Today, as I watched the gang at Hudak Farm in St. Albans Town raise the giant female effigie that is their annual fall mascot and a local landmark, I decided I wasn’t quite through with the topic of Walmart.
Of all my beefs with the project (and they are many), perhaps the thing that disturbs me most is how the one little farm that stood up to raise objections in the permit process was not only the butt of some very unneighborly behavior; but finally was utterly and totally ignored by each level of permit review, despite their active participation in that process.
The selfish interests of the developer, JLD Properties can perhaps be excused. Mr. Davis never once approached the Hudak family to ask how he could make his project less problematic to the farm; but, I suppose, business is business; and he simply got by with what he knew he’d be allowed to.
There was no consideration of the Hudak’s expressed concerns regarding traffic impacts when the Town DRB issued its permit to Mr. Davis.
What excuse has the Town of St. Albans for not requiring so much as a couple of stop signs by the Hudak property so that the family might still have safe access to their farm fields across Route 7 after Walmart opened its doors?
Speaking on behalf of the farm, Marie Frey told the DRB early on that, at the very least, some sort of overpass across Route 7 between the two sides of the farm should be considered.
I’ve been to plenty of DRB hearings where one person’s property would be negatively impacted by changes for which the neighbor was seeking a permit. Almost without variation some offsets are required of the permit seeker in order to address the neighbors’ concerns.
Nothing…nothing was asked of JLD Properties and Walmart. Perhaps if the Hudak’s were dairy farmers rather than vegetable farmers they would have gotten more respect(?) As it was, their own local permit body simply hung them out to dry.
Moving on to Act 250, for which one of the principle concerns is supposed to be preservation of a working landscape in Vermont, Hudak Farm continued to participate in good faith and was completely ignored in the ruling. Attention was paid to the interests of the City of St. Albans; to Hannafords’ and Maplefields’ business interests; but was a single thought given to the nearest business to be impacted by Mr. Davis’s Walmart?
No.
Though the farm is less than three-tenths of a mile from the proposed store entrance, the survival of one of the best local food sources in Franklin County was of so little interest to the District 6 Commission that they couldn’t even be bothered to consider it.
Next it was the turn of the Environmental Court to disregard the interests of the little family farm. Still participating and getting nothing but grief for their trouble, Hudak Farm was once again ignored in the final ruling. Adding insult to injury, the ruling even completely misplaced the location of the farm, saying it was not even located in St. Albans Town.
It is, in fact, located partially in Swanton and partially in St. Albans Town.
When the Environmental Court decision was appealed to the Supreme Court of Vermont, even that body failed to require anything of the developer with regard to Hudak Farm.
It is that experience that continues to trouble me and makes me wonder whether Act 250 has been so weakened through the Douglas and Shumlin years that, faced with development pressures, traditional farming in Vermont will not have a chance of longterm survival.
And what a shame that is for all of us. Just when the rest of the world is recognizing food instability as one of the chief threats to social stability; and that farmland should be valued as a precious commodity; Vermont can’t even depend on the laws that were specifically crafted to protect local farming.
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The Walmart parking lot was full this afternoon so it appears that everyone got what they wanted.
Of course the check-out clerk in Hannaford’s told me it had been very slow for a Saturday and that the parking lot at the two-day annual Crafts Fair, usually a huge draw, was practically empty.
She said she’d heard from a friend that food prices over at the Walmart were not particularly low. As she handed me my bag, she shrugged and said, “People will believe what they want to believe.”
Ain’t that so.
We can now get cheap crap made by Chinese slave labor at wages that American at-will-employment labor can afford, right here in Franklin County!
This is exactly what happens when there is no more moral compass; when there are no more moral absolutes.
I’ll just leave this link. It explains everything in a way anyone can understand.
http://www.americanthinker.com…
… of Governor Scissorhands.
The tiny footsteps.
… that Vermont’s last two Dem gubernatorial candidates are of the noblesse oblige variety. Gaye Symington has Ben and Jerry money, and Peter was born with the silver spoon.
Gaye went down to glorious defeat, and 3 out of 4 Democrats voted against Shumlin in the 2008 primary.
Too bad that Vermont loves incumbents, it would be easy to challenge Shumlin from the left in VT. Hell, it would be easy to challenge him from the center.
Take a look as Al Norman salutes Sue Prent on his blog:
http://sprawl-busters.com/sear…
One way to make amends to the Hudak Farm would be to buy Hudak’s vegetables and sell them at a decent price.
Think about what a boost farmers would get if each Sprawl-Mart sold vegetables grown nearby.
Pigs could fly the baskets cross-lots!
Sue, to elaborate on the permitting process for the MalMart store in St. Albans Town, the depth of the corruption which occurred during that process was much greater that you describe. Another specific player in the process and one of the key proponents of the store was Daniel Luneau. From the mid-1990s, he and other members of his family were involved in the purchase of real estate and the application for construction of a Chevrolet Dealership within sight of the MalMart site and Exit 20 of Interstate 91. In an article in the Burlington Free Press about the grand opening of that dealership, while Daniel Luneau was sitting as Chairman of the District 6 Environmental Commission considering the environmental permitting of the store, Daniel Luneau and members of the Luneau family were quoted as saying that they were looking forward to the growth that would occurred in the area. At the opening of those permitting hearings, Daniel Luneau stated under oath that he had no conflict of interest.
From a personal and family point of view that denial of a conflict of interest was an honest answer. From point of view of the public interest that he had sworn to serve, his answer was dishonest and corrupt. Daniel Luneau is not an ignorant man. He knew that his personal interest was not necessarily that of the public environment. All of the three District 6 Environment Commission members were businessmen. Not one member that Douglas appointed to the commission fully represented the social and environmental interests.
But, no matter. At the behest of the Douglas administration Act 250 had been amended such the Environmental Court could decide the case ‘de novo.’ De novo means the court could ignore all decisions made prior to an appeal before that court, all conflicts of interest and everything concerning the local approvals. Douglas appointed the judges of that court. After one judge acknowledged conflict of interest, she was reassigned and another judge apoint to hear appeal related to the MalMart store. All public objections could be ignored by the court of appeal, including those during the local permitting of the store. Every effort was made to exclude members of the public with any objections to the store from taking part in the permitting process.
The entire permitting process was a setup of immense cost to exclude the public. So much for democracy in Vermont.
an act of investigative journalism maybe, but I had been to Tractor Supply so actually it was just an extension of box mania. Lot was indeed pretty full, but in my one trip around the place I saw more gawkers than shoppers. A lot of folks were walking out the door with empty hands and shopping carts were not really full. Maybe on a weekend the Canadian traffic would be more significant. All in all, the store was NOT impressive in terms of space or stock. Lots of floor space still unfilled.
What did interest the hell out of me was the left or South wall. just looked odd and eventually I figured out that it is preplanned / designed expansion space. It is very odd to see exits like that in a retail store. and the food section is pretty small. Did the initial plans contemplate expansion? My guess is that IF the Canadians come to love the border crossing for cheap crap, that wall will be punched out and the big box will be bigger quickly. It is a block wall, so easier to remove and doesnt appear to be loaded by the roof…
thoughts??
Governor Peter Shumlin should immediately remove Daniel Luneau as Chairman of the District 6 Environmental Board for reasons of conflicts of interest and appoint a person with interest in preservation of the Vermont environment. When Sue Prent asked, to his face, why Shumlin appointed Luneau, with a demonstrated conflict of interest, he told her it was because he was a friend and he liked Luneau. Friendship has nothing to do about serving the legal interests of the public.