By Tom Ayres, Senior Staff Writer
In a narrow, split decision, the Vermont Supreme Court last Friday gave the final go-ahead for the construction of a large, barn-style farm outlet store at 88 Route 5, just north of the I-91 interchange at the gateway to Hartland, half a mile from the village center.
Controversy over the 9,000-square-foot store proposed by the owner/operators of Sunnymede Farm in Hartland has roiled the community, causing sometimes prickly exchanges between the town selectboard and the leadership of the Hartland Planning Commission (HPC), ever since Rutland attorney James Goss filed for an Act 250 permit for the project on behalf of client SM Farm Shops, LLC nearly three years ago in July of 2022.
The Vermont District 3 Environmental Commission approved the Act 250 permit for the large farm outlet store in September of 2023, sparking an appeal by the Two Rivers-Ottauquechee Regional Commission (TRORC) to the Vermont Superior Court, Environmental Division, commonly known as the Environmental Court. The appeal, which was filed in October 2023 by attorney Peter Raymond of the Burlington firm of Sheehey Furlong & Behm, who is also the municipal counsel for Hartland, was rejected six months later in April 2024 by Environmental Court Judge Thomas Walsh, who opined that the farmstand project as proposed was in compliance with Act 250 licensing criteria relative to making efficient use of land, energy, roads, utilities, and other supporting infrastructure.
In issuing his decision, Walsh most notably concurred with the District 3 Environmental Commission ruling that the proposed farm outlet store did not constitute strip development as defined in the Act 250 statute and that the Hartland town plan, last adopted in 2017, did not contain mandatory language prohibiting the store from operating in a rural area of Hartland. Following Walsh’s ruling, the TRORC opted not to pursue any further legal remedies in the Sunnymede case. The HPC initially concurred with that decision in August of last year and elected not to further appeal the Sunnymede farm outlet store case before the Vermont Supreme Court, only to reverse course one week later, directing Raymond by a 5-3 vote to file an appeal of Walsh’s April decision before the state’s highest court.
Goss said he wasn’t able to comment on a proposed timeline for construction of the Sunnymede farm outlet store at this early juncture. “There is no one I can put you in touch with at Sunnymede right now,” Goss offered. “But my client indicated to me that there is a great deal of preliminary work still to be done before construction commences, so there is no definite timeline for that yet.”
For more on this, please see our June 19 edition of the Vermont Standard.
