About 30 Burlington residents gathered at Contois Auditorium last night in the first of a series of public engagement sessions to help plan the future of the city's downtown and waterfront areas.
Burlington received a planning grant from HUD to conduct the project, which included commissioning reports on a range of subjects affecting these parts of the city. In October, VHFA completed a housing needs assessment for city planners that highlighted the much faster pace of population growth occurring in the downtown and waterfront areas and the predominantly young, racially diverse, renter households living there. About a third of these residents spend more than half of their household incomes for housing costs, according to the report.
The results of this study as well as a second larger VHFA study of Chittenden County's housing needs will be the subject of a workshop next Thursday, January 19, at 7 PM at the Williston Town Hall, 7900 Williston Road.
Other opportunities to learn more and help shape the future of Burlington's downtown and waterfront areas include:
•PlanBTV Art Contest - Submit a photo, drawing, essay or video before January 15, 2012 and get your name in the drawing for new camera, free ART classes, or some new art supplies.
•Public Design Workshop - January 24-30, 2012- A week-long intense, participatory process where all members of the community work directly with a multidisciplinary design team, including town planners, architects and engineers to define a collective vision for the future & create the final plan for the Downtown & Waterfront. Located at 1 Church Street in the former Ann Taylor store all week.
Read more in today's Burlington Free Press and at the PlanBTV website.