by Danielle Frawley

Selectboard and Planning Commission members spent four hours last Monday night, June 28 discussing and debating the Route 7 corridor (from the Laplatte River bridge north on Route 7) and the village. The concern for Route 7 is the 14 or 15 empty businesses on Shelburne Road. The Selectboard has mentioned this concern at more than one Selectboard meeting and with a Town Plan re-write slated for the near future, it was time to discuss the issues. Together the boards identified strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats for the Route 7 corridor and Shelburne village. Strengths of Route 7 included accessibility, aesthetics, traffic count, open spaces available for use, and the regional draws from the surrounding areas. Weaknesses included median access, deteriorated businesses, vacancies, as well as a lack of clarity and identity. One opportunity for Route 7 is to develop a design aesthetic that is consistent with the Town Plan. This idea was voiced repeatedly in discussions pertaining to Route 7 and the village. All board members agreed that Shelburne should have a concrete vision of how the Town should look and this vision could then take the form of a book that is given to a developer offering specific suggestions as to how buildings should be designed and areas developed.

Planning Commissioner Ron Bouchard made the statement that "all of the ideas being brought to the table are great, but what happens after this is what really matters."

Strengths of Shelburne Village include the diversity of retail businesses, a network of accessible recreation, centrally located amenities, and the demand for retail space.

Weaknesses included truck traffic, crossing Route 7 on foot, and that the Shelburne Shopping Park design is out of date.

Three professionals were brought to the table to give opinions and to offer their expertise in these areas of development and business. Mark Brooks, an expert in analyzing data and numbers for retail trends, said that the demand for businesses diminishes the further south on Route 7 one drives. He said that certain buildings are problematic with their use and should be redeveloped.

Larry Williams, a representative of Redstone, who has developed properties in Shelburne, said that Shelburne needs a "new template for development." He pointed out that there are areas south of the Route 7 corridor that are "untapped" areas that could be developed.

Jeff Glassberg was the third professional to speak. Glassberg was and is instrumental in recreating the center of the city of Vergennes. He said that Shelburne has tremendous potential but that recently, the Town has taken some "black eyes," [Shelburnewood] and has to deal with the issue and perception that Shelburne is not a good place to do business. "Turn the perception around," encouraged Glassberg.

Ideas for going forward included starting some kind of an economic development team that can come up with a plan to help turn Shelburne around, and to bring in the types of businesses the Town needs to flourish. A thought was to use the expertise and hopefully free help from design and planning schools to realize a visual tool and design for the Town.

One other idea was to activate and utilize the Shelburne Business and Professional Association (SBPA) to act as a chamber of commerce of sorts to bring businesses and ideas together.
Selectboard member Bill Smith made the point that "we need to have people's opinions and take the debate away from the Development Review Board and the implementation process, and bring it to the planning process."

The Planning Commission has until January of 2012 to complete the Town Plan's annual re-write. Between now and when the writing begins, the Town hopes to have articulated clear visions to make the community and Shelburne businesses flourish.