Dear Neighbors,

This coming Monday, the City Council will convene its third of three meetings for the month of April. We will begin our evening at 6pm with a presentation on the Twon Center Mall redevelopment project. As you may have read or heard, there is a pre-development agreement between the mall owner, Don Sinex and the City. Members of the City’s Technical Team of experts and our outside legal counsel will be presenting the main points of the agreement. We will also hear from Mr. Sinex and his architect, Sherida Paulsen.

A great deal of progress has been made on this project. There is an understanding between the mall owner and the University of Vermont Medical Center to enter into a rental agreement for a significant portion of the proposed office space. As well, there is an understanding between Champlain College and the mall owner for a portion of the housing element of the development. The Council will be hearing from Champlain College on Monday evening on their involvement in the project.

Later this week, I will be posting on FPF the main points of the agreement, what the City is committing to, what the mall owner is committing to and what the next steps will be. Certainly, for the City, one of the main points of our commitment will be the bonding of an amount not to exceed $21 million that will be funded by incremental tax revenue that will come to the City from the mall redevelopment. We will be voting on this bonding in November. I will do my best to describe that process in my post later this coming week.

The City Council will be voting on the pre-development agreement at our meeting on May 2.

At 7pm, the Council will convene a public hearing on the pre-development agreement and the mall project. We hope many in our community will come to the hearing so we can understand and appreciate your concerns, questions, comments and support for the project.

Following the public hearing and a brief Local Control Commission meeting, as well as a meeting of the Board of Civil Authority to vote on three commission appointments, we will be voting on several outdoor entertainment permits. We will then vote on a resolution on a senior center study committee. We will also be voting on a resolution concerning the criteria for the sale of Burlington Telecom.

We will have Council committee reports, comments from Councilors and the Mayor.

As with all Council meetings, please keep in mind that you are always welcome to come and speak to the Council on any subject you wish during our Public Forum which begins at 7:30pm. Clickable agenda items can be found on the City's website: https://www.boarddocs.com/vt/burlingtonvt/Board.nsf/Public All Council meetings are televised live on BT Channel 317 and streamed live to your computer or phone.

As always, I welcome your questions and concerns. Please be in touch over the weekend and on Monday.

My best,
Karen

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