The Burlington City Council agreed by consensus last(Mon) night to go forward with a state grant application…the funds, if approved, to be used for flood prevention along the downtown riverfront.
Local resident Leon Shahan is afraid of more city debt, and says whenever he hears the word “leverage,” he immediately thinks “debt.” But City Manager Jim Ferneau says it’s his goal to not incur any City debt during the proposed project.
Toward the end of the meeting, Mayor Shane McCampbell made an impassioned plea for full community support. The “vision,” McCampbell spoke of includes several possible future phases of flood mitigation and riverfront area beautification, with a total price-tag of about 27 1/2-million dollars. Phase-1…which would include flood prevention measures from the south side of Market Street to the north side of the Port building and some landing amenities…would cost about $5.2-million…and City Manager Jim Ferneau says there’s no way Burlington could go any farther without state grant help.
