No Essex Prison
The Vermont Department of Buildings and General Services, along with the Department of Corrections are proposing the construction of a 112,000 square foot correctional facility in the Town of Essex, Vermont. This facility will be a replacement of Chittenden County Regional Correctional facility in South Burlington.
It is estimated to cost Vermont tax payers $70,000,000 in a time when all VT communities, including Essex, are struggling with converging crises around housing, poverty, addiction, flooding, aging infrastructure, healthcare costs, and the already skyrocketing tax burden associated with trying to deal with all of these things.
So far, officials from the DOC and the BGS have been unable to offer meaningful information on how this facility will impact our community. And they have failed to answer questions we've been asking. For these reasons, we are inviting our neighbors to learn more about the proposal, ask questions, and get involved with efforts to bring this issue to a town-wide vote.
Mailing List
TopPlease join our mailing list to learn more about the prison proposal, or to get plugged in to efforts to put this issue on the ballot. While we feel like we've seen enough to warrant the entire community having a say in whether or not this prison gets built, we're interested in starting a broader dialog and hearing from you all directly!
News & Action Items
TopMarch Planning Commission Meeting and Info from Montpelier
3/3/2025
Keep an eye out at the Town Meeting Day polls! We should have a few people in the morning and evening hours, distributing flyers and raising awareness of the State's plans to build a correctional facility in Essex.
Next Planning Commission Meeting - 03.13.2025
February's PC meeting started and ended basically where we left off at the end of 2024. Essex officials have yet to get meaningful answers to questions posed by the commission and us as a community. The consensus of the Planning Commission was that they can't move the zoning ammendment forward without more information around how a correctional facility will impact area first responders, infrastructure needs, real estate, and over all quality of life in Essex. It's not clear the prison project will be discussed in the next meeting, but it's worth keeping an eye on this page for the release of the upcoming agenda.
House Committee on Corrections and Institutions Presentation
On February 7th, VT Department of Buildings and General Services, along with the Department of Corrections, gave a presentation to state legislators on the VT HCI detailing the prison project proposal. This was basically a more detailed version of the presentation given to the Essex Planning Commission in the fall of 2024. BGS Commissioner Minoli and DOC Commissioner Deml painted a rosy picture of the state's engagement with the Town of Essex, characterizing the reception of the prison project as "warm", while seeming to indicate that they don't plan on spending much time trying to answer the questions we as a community have asked.
The entire meeting can be viewed on the HCI's youtube page. Near the end of this video, HCI Chair Emmons points out that everyone presenting in the meeting agrees with the plan to build a prison in Essex, and it is important that the committee hears from people who do not agree. So if you don't agree with this project, please send an email explaining why to:
- Rep. Alice Emmons - Chair
- Rep. James Gregoire - Vice Chair
- Rep. Troy Headrick - Ranking member
The Essex House delegation also gets a shout-out in the HCI video for their universal support of building the prison in our community. If you would like to reach out to them, please use the contact info here:
- Rep. Alyssa Black - Chittenden 24
- Rep. Leonora Dodge - Chittenden 23
- Rep. Golrang "Rey" Garofano - Chittenden 23
Relevant Planning Commission meetings can be viewed here:
Prison Plans
TopThe State is currently proposing construction of a facility with two buildings, a "secure" facility (prison), and a "re-entry" facility, where prisoners are required to live, but have more freedom of movement to leave prison grounds during the day. The main prison building would be around 103,000 square feet and hold up to 128 people. The re-entry facility would be around 9,000 square feet and hold up to 30 people. The entire site would take up around 14 acres. The State has proposed changing Essex Town zoning law to allow construction on two sites. At some point in the future, they plan to choose one site to move forward with construction.
The presentation given by the DOC and BGS at the Planning Commission can be viewed here.
Site 1
The State's prefered location is in forested land in the area near where the off-ramp of Rte 289 meets Colchester Road, between the CSWD transfer station and Suzie Wilson Road. Aside from being next to a landfill, the site is also close to a gas pipeline, and potentially impacts access to VAST snowmobile trails in the winter. The State ranks the environmental impact of building a prison on this site as "bad" in their own presentation, but justifies the construction here by essentially saying that the environmental impact is low because there is already a landfill and gas pipeline in the area. They also note how the surrounding area includes protected and endangered species, and has a high biological and conservation value due to VNHI rating. The State has not conducted any environmental impact studies, and they have no plans to do this before the zoning laws are changed to accomodate the prison plans.
Site 2
The second proposed location is in a partially forested, partially industrial site up the hill from the vacinity where River Road meets North Williston Road. Here, the prison would be built between what is now operated by a heavy machinery company and a large solar array. This site borders several residential properties. The State also states in its own proposal that the area has a "bad" designation for site size, accessibility, topographics, environmental impact, developable area, and available utilities. So this is certainly the more disruptive location to the environment, as well as Essex Town community members.
Who are we?
TopWe are a group of Essex residents who connected at recent Planning Commission meetings regarding prison construction plans. Although our current participants are all interested in preventing this prison from being built, we are also committed to putting the power to make this decision in the hands of the community through a vote on Town Meeting Day. This is an all-volunteer effort and we are looking for help and support from anyone who might be interested in collecting signatures or engaging the broader community in discussion about the State's plans to build a prison in Essex.
Please sign up for the mailing list, or email us directly with questions at noessexprison@proton.me.