Montpelier authorizes exclusive negotiations for Country Club Road housing development
Montpelier City Council has authorized exclusive negotiations with DEW Properties for a proposed housing development on the city-owned Country Club Road property, advancing the project after years of stalled progress.
The July 22 decision moves the effort into negotiations with a selected development team. It is not final development approval, a guaranteed development contract or a construction start. A final number and mix of housing units have not been established.
A site planned for housing and community use
The proposed development site is the former Elks Club golf-course property on Country Club Road. A WPTZ report described the property as roughly 130 acres and said the city acquired it five years earlier with the goal of developing housing. City planning materials refer to the site as approximately 138 acres.
The city acquired the property for housing as well as a future recreation and community-center concept. Its Country Club Road development solicitation identifies housing as the immediate development focus while also describing the broader site context.
Montpelier’s materials cite an insufficient local inventory of single-family, duplex and multifamily housing. The selection of a developer therefore represents a step toward evaluating a specific project for a city-owned parcel, rather than completion of a new housing development.
Access and utilities remain part of the work ahead
Transportation and utility connections remain central considerations for any project at the site. The city’s solicitation discusses connections to the surrounding road network and bike path, traffic patterns, public transit and possible future vehicle access. It also identifies future water and sewer infrastructure as project considerations.
Those items do not mean the connections have been built or financed. The project remains subject to negotiations and additional infrastructure and financing work. The reviewed sources did not confirm infrastructure grant totals, overall project costs, a construction schedule, road closures or service disruptions.
No final land-use approval for DEW Properties was identified in the source material. The City Council’s action instead establishes an exclusive negotiation process, during which the city and developer can work toward terms for a potential development.
How the selection process reached this point
City materials listed June 17 through July 8, 2026, as the final-vetting period for the selected team. Council then authorized exclusive negotiations with DEW Properties on July 22.
For nearby residents and future potential occupants, the next known step is the negotiation process. Details that would define the project’s eventual scale, housing mix, financing, access improvements and construction timetable remain to be settled before the proposal could advance to construction.