Citizen Portal
Sign In

Downtown Burlington projects: $28.8M in work under way, staff outlines mitigation for merchants

Burlington City Council · February 17, 2026

Loading...

AI-Generated Content: All content on this page was generated by AI to highlight key points from the meeting. For complete details and context, we recommend watching the full video. so we can fix them.

Summary

City staff summarized several downtown construction projects — a >$16M utility rehab, parking repaving tied to a transportation bond, the Paramount Theater renovation and streetscape improvements — and described outreach and mitigation steps for local businesses.

Economic Development Director Adam Scholl, Downtown Manager Maggie Cookman and City Engineer Amy Rapplett briefed council on ongoing and upcoming downtown construction projects.

Scholl described four major projects: a multi-phase utility rehabilitation (roughly two miles of sewer and water main work) that began in May 2025 and is currently estimated to finish in mid- to late 2027 with a project cost quoted at approximately $16,000,000; parking-lot repaving and roadway resurfacing funded in part by a $21.5 million transportation bond voter-approved in November 2024; the Paramount Theater renovation and expansion (design/award activity with construction bids above $10 million and other grant funding and G.O. bond support); and downtown streetscape enhancements tied to a $425,000 commerce grant and general-obligation bond funding.

Staff acknowledged the disruption construction causes for small downtown businesses and described communication strategies and mitigation: frequent project updates via the WhatsApp-based "WhatsUp Burlington" notification system, merchant meet-ups, pedestrian-level signage indicating businesses remain open, coordinated temporary bus-stop relocations, use of Burlington Downtown Corporation funds to defray business costs and promotional campaigns (including a recent "welcome-back" campaign for returning LabCorp employees and a downtown social media outreach plan). Staff also highlighted creative event coordination (recent concerts and a wine-and-chocolate walk) used to increase foot traffic during construction phases.

Council members asked for continued frequent communication and urged staff to be mindful of small-business owners' vulnerability to prolonged closures or uncertain foot traffic. Staff committed to regular updates and to providing more-detailed schedules and maps for construction phasing.