Hartland planners appeal farm store decision

This story by Christina Dolan was first published in the Valley News on August 26.

HARTLAND — In a last-minute change of course, the Hartland Planning Commission is continuing to press its appeal of an Act 250 permit for a farm store on Route 5, just outside the village center.

In September 2023, Sunnymede Farms, a 600-acre cattle and maple sugaring operation near Hartland Four Corners, received a state Act 250 permit to build a two-story barn-style farm store on a property just north of Exit 9 on Interstate-91. The store would include a deli, bakery, eating area and 45 parking spaces, including electric vehicle charging stations.

Both the Hartland Planning Commission and the Two Rivers Ottauquechee Regional Commission appealed to the Environmental Division of Vermont Superior Court on the grounds that the farm store’s size, proximity to the village and competition with local retailers violated the regional and town plans.

On July 8, Superior Court Judge Thomas G. Walsh denied both appeals.

Sunnymede LLC is owned by Florida real estate developer Aubrey Ferrao, who purchased the 17-acre Route 5 property in 2018.

The regional commission declined to appeal the court’s denial. Likewise, the Hartland Planning Commission voted 5-3 on July 17 not to contest the ruling.

In a move that confounded the Hartland Selectboard, the Planning Commission reconsidered the issue at its Aug. 7 meeting and decided to file an appeal after all.

“I remain surprised that our Planning Commission did not follow the lead of Two Rivers, who has, I would say, greater experience with this,” Selectboard Chair Phil Hobbie said in a statement at the board’s Aug. 19 meeting.

Should the appeal process go forward, “we have no idea what it would cost,” Hobbie said, noting that the Selectboard does not have all the information it needs to determine how the appeal will affect the town.

The Hartland Planning Commission did not respond to requests for comment by deadline.

The language of Walsh’s ruling has been something of a wake-up call for town officials, who are in the process of updating Hartland’s town plan, which expires next May.

In rejecting the Planning Commission’s initial appeal, Walsh wrote that the town plan’s language was “merely aspirational” and not regulatory.

“In reaching this conclusion,” Walsh wrote, “we note the absence of language such as ‘must’ or ‘shall’ which are indicative of a mandatory and binding requirement.”

Hartland does not have zoning bylaws, relying on the objectives articulated in the town plan to guide development.

“Town plans are policy documents. They make broad statements about where we would like to be” as a town, Hartland Selectboard member and Mount Ascutney Regional Commission Director of Community Development Tom Kennedy said by phone on Monday.

“Town plans were never supposed to be used as policy documents,” he added.

With no zoning regulations to fall back on, and an ambiguously-worded town plan, the Planning Commission was unable to prove decisively that the farm store violated any enforceable regulations.

Kennedy is not optimistic about the new appeal’s odds.

“We are not appealing from a position of strength because our town plan is vague and we lack any bylaws to back up the plan,” he said at the Aug. 19 Selectboard meeting. “We’re not going to succeed”

With or without bylaws, Two Rivers Ottauquechee Regional Planning Commission Executive Director Peter Gregory believes that clearer language in the town’s guiding document would have made opposition to the farm store more effective.

“The Supreme Court has been very clear that if town and regional plans are written in non-ambiguous language that language will prevail,” he said by phone on Monday.

That message is not lost on the Hartland Planning Commission.

“We’re trying to put in different language,” Planning Commission Chairman David Dukeshire said at a July 29 Selectboard meeting. “We’re not using the words ‘may’ and ‘might.’ We’re changing them to ‘will’ and ‘shall.’”

Kennedy wants the town to consider adopting at least some zoning bylaws, despite several failed efforts in the past.

“We need to try again,” Kennedy said. “I think the town is ready for reasonable, simple regulation.”

Dukeshire indicated that the Planning Commission might be ready to consider bylaws.

“All my time in Hartland I’ve been against zoning. I’m not anymore, because I’ve seen the consequences,” he told the Selectboard.

Hobbie wants to focus on developing a strong and clear town plan before tackling zoning regulations.

“What I would like to see is a new town plan finished by the Planning Commission and passed by the Selectboard,” he said by phone Monday. “Then with the help of Two Rivers, the Selectboard and the Hartland Planning Commission would look at the strengths and weaknesses of the town plan and see what could be addressed by some simple zoning.”

Missing the environmental court’s appeal deadline by a day, the Planning Commission asked for a deadline extension.

That request was still pending on Monday.

Read the story on VTDigger here: Hartland planners appeal farm store decision .