Permitting a Process for Projects

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Created on Friday, 22 February 2013 18:19
Written by Kevin Lessard

snowNORTHEAST KINGDOM – Big changes are being made to major points of interest in the NEK.  Over the next three years, close to $600 million is being spent on projects at Jay Peak, Burke Mountain, and Newport Center.

The announcement for the initiative last fall excited many NEK residents, who all seem to be excited for the new projects.  Before these projects being, however, there is an extensive paperwork process that will need to be completed.  One part of the paperwork process involves permitting, and some would say that it’s the most important part.

“We’re lucky at Burke that we already have a master plan approval for this project,” said Burke Mountain General Manager Tim McGuire.

Act 250 of the state of Vermont’s Natural Resources board requires anyone building commercial or industrial projects on more than ten acres of land, to apply for an Act 250 permit.  You would also need to apply for an Act 250 permit if you are building 10 or more housing units in a project.

The permit also has fees, where you must pay $5.40 for every $1,000 dollars of the project, for the first $15 Million dollars of the project.  After the first $15 Million, the fee for each $1,000 of the project is $2.50.  There is a maximum fee you would pay for an Act 250 permit, which is $150 Thousand.

“We’ve already gone in front of the Act 250 board back in 2010 and showed them a very conceptual outline of what we wanted to do over the next five to 10 years.  They’ve looked at that, and approved that conceptual plan.”

While Burke Mountain has only begun the local permitting process with the town of Burke and the Burke Development Review Board, they hope to begin applying for an Act 250 permit.  McGuire felt it was best to finish up the local permitting before the Act 250 permitting, since many of the Act 250 permitting paperwork questions could be answered if local permitting was finished.

Up at Jay Peak, they’re currently in the process of Applying for an Act 250 permit.  Tuesday February 19th, Jay Peak held a public hearing on the first phase of their project, where anyone was allowed to attend and express concern.  Northwest Regional Planning Commission Executive Director Catherine Dimitruk voiced her concerns about the projects at the meeting.

“Our concerns basically are not about the project itself, so much the resorts request for final approval of the entire master plan of the mountain,” Dimitruk said.  “Our regional planning commission just believes that more detailed information is needed about the master plan prior to giving any final conclusions under the criteria.”

While there have been a few concerns, Jay Peak Director of Mountain and Planning Development Walter Elander says that the mountain has been very open to anyone who may have criticism or questions about the project.

“We’ve been very open and transparent,” Elander said.  “They appreciate that, and I think it’s helped.  All of our applications, with due process, have been granted and we keep developing.”

Both projects expect to break ground in April.