Article Title: Council Marches Forward Despite Citizen Vote Against New Bridge

Edition: December 2000
Category: City Government
Author: Jake Brown
Article:

Despite a third citizen vote against the move, the city council is advancing plans to pull out the green, iron truss Pioneer Street bridge and install a new concrete and steel bridge.

The council did nothing to change course toward a new bridge at its regular meeting November 21, two weeks after citizens voted to keep the bridge by a 60 to 40 margin.

Over the past five years, the city council has repeatedly voted to move forward with the new bridge, despite pressure from a group of activist citizens and members of the general public to keep the bridge in its current location and rehabilitate it.

The November citizen vote was 2,614 for preservation, and 1,618 to remove the bridge.

A spokesman for the group Friends of the Pioneer Street Bridge, Tony Redington, said the group was disappointed the council didn't reconsider their course of action after the vote. He said his group was discussing options, including a challenge to permits for the project, but he declined to elaborate. Redington said he hoped the group would choose a course of action by the end of December.

The two city councilors who represent the district where the bridge is located said they felt conflicted about the decision to vote for a new bridge, but in the end did so in part because, they say, the project has advanced too far to turn back.

Brock Stays the Course
Richard Brock said his decision to move forward on the bridge was one of the most difficult he's had to make since he was elected to the council. He said he believed the recent citizen vote "was a clear and accurate reflection of the will of the people."

"From the people I talk to, far more people want to save the bridge than replace it," Brock said. But in the end he decided to stay the course and replace the bridge because, he said, the bridge needs to be fixed, and he suspects that any other option would tie up the project in delay for years.

"If we were to change horses now, it could be years" before a final design is settled on and built, he said. He also said that plans for a bike path, plans that include the use of the old bridge for pedestrian and bike traffic, would also be put on hold.

Brock said that business people in the area were "consistently in favor" of a new bridge, but he declined to characterize their desire as a "clamor."

In explaining his vote, Brock also said he wanted to avoid "using the (existing) bridge as a device to block development" in that part of town. He noted the city is planning to foster development there.

Some opponents of the new bridge claim that if the city constructed a bigger bridge, the area adjacent to lower Barre Street, including the 100-acre Sabin's Pasture, would be carved into commercial lots. They an important green edge to the city would vanish. Much of the area is zoned for general business.

Sherman Torn, Too
Nancy Sherman, the second councilor representing the district where the bridge is located, at the recent city council meeting offered a motion to look again at rehabilitating the old bridge. But the motion failed for want of a "second."

Sherman said in a later interview she was moved by testimony that night from members of the Friends of the Pioneer Street Bridge. She said she believed that the truss bridges are an asset to Montpelier.

"When my motion died, it was my final effort with the council and I've now renewed by commitment to (preserving) the Taylor Street and Granite Street bridges," also iron truss bridges and direct gateways to downtown Montpelier. Sherman said that "for the good of the city" the project must move forward. She said she did not want to be distracted from pending projects, like a proposed parking garage behind the Thrush Tavern that she said could have significant impacts on the character of the downtown.

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