Shelburne Selectboard responds to parade ground revamp backlash

The Shelburne Selectboard last week let residents air continued grievances with an idea to revamp the Parade Ground — an issue that many are equating to the iconic lyrics by Joni Mitchell, “They paved paradise to put up a parking lot.”

The selectboard said at its meeting last week that the backlash has led members to feel disappointed in the way some residents have handled the situation. Board chair Mike Ashooh said that although there are some valid concerns, there have been other claims that are completely irrelevant: That director of planning and zoning Aaron DeNamur is trying to boost his resume, that people who aren’t from Shelburne are making decisions for the town, and that the change would somehow bring about an increase in crime.

“I thought that was pretty disappointing, and I didn’t generally respond to those types of comments,” Ashooh said. “There’s just no need to insult people or question their motives of why they want to do this.”

He urged residents to reexamine the root causes of their concerns while vice chair Cate Cross encouraged people to seek factual information about the process.

“I also want to just step back and say there is a lot of change coming to Shelburne,” Ashooh said. “We can be like the proverbial frog in the pot as it heats up around us and we don’t do anything, or we can be proactive and start to think about where are we going.”

“It certainly was a thoughtful process, and we even got input from a variety of committees so I think that’s important to note and I encourage you to go back and watch and do some fact-finding,” Cross echoed.

The unofficial plan would erect a new 28-foot by 14-foot pavilion that would face Falls Road. Other minor changes include the addition of benches, Adirondack chairs and a 3-foot-high fence consisting of granite posts and a black metal chain. Together, these upgrades could cost about $80,000 with the hope of creating a more designated “village green” area in town, DeNamur said.

“We don’t really have a village green that you see in other towns around the state that I really envy as a town planner,” DeNamur said. “We could have official town events there and have a more formal area to do speeches and events and things like that while also just letting the community utilize it as well.”’

Funding for the project has already received preliminary approval with the state’s Agency of Commerce and Community Development through an initiative called Better Places — a non-competitive, community-matching grant program to create inclusive and vibrant public places serving designated downtowns and village centers.

“We would get $40,000 from the state’s program,” DeNamur said. “We would have to raise a match of $20,000 through crowdfunding. So, we get a total of $60,000. The state assists us with all that, they help us set it up and send out press releases on our behalf. They really want to see the program succeed.”

DeNamur is also requesting that $20,000 in American Rescue Plan Act funds be allocated for the project along with money in the planning budget that is allocated for grant-funded projects.

The design work for the pavilion was done by planning commission member and local architect Stephen Selin and the Shelburne Craft School has already volunteered to build the entire structure for the town. Sweeney DesignBuild will help out with some of the more technical construction along with help from Wagner Hodgson Landscape Architecture.

But community members felt that the approval from the selectboard to move forward with more funding options was sneaky and gave no room for public feedback.

“My point of view is not with necessarily making changes to the Parade Ground but it’s the process which as I see it has not been involved public opinion,” Linda Riehl said at last week’s meeting.

Ashooh agreed that was a valid point.

“Totally agree,” he said. “But by the way, we were without a town manager for a month. But messaging and easing ourselves into these big kinds of monumental decisions needs to be handled better. So totally agree and acknowledge that.”

Over the past few weeks, residents have also raised concerns over the deed to the property, which was donated to the town by Benjamin Harrington in 1807 and does imply that the space remain “solely for a green or Parade.”

The selectboard asked the town’s lawyers to vet the deed and ultimately determined that the structure being proposed would be permitted within the scope of the document.

“It falls under the scope of what the deed allows and this is confirmed by many, many other sorts of deeds in the state where this sort of thing is done with designated parade grounds,” Ashooh said.

After an hour of dozens of residents taking to the mic to express their vehement opposition, the selectboard made no final motion — despite chants from the packed room to pull the plug on the project — and plan to wait for feedback from the the historic preservation and design review commission before moving forward.

“There’s no conspiracy,” Ashooh said. “We are engaged in a vision and a process for this town that we have been trying to implement for a few years, starting with the police department fiasco, starting with our zoning problems, starting with our staffing issues, and now we’re talking about creating sense of place and a sense of community. We feel like we’ve been addressing the issues and this was in the line.”