Vermont Interfaith Action (VIA) brought together nearly 300 people to voice their concerns to Mayor Bob Kiss and other city officials about the absence of affordable housing at the Westlake development at Battery and Cherry Streets in Burlington. Those who attended the February 10 meeting at the Cathedral Church of St. Paul had a clear view through the church's windows of the gaping hole next to the parking lot where the developer originally agreed to build affordable housing.

VIA's extensive research revealed that the luxury condominium building and conference-size hotel on the Westlake property received height bonuses in exchange for building housing on-site, of which 20 percent was required to be permanently affordable, in keeping with the city's inclusionary zoning ordinance. The city, however, allowed the developer to continue delaying the construction of the affordable units. Late last year, the developer asked the city to allow it to pay an in-lieu-of fee instead of building the affordable housing.

VIA member Melinda White-Bronson said the meeting was to express community members' "frustration and even outrage" at the Westlake development process, but noted that "VIA is more interested in improvement than blame." City Attorney Ken Schatz expressed the city's frustration, too, with the loss of the affordable housing units at Westlake.

Though city officials noted they could not give specific details about current negotiations with the developer, Mayor Kiss gave the crowd his assurance that a "significant payment" by the developer to the Burlington Housing Trust Fund will result from the mediation process.

Mayor Kiss, Economic Development Director Larry Kupferman, and City Councilor Tim Ashe agreed to work with VIA over the next six months to address weaknesses in the development process identified through VIA research on the Westlake development. VIA leaders pledged to keep a watchful eye on the development of future affordable units slated to be built in the coming months.

Mayor Kiss praised VIA's ongoing advocacy on behalf of increased affordable housing in Burlington, promising VIA leaders that "we'll see many more affordable units in Burlington in the near future."

Two weeks after the event, city officials announced that they had reached a compromise with the developer to pay $400,000 into Burlington's Housing Trust Fund in lieu of their original agreement to build seven affordable housing units.

For more information on VIA, visit www.viavt.org

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