[M]ontpelier became the first municipality in Vermont to approve noncitizen voting Tuesday night.
But the most hotly debated issue on the ballot was a $10.5 million bond vote for a parking garage, which residents passed by a 14 percent margin.
“I am just so excited and grateful that all of the articles passed,” said Mayor Anne Watson in an interview after the results were tallied. “These were all really important and exciting topics, and it’s good to know now what our direction is (so) we can start moving forward on these things.”
Montpelierites approved a city charter amendment by 2,857 to 1,488 that will allow noncitizens who are legal residents to vote on city ballot measures.
Watson said she thinks the city has “a lot to be proud of” in voting for the measure.
“In a time in which there has been a lot of news about ways that our country has been unwelcoming to people that are new or different, this is a welcome change,” she said.
Voter Diane Tetrault said she voted yes for the measure in a post-poll interview.
“I feel that if someone is living here and contributing to the community in any fashion — whether they’re working, supporting our businesses, contributing to our creative economy in any way — they belong here and they deserve to have a say about what happens,” said Tetrault.
The state Legislature will still have to approve the charter change, said city manager Bill Fraser.
The majority of electioneering occurring in front of the gray city hall arches Tuesday — as well as a common thread in editorials and Front Porch Forum posts leading up to the election in Montpelier — was about a downtown parking garage.
Voters approved a $10.5 million bond for a municipal parking garage behind the Capitol Plaza Hotel by 2,459 to 1,877. The garage, which will be built on land donated to the city by the Bashara family, will pave the way for an 80-room Hampton Inn the Basharas want to build next door.
While most of the money for the project will come from permits and use fees at the parking garage, the TIF district designation allows the city to pool municipal taxes and 70 percent of the education fund taxes collected on the new hotel for the rest of the funding.
“I’m so thankful for all the people who spoke up about it, whether it was for or against, because people who had ideas and suggestions for it made it a better project,” said Watson.
Montpelier voter Linda Young said she voted for the garage. “I don’t love the design, but it’s something we’ve been talking about doing for decades.”
She added that she also supported the measure because there will be stormwater treatment measures, something currently lacking for runoff coming off the paved site.
Another Montpelier resident, Walt Ward, said he supported the parking garage because he was tired of “driving in circles” searching for parking.
Tetrault voted no on Question 1 because she felt there were “too many unanswered questions and too many conflicting bits of information” about the garage.
“I ended up voting against it because nothing has ever not been served by taking more time to deliberate,” she added. “And if it’s that important, I’d rather see it slow down.”
She added that hearing that “the hotel would be primarily served by that structure, leaving not that many public spaces” was another reason she opposed the measure. The hotel will lease 200 of the garage’s 348 spaces. Tetrault questioned whether the new garage would go the way of the City Center garage, which mostly has leased spaces.
The second ballot question, which passed with a handsome margin of 3,770 to 575, asked voters to approve $16.75 million in upgrades to the city’s wastewater treatment system. The bond money will allow the city to replace aging infrastructure and increase on-site energy generation. The plant already produces some methane through anaerobic digestion, but the upgrades would allow the city to take in more organic waste and generate more methane for heating.
Montpelier residents also approved a city charter amendment change that will allow the council to regulate “non-reusable” plastic, such as bags or straws, by a vote of 3,322 to 930.
That charter amendment will also have to be approved by the Legislature.