We are proud to announce that the Kingdom Trails Network Capacity Study has taken home another award: the Vermont Planner’s Association 2023 Project of the Year!

This Network Capacity Study stands out as one of our favorite recent projects because its unique challenges were so well suited for SE Group’s strengths and services: recreation planning, visitation/use analysis, economic development, land planning, and community engagement.

Kingdom Trails are a premiere mountain biking destination that attracts over a hundred thousand visitors annually and generates millions of dollars in economic spending in adjacent communities.  However, this popularity has brought distinct challenges, and these same communities are now encountering traffic, overburdened resources, and conflicts with private landowners.

Kingdom Trails Association retained SE Group, in collaboration with Stantec consulting, to address some of these capacity issues and enhance the network’s positive impact on host communities. The year-long planning process and capacity analysis centered on a robust engagement process that focused on developing alignment between residents’ and visitors’ interests – key given the trails’ access agreements with private landowners. The recommendations identify strategies to improve information access, disperse users, enhance road crossings, and develop more visitor support infrastructure such as a new Welcome Center and rider shuttle service.

For more details on the study, please visit the project’s Storymap: http://www.kingdomtrails.org/networkcapacity

The May issue of Ski Area Management magazine is out and we are pleased to report that it features not one but two articles from SE Group authors.

Director of Resort Planning Claire Humber‘s piece is titled “Investing in Retention of Interest.” Leaning on her deep expertise in strategic planning, Claire encourages ski area owners and operators to look beyond the traditional ROI (return on investment) to consider another ROI when planning capital expenditures: retention of interest. These are often strategies that transcend the timeframe of traditional modeling – and are critical to sustainable growth in this increasingly complex and competitive market.

SE Group had a strong showing at the 2023 Vermont Public Places Awards ceremony in May, taking home 3 of the 7 awards available.

Creating public spaces that enrich communities through connections to the outdoors is the foundation of SE Group’s work. That’s why we are particularly proud of these awards, which recognize a wide variety of project-types that promote public uses and benefits here in the backyard of our Burlington office. The VT Public Spaces Awards are hosted every other year by the Vermont Chapter of the American Society of Landscape Architects, the Vermont Planners Association, the Vermont Chapter of the American Institute of Architects, and the Vermont Urban and Community Forest Program.

This year’s honorees included:

• Missisquoi Valley Rail Trails Marketing, Branding, & Wayfinding Project (Honor Award), which aimed to increase trail awareness for both local residents and potential visitors, enhance wayfinding and trail information, and better connect trail activity to local businesses for the popular MVRT trail. Key project deliverables included new a logo/branding guide, a redesigned website, a signage master plan, trail maps, and an interactive mobile app. The Path Less Pedaled also produced a video to explain the project and highlight this excellent recreational resource – be sure to check it out!
• The Kingdom Trails Network Capacity Study (Honor Award), a year-long planning process intended to address issues surrounding the capacity of the internationally renowned Kingdom Trails network and enhance the network’s positive impact on host communities and private landowners.
• Founder’s Hall and Rowland Courtyard at Burr & Burton Academy (Merit Award), which transforms the school campus by creating a new academic center and a central outdoor courtyard for the school community.  The courtyard successfully ties the knot amongst the upper campus buildings, celebrates the local history using marble from the Dorset Quarry as a key design element, and emphasizes green infrastructure for stormwater treatment as an educational opportunity.  The courtyard was designed to create spaces for large events and more intimately scaled spaces for smaller gatherings and outdoor lectures.  The project is a win-win as it delivers great awareness to the school community about prioritizing “green” public space over a parking lot. This project was designed in collaboration with KATO and ZGF Architects.

The Town Forest Planning Toolkit: Supporting recreation planning in small towns

Beginning in 2017 SE Group worked with VT Urban & Community Forestry Program (VT UCF) and an inter-agency working group of Vermont state agencies and the UVM Extension’s Tourism Research Center to engage 10 select communities in a robust planning process to develop action-based town forest recreation plans. An important overarching goal was to create a road map, The Town Forest Planning Toolkit, which provides all communities with an established and proven process to create plans for their own town forest. This session will include an overview of the project and discussion of the toolkits that were prepared.

Contact Mark or Ellie learn more about the presentation, or to connect with them at the event.

Project partners and community members joined SE Group recreation and trail planners, Drew Pollak-Bruce and Liz Grades, and Russ Roca from The Path Less Pedaled on a discovery ride and trail audit along the 26-mile Missisquoi Valley Rail Trail. Along with the trail ride, the event included engagement sessions to gather feedback and input from the community.

Many thanks to Russ for producing a fantastic video which showcases the scenic beauty of the trail, introduces the planning team and project, and shares the excitement around trail planning.

For more information on this project or recreation/trails planning, contact Drew Pollak-Bruce.

The Vermont Public Places Awards program recognizes special public spaces, the corridors that connect them, or networks of public spaces which have been defined or enriched by planning or design, as well as regulations that promote positive public uses and benefits.

Vermont Town Forest Recreation Planning Project | Honor Award
SE Group worked with VT Urban & Community Forestry Program (VT UCF) and an interagency working group to engage 10 Vermont communities in a robust planning process to develop action-based town forest recreation plans. A key outcome of the project was the development of the Vermont Town Forest Recreation Planning Toolkit, which provides guidance documents, designs, case studies, best practices, and standards that empower any town to complete  the planning process on their own.

Underwood Park Master Plan | Merit Award
SE Group worked with the City of South Burlington to develop a master plan for the recently acquired Underwood Park. The innovative plan honors the legacy of the site while also addressing the communities needs for recreation, natural resource protection and restoration, and community events. Not every city park holds the potential for both working farm fields and a community event space in one package, and the SE Group was honored to work with the community to craft such a unique vision.

For information on either of these projects contact Drew Pollak-Bruce.