Although South Burlington’s Pizza Hut closed in 2011 after a 34-year run, the building has stood empty for years and become a target of vandalism. Photo by Avalon Styles-Ashley/The Other PaperThis story by Liberty Darr was first published in the Other Paper on Oct. 3.The abandoned Pizza Hut and Shell Gas station on Shelburne Road in South Burlington could see new life after a revised plan for the property’s development was green-lit by the city’s development review board in May — nearly one year after an original proposal was denied by the city.Meanwhile, the developer and owner of the property, Gary Bourne, has now appealed to the state’s Supreme Court an environmental court’s decision siding with the city in its rejection of the initial proposal.Director of Planning and Zoning Paul Conner said the appeal could allow Bourne to keep his options open going forward.The original plan was stonewalled over a disagreement about the number of market rate and affordable housing units in the development and a drive-through ATM, which was set to service a Chase Bank.That decision was appealed to the state environmental court last year, which issued a decision in September in favor of the city, saying that Bourne failed to include the requisite number of affordable rental units and that an ATM was prohibited by the city’s regulations.The original plan proposed 30 units — 10 more than the city’s base zoning density unit-maximum. Seven of those were affordable units. However, the city’s review board argued that the developer needed 10 affordable units to meet the city’s requirements.Per South Burlington’s inclusionary zoning law, new housing developments are required to include affordable units totaling 15 percent of the overall number of units, to keep a mix of both affordable and market-rate apartments.Bourne submitted a revised sketch plan for the site in December that took steps to remedy the number of affordable units in the development. A final application was submitted to the board in March.The plan, like the original, will see the construction of a Chase Bank, a two-story mixed commercial and residential building and a three-story, 27-unit multifamily building. The two buildings will include 10 total affordable units — one in the mixed-use building and nine in the three-story building.The new plan also did away with the drive-through ATM.The site has been shuttered since at least 2011 and the building has become infamously known around the city as a graffiti-masked eyesore overgrown with weeds and shrubbery.“We have a job here. We do it to the best of our ability, but we think Mr. Bourne has acted in good faith and is proposing a significant improvement to that corner of South Burlington,” board member Frank Kochman said. “While it may not have appeared it at times, I think we appreciate it.”Bourne, a co-owner of Bourne Petroleum, is a former Morristown resident who now lives in Massachusetts. Several attempts to reach him went unanswered by press deadline.According to review board documents, the development is proposed to occur in two phases, with the bank and the mixed-use building being built first. The second phase will include the construction of the multifamily building.When asked how long those phases may take, architect Greg Rabideau told board members in April that phase one is set to happen “immediately.” The construction of phase two depends “on the economy.”“Who knows? Honestly, given the cost of construction and interest rates right now, it’s a real challenge,” Rabideau said.Read the story on VTDigger here: Pizza Hut development gets go-ahead from city.