VERGENNES — State officials are backing off from their goal of siting in Vergennes a 14-bed locked detention and counseling center for teens with law enforcement involvement.

But it remains unclear what their plans are to establish a facility that the heads of the Department for Children and Families (DCF) and the Department of Buildings and Grounds and General Services (BGS) have insisted — including during public forums held in Vergennes — is badly needed as a temporary stop for troubled Vermont youth on their way to more permanent placements.

What is certain is that in a July 12 email from BGS Commissioner Wanda Minoli to Vergennes Zoning Administrator David Austin and City Manager Ron Redmond, Minoli wrote BGS is no longer interested in pursuing a zoning change needed to build such a facility on a state-owned 8-acre site on Comfort Hill in northern Vergennes.

Minoli wrote:

“I am following up on the letter submitted by the Department of Buildings and Grounds and General Services (BGS) on June 25, 2024, in which BGS requested the expansion of the Public District (PUB) to support the state’s efforts in siting the future Green Mountain Youth Campus on state-owned property in Vergennes that is outside the PUB. Thank you for your time and consideration of that request over the past year. BGS is formally withdrawing that request.”

However, she and other state officials had yet, as of Tuesday, clarified what their plans are moving forward for the juvenile detention and counseling center, and whether those plans might still include Vergennes.

After receiving a copy of Minoli’s Thursday email, the Independent emailed Minoli and Department for Children and Families Commissioner Chris Winters seeking to answer those questions.

The Independent asked, “What plans, if any, do you folks have at this point for such a facility in Vergennes or elsewhere, please?”

Midafternoon the next day, June 13, BGS Spokesperson Cole Barney replied to that email with the following (italics as in the email):

“I am following up on your inquiry yesterday to Commissioners Minoli and Winters regarding BGS’ PUB expansion request withdrawal. Please see the statement below in response:

We have put our plans for this parcel on hold as the State considers and evaluates options. It is a priority for both BGS and DCF to move forward in a way that will support the unique needs of Vermont youth in crisis. We appreciate the City of Vergennes’s consideration of our request to date.”

The Independent replied to that email at 3:05 p.m. on June 13, copying Barney, Minoli and Winters. That email asked: “The statement indicates options are being considering. Do any of those options involve Vergennes?”

As of Wednesday morning there was no response to that email.

CITY CONCERNS

Meanwhile, Mayor Chris Bearor and Councilor Mark Koenig, who chaired the Ad Hoc Committee the city council appointed to negotiate with state for compensation if it should accept the Green Mountain Youth Campus within city limits, are concerned the state could be eyeing some of the roughly 60-acre Northlands Job Corps campus for the youth facility if the U.S. Department of Labor succeeds in closing the center.

The National Job Corps Association on June 4 won in court a temporary restraining order stopping the DOL from shutting down Northlands and the 98 other contractor-operated Job Corps centers. A Tuesday hearing in the U.S. District Court of Southern New York State was set to determine if that association would win an injunction to further delay the shutdown.

Per Northlands Center Director Michael Dooley late on Tuesday the judge extended the restraining order on the centers’ shutdown until June 25 while he makes a ruling on the request for the injunction.

But that decision would probably not decide Northlands’ and other centers’ long-term fate, as an appeal of the decision by either side is likely.

Regardless, Koenig pointed out the Northlands campus is already zoned in the city’s Public District, and DCF and BGS would not need zoning permission to establish a new juvenile facility there, theoretically even on a small part of the campus.

Koenig noted the agencies could simply say, “We set up some fencing around it, and we’re done. We don’t have to ask permission of anybody.”

He added, however, such an action would run counter to what Winters and former BGS Commissioner Jennifer Fitch told city officials and residents while making their pitch to Vergennes for hosting the Green Mountain Youth Campus.

“But then their (position), ‘We only want to come to a community where we’re welcome,’ is out the door,” Koenig said.

Also, on June 6 the committee Koenig chairs met to approve a draft letter stating it had come to an end of its mission because of a lack of progress in its work and what Koenig called a lack of cooperation from state officials. They approved that letter as a report to the city council on June 10, and the city council accepted it on that date.

“We feel like there is nothing to go forward on right now. The state has not given us the information we need to go forward, which they told us they were going to (do) a number of times,” Koenig said. “The planning commission didn’t take up a motion to change any zoning because they don’t have the information they need to make any decisions.”

Koenig told the council, “As far as the Ad Hoc Committee is concerned, as far as something happens from the state, we are done with our work.”

The Independent asked Koenig about the issue of compensation to the city for hosting the center, something that Winters and Fitch had more than hinted could be forthcoming, and that Springfield received for agreeing to allow a prison to be built within its town limits. City officials believe police and fire protection would be called to the facility, and residents and officials alike expressed concerns about property values declining.

“When we had a smaller meeting in Montpelier (on April 6) with the two commissioners with a smaller group from Vergennes, the implication we got was our ask for the land was probably not going to happen, and they didn’t understand why we would be needing any extra money for safety and fire,” Koenig replied. “They didn’t say we were not going to get it, but it felt like we were not going to get it. Since those were pretty much the only things we were asking for, it felt like, well, why are we even here?”

Koenig said regardless of the fate of the Green Mountain Youth Campus there remains the larger issue of the state owning a large chunk of northwestern Vergennes, and what is the best use of that property for the public good. City officials believe that use is housing, including affordable housing.

“Vergennes is still trying to figure out what we can do to gain control of all that empty land to bring in some housing,” Koenig said. “The governor is still saying housing is an important thing, and we need to bring in more people, and there’s 180 acres of land not being used.”

The mayor said the council has formally discussed the committee’s report, but Bearor was confident in speaking for the councilors on the issue.

“We haven’t discussed it, but I think everyone is in agreement that the committee has spoken, and we’re going to support whatever they tell us to do,” Bearor said.

And the ball is in the state’s court, he added.

“We’re not going to have any more meetings unless they come to us with something,” Bearor said. “We’re totally waiting on the state if they want to pursue anything more. Our committee has done due diligence.”