DRB approves temporary driveway, allows Center for Technology Essex to build on Lot 6A with reconfiguration condition

The Essex Junction Development Review Board on Sept. 18 approved a variance allowing the Center for Technology Essex to build a single-family home on Lot 6A adjacent to 29 Taft Street using a temporary driveway, provided the driveway is reconfigured to meet the Land Development Code when the permanent Meadow Terrace roadway is completed.

The board’s decision lets the Center for Technology Essex proceed with construction for its residential building program while the city and applicant await state wetlands determinations that have delayed the Meadow Terrace connection. Board Chair John Alden opened the public hearing and asked staff to confirm the application’s scope.

The variance request sought relief from the minimum lot frontage requirement in section 7.20 of the city’s Land Development Code so the parcel could obtain a zoning permit before the planned roadway exists. Michael Giguere, city staff, described the application as a temporary, phase‑one driveway arrangement and said staff recommended a condition requiring the applicant to reconfigure the temporary driveway to comply with special standards in section 6.18(h) of the Land Development Code after the permanent roadway is built.

An instructor for the Center for Technology Essex, identified in the record as representing the residential building program, told the board the program has proceeded through state permitting and planned a road connecting Taft Street to Meadow Terrace but encountered a class‑2 wetland on Lot 8A. The instructor said the wetland’s buffer encroaches on the planned road and has delayed the permanent connection; the temporary driveway would allow the school’s curriculum to continue while permitting and design issues are resolved.

Board members asked whether the temporary driveway could become a recurring solution if the permanent road is never built. Giguere and the applicant’s representative said the long‑term configuration is unknown and any future subdivision reconfiguration would need to comply with the Land Development Code; the temporary driveway was presented as a limited, interim measure. The wetlands were described by the applicant as a class‑2 scrub‑shrub wetland of about 0.61 acres that triggers a 50‑foot buffer, which overlaps the proposed roadway alignment.

A drafted condition of approval shown to the board reads: “Upon completion of the roadway connecting Taft Street to Meadow Terrace, the applicant shall reconfigure the temporary driveway serving Lot 6A to comply with the special standards of section 6.18(h) of the land development code.” A board member moved to approve the variance with that condition; the motion was seconded and carried unanimously.

The board’s action permits the Center for Technology Essex to proceed with building the next single‑family home on Lot 6A using the temporary driveway, but it requires the applicant to alter the driveway and return portions to natural or grass where necessary once the permanent Meadow Terrace roadway is constructed. The board and staff noted they will monitor how any forthcoming gubernatorial executive order on wetlands might affect the subdivision plan and the need for roadway redesign.