healthy

The Client
Healthy Living Market, a locally owned, independent natural and organic grocery store.

The Project
When Healthy Living outgrew its existing space, the store entered into an agreement to redevelop a vacant auto dealership just down the road at 222 Dorset Street in South Burlington, hired a design team and began the permitting process to build its new store.

The Challenges
• South Burlington zoning rules required a greater number of parking spaces than Healthy Living believed their customers needed.
• To add more parking, the site plan needed a major reconfiguration without reducing the size of the store itself.
• Despite several plan revisions, the site was two feet short of fitting adequate parking.
• The lease at Healthy Living’s current location was running out and construction permits needed immediate approval.

The Solutions
• Healthy Living called White + Burke for guidance through the permitting process.
• We surveyed dozens of natural food stores around the country to determine typical parking requirements for this type of business and found that the industry parking standard was greater than what Healthy Living had suspected, but less than what the city required. South Burlington officials agreed to the compromised number of spaces.
• Working with the design team, we redesigned the site to gain more parking, but it still wasn't enough.
• To gain the additional two feet of land needed for adequate parking, we proposed shifting the side street adjacent the site over by two feet. City officials denied the request.
• Since the street would later serve as the entrance to the future South Burlington City Center, we proposed a compromise: in exchange for shifting the curb two feet, Healthy Living would work with the City to build a public art park on the corner of its property to serve as the City Center’s grand entrance. The city agreed and permits were approved.

The Outcome
White + Burke managed the permitting and site planning so the owners of Healthy Living could run a bustling store and plan for a big move. The new Healthy Living store celebrated its grand opening in July 2008. Out front, the City Center Gateway Art Project, a collaboration by artist Dan Gottsegen and landscape architects T.J. Boyle Associates, LLC, welcomes community members into its sculptural garden sanctuary.