MIDDLEBURY — Only four years ago, the notion of siting a new, 254-home neighborhood anywhere near Middlebury Village seemed like a pipedream.

A worldwide pandemic, skyrocketing home prices and surging building costs put the clamps on most home starts — let alone major subdivisions.

But a phone call from Middlebury College to a developer, Summit Properties, got the ball rolling in 2021 on a massive (by Addison County standards) subdivision called Stonecrop Meadows that was officially launched on Monday by a veritable village of stakeholders who’ve taken it from concept to construction.

Among those turning a ceremonial spade of dirt at the 35-acre site off Seminary Street Extension were U.S. Sen. Peter Welch, D-Vt.; Gov. Phil Scott; Middlebury selectboard Chair Brian Carpenter; Middlebury College’s vice president for finance & administration, David Provost; and the leaders of a variety of state and federal agencies that helped secure key funding for a project that will boast a combination of affordable, workforce and market-rate homes, both for sale and rent.

“We are building an ambitious, all-electric, innovative neighborhood on a scale and of a type that rural Vermont has not seen in decades,” Summit COO Zeke Davisson told the crowd of more than 120 people in Middlebury’s Town Hall Theater to salute Stonecrop’s launch.

“The town created the environment, a major employer stepped up, state agencies and legislators put their money where their mouth was, and the community has embraced development done the right way. That is the magic and the model that Stonecrop Meadows can be for the state,” Davisson added.

Plans call for Stonecrop to be phased in over multiple years, with the initial installment of 80 units — along with the development’s infrastructure — now underway. The first homes are expected to be available by this summer.

Of the first round of 80 homes, 34 will be classified as “affordable housing,” reserved for families earning less than 80% of Area Media Income. For Addison County in 2024 that was $61,050 for a single person and $94,200 for a family of five.

Thirty-one of the first 80 Stonecrop units will be for households earning 80-150% of the Adjusted Median Income (up to $163,500 for a four-person household), and the remaining 15 will be sold at market rate.

Home sizes will range from 1,516 square feet with two bedrooms and 1.5 bathrooms, to 2,019 square feet with three bedrooms and 2.5 bathrooms. Summit has selected Middlebury’s IPJ Real Estate to handle Stonecrop marketing and sales.

The buildings will be modular homes, built offsite by East Montpelier’s Huntington Homes. Davisson recounted his outreach to Huntington Homes Co-owner Jason Webster during the fall of 2023. Webster had declined a prior overture from the company.

“(Webster) said, ‘You’ve caught me in a moment when I’ve been reflecting on what we do and why. We have employees who lost their homes in the (July 2023) flooding,’” Davisson said.

He quoted from a Webster email: “We can’t do ski homes and affordable at the same time. But it’s about focusing on priorities, right?”

During the first week in May, Huntington is slated to drop 12 modular homes at the site.

“In just two days, we’ll go from a poured foundation to a standing six-unit, three-story townhome building that will soon welcome six middle-income families,” Davisson said.

He further explained the building strategy for Stonecrop: “We’re building modularly for the initial for-sale homes, controlling costs, improving quality, energy efficiency, reliability. And we’re building with green energy; a big component of this will be geothermal.”

COLLEGE BUY-IN

Summit, in partnership with the Vermont’s Congressional delegation and organizations like the Vermont Housing & Conservation Board (VHCB), secured millions of dollars in federal grants, low-interest loans and tax credits to help make Stonecrop financially viable and accessible to folks of multiple income levels. But Summit officials stressed the project wouldn’t have gotten off the ground without the impetus and buy-in from Middlebury College.

Davisson said it was in 2021 that he fielded a call from college leaders who said, “We have a workforce housing problem.”

Provost and acting college President Steve Snyder on Monday noted 20% of the college’s staff commutes from New York State because they can’t find homes in Vermont.

The college, Davisson noted, not only bought the Stonecrop property to reduce the upfront development costs, but it also bridged a $2.5 million funding gap this past October to ensure the timely start of phase one of the development.

Provost added that recently departed Middlebury College President Laurie Patton was a strong supporter of Stonecrop as an amenity for the entire community.

While the college’s resources and conviction were key, Provost reiterated Stonecrop couldn’t have advanced without the many players assembled on Monday.

“It takes all of us. We are all subject-matter experts in certain things; we cannot do this alone,” he said. “That’s how we’re adding 250 units of housing in a very short time.”

Sen. Welch was credited for being a longtime supporter of affordable housing initiatives. He’s nominated Stonecrop for a $5.5 million federal earmark as part of the Fiscal Year 2025 federal budget, which is currently in progress.

“Ambitious initiatives like the Stonecrop Meadows project are essential to tackle our housing challenges in Vermont and across the country,” he said. “I’ll continue to fight for passage of this upcoming budget to ensure these funds make it to this critical project.”

Carpenter also hailed Stonecrop’s launch, noting the town selectboard in recent years has made housing creation its top priority. To that end, he recognized Middlebury’s planning officials for revising the town’s zoning laws to facilitate housing projects and accessory units, among other things.

“My message today is one of gratitude — to our state government, for the support of simplifying and fast tracking development approval in downtown areas,” he said. “Gratitude to our state and federal partners, for the subsidies that have been directed toward this project, to help ensure a large portion of these dwellings will be occupied by those who could not otherwise afford to live in the town of Middlebury. And, especially, gratitude to Middlebury College, for their leadership, and the board of trustees for their willingness to invest in the Middlebury community.”

Gov. Phil Scott pledged his administration’s support for future housing initiatives statewide. Among other things, his proposed fiscal year 2026 budget proposes to add $15 million to the VHFA’s middle-income housing program.

“I believe housing is the cornerstone to solving so many challenging issues,” he said, citing job creation, attracting young families and increasing the tax base as among the benefits.

He encouraged communities like Middlebury to adopt Tax Increment Financing to leverage additional private investment to build and renovates the housing, commercial, and retail space.

“There are so many good things we can accomplish together,” Scott concluded. “(Stonecrop) is an example of that.”

40,000 HOMES IN VT

The Vermont Housing Finance Agency released a report last year suggesting the state needs to add upwards of 40,000 homes within the next five years. Davisson said Stonecrop will get Middlebury off to a nice start meeting its portion of that target: 560 homes.

“We’re going to build half of those, but we need these homes matched one-for-one by other builders and developers in that timeframe,” Davisson said.

Alex Farrell, commissioner of the Vermont Department of Housing & Community Development, said the state can reach the daunting 40,000 goal if every community and county builds its share.

Failure to advance housing growth would be a bad move, according to Maura Collins, executive director of the VHFA. She said some Vermont employers are so desperate for workers that they’re building housing as an inducement to fill job vacancies.

She applauded the Stonecrop stakeholders for joining forces to make the project a reality.

“You’ve made my job so much easier,” she said. “Now, when we get calls about what can be done and what is possible, I have been pointing everyone to Middlebury every turn I get.”

Gus Seelig, longtime executive director of the VHCB, saluted what he called “the conspiracy of goodwill to make (Stonecrop) happen.”

He invited the various stakeholders to look beyond Stonecrop’s bricks and mortar. He recalled the late U.S. Rep. and Civil Rights leader John R. Lewis, and the principles of diversity, equity and inclusion he had applied to government programs and opportunity — principles he noted the Trump administration is now scrubbing from federal programs and bureaucracy.

“We’re not just going to break ground for a building today; we’re going to be building a foundation for community,” Seelig said. “And how important is that in these really, really divisive times? What (Stonecrop) is about, is inclusion. It’s about equity — meaning fairness, for all of us. It is what our state moto is: Freedom and Unity. We’re going to create freedom for people by building them homes, they’re going to buy them and rent them, become productive members of this community — whether the volunteer for the library, the PTA, the fire department, the ambulance squad. We’re enriching ourselves with this investment that we’re making.”

Story Written by John Flowers, Addison Independent

Story Link: https://www.addisonindependent.com/2025/02/06/ground-broken-on-big-housing-project-in-middlebury/