By Curt Peterson
In small Vermont communities some issues come and go without leaving long-lasting effects, but “What’s the status of the Sunnymede Farm Store project?” has persisted on local lips since early summer, when the developer’s Act 250 application to create a 7,500 square-foot market on the former site of the Bedell property on Route 5 and Route 12 in Hartland was made public.
The SM Farm Shop LLC is listed on the Act 250 database as “pending.”
The controversy’s “three-legged stool” includes Sunnymede — a family-owned farm two miles from the proposed farm store site, the Act 250 commission, whose approval is necessary for the project to be developed, and the Hartland Planning Commission (HPC), who feel Sunnymede’s project is in conflict with the Hartland town plan.
The town plan designates the former Bedell property, which is now vacant, for “Rural Residential” use. In its response, the HPC objects to Sunnymede’s application of a “farm stand” interpretation of their proposal as an allowable exception to the town plan rural residential designation. They perceive the project as “commercial retail”, which the town plan limits to “the village center,” meaning Hartland Three Corners in this case.
Sunnymede proposes 45 parking spaces including 15 electric vehicle charging stations, retail space, a deli, and seating for people to consume food purchased on site. The major portion of expected revenue is predicted to be from agricultural products of the family’s Hartland farm, other local farms and other Vermont producers. The remainder would include wine and non-agricultural products. Customers would obviously come from Hartland and surrounding areas, and people leaving I-91 would find it convenient as well.
At a meeting on Oct. 24, the response memorandum was approved, but with an added footnote, which says Sunnymede should have been aware of the conflict with the Town Plan when they purchased the site, implying that any financial loss the farm suffers from lack of approval is no fault of the town.
The footnote includes a caveat, “If the applicant’s project is nonetheless approved as being in any way ‘agricultural’, the HPC requests that the Commission expressly conditions any permit … on the applicant’s present and future adherence to this alleged aspect of its business,” meaning the shop should not become a “general retail business.”
The HPC requests limits to retail space and minimum percentages of agricultural products revenue, as well as authority for the town of Hartland to enforce these restrictions on Sunnymede and any future owners.
