What: Major Impact Review for “Silt Bathhouse” Project at 453 Pine Street Development Review Board,
When: Tuesday, July 18, 5 PM
Where: 645 Pine Street or via Zoom (see link in Agenda)
Jovial King’s 30,000 square foot bathhouse project (with an adjacent 12,400 sf “Commercial Building”) at 453 Pine Street will have a huge impact on the Barge Canal and the South End. Though Friends of the Barge Canal made a decision not to oppose this development, we have been and will continue to monitor it closely, specifically watching the effects it will have on the wetlands and forest surrounding it.
We encourage you to join us in these efforts. Look at the plans for the project (scroll down on this page). Attend the meeting (in person or via Zoom) next Tuesday to listen and ask questions.
Time will be limited for public comment at the DRB meeting, but anyone who wishes to speak has the right to comment or ask questions.
Some possible questions:
What will be the impacts – positive and negative – on the ecology of the Barge Canal and Lake Champlain?
In a time of climate emergency, as we have seen first hand in the recent flooding, does it make sense to expend this much energy on a project like this?
How many standing trees will be cut down for this project? What kind of trees?
What are the benefits of this project for Burlington?
What will the construction of this project do to the contaminants in the soil and groundwater?
How much soil will be removed for the construction? Where will it be taken?
When the plans speak of “soil remediation”, what does this mean?
Do developers or city officials have concerns about the growing numbers of people without houses who are trying to live on the Barge Canal?
The developers have covered their bases (thanks, in part to $6 million dollars in public money) and we do not doubt that the DRB will approve this project. It is, however, worth asking the bigger questions that we should be asking of all projects in this time of environmental crisis.