Residents fighting Higher Ground's move to Burton site in Burlington lose court case

Neighbors who oppose plans for the Higher Ground music venue to relocate to space at the world headquarters of Burton Snowboards in Burlington have lost their latest court battle.

The environmental division of Vermont Superior Court filed a ruling July 12 denying residents’ appeals of permits issued by the state and the city of Burlington that would allow Higher Ground to move into the Burton spot. The venue, which now holds just over 1,000 concertgoers in two rooms in its South Burlington location, could accommodate up to 1,500 patrons in one room at the Burton building.

The ruling comes after a week-long trial in April.

“The decision reaffirms that the project has been thoroughly evaluated and sufficiently addresses concerns raised by a small group of opponents,” according to a joint statement by Higher Ground and Burton included in an email to the Burlington Free Press from Higher Ground co-founder Alex Crothers.

“The Higher Ground and Burton teams are thrilled to express their excitement about reaching this important milestone,” the message reads. “Higher Ground and Burton look forward to bringing the incredible benefits of this project to the South End Arts community as well as the greater Northern Vermont region.”

Opposition to the project may not be over, according to the lawyer representing residents fighting the plan. Neighbors have cited concern with noise – both emanating from the music venue and from patrons coming and going from the club – and with increased traffic on residential streets near Burton.

“My clients appreciate Judge (Mary Miles) Teachout's hard work and the dignified manner in which she presided during the trial, but respectfully disagree with her analysis of the law and the facts,” James Dumont, the Bristol attorney representing opponents to the project, wrote in an email to the Free Press.

LOOKING BACK: A look at 25 years of Higher Ground, one concert at a time

“We plan to seek reconsideration of one aspect of the ruling (a new issue that we did not have the opportunity to brief before),” Dumont wrote, declining to identify what that issue is. “After we receive the ruling on the motion to reconsider, I will meet with my clients to obtain their decision about an appeal to the Supreme Court of Vermont.”

The project would see Higher Ground move into unused space on the Burton campus along Queen City Park Road, near the South Burlington city line. Burton would convert 11,560 square feet into a music venue for Higher Ground’s use, including an adjacent 2,380-square-foot outdoor lounge.

Teachout’s ruling notes that Higher Ground’s plans for sound mitigation at the club would have patrons entering from the outside through three sets of double doors before proceeding to the performance space. From there, concertgoers would be able to access an outdoor lounge surrounded by a stockade fence.

BACKGROUND: Higher Ground's plans in Burlington get Act 250 approval, still face opposition

“They would not be free to leave the concert from the outdoor lounge,” Teachout wrote, “but would be required to return to the performance space first and could only exit through the lobby and same doors through which they entered.”

The ruling notes that Higher Ground has “considerable experience managing music performances in a variety of venues,” having put on 8,500 concerts in Vermont in its 25 years, including crowd sizes of up to 5,000 people at outdoor venues.

‘Legitimate concern’ over parking

Burton says its approximately 500 parking spaces would be enough to accommodate up to 1,500 concertgoers. The ruling says a three-person-per-vehicle standard is reliable based on Higher Ground’s experience at its current venue.

“Burton is confident that it has enough parking spaces and that therefore, there will not be any need for people to park in the Arthur Court or Central Avenue neighborhoods,” Teachout wrote. “However, just because there is adequate parking available does not mean people will park in the lot on site if they perceive that other locations suit their needs better.”

Teachout’s ruling calls neighbor’s worries about parking and the resulting noise created by patrons coming and going to Higher Ground “legitimate concerns, based on reasonably predictable human behavior.” She issued conditions that could help alleviate those concerns.

Conditions include Burton installing one or more monitors at its property line to manage sound levels; Higher Ground placing partial barriers at the entrances to Central Avenue and Arthur Court that state “no event parking” for events with 300 or more patrons and providing staffing to control traffic for events with 750 or more patrons; Burton working with Burlington and South Burlington to ensure that event parking doesn’t happen on those streets by supporting residential-only parking and funding tow trucks to enforce compliance; and that performances end by midnight except for 12 per year permitted to end by 2 a.m.

Contact Brent Hallenbeck at bhallenbeck@freepressmedia.com.

This article originally appeared on Burlington Free Press: Higher Ground, Burton win court case begun by residents upset at plan