take leftovers home! | 30 mins
 ● Aloo Tiki
 ● Chicken curry
 ● Aloo Gobi Mater (vegan)
 ● Naan
 ● Rice


6:30pm Welcome | 5 mins
 ● Adopt the agenda+ Ground Rules:
 o Listen to each other
 o Treat others respectfully
 o Share your opinion politely
 o Respect the agenda and process

6:35pm Introductions | 5 mins
 ● Introduce ourselves with name, pronoun and ward
6:40pm Open Forum | 10 mins
 ● Invite residents to make short announcements, share neighborhood
 updates and upcoming events
6:50pm Mary Danko - Fletcher Free Library | 15 mins
 ● September is library sign-up month
 ● Questions
7:0pm State Reps. Ode, Hooper & Duke - Housing & CHIP | 40 mins
 ● Bob Hooper | 10 mins
 ● Carol Ode | 10 mins
 ● Abbey Duke | 10 mins
 ● Questions | 10mins
7:40pm Steering Committee Nomination | 10 mins
 ● Nominations
 ● Amy
 ● Vote
7:50pm Adjourn
 ● Our next meeting will be Wednesday, October 22nd.
 ● The next, and last meeting of the year, will be Wednesday, December
 10th



 Ward 4&7 Steering Committee:
 Annie Lawson
 Joanne Hunt
 Sarah Diaz
 Stephen Brown
 Jane McDonald
 To email the full steering committee: wards4-7npasc@googlegroups.com

NPA Meeting September 24 2025
Miller Center, Gosse Court, Burlington VT 05408
Facilitator: Sarah Diaz
Notetaker: Annie Lawson

Library update from Fletcher Free Library by Megan Butterfield: the library has many things to
borrow, not just books! Snow building-tools, pasta makers, yarn spinners, food dehydrators,
garden tools, yard games: all are available with library card. Free streaming on Canopy, The NY
TImes, and other digital streaming things. Programs open to everyone, not just folks with library
cards. An upcoming event: Construction-Fest: celebrating the construction in downtown BTV.
Kids are into it! Construction at library likely to end in December!

State Reps present on housing issues: Abbey Duke and Carol Ode. (Bob Hooper is sick.)
Update on housing. Main issues contributing to the lack: 1) stock 2) affordability (we are one of
the highest in the country as our prices went up 13% last year).

Policy updates
 -​ Money:
 -​ One idea: a land bank, where state owns the land, rehabs it, adds infrastructure,
 and makes it ready for developers.
 -​ VHEB: A fund of money that makes it possible for homeowners to build a ADU in
 the backyard for very little money
 -​ Modular homes? More complicated. Looking into options. Homes for All is one
 group working on this.
 -​ Infrastructure:
 -​ CHIP: Community Housing Infrastructure Program:
 -​ A different form of TIF income: the builder and the city will work together
 so that the builder will take on debt, over 20 years, and the cash to pay
 down the debt (for the infrastructure) will come from revenue generated
 from the project: aka future tax revenue. So, 20% of the future tax
 revenue will go to the builder to repay their debt, and the rest will go to
 education fund and the city or town.
 -​ In order to incentivize the building of affordable housing or rental housing,
 developers can qualify to borrow more if they build these types of units
 -​ Cumbersome regulations:
 -​ Recent session revised Act 250 and made it Act 181. A good start but Abbey
 Duke is hopeful more work will happen in the coming session. Stay tuned for
 more changes to come, to make it easier for building to happen in a way that is
 still accountable to minimizing environmental harm: ie taking the time to map
 wetlands as part of preparing for and determining where housing will be built
 -​ Questions taken and answered.

Nominations for Steering Committee members: Amy Bielawski-Branch. Voted and approved!
Next Meeting: Wednesday Oct 26, location TBD.