Tag Archives: NewVista Foundation

No New Vista utopian city/state development for Vermont

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The Valley News reports  some good news for the upper valley towns that Utah resident David R. Hall had targeted to build his Mormon inspired utopian city/state in. The mega-wealthy Hall is giving up his quest and will begin selling off almost two thousand acres he had scooped up in Sharon, Tunbridge, Strafford, and Royalton. If it had been completed, the city/state he envisioned would have encompassed 5,000acres and housed up to 20,000 people. Hall’s home-town Utah newspaper the Deseret News had correctly said the plan was received in Vermont “like a dead cow falling from the sky”

DCFFTSDavid Hall decided to sell the land after the National Trust for Historic Preservation placed the towns of Royalton, Sharon, Strafford and Tunbridge on its “watch status,” a special designation that accompanies its annual list of the “11 Most Endangered Historic Places,” he said this morning.

“The recent designation of the area as a watch by national historic was a genius move by those who oppose my purchases,” Hall said via email. “I admit that I am worn down by the drama and have decided to give in and get out of Vermont.”

Hall’s plan was first made public by Nicole Antal, a local librarian, who blogged about it on DailyUV.com when she noticed parcels of land in her town were being bought by a Utah resident. Local opposition efforts quickly followed to stop the “NewVista” project.

From the beginning Hall was remarkably off-putting with local residents. He eventually hired Montpelier public relations lobbyist Kevin Ellis. But though you can spin all you want, you can never make a second first impression.

There’s probably nothing like a single mega-wealthy person (or business) gathering up multiple parcels of land to cause a general sense of unease with small town residents. In the 2016 elections state politicians scrambled a bit to address the issue on record. And since no one in Vermont had ever dealt with a project on the scale or manner that Hall was proposing,  there was a question brewing about how well the state’s Act 250 development regulation law would apply to such a project. Eventually the Vermont House passed a non-binding resolution calling for closer scrutiny of Hall’s city/state project.

While most residents  in the four upper valley towns may breathe a sigh of relief (excluding a real estate agent or two perhaps), it’s worth wondering what might have happened if Hall had more personal P.R. skills or had been savvy enough to hire a connected Montpelier lobbyist like Ellis from the start. Happily though, Hall’s New Vista (rechristened  Windsorange LLC as of Aug. 2017 in a rebranding effort) seems to be about to come to a soft landing — and perhaps it’ll land in some other state.

Smack in the middle: New Vista, candidates and a lobbyist

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Intrepid blogger/reporter Nicole Antal, who writes in the Daily Upper Valley community website, has written her sixth story about David Hall and New Vista for her Very Vermont column.

Antal, who was first to break the story, has now compiled how local and statewide candidates and office holders stand on the proposed massive project. Hall is the Utah-based engineer/developer and Mormon (member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, aka LDS) who has set out to build a 20,000-resident utopian community in Sharon (the birthplace of LDS founder Joseph Smith) and several surrounding towns. Plans for his futuristic New Vista and descriptions of the proposed community make it sound, at least to me, like a benevolent real-life version of Zardoz.keepitnice2

Although they were contacted twice by Antal, gubernatorial candidates Minter, Lisman, Galbraith,[update: Peter Galbraith commented 6/16 on New Vista on Reddit.com in response to question ] Paige, and Ericson did not respond. Phil Scott and Matt Dunne responded by email.

Dunne expressed a strong desire to preserve the character and quality of Vermont life and says the Act 250 process should support that goal.

Phil “listen and learn” Scott wants to “learn a little more about this curious project to make sure it’s a good idea for the community and the state.” He wonders if “perhaps there’s a good idea in here somewhere.” And, he says, “Like any other developer, they [New Vista] would have to follow the rules and regulations laid out in Vermont’s laws, so we’ll have opportunities to learn more.”  Funny, I notice Scott just can’t quite bring himself to mention Act 250 here in a positive context. Perhaps there’s a good idea in Act 250 after all, Phil.

The area targeted by Hall includes Vermont House districts Windsor-Orange 1 (Royalton, Tunbridge) and Windsor-Orange 2 (Sharon, Thetford, Norwich, and Strafford);  Antal contacted and got responses from all the legislative candidates. It is well worth reading the candidates’ full comments on the Daily Upper Valley website.

All of the local respondents (three Independents, one Republican, and a Democrat) indicated degrees of caution and skepticism over the wisdom of plunking down New Vista and its 20,000 people in rural Vermont. Another notable common thread was how they all seemed thankful to have the Act 250 regulatory process in place. As far as I know New Vista is not far enough along to have become involved in the Act 250 development approval process.

District 2 Republican House candidate David Ainsworth also notes the Act 250 requirement and adds he is “a little bit apprehensive about it [the project’s scale]” but couldn’t resist adding this: “But one of my biggest concerns is the overreaction and putting in a lot of regulations that will restrict everyone else’s opportunities to do things.” Have futuristic utopian city/states, throughout history always favored fewer government regulations and low tax states? I guess he fears Vermont might lose out on the coming boom in utopian city/state developments to New Hampshire.

Nicole Antal’s ongoing effort to get candidates and elected officials on public record early on in this process couldn’t come at a better time:  it looks like David Hall will begin a more systematic wooing of Vermonters’ support.

Recognizing a lucrative opportunity, Montpelier lobbyist/PR man Kevin Ellis reportedly solicited Hall for his business and offered his services. Ellis will be making connections and smoothing the way for the high-density 20,000-resident New Vista development. “This may be a great idea,” Ellis says. New Vista, he believes “…would inject millions of dollars and lots of new people into communities.” He could also add, but doesn’t, that the “injection” of dollars and lots of new people (20,000) would permanently, radically change — basically destroy — the existing rural character and lives of a large part of central Vermont.

Luckily we have a record of what the candidates say about New Vista now, let’s see what happens when long-time Montpelier lobbyist and PR ace Kevin Ellis sweet talks them in the years to come.

For now, says Ellis, David Hall is (under his guidance) “reaching out to local officials and residents.”  And later, should the need arise for any state rules or regulations to be adjusted favorably to the planned development by the legislature, long-time Montpelier lobbyist Kevin Ellis probably wants “to be in the middle of it.”

Hmmm,right ‘smack in the middle of it,’ that sounds familiar…

Man with no-name: “Baxter’s over there, Rojo’s there, me right smack in the middle”

[Yup, somebody gets a fistful of New Vista dollars]

Man with no-name: Crazy bell-ringer was right. There’s money to be made in these parts.

David R. Hall goes NewVistasplaining to locals

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Utah millionaire David R. Hall answered questions from Vermonters by phone on Saturday to tell locals about his NewVista project he plans for that area.  Nicole Antal who writes for the online events and news  publication DailyUV researched and broke this story last week. She has a rundown of Saturday’s Q & A session here  and they provide an  audio file of it here. [correction note:Hall answered questions from a Tunbridge Library forum by phone. The diary was changed to reflect that, BP]

The NewVista project,as described in a planning document [link paragraph five], will be what they call “a massively scalable and sustainable community econosystem.” And it is well worth a glance at the details :

When individuals come to a NewVista community, they will deposit their intellectual assets and cash with the community capital fund (except for operating cash, which will be deposited into an account at the community’s approved bank), receiving legal instruments acknowledging the deposits. 

Hall, a Mormon, has bought hundreds of acres of land near the birth place of Mormon Church founder Joseph Smith in Sharon Vermont. Some spill-over development will occur in Tunbridge, Strafford and Royalton.

At Saturday’s meeting local residents asked thoughtful questions and Hall answered openly. It also seemed from Antal’s report Hall explained what was going to happen, not to ask what the residents might want to happen to their town.

Like some kind of 21st century utopian-engineer-colonialist, Hall is determined to plunk down his 15,000- to 20,000-resident city-state in four upper White River Valley towns. The impact shouldn’t be underestimated. The size and scale to the rest of the state is notable:  one local resident made the point that only three cities in Vermont have populations that large or larger than his NewVista city.newvistatarget

Here are a couple quick takeaways .

NewVista may, according to Hall, take upwards of half a century to complete, but it is a process, starting sooner rather than later. So heads-up.  His ideal time frame: “Within 15 years, I hope to do multiple districts throughout the US in different places.” Curiously and without explanation he mentioned at the meeting that Vermont wasn’t part of his initial plan.

One thing is clear: Hall’s NewVista dream is well funded. NewVista is “a for-profit trust, and pays taxes.”  I am not that familiar with corporate tax structure but it is likely to complicate a  small town’s existing tax structure.

And for anyone who doubts his lack of sensitivity to the local towns control I have copied part of one exchange from Antal’s DailyUV article:

Question: “You have mentioned a couple of times that you wouldn’t be interested in going forward with this if the local people weren’t interested, is that right?”

Mr. Hall: “That’s right; it’s not going to happen if people of Vermont don’t want it.”

Question: “I would suggest that instead of buying any more land that you and your family and whoever come here and meet the people and find out what we are like, and what we want, and what we don’t want

Mr. Hall: “I already know that the local people don’t want this. In time, over time, people will probably like it if they understand it. There is not one place in the United States, or even in the world where local people ever would embrace change. That’s just the logical truth.”

Question: “I assume you are local to someplace?”

Mr. Hall: “Yes I am”

Question: “What do you think about changes in your neighborhood?

Mr. Hall: “I am a much broader-thinking person than most people. Others aren’t. You can’t compare what I would think with. My neighbors hate this idea. So I can’t do anything about that.”

Question: “I might suggest that before you buy anymore properties, if you say that you are not going forward if the locals aren’t for it, then why you would continue buying more properties. What about a study?”

Mr. Hall: “I didn’t say I wouldn’t do it if the locals aren’t for it. I said I won’t do it if VERMONT is not for it. (…)  It’s not rational to expect a local person who is established, a 7th generation or something, to ever support this. That’s unreasonable. “

If I lived in Sharon or any surrounding town that exchange would sound more than a few alarms. Hall admits locals probably don’t want his city/state, but that’s because he is a “broader thinking person.”

David Hall at the wheel of a Vanderhall vehicle
David Hall at the wheel of a Vanderhall vehicle, made by a NewVista enterprise.

The locals, he says, probably will like it once they understand it. Do you suppose  this would be after they sell or after they are enlightened to his vision?

David Hall says local opposition is not rational. I’d guess he believes resistance is “feudal.”