Town to share development proposal for Stanley-Wasson site at Monday meeting
October 5, 2025 | By Lisa Scagliotti Correction: The acreage of the Stanley-Wasson property has been corrected in this post to use the measurement of 2.29 acres from the most recent land survey.
The Waterbury Select Board meets on Monday evening at the Main Street fire station with space to accommodate a larger-than-usual in-person audience, if necessary, as it looks to discuss potential housing development plans for a key piece of property at the State Office Complex.
The Stanley-Wasson property today is a vacant lot, being used as a temporary park-and-ride and bus stop while the Lincoln Street commuter lot serves as a storage and staging area for equipment and materials for the Stowe Street bridge project. Photo by Gordon Miller
The board chose the larger venue for the presentation and discussion that it hopes will include community members.
The topic is the 2.29-acre parcel near the end of Randall Street at the intersection with Park Row still referred to as the “Stanley-Wasson” property from when it was the site of Stanley and Wasson Halls at the state complex. Both of the multi-story buildings were damaged by flooding from Tropical Storm Irene in August 2011 and were not reoccupied by state workers afterward. The structures contained state offices including the former headquarters of the Vermont State Colleges system. After Irene, town and village leaders considered the former state buildings on the site as a potential new municipal complex with town and village offices, a new library and police station. Voters in June 2013 however, rejected a proposed $5 million bond for such a project. Municipal leaders went back to the drawing board focused on what was then the Waterbury Public Library property. Voters ultimately supported a bond just under $3 million. Along with grants, disaster recovery funds and library fundraising, a new $5 million municipal complex was built on the library site, opening in 2016.
After sitting unused for a decade, the Stanley-Wasson buildings were demolished in the spring of 2021. Since then, the site has been a vacant lot. Most recently, it has been put into use as a temporary park and ride location and bus stop while work on the Stowe Street bridge has shut the state’s park and ride on Lincoln Street for public use. The regular commuter lot since June has been used as a staging and storage area for the Vermont Agency of Transportation bridge reconstruction project that is nearing completion.
Stanley and Wasson Halls demolished | spring 2021 | Photos by Gordon Miller
In 2023, the state Legislature approved a request from the town of Waterbury to sell the Stanley-Wasson property to the town with the aim to solicit development proposals for constructing housing on the site. The purchase price was set at $400,000. It is still owned by the state with the town having an option to purchase the property and ultimately transfer ownership to a developer.
This summer, town officials drafted a request to real estate developers, seeking proposals for a construction project that would maximize the property’s capacity for housing units in line with town zoning regulations. The town put out that call for proposals several weeks ago with a submission deadline of Sept. 26.
On Friday, Town Manager Tom Leitz said the town received just one project proposal from DEW Construction in Williston. The firm’s last major project with the town was in 2011 when it constructed two new fire stations in Waterbury and Waterbury Center.
Leitz said the DEW project calls for 90 units in a mixture of “market rate, workforce, and affordable housing” units. Monday’s presentation will detail those categories regarding features and potential costs, Leitz said. DEW notes that partnered with Wiemann-Lamphere Architects, Grenier Engineering, and Hardy Structural Engineering in putting the proposal together, he said.
In a letter to the community, Leitz said his presentation on Monday will trace the background and rationale “that have brought the Town to the position it is in today, along with an expected future timeline and potential actions.”
In recent weeks, as the Select Board prepared to solicit development proposals, they have heard from some local residents who have raised questions and concerns regarding a large-scale project on the site, particularly given that the location is in an area of the downtown that has flooded multiple times since Irene, several times just in the past two years.
At the board’s Sept. 1 meeting, adjacent landowners to the site, Peter Martell and Carrie Macmillan, both addressed the board.
Martell said he worries that constructing a large building or buildings on the property will result in pushing future floodwaters deeper into the adjacent residential area. He asked town officials to do a detailed hydrology study of the area as part of the process.
The town’s request to developers addressed the floodplain issue asking for proposals to include a “description of the firm’s experience in Vermont on similar-sized projects.” It asked that firms address their “ability to construct within a floodplain, and a historic district. Developers experience owning/operating multi-family residential buildings should also be discussed.”
At the Sept. 1 meeting, MacMillan was critical of the board’s communication to date with neighbors and the overall community about the town’s plans. “The issue is not whether Waterbury needs housing — we do,” she said. “The issue is where we build it, how quickly the process is moving for the Stanley Wasson site, and the lack of engagement with abutters about site-specific concerns.”
She echoed the concern about building on a site that held water in recent floods. ‘If the developer’s site design displaces water, reduces storage, increases elevation with fill, neighbors will experience an increase of flooding,” she said.
In addition to potential impacts of new development in future floods, MacMillan said neighbors who have begun to consider the project have raised questions about other impacts, such as traffic, stormwater and wastewater capacity, and general public safety, should a project add dozens more people to the neighborhood.
Select Board members responded, suggesting that they are eager to see creative designs from developers that address flooding potential, given the site location. They also point out that the town is pursuing flood mitigation efforts in Randall Meadow, adjacent to the neighborhood, that will aim to lessen future flooding in the area. The board last week approved entering an agreement with the state of Vermont to ultimately transfer ownership of the open field between the Winooski River and Randall Street to the town. The town also is seeking federal grant funding for excavation work on that property.
Select Board members ultimately decided that dedicating most of an upcoming meeting after the proposal submission deadline would be a good way to introduce the issue to the community and hear questions and comments from members of the public. They decided to dedicate a major portion of the Oct. 6 meeting agenda to the issue and to hold the meeting at the fire station with more space than the Steele Community Room, where the board usually meets.
Leitz said he will have more details to post on the town website and share on Monday night. He stresses that there are many factors to consider as the town moves forward to consider construction at the Stanley-Wasson site. He emphasizes the unique nature of this potential project and the fact that it is in the very early stages.
“Towns are not often in a position where they directly engage with housing developers, particularly on projects of this size,” Leitz writes in his letter. “We are going to do our best to keep the community informed and obtain your input.”
Ultimately, Leitz said he thinks having the town involved in a development project for the property is a better scenario than if the state of Vermont were to just put the lot up for sale directly to a developer. Having the town as a go-between to purchase the site and then transfer it to a developer will provide more opportunity for community input to shape the ultimate project, he said. Still, it’s new territory for everyone.
“This will be a challenge for us to work through,” Leitz admitted. “This all is going to take some time. I hope the community will give us a little bit of grace” as it moves ahead.
Monday’s meeting begins at 6:30 p.m. with a livestream via Zoom and recording as usual by ORCA Media. The meeting agenda has the Zoom link. The town website has a page with background information on the project to date, which will be updated.