Parks Commission — Burlington, VT
Date: 2025-05-22
Time: 16:30

City Council - Parks, Arts and Culture Committee

 Thursday, May 22, 2025, 4:30 PM, 645 Pine St., Front Conference Room

MEETING TO BE HELD IN PERSON AT 645 PINE ST FRONT CONFERENCE ROOM AND VIA ZOOM
When: May 22, 2025 04:30 PM Eastern Time (US and Canada)

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1. Call to Order
 Subject 1.1. Call to Order
 Meeting May 22, 2025 - Parks, Arts and Culture Committee Meeting - Thursday, May 22, 2025,
 4:30 PM, 645 Pine St., Front Conference Room
 Category 1. Call to Order
 Department


 Type

2. Approve Agenda & Minutes
 2.1. Motion to amend/adopt agenda
 2.2. Motion to adopt previous meeting's minutes

3. Public Forum
 Subject 3.1. PUBLIC FORUM - Verbal Comments
 Meeting May 22, 2025 - Parks, Arts and Culture Committee Meeting - Thursday, May 22, 2025,
 4:30 PM, 645 Pine St., Front Conference Room
 Category 3. Public Forum
 Department


 Type

4. Agenda
 Subject 4.1. FFL MOU and Update
 Meeting May 22, 2025 - Parks, Arts and Culture Committee Meeting - Thursday, May 22, 2025,
 4:30 PM, 645 Pine St., Front Conference Room


 Category 4. Agenda

 Department Parks, Recreation, & Waterfront


 Type

 Recommended Action

 Subject 4.2. BPRW Update
 Meeting May 22, 2025 - Parks, Arts and Culture Committee Meeting - Thursday, May 22, 2025,
 4:30 PM, 645 Pine St., Front Conference Room


 Category 4. Agenda

 Department Parks, Recreation, & Waterfront


 Type

 Recommended Action

 Subject 4.3. BCA Update
 Meeting May 22, 2025 - Parks, Arts and Culture Committee Meeting - Thursday, May 22, 2025,
 4:30 PM, 645 Pine St., Front Conference Room


 Category 4. Agenda

 Department Parks, Recreation, & Waterfront


 Type

 Recommended Action

 Subject 4.4. BPRW Ordinance Review and Approval
 Meeting May 22, 2025 - Parks, Arts and Culture Committee Meeting - Thursday, May 22, 2025,
 4:30 PM, 645 Pine St., Front Conference Room


 Category 4. Agenda

 Department Parks, Recreation, & Waterfront


 Type
  Recommended Action

5. Adjournment
  Subject 5.1. Motion to adjourn
  Meeting May 22, 2025 - Parks, Arts and Culture Committee Meeting - Thursday, May 22, 2025,
 4:30 PM, 645 Pine St., Front Conference Room


  Category 5. Adjournment

  Department Council and Board


  Type

  Recommended Action

6. Informational and Non-Discrimination Statements

 The City of Burlington will not tolerate unlawful harassment or discrimination on the basis of political or religious
 affiliation, race, color, national origin, place of birth, ancestry, age, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity,
 marital status, veteran status, disability, HIV positive status, crime victim status or genetic information. The City
 is also committed to providing proper access to services, facilities and employment opportunities. The programs
 and services of the City of Burlington are accessible to people with disabilities. Individuals who require special
 arrangements, auxiliary aid, service for effective communication, or a modification of policies or procedures to
 participate in a program, service, or activity of the City of Burlington, should contact the office of the Title II
 Burlington ADA Coordinator at 802-865-7000 as soon as possible but no later than 48 hours before the scheduled
 event.

CITY OF BURLINGTON Councilor Carter Neubieser, Chair, Ward 1
PARKS, ARTS & CULTURE COMMITTEE Councilor Joe Kane, Ward 3
 Councilor Allie Schachter, East District

 Staff: Holli Bushnell, Office Assistant
 Lakeview Cemetery
 hbushnell@burlingtonvt.gov
Minutes
Parks, Arts & Culture Committee Meeting
Thursday, May 22, 2025, 4:30pm
MEETING CONDUCTED IN PERSON AT 645 PINE ST, FRONT CONFERENCE ROOM, AND VIA ZOOM

Attendance:
Committee Members: Chair Carter Neubieser, Councilor Joe Kane, Councilor Allie Schachter

City Staff: Mary Danko – FFL, Cindi Wight – BPRW, Sophie Sauve – BPRW, Holli Bushnell – BPRW

Public: Jonathan Chapple-Sokol – Friends of FFL

Meeting called to order at 4:33 pm by Chair Carter Neubieser

Approval of Agenda
Allie Schachter moved to approve the agenda, Neubieser seconded, and all were in favor.

Approval of Draft Minutes from 03/27/2025
Schachter moved to approve the minutes, Neubieser seconded, all were in favor

Public Forum
Public forum was opened at 4:34pm. As no one present wished to speak public forum was closed at
4:34pm.

FFL MOU and Update –
Mary Danko, FFL director, and Johnathan Chapple-Sokol, Friends of FFL, explained that the work on the
oldest parts of the library is about to begin. The Friends of Fletcher Free Library are a 501c3 organized
to support FFL, and they have acted as fiscal agent for the library since 2013. In 2019 they started
looking at much needed renovations for the library. During Covid it became clear that this was the
move that needed to be made. The friends have begun raising money for the renovations, but need to
generate a new agreement between the friends and the city to facilitate the use of those funds. The
FFFL has sent the MOU document to the mayor’s office as well. The Library needs substantial
renovations, and the city does not have funds to finance these renovations. The library has requested
and friends have agreed to raise at least $32 million to cover the cost. The city will be responsible for
the final approval of the project with input from the FFFL; they will apply for public funding and
cooperate with the friends in philanthropic pursuits (the city supports the FFFL in raising money).

The construction project will begin when 85% of funds are raised. The Friends will be in charge of raising
funds, and will pay city for construction work on a quarterly basis. A review oversite committee will be
formed from several groups to review and oversee the work being done. There is an existing
partnership MOU between FFL and FFFL, so this new MOU is almost more of an addendum focusing on
this specific project. FFL and FFFL are asking for PACCs sponsorship when it goes before full council. The
CITY OF BURLINGTON Councilor Carter Neubieser, Chair, Ward 1
PARKS, ARTS & CULTURE COMMITTEE Councilor Joe Kane, Ward 3
 Councilor Allie Schachter, East District

 Staff: Holli Bushnell, Office Assistant
 Lakeview Cemetery
 hbushnell@burlingtonvt.gov
first MOU between FFL and FFFL was written in 2018, came to PACC and needed CC approval. A couple
of years ago PACC supported extended the approval for another 15 years.

Schachter asked why 85% is the mark for construction to begin. She asked if there a plan for if 100%
isn’t raised and if there would there be a reason to start sooner. Danko explained that 85% is being
weighed in on by Mayor’s office and CAO but the plan has a built in escalation through 2027. They feel
confident that those are the right numbers based on their current timeline. If costs go up they will have
to reevaluate, but they are committed to value engineering to the quoted amount. However, the
sooner they get started the better. Schachter asked for clarity around if 100% of funds raised would
come from the friends, could the city still provide funds to assist. Chapple-Sokol explained that they’re
not asking for it, but the city is welcome to give it. The agreement says the friends will raise money for
this project.

Neubieser asked if the MOU will go directly to council or if it needs to come back to PACC. Chapple-
Sokol explained that as long as the mayor’s office has no major changes, they’d like to go to city council
next. Danko said that they would like to be able to have PACCs support when that day comes.
Neubieser confirmed that, assuming there is no substantial changes, PACC approves the MOU to move
to council. Schachter moved, Joe Kane seconded, and all in favor.

Danko shared that the fencing around library is there because preservation work is taking place on 1904
part of the building. Library staff will be creating a story-walk outside the fence that will be fun and
engaging even with all the intense projects downtown. All the staff are very conscious that a lot is going
on downtown. They are hoping that everyone sees how great this will be when it’s completed.
Schachter asked if there is a timeline to complete the work. Danko shared that it will be completed
December at the latest. She thanked facilities and BPRW for their help with the project.

BPRW Update –

Sophie Sauve provided the update. The most prevalent news is that Sauve, Erin Moreau, and Deryk
Roach will be co-heading the department following the departure of current department head, Cindi
Wight. They will be taking June to get up to speed with all aspects of Director Wight’s work and are
trying to ensure that when she departs July 1 thee will be no surprises, but there are no guarantees.

This is the high season for BPRW; it’s very busy, but hopefully as a group Sauve, Moreau, and Roach can
co-manage the transition. They are currently using their time to learn about the divisions that no longer
have a manager. This is the discovery phase. They are working to keep their teams going while
identifying who should supervise what staff and plan for Wight’s departure. They are also working with
Mayor’s office, providing weekly updates, and taking small bites at a time. It’s very helpful that Wight is
still here so there is overlap during the transition.

Wight feels the transition is going smoothly and that the team is doing a great job stepping up.

Schachter thanked Sauve for the work the team is doing, weathering transition with grace and
intentionality. She asked if there are any critical functions that the city council could provide support in
CITY OF BURLINGTON Councilor Carter Neubieser, Chair, Ward 1
PARKS, ARTS & CULTURE COMMITTEE Councilor Joe Kane, Ward 3
 Councilor Allie Schachter, East District

 Staff: Holli Bushnell, Office Assistant
 Lakeview Cemetery
 hbushnell@burlingtonvt.gov
or be aware of. Sauve shared that they’re taking the time to get the lay of the land before reaching out
for support. Some folks are doing things outside their job descriptions because we just lost 8 people,
but we don’t want this to be the case for a long period of time. That said, if it’s a duty that the
employee is ready to take on, it will be reviewed internally first. Wight added that some people are
upset about the loss of adult programs, but the good news is, they’re not gone forever. The programs
have just been cancelled for now. Right now BPRW is focusing on summer camps because they’re the
highest priority. Wight hopes people can have a little bit of patience while things are re-shuffled.

Schachter once again offered to help if there is anything she or the other councilors can do. Neubieser
was glad to hear that there is a conversation happening about eliminating some things. With budget
cuts it makes sense so we don’t overwork people.

BPRW Ordinance Review and Approval –

Wight explained that BPRW and the Parks Commission have been working on updating the ordinances
throughout multiple PACC meetings. At this point, the Parks Commission has completed through
Sections 1 and 4 of Appendix D. There have been no significant updates in 25+ years. The commission
has been focusing on sections 1, 2, 4, and 5 based on the community and department benefits. Section
1 is what protects our parks (permits and regulations). A lot of it is updating language to reflect current
organizations in the city. They are trying to make it easier for people to follow the rules when using our
parks by adding permits that reflect those uses (officiants who perform weddings for example). They
changed the special use permit to special approvals (requiring Commission permission) for example.
They are trying to make these items very explicit.

Licenses are a huge change. We used to have a lot of guidelines around busking in parks, but that
mostly happens on Church St now; no one ever asks about it. It doesn’t mean that someone couldn’t
busk in parks, just that they need to go before the commission for permission. Made BSD youth
athletics as the second highest use for spaces. Everything will need to be in writing going forward.

In the approved uses in parks section they had to add parks that didn’t exist when the original
ordinances were written. They combined neighborhood and community parks into one group as these
are meant to be used by the people who live in that neighborhood. Some parks will be classified as
regional parks (Battery, Leddy, Oakledge, North Beach) – the update makes sound levels consistent
throughout all spaces. City Hall Park has added changes which allow BCA to use the space for their
projects and they changed the consistence on when sound checks can be done. Waterfront Park must
follow act 250 requirements. A lot of the work has been identifying primary parks for outdoor
entertainment. They also added park natural areas (suitable for passive recreation and education) as a
category and added an appeals section and section where alcohol is covered.

Schachter asked what prompted this update. Wight explained that Ben Traverse originally asked for
guidelines regarding CHP because of Juneteenth events in the park. That inspired the team to start
making the changes. It can be hard to know how to navigate when you first come into a role, and
figuring out things like this has been a process for Wight. She wasn’t sure it should be a priority initially,
CITY OF BURLINGTON Councilor Carter Neubieser, Chair, Ward 1
PARKS, ARTS & CULTURE COMMITTEE Councilor Joe Kane, Ward 3
 Councilor Allie Schachter, East District

 Staff: Holli Bushnell, Office Assistant
 Lakeview Cemetery
 hbushnell@burlingtonvt.gov
but modern language, easy for staff and public makes life easier for everyone. For example – Leddy
rates were not updated in 40 years. Now the rates are no longer in there. The goal is to have them
done by the end of June. They’ve added some new language to the Beaches and Waterfront section
regarding use (dusk to dawn instead of exact times, parents cannot leave a child unattended at North
Beach, children must be 12 or up to be at the beach alone). Mostly they are just updating language to
be current.

Neubieser thanked Wight for the hard work. He asked what the plan is to move the changes through
council. Wight asked to have a motion to send the ordinance changes to the consent agenda for the
next city council meeting. Schachter moved to place the ordinance changes on the city council concsetn
agenda. Kane seconded and all were in favor.

Adjournment
The meeting was adjourned at 5:26pm. The next meeting to be held on 6/26/20245 at 645 Pine St and
via Zoom.