SOUTH BURLINGTON, Vt. (WCAX) – The Long View Project is slated for South Burlington – and it’s unlike any development the city’s seen before.
Two years ago, Rosanne Greco of South Burlington Land Trust was driving on Spear Street when she saw a for sale sign posted on land in South Burlington previously identified for conservation.
“I said, ‘Do you know one of the parcels that you just identified is now for sale’? So that’s how it started,” she said.
Greco was eager to save the property – a key wildlife corridor within the Hubbard recreation and natural area.
“This parcel, had it been developed, would have cut that off. The animals, from a wildlife perspective, would have had no place to go,” said Greco.
The Northeast Agricultural Trust – or NEAT – bought the $1.4 million property to hold until the land trust could coordinate funds to buy it back.
Today, the 38-acre Long View Project is reserved for conservation as well as affordable housing.
Green Mountain Habitat for Humanity will build just over a dozen affordable homes on 2.5 acres.
It’s a rare project in a section of a city known for upscale properties in a packed county lacking affordable housing.
“This portion of the city does not have a lot of permanently affordable housing. Other parts of the city have some more, but certainly not enough to meet all the needs,” said Paul Connor of the City of South Burlington.
Project partners need to pay back neat before construction can begin.
Habitat for Humanity plans to cover just under half the purchase price with South Burlington and the city land trust pitching in, too.
Next month, the group will ask the Vermont Housing and Conservation Board to cover the remaining $175,000.
Greco looks forward to the day she can drive past the finished project where Vermonters and wildlife can coexist.
“We’re going to give people the opportunity with truly, truly affordable housing, perpetually affordable housing,” said Greco.