All in planning & design

Nicole Losch: 16 Years of Building a Better Burlington

Nicole Losch: 16 Years of Building a Better Burlington

Cate Phypers
planning & design, Community

Sixteen years ago, Nicole Losch entered the Department of Public Works in Burlington to work a part time position coordinating small bike projects and managing trash haul licenses. This Friday, she finishes her decade and a half career with DPW as a pioneer of Burlington’s walk and bike infrastructure.

Nicole Losch has worked her way up through several positions at Burlington’s DPW to her present-day position of Senior Transportation Planner. Roughly five years into her time with DPW, she took over as Transportation Planner. “That’s really when we started to shift bike and ped planning away from any other transportation,” Nicole remembered. Today, this branch of the DPW is seventeen employees strong and continues to do incredible work for the city of Burlington.

Intern Profile: Victoria Peguri

Intern Profile: Victoria Peguri

Hanna Hartman
Community, planning & design, infrastructure

This semester, Victoria Peguri worked as an intern for the Burlington Walk Bike Council. The Walk Bike Council is a citizen group dedicated to improving Burlington infrastructure for walking and biking. They are collaborating with Local Motion, a non-profit advocacy group, to evaluate Burlington’s progress on the official city plan for walk/bike projects. She has been interpreting data from progress over the last five years to create a Five-Year Progress Report. This work “entails going through a lot of data, putting it into graphs, and trying to understand what it means,” said Victoria in our conversation on Saturday morning. This data includes comparing the number of mileage of bike lanes that have been built in Burlington to the number that the Council hoped to achieve in the last five years. They also have investigated sidewalk mileage, but there were not many built.

Intern Profile: McKenzie Kelly

Intern Profile: McKenzie Kelly

Hanna Hartman
Community, planning & design

McKenzie Kelley spent the semester interning as a research analyst for the University of Vermont’s Office of Sustainability. In this role, she has done both data collection and data analysis. She is a computer science and biology double major with a minor in statistics.

The primary projects she worked on are focused on making campus more walkable.

Abby Bleything, the Sustainable Transportation Program Manager at the Office of Sustainability, is McKenzie’s supervisor. In McKenzie’s internship, the day-to-day work looks like lots of spreadsheets and some fieldwork, especially if the weather is good. Her projects include analyzing the energy efficiency of university-owned vehicles.

Driving Green: the Real Cost of Electric Vehicles

Driving Green: the Real Cost of Electric Vehicles

Victoria Peguri
planning & design, infrastructure, technology

Imagine: you are a hip, wealthy citizen of the US in the year 1900, and you flaunt your fiscal superiority by cruising in a motorized vehicle rather than slum it in a horse-drawn carriage, or worse, by walking. You have a few options: gas, steam, or electric powered. Gas-powered vehicles are loud, difficult to drive, and stink up the air. Steam vehicles are an attractive idea, but the hour-long start up times and limited range make them unappealing. Electric cars are smoother, quieter, and easy to handle.

You go for the electric car, and you're the talk of the town. However, problems arise: there aren’t enough reliable electricity sources — it is 1900 after all — and the batteries are unpredictable. Meanwhile, gas-run vehicles are becoming more operator-friendly, and Texas discovers the joys and wealth of crude oil. Car and gas prices drop, and now, gas-run vehicles are more affordable and appealing. Electric vehicles are left in the dust.

Net Zero: Towards a Carbon-Neutral Vermont

Net Zero: Towards a Carbon-Neutral Vermont

Hanna Hartman
Community, planning & design, environment

Net Zero Vermont is committed to providing paths to a carbon neutral future in the Green Mountain State. Their mission “is to encourage people to adopt a shared vision for a sustainable future, meaning to re-localize, re-direct, and leverage the necessary resources to build model sustainable towns and cities across Vermont and beyond.” Debra Sachs has a long history of sustainability work in the state and graduated from the University of Vermont twice with degrees in forestry and natural resource planning. Sachs is co-founder of the non-profit that is now Net Zero Vermont in the mid-90s as Community Climate Action.

Car Convenience over Pedestrian Safety: VTrans Values Traffic Speed over Safety of School Children

Car Convenience over Pedestrian Safety: VTrans Values Traffic Speed over Safety of School Children

Cate Phypers
infrastructure, Community, planning & design

The difference between 25 and 30 miles per hour to a driver is nothing. To a biker, this could be the difference between life and death, according to AAA. However, this doesn’t seem to be a concern to the Vermont Agency of Transportation.

A recent speed limit update has been added to the entirety of Route 116 (Hinesburg Road), reducing the posted speed limit from 35 to 30 miles per hour after years of studies and requests from the city of South Burlington, according to the city’s website. While this is a win, South Burlington’s goal was a reduction down to 25 miles per hour. This may not seem like a large difference, but according to a 2011 study by AAA, the risk of severe injury by impact for a pedestrian is 25% below 25 miles per hour and doubles to 50% at just 31 miles per hour.

How to Become a Bus Riding Champion

How to Become a Bus Riding Champion

Sian Hernit
technology, planning & design, infrastructure

Every day, Green Mountain Transit riders around Vermont use the Transit app to help them plan their next bus ride. When they select their route and hit ‘GO,’ they are provided with a map of their route and all the essential information they’ll need to have a successful bus riding experience. At the top of this screen, a small green oval displaying a smiley face next to a bar graph or number can be found. When clicked, users are greeted with a pop-up that may be puzzling.

Taft Corners zoning rewrite slowed by developer opposition

Taft Corners zoning rewrite slowed by developer opposition

Karson Petty
Community, planning & design

A disagreement over whether a pre-planned development project in Taft Corners should have to conform to a new set of zoning rules came to light during last week’s meeting of the Williston Planning Commission.

The debate was sparked by developer Chris Snyder’s housing proposal for the Essex Alliance Church property along Route 2A, which has already received preliminary approval from the Development Review Board.

Developer opposition grows to Taft Corners zoning changes

Developer opposition grows to Taft Corners zoning changes

Karson Petty
planning & design, Community

Developers pushed back on proposed rule changes to turn Taft Corners into a walkable downtown area at the latest Williston Planning Commission meeting.

The Feb. 15 meeting was the second one held by the planning commission where Williston residents and developers could weigh in on changes to a working draft of new zoning rules. The rules are called form-based code, which was formally introduced in a Feb. 1 planning commission meeting, but has been in discussion for about a year.

Completing the Puzzle: The Future of South Burlington’s Walk/Bike Paths

Completing the Puzzle: The Future of South Burlington’s Walk/Bike Paths

Cate Phypers
planning & design, infrastructure, Community

Connectedness. That is the theme for the next several years in terms of South Burlington’s bike and pedestrian infrastructure.

As it is, South Burlington’s bike paths stretch and wind for a whopping 24 miles throughout the city. These paths, which began construction in 1990, link neighborhoods, parks, and schools all around South Burlington. Much of this is thanks to the Bicycle and Pedestrian Committee (BPC) whose mission is to oversee and maintain the recreational paths in the city. However, there are missing pieces that need filling. I sat down with two of the committee members to discuss the future of South Burlington’s pedestrian-centered infrastructure.

Main Street Construction Set to Begin Soon. Will Local Businesses Survive?

Main Street Construction Set to Begin Soon. Will Local Businesses Survive?

Anthony LaSalle
planning & design, Community

The Great Streets BTV initiative has been underway for years now. A public vote in March 2015 set the project in motion and the city has produced notable results. The initiative is comprised of 3 interrelated plans, which include implementing street standards for all Downtown Burlington streets, reconstructing City Hall Park, and an overhaul of St. Paul and Main Street.

Developers push back on proposed Taft Corners zoning rules

Developers push back on proposed Taft Corners zoning rules

Karson Petty
Community, infrastructure, planning & design

Proposed rule changes that aim to make Taft Corners more walkable and people-friendly were met with pushback by local developers at a Williston Planning Commission meeting held on Feb. 1.

The new rules, known as form-based code, do away with the notion of residential and commercial districts. The rules would put more priority on the town’s goal of creating more pedestrian-focused developments that are pleasing to the eye.