Hinesburg Village, Vermont
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On the Ground
Hinesburg Village, Vermont
by Helen Whyte
Spread across the bucolic LaPlatte River Valley and the western foothills of the Green Mountain range, Hinesburg, Vermont is ideally situated to enjoy the best of the State's natural beauty and cultural vibrancy. The Town of Hinesburg is home to some 4,000 people, with something less than a quarter of the population living in Hinesburg Village, a distinct entity that forms the economic, social and institutional heart of the community.
Nearly equidistant from Burlington, Waterbury, and the Green Mountain National Forest, the community’s agricultural and manufacturing history melds easily with its current eclectic mix of citizens and land uses. In a perfect example, Hinesburg today is combining some of the newest high-tech planning tools with its centuries-old tradition of community meetings, which together are helping to shape the village of tomorrow. Hinesburg is unusual for a small Vermont village in that it “has it all,” including many attributes that are uncommon even in larger municipalities: the Village hosts the K-8 Hinesburg Community School and lies just south of one of Vermont’s largest high schools, Champlain Valley Union High School; it boasts both municipal water and wastewater systems; and it is home to several small businesses, including NRG Systems, a pioneer in developing wind technology.
While the Town as a whole is predominantly rural in nature, it is significantly influenced by growth pressures from Burlington and surrounding areas. Since at least the early ‘90s, the Town has recognized the need for, and desirability of, expanding the village as a “growth center.” More recently, a new town plan was adopted, setting out goals and recommendations for Hinesburg Village. A village steering committee has established a number of village planning initiatives including a design charette, a well-attended community planning forum, and a series of public discussion sessions. A lot of questions ringed with typical planning challenges and controversies remain for Hinesburg Village. To what degree, where, and when, should village expansion take place? How should it be phased? Will the community expand the wastewater treatment plant to enable the village expansion? If so, how will that be paid for, and under what kind of cost-sharing structure? What types of growth are desirable? How can the community move forward without losing its unique character?
The Town is approaching these questions creatively yet methodically. The Village Steering Committee and the Planning Commission, headed by Director of Planning Alex Weinhagen, are reaching out to engage citizens. Hinesburg commissioned engineering studies and economic analyses that looked at costs of wastewater treatment plant expansion and alternative financing plans; planners developed land use and transportation scenarios. Now, the Chittenden County Regional Planning Commission is using CommunityViz software to evaluate development options as part of the Foundation’s Vermont Tools for Planning Innovation project. An array of communications methods is being used to share information and to involve citizens in community decisions. The Town’s web site, www.hinesburg.org, offers an abundance of information about planning; town-wide mailers and notices in the local paper target additional citizens; and email lists are used extensively, facilitated by the town having 100 percent access to high speed internet.
Last May, more than 70 residents attended a public meeting hosted by the Planning Commission to describe land-use concepts and more specific design, zoning, and phasing proposals for the village, which were developed as a result of earlier input and analyses. Responses to the planning proposals have been predominantly favorable, with questions and suggestions on specific items; the Planning Commission will now refine the proposals based on that feedback. Eventually, the process will lead to a new Village Plan that will chart the future of Hinesburg.
Hinesburg illustrates that small villages sometimes make very big decisions. The Town is not sitting on its laurels waiting to be hit by overwhelming growth pressures, economic declines, demographic changes, or other typical problems—rather, it is proactively planning for the future its citizens want. By combining detailed information, innovative tools, thoughtful processes, and broad public support to responsibly make decisions, Hinesburg is doing its best to ensure that twenty, fifty, or one hundred years down the road, it will be an even more dynamic community, spread across its bucolic valley and verdant mountainside.