On the agenda: Burlington Ward 5 NPA Meeting — data center (Oct 15)

Neighborhood Planning Assembly Minutes
NPA:
Date of Assembly : 10/15/26

Start Time: (Commence): 7pm

Location: 645 Pine Street (DPW Building)
Note taker: Laura O’Malley

Ward
5

Finish Time: (Adjourn): 9pm

Forward official minutes to: Barbara Turnbull

Steering Committee Members in Attendance:​
FaRied Munarsyah, Laura O’Malley, Gary Myers, Anja Samsom, Nate Lantieri
Discussion Topics
●​ Intro, Public Forum

Actions Taken / Decisions Made
●​ No resolutions at this time

Agenda Items and Actions:
●​ Commence: 7:00pm
○​ Link to Agenda
○​ Nate begins the meeting and encourages the group to visit the npa website:
npa5.org
●​ Public forum
○​ FaRied: introduces himself as a ward rep/steering committee member and
volunteer for the People’s Kitchen. He shares that a mutual aid project that he's
part of serves free food at community events. Currently, they’re collecting
donations for warm clothing, sleeping bags, pants, survival gear, etc., and are at
City Hall park 3 nights a week.
○​ Todd: He shares that he’s concerned about traffic safety along Locust and Pine
and thanks DPW for their engagement and continued dialog.
○​ Dave: Encourages constituents to vote this Nov 3rd. Speaks to the difficulty of
walker or wheelchair users and risks due to the state of sidewalks.
○​ Shawn: Says he’s running for Justice of the Peace, speaks to his environmental
and family values.
○​ Andy: Speaks praise of Amanda Janoo and encourages people to vote and
volunteer in the upcoming election. You can visit janoonewsvt.com, and they are
canvassing Tuesdays 5pm Callahan Park near the playground. October 28th there
will be another canvassing event. He also says he’s concerned about traffic safety
on Locust and shares a video. He encourages people to vote in favor of a
resolution relating to this in the next meeting.
○​ Bram: Offers neighbors to speak to him regarding state policy at Zero Gravity.
Also adds to the traffic safety dialog–talks about enforcing the speed limit
○​ Nate ends the forum with an opportunity to become part of the steering committee
●​ 7:15 Encouraging Everyday Stewardship - BPRW
○​ Megan O’Daniel and Dan Cahill from Parks and Rec Waterfront Dept as well as
Zoe Richards of Transportation and Waterways

○​ Says this presentation is a way of connecting the neighborhoods with
opportunities to support local stewardship and climate resilience.
○​ Talks about the Open Space Plan, written ~20 years ago to protect natural areas
and now increasingly focused on flood resilience. The legacy fund was created as
a part of the plan and became a tax, and the dept also relies on a grant program to
support climate based solutions. Goes on to speak to the importance of local
vegetation for ecosystems resilience and their goal is to create pollinator friendly
habitats in the city through promoting neighbors private land use in this
manner–they have a pilot program marking stewardship zones and provides a map
○​ Volunteer BTV: DIY Community Service
■​ Weekend of Nov 7 and 8 they’re performing cleanup/landscaping work for
neighbors to join
■​ Also says there’s a tree planting opportunity Oct 28th @ 4pm
○​ A neighbor asks what to do with the ash tree stumps the city has left, and BPRW
says they need more funds to provide stump removal services.
○​ Promotes Adopt-A-Drain program
●​ 7:43 Election - Ballot Update/Review
○​ Nate introduces resources for the upcoming elections:
■​ the sample ballots/warnings/notices page
■​ Ward District Lookup Tool
○​ The following candidates were present:
■​ BRAM KLEPPNER (for state rep)
■​ KAREN PAUL (for state rep)
■​ KESHA RAM HINSDALE (for state senator)
■​ JEFFREY PETERSON (for state representative)
○​ Peterson speaks to the strength of programs like champlain housing trust to
combat the affordability crisis. Primarily is focusing on housing, healthcare, and
transportation
○​ Paul campaigns on having experience in finance will be an advantage to tackling
many widespread issues like healthcare and housing
○​ Hinsdale speaks to her professional experience during several times of crisis like
the flooding or pandemic, and currently teaches environmental justice policy at
UVM. Priorities include career technical education, housing and transportation
policy, and children’s wellbeing.
○​ Kleppner has a public policy background including Ben & Jerry’s, Danforth
Pewter, and work on healthcare financing and the Climate Council. Emphasized
interconnected problems such as housing, healthcare, early childhood
education–civil and functional
○​ Q&A/topics discussed:
■​ Thoughts on AI?
●​ Hinsdale: emphasizes that there should be policy/regulation
regarding children’s use of AI in schools
●​ Karen expresses frustration with the governor’s decision to veto
regarding protections from data centers, wants further regulation
●​ Peterson: proposes a moratorium on AI in schools and data centers

●​ Kleppner: agrees with regulating AI/data center development and
at the same time speaks to its benefits in medical contexts and
optimism towards integrating it
■​ An audience member raised the issues of Vermont gov being connected to
an org responsible for housing inmates in a Mississippi facility, stalled
Burlington charter changes, and a lack of coordination among Chittenden
County legislators on community safety.
■​ Paul pointed to a past $100M shelter funding bill that passed the House
but failed in the Senate by one vote and said she would look to revive it.
■​ Kleppner says Vermonters should not be incarcerated out of state and said
he has asked legislative counsel to draft a rule change forcing charter
changes out of committee within eight legislative days.
■​ Ram Hinsdale described a Chittenden County versus rest-of-state dynamic
and the need for urban-rural coalitions. Ram Hinsdale favored a statewide
ban on guns in bars and a Democratic-led public safety bill.
●​ Wrapped by 9pm.