This story by Clare Shanahan was first published in The Valley News on on Jan. 14
NEWBURY — The town Development Review Board has approved the first phase of construction at a sustainable teaching farm proposed by a Puerto-Rico-based nonprofit.
The board’s December decision requires that the nonprofit, Plenitud PR, meet more than a dozen conditions, including addressing parking issues, before it can move forward with construction.
Some of the conditions focus on logistical issues and small discrepancies in paperwork, while others address concerns raised by residents and board members at a November hearing.
The group plans to build a regenerative farm on a 101-acre property off of North Road in Newbury with lodging for staff, interns and guests, a renovated barn event space and food processing facility, and agricultural infrastructure. The nonprofit plans to host events and overnight workshops at the farm that focus on teaching techniques to increase food, water and housing security and climate resilience.
Plenitud’s hope is that this farm project “enriches our community by sharing these practices and techniques through hands-on learning” and “can support and complement what is already happening in Newbury,” Jessica Jones Hughes, Plenitud’s associate director and “point person” for the Vermont project, wrote in a letter to the board.
The decision means Plenitud will have to make some design adjustments and do “a lot of research” before it gets the final green light on the first phase of the project, Jones Hughes said Monday. Still, the organization is “very encouraged and excited to take it step by step as we keep moving forward,” she said.
In its initial project proposal, Plenitud outlined three phases of construction over 20 years. The first phase, which spans seven years, includes renovating the existing house and part of the barn on the property, building cabins and an artist studio and getting started on some agricultural projects such as building greenhouses and new livestock barns.
In later phases, the team hopes to continue to renovate the barn, build another house for staff and interns and make ongoing improvements, according to application materials submitted for the November meeting.
Before the project can move forward though, the nonprofit needs to seek further approval from the Development Review Board about its parking plan and identify what is required at the state level, specifically around storm and wastewater permits, fire safety and Act 250 — the land use regulation that governs large developments in Vermont — according to the board’s written decision.
Residents and board members scrutinized the nonprofit’s parking plan when it came up at the November meeting. Originally, the group allocated six to eight parking spaces on the farm and planned to encourage attendees to park in nearby public lots and carpool. The board ruled that this plan is “neither enforceable nor workable,” according to the written decision.
Now, Plenitud has to submit a revised parking plan that includes up to 20 spaces, which aligns with the expected event attendance of 12 to 15 people.
For Plenitud, this ruling is “not too dramatic” because of the overall size of the property, Jones-Hughes said. She is currently working on identifying new potential parking areas and expects that the spots will be dispersed around the property.
After the new parking plan is finalized, it has to be approved by the review board. The board will also need to approve any other changes to the accepted project plans and do another complete review of planned development before the nonprofit moves onto “phase two” of its three-phase construction plan.
While there are a number of conditions to meet, overall Jones Hughes said the ruling is a positive one.
“It’s nice to know what we are able to do and not able to do as we start to vision this next phase,” she said.
Despite the number of conditions, the timeline of the project remains unchanged. The group still plans to host a “pilot” event this upcoming summer and fully launch in 2026 with the first few groups of students, Jones Hughes said.
Read the story on VTDigger here: Development board OKs first phase of construction at Newbury teaching farm.