South Burlington developments to help with housing shortage

Driving on Kennedy Drive in South Burlington you might notice some changes. They are to help with a growing problem of housing in Chittenden County.

Christopher Michael von Trapp has been a real estate agent in South Burlington for 24 years. He has seen the housing shortage go from an annoyance to a real problem. The burden on the community he says is not going away.

"This area suffers from 20 years of not keeping up with the housing demand. And it now reflects in what's going on in the sales but it also reflects in the level of the rental market," von Trapp said.

That's part of why the South Burlington director of planning and zoning, Paul Conner, is excited to welcome projects like the one on Kennedy Drive. The new construction is a concept that has been years in the making.

"The city as early as the 1980s started to put in its comprehensive plan that we wanted to form a proper downtown and make strong walkable neighborhoods and I think over the next 10 years we are going to start seeing that part fill in," Conner said.

Part of the 10-year plan includes adding more than 2,000 homes all across Chittenden County. This particular development by the O’Brien Brothers will be 118 single-family and duplex-style homes. That's not all people can expect.

"We've been adding park space, adding recreation pads and we've been working on a new city library," Conner said.

The developer says they plan on this project being finished in the next five years. At that time, they would like to add a few restaurants by Kimball Ave.