A court ruling last week gave Burton Snowboards the green light to relocate Higher Ground to its Burlington campus, but the neighbors fighting the project aren’t backing down.

In a July 12 decision, Vermont Superior Court Judge Mary Miles Teachout upheld state and local permits for the planned 11,560-square-foot music venue and outdoor lounge at Burton’s headquarters on Queen City Park Road.

She did so despite opposition from the neighborhood group Citizens for Responsible Zoning, which argues the venue will bring noise and heavy traffic to the residential area that's just over the South Burlington city line. The ruling followed a weeklong trial in April.



“The decision reaffirms that the project has been thoroughly evaluated and sufficiently addresses concerns raised by a small group of opponents,” Justin Worthley, Burton’s senior vice president of people and culture, and Higher Ground co-owner Alex Crothers said in a statement on Monday. They called the ruling an “important milestone.”
“Higher Ground and Burton look forward to bringing the incredible benefits of this project to the South End Arts community as well as the great Northern Vermont region,” the statement said.

Jim Dumont, a Bristol-based attorney representing the citizen group, said his clients will ask the court to reconsider. Depending on that outcome, the group may appeal to the Vermont Supreme Court, he said.

“My clients thank Judge Teachout for the patience and the dignity with which she conducted the trial, but we respectfully disagree with her analysis of the law and the facts,” Dumont said. He wouldn’t elaborate, citing the possibility of an appeal.

The Higher Ground move has been in the works for four years as part of plans to build an entertainment hub at Burton's South End campus, which also includes Talent Skatepark. The existing South Burlington music venue on Williston Road can accommodate up to 1,050 people in two performance spaces. The new one would have one large space with room for 1,500 people.

The city approved the plans in fall 2020, the state in spring 2022. Neighbors appealed both permits, arguing that late-night concerts would draw boisterous crowds and that bass from the music would disturb their sleep. They also said event-goers would park on nearby residential streets.
In her ruling, Teachout pointed to sound modeling done by a Burton-hired engineer that concluded that the venue noise wouldn’t exceed the area’s existing background noise by “more than one [decibel].”

That study, however, assumed that attendees would park at the venue, not on side streets — and Teachout concluded that Burton didn’t address this concern adequately. Her order requires Higher Ground to install signage that clearly directs cars to the venue’s parking lot and to provide traffic control for events with 750 or more patrons.

The order also says Higher Ground must coordinate with Burlington and South Burlington officials to ensure event parking doesn’t spill onto residential streets, such as by paying for tow trucks to enforce compliance.

The judge also said Burton has to install permanent sound monitors and "take immediate steps" if levels exceed the permitted limits. And the order reiterated a requirement in Burton's state permit to use sound-dampening measures, including insulation, two sets of “sound lock doors” and a sound barrier around the outdoor lounge.