Times & Seasons Tries

Times & Seasons Tries

Again for Act 250 Permit

By Sandy Vondrasek

The New Jersey developer who built a sizable "sugarhouse" on Dairy Hill Road in Royalton in 2006, after being denied an Act 250 permit to build a 4852-square-foot gift shop/deli there, is asking the District #3 Environmental Commission to reconsider his original gift shop/deli application.

The reconsideration request comes from Times and Seasons LLC, a corporation established by landowner John C. Lefgren of Pittstown, N.J.

Lefgren told The Herald this week that he would still like to operate a gift shop and deli in the "sugarhouse" building, to serve the many Mormons who annually visit the Joseph Smith Memorial, about a quarter-mile above his Dairy Hill Road property.

"There has been no trickery on my part," he said. "I have always been clear as to what my intentions were."

When asked if he had considered holding off on building until he had a permit, Lefgren responded, "I’m getting old, I’m 64. My application has been in court for more than five years."

Lefgren, who said he is a Mormon, went on to say that he feels anti-Mormon "bigotry" in Royalton is "has been a big part of the reason why certain people have tried to prevent me from offering hospitality to 50,000 people a year."

"Now that," he added, "is the main reason that I have not backed away from this fight."

The reconsideration request asks District #3 commissioners to consider some new factors pertinent to the three criteria on which the permit was denied in 2004. The three criteria are: effects on aesthetics (8) and on primary agricultural soils (9b), and whether the project meets the "clear standards" of Royalton’s Town Plan (10).

Royalton has no zoning ordinance.

Complexities

The new request—to be heard October 27 in Royalton—is the latest chapter in a complex, Act 250 history for the project.

Lefgren appealed his 2004 permit denial to the Environmental Board, which in 2005 upheld the denial on all three criteria. He then took his appeal to the Vermont Supreme Court, which earlier this year upheld the denial on the aesthetics and soils issues, but not on the Town Plan criterion.

While that appeal process was ongoing, Lefgren, operating under Land of Joseph Sugar House LLC, went on to build what he said would be a sugarhouse. Agricultural buildings are not subject to Act 250 review.

Lefgren told The Herald that he has a maple syrup distribution business, and has sold "about 40,000 bottles of syrup in the past few years," with TV and radio advertising as the primary promotion. Lefgren does not produce syrup, however. He distributes Vermont syrup "through a contract with two packaging houses," he said.

He has not used his "sugarhouse," and in fact, only recently finished putting a roof on what, he said, is a high-quality, timber frame structure.

"It’s been a huge effort on my part," Lefgren added. "I’ve put more than half my family’s money into this building."

The Vermont Supreme Court had a footnote on the sugarhouse in its 2008 ruling: "We assume that the phrase ‘sugarhouse’ is used to denote a building that will house an evaporator and other equipment used in the manufacture of maple syrup."

According to a prehearing memorandum issued a few weeks ago by four members of the of District #3 Commission, the sugarhouse Lefgren built "is similar (as far as the commission can tell) in all respects except as to its location to the proposed building" the commission denied four years ago.

Lefgren owns several properties off Dairy Hill Road, including a small 950-square-foot gift shop and a bed and breakfast, set back further from Dairy Hill Road than the sugarhouse. The B&B has its own Act 250 permit, and the small gift shop was permitted as an amendment to that permit, in a review conducted after the gift shop was already built.

Lefgren’s new petition for reconsideration, filed on his behalf by Atty. David Grayck of Montpelier, takes the project’s permit history to a new level of complexity. A pre-hearing memorandum gives a preview of the issues that commissioners will try to resolve in the new hearing.

Yes, No, Maybe

The commissioners have agreed to review the aesthetics issue anew, using a new planting plan submitted by Times and Seasons, according to the memorandum.

However, the commission has declined to review the project for conformance with the Royalton Town Plan ("the community standard"), since "the commission does not believe that it has the authority" to do so.

The commissioners argue that the denial on that criterion stands, as supported by the Environmental Board decision. The Supreme Court, according to commissioners, "refused to address Times and Seasons’ claim that the E-Board’s ‘community standard’ decision was in error."

Even more complex is the soils question, to which the commission devotes five of its eight-page memorandum.

"This case, being one of reconsideration, raises a series of issues, some of which the commission believes have never been addressed either by the Commissions, the Environmental Board, or the courts."

It may be, the commissioners suggest, that they do not have the authority to review the soils issue.

The original permit denial, upheld by the Environmental Board, found that the project contains 2.8 acres of primary agricultural soils, 1.9 acres of which would be "significantly reduced or destroyed."

Lefren’s motion for reconsideration argues that the state definition of "primary agricultural issues" has changed since 2004.

There have been changes to the law, the commissioners agreed. They further agreed to take testimony on the soils issue—and its four sub-criteria—on Oct. 27.

However, they wrote, the commission also "invites briefing on the question of whether such an inquiry can be held."

The memorandum concludes by noting that Commissioner Joshua Powers of Royalton, who had recused himself from the initial review because he was a Royalton Selectboard member, is no longer a selectman and is "available to hear this case."

The Oct. 27 reconsideration hearing will begin with an 8:30 a.m. site visit, with the hearing immediately afterwards at the Royalton Academy Building.