Conservation Commission Clears Adams Street Vault, Orders Eastern Avenue Home Rebuild

BURLINGTON — March 27, 2025 — Burlington Conservation Commission approved underground utility vaults at 28 Adams Street and cleared a home rebuild at 4 Eastern Avenue in unanimous votes Thursday. Chair Larry Cohen and four commissioners — Kent Moffitt, Indra Debb, Rob Sheehan, and Associate Commissioner Sadie Backstrom — issued a negative conditional determination for the town's meter vault and flow control valve vault project, finding the work's impact on the bordering land subject to flooding would be de minimis despite FEMA mapping anomalies; the actual site elevation of 193 feet sits well above the mapped flood zone elevation of 179 feet. For 4 Eastern Avenue, the commission adopted an order of conditions for HPM Bruno Realty Trust requiring removal of wetland debris, preservation of a tree as a snag, planting of a red maple, and a $3,500 performance bond. A new public hearing opened for a home addition at 5 Vickery Circle — nearly the entire lot lies within the 100-year floodplain of Sawmill Brook — with the applicant proposing 384.2 cubic feet of floodplain alteration offset by 715.3 cubic feet of compensatory storage; the commission continued that hearing to April 10.