My Taft Corners

Change came to Williston when the construction of I-89 through began in 1962, connecting the rest of Vermont to Taft Corners.

Shopping opportunities expanded out from downtown Burlington to big box stores.

As apartment living and offices of all types anchored themselves at this formerly rural intersection, the people of the town struggled with what it means to have a suburban center in their midst.

Despite these major strides (and many, many years of visioning, dreaming, and planning), what has been built has fallen short of community expectations. The area remains more strongly vehicle rather than pedestrian oriented, and less of a “downtown” than envisioned, with most buildings and sites in commercial or residential use, but not both as the true “mixed use” vision would be.

In 2020, the Town set out to write a Form-Based Code that would be integrated into the existing Unified Development Bylaw, ensuring that streets and buildings constructed in the future contribute to diverse, interesting, walkable streetscapes in the Growth Center.

 _{Image: Sept 25, 2020. Bonnie Woodford, Matt Boulanger, Taylor Newton (CCRPC), Melinda Scott, and Emily Heymann (photographer) on a site visit of Taft Corners.}  

More people participated in #mytaftcorners than the last two Town Plans

The project engaged the community in a collaborative process, despite a global pandemic, to envision how the buildings and streets that make up the town’s long-stated vision should really look, feel, and function and map out a path for the town to truly become what its people have been saying they want for the last 40 or more years.

168 people responded and ranked their preferences of various streetscapes.

The map survey asked participants to place a marker on a specific location in Taft Corners that they liked or disliked and to make comments. 338 comments with 9,000 words were submitted!

A hands-on public design session with 36 participants was held on April 24, 2021. Small groups of citizens led by a facillitator brainstormed and mapped out a vision for Taft Corners. This feedback became the backbone and rubric for the Vision Plan.

The Big Ideas that emerged from the hands-on public design session:

An Open Design Studio Week followed, where consultants, staff and stakeholders (developers, Committee/Board members, other town departments, VT AOT) met and discussed the project, and the consultant team developed an outline for the Vision Plan.

62 people attended the May 3, 2021"Work-in-Progress" Final Studio Update and gave feedback on the overall vision

was published after the May 3 "Work-in-Progress" community meeting and June/July meetings with the Planning Commission.

"An economic model for the future"

On July 27, 2021 the Selectboard endorsed the Vision Plan and directed the Planning Commission to begin work on drafting the Code. Image: This 3D rendering shows per-acre value of properties in Williston. The dark blue spikes are Finney Crossing apartment buildings.

After the Vision Plan was published in July 2021, the Consultant Team got to work on the implementation of the Taft Corners Form Based Code.

Two important themes that emerged through this project and were identified as highly desirable to the citizens include

1. Green street spaces and parks as vital public places
2. Creating a walkable pedestrian-oriented environment to encourage multimodal transportation

Swipe the images to see the future Trader Lane existing stub and as envisioned in the future under Form Based Code.

The Regulating Plan, modeled on the Vision Plan, maps out a network of streets, blocks, and public open spaces, which are central to the new design of Taft Corners. Rather than developers deciding street and park lay out on a per-parcel basis, the Town (via the Regulating Plan and the Official Map) lays out a cohesive grid-street network for the entire Taft Corners.

The Regulating Plan was developed by Geoff Ferrell and his team of experts, taking into consideration constraints like State rights-of-way, VELCO transmission lines, topography and known wetlands, and more.

Williston's Official Map is the companion to the Regulating Plan and includes existing and desired facilities throughout town.

What is an "Official Map"?

• Identifies and maps the locations of existing and proposed public lands and facilities and the connections between them, including utility corridors, roads, sidewalks, and trail networks.
• Reduces the risk of losing ideal sites to other development while ensuring that landowners are treated fairly.
• Guides future physical form and design of development in areas where growth is planned.

The Form Based Code  Regulating Plan  and  Official Map  are the primary tools, working in concert with each other, that allow Williston to achieve its Vision. Official Map is a planning tool authorized by statute ( 24 V.S.A. § 4421 ) that allows Vermont municipalities to require planned public facilities including streets and bike paths, drainage ways, public buildings, and parks and green spaces to be accommodated by new development. An  excellent summary of the Official Map process  has been prepared by the Vermont Planning Information Center.

In addition to required private open areas, wide sidewalks and treelawns along the streets (not pictured), the Regulating Plan lays out public parks and greens within no more than a 3-minute walk from anywhere in Taft Corners. These include civic greens and squares within the streets and blocks, and natural areas containing wetlands and wetland buffers.

Click on the numbered points to learn about some of the planned natural areas and civic greens included in the Regulating Plan.

To date, Taft Corners has no public green spaces.

5.1 Intent These Public Realm Standards are designed to establish environments within Taft Corners that encourage and facilitate pedestrian and bicycle activity by creating streets and other parts of the public realm that are comfortable, efficient, safe, and interesting.

Although commonly thought of as just greens, squares or parks, the public realm includes the complete street space—the space between the building façades: the sidewalks, street trees, squares, greens, and the automobile lanes.

The street-space is a community’s first and foremost public space and should be just as carefully designed and planned as any green or civic building. The character of the street—both its scale and its details—plays a critical role in determining the quality of the place.

Streets within Taft Corners should not be thought of as “roads, highways, arterials, or collectors.” They should be developed to create people-oriented places balancing all transportation modes. Most streets in Taft Corners should be designed primarily for walkability and pedestrian comfort.

The primary streets running through Taft Corners includes one-way cycle tracks (separated/protected bike lanes) on both sides of the street.

The Form Based Code Streets Map includes a bicycle network (within the street/block network), where bicyclists would be completely separated from automobiles, and multi-use trails (outside the street/block network).