Tony Pomerleau gives Shelburne mobile home park residents a future

Burlington Free Press: Joel Banner Baird The population of Shelburnewood Mobile Home Park is yet again holding its collective breath. Burlington developer and philanthropist Tony Pomerleau says he’s breathing just fine: He aims to buy the property and grant its residents permanent ownership.“It’ll happen,” Pomerleau said Thursday, possibly within the year. Shelburnewood residents greeted Pomerleau’s announcement last week with surprise and relief — flavored with caution. For almost a decade, the 50 or so residents of Shelburnewood Mobile Home Park have faced alternating scenarios of eviction and reprieve. Their aluminum homes sit on a portion of 20 acres of prime real estate. They’re tucked behind Trinity Episcopal Church, within Shelburne’s village core; within walking distance of school, shops and town offices. Shelburnewood, in many ways, is a prototype for dense, “smart-growth” residential development. But attempts to secure funding and town approval for low-to-mid-income housing at that site have been slow and painful. “We’ve been down this road many times,” said Vicki Carleton, the president of the park’s residents’ association … Link to Burlington Free Press Article PDF of Full BFP Article

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