By STEVEN JUPITER
W.RUTLAND—Residents of West Rutland met last Thursday with representatives from the Housing Trust of Rutland County (HTRC) and their development team to discuss the affordable-housing project that HTRC is proposing for a site in that community. The conference room at West Rutland Town Hall, where the meeting took place, was at capacity, as dozens of community members came to hear HRTC’s pitch and ask questions about the impact of the project.
The meeting was organized by W. Rutland Town Manager Mary Ann Goulette and featured Mary Cohen, the Executive Director of HTRC, Matt Moore, a Senior Developer with Evernorth Community Developers, Pat Griffin of the engineering firm Enman-Kesselring, and Nick Wood and Jean Terwilliger of Vermont Integrated Architecture (VIA) in Middlebury.
Mr. Moore began the presentation with an overview of the project and his firm’s involvement. Evernorth is a nonprofit that specializes in community development in northern New England, with a particular focus on affordable housing. The firm is overseeing the project on behalf of HTRC.
The proposed project would consist of a single, multi-wing building with 24 apartments of various sizes—17 one-bedroom units, 5 two-bedroom units, and 2 studio/efficiency units. 19 of the units would be income-restricted and 5 would be “market.” Applicants for the capped-rent apartments would be vetted for income by HTRC. To qualify for a restricted-income unit, a tenant cannot earn more than 60% of Vermont’s median income. As of 2020, the median income in Vermont was approximately $33,000, making the maximum income of a capped-rent tenant approximately $20,000.
The complex would also include indoor and outdoor community areas and a parking lot with 27 spaces.
THE PROPOSED SITE (in red) will comprise three individual parcels in West Rutland, at the busy intersection of Route 4A, Route 133, and Main Street.
The proposed building site is located on Main Street in West Rutland, just to the west of the Price Chopper shopping center. The site consists of three separate parcels (376, 398, and 416 Main Street) which are currently vacant or contain derelict/unused buildings. Together, the three lots total about an acre. At the moment, none of the parcels is owned by HTRC, although all are under option for purchase, pending successful acquisition of state and local permits this summer.
“We do work in communities that want us to be there,” said Moore. “We’re here because we’re in the middle of a housing crisis. These properties are a gateway to West Rutland and something needs to be done with them. Once we do something on a vacant lot, it tends to spur other investments.”
If HTRC obtains the necessary permits, Moore anticipates that construction plans would be put out for bids this winter and ground would be broken in early 2024. Construction is projected to take 10 to 12 months in total.
Pat Griffin, a civil engineer with Enman-Kesselring of Rutland, then took the floor to explain the physical considerations and limitations of the particular site, noting that its bowtie-like shape made it particularly challenging to place a building of sufficient size on the combined lot. Because of those constraints, a waiver will be needed from the town for a reduced setback from the street.
PAT GRIFFIN OF the engineering firm Enman-Kesselring of Rutland discusses the physical challenges of the proposed site.
Photo by Steven Jupiter
The ground will also be raised 30” to ensure that the building will sit above the flood plain. There is a stormwater intake in front of the site on Main Street that empties into a gully on private property behind the site. Mr. Griffin assured the room that computer modeling had been done to determine that the site could withstand a 100-year flood event.
Griffin also pointed out that the location on a heavily trafficked bend in the road made placement of the driveway tricky. The site is at the junction of Route 4A, Main Street, and Route 133, with a large shopping center and gas station just to the east. The engineers decided to place the driveway as far west on the site as possible, to avoid forcing residents to exit the complex into the heaviest traffic flow. No matter where the driveway is sited, however, it will be difficult for residents to see oncoming traffic as cars round the bend.
Jean Terwilliger and Nick Wood of VIA then presented the proposed design for the complex, with Ms. Terwilliger stating that VIA focuses on “projects that improve people’s lives.” VIA is also the firm that designed the upcoming renovation of the Brandon Free Public Library.
Though the architects said they sought inspiration in some of the Victorian-era buildings in the downtown area of West Rutland, the design they presented was spare and unornamented: a three-story gable-roofed structure with a three-story flat-roofed wing. The gabled element harkens back to classic New England architecture, but for the most part the design is resolutely modern.
The gabled structure will contain the one-bedroom units while the flat-roofed wing will contain the two-bedroom apartments, storage, and a common lounge. The gabled roof will also bear solar panels. In fact, the entire building will be constructed to meet or exceed energy standards, with an “energy efficient envelope,” as Ms. Terwilliger put it.
Seemingly to the chagrin of the entire team of developers, the proposed design met with almost universal disapproval in the room. One attendee said flat-out that “it doesn’t look good.” Another stated that “it doesn’t mesh with the town.” The architects and Mr. Moore reassured attendees that the design was “still in progress” and that the landscaping would soften the severity of the architects’ rendering.
Mr. Moore also reminded the room that construction costs have skyrocketed over the last several years. Materials and design elements that were once within reach are now out of budget. Even with a minimalist design, HTRC estimates the total cost of the project to be $11.5 million, none of which will be borne by the taxpayers of West Rutland. The project will be funded through private financing and grants. HTRC will also pay property tax on the complex. Ms. Goulette stated that the town assessor gave a preliminary Grand List assessment of roughly $900,000 for the finished development.
During the Q & A portion of the presentation, it became clear that most in attendance had not been won over. There were concerns about the presence of such a large building at that location, the impact on traffic, the extra burden on town water and sewer, the quality of potential tenants, and the creation of excess storm runoff by the paving of the parking lot.
The development team and town officers answered the questions with aplomb, as if they’d anticipated the pushback. State Representative Thomas Burditt was also in attendance and offered praise for HTRC and its properties: “I’m 110% behind this project. The Housing Trust is nothing but a class act.”
“Although many residents may not have the same vision, the Town has been working toward this,” said Mary Cohen in a subsequent email. Ms. Cohen was referring to the numerous steps that West Rutland has taken to facilitate the project, including changing the zoning laws and extending the Village Center to include the proposed building site, thereby allowing HTRC to sidestep the lengthy and expensive Act 250 review process.
HTRC maintains over 40 low-income rental properties throughout Rutland County, including three in West Rutland and four in Brandon. Unlike the proposal now under considerations, most of HTRC’s properties are rehabbed structures or single-family homes that have been converted to multifamily.
“The Stanislaus School in West Rutland is a good example of our work,” wrote Cohen, referring to a converted 1920s school in West Rutland. During the meeting, attendees praised HTRC for its meticulous upkeep of this particular property.
As the COVID-era hotel-housing programs come to an end on July 1st, HTRC anticipates an increased need for housing.
“The market study for this project has indicated that there is an unmet need through 2023 of 3,069 units of affordable housing,” wrote Cohen. “These 24 are a drop in the bucket of meeting that need but we are developing as fast as we can.”
As the meeting concluded, it seemed that the town was prepared to issue the needed permits and that the project would move forward, though perhaps with a revised design that would meet with broader approval from town residents.
