Council discusses buffer zone future

The Burlington City Council unanimously committed the city to finding "legally defensible alternatives" to its embattled buffer zone ordinance on Monday night following a passionate public forum.

Planned Parenthood staff and volunteers and other abortion rights supporters spoke at the meeting, as did two women who demonstrate outside of the St. Paul Street clinic and challenged Burlington's buffer zone in court.

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The Burlington buffer zone, part of a larger 2012 ordinance protecting access to reproductive health care facilities, said that no one could "knowingly congregate, patrol, picket or demonstrate" within 35 feet of a clinic.

The U.S. Supreme Court unanimously ruled last month that a similar Massachusetts buffer zone law was unconstitutional, and Burlington stopped enforcing its buffer zone the same day on the advice of City Attorney Eileen Blackwood.

Burlington's buffer zone ordinance was based on the Massachusetts law, Blackwood wrote in a memo to the City Council, and would be "unlikely" to be upheld.

Acting on Blackwood's advice, the council struck the Burlington buffer zone from the books Monday night, expressed deep concern about the U.S. Supreme Court decision and asked a committee to find alternatives to the buffer zone.

"We are committed to urgently investigating and supporting legally defensible alternatives that ensure women's safety and access to healthcare services," the council said in a statement, read by Councilor Selene Colburn, P-Ward 1. "We view this work as a top priority for the City of Burlington."

The council statement echoed a statement last week by Mayor Miro Weinberger as well as an online petition circulated by Planned Parenthood of Northern New England, which asked Burlington for "the strongest possible options for protecting access to health care."

Jill Krowinski, a spokeswoman for Planned Parenthood of Northern New England, brought the petition with more than 500 signatures as she spoke to the council.

"The Burlington safety zone, for the last two years, has provided a good balance of free speech and access to health care, and unfortunately, now that is gone," said Krowinski, the organization's vice president of education and community affairs. "The ruling puts the safety of patients, staff and the public at risk."

Krowinski said protesters had persisted in following and talking with patients even after the patients refused.

"Since the court's ruling, we have seen the number of protesters and the frequency increase," Krowinski said. "Just this Saturday, there were 20 protesters, and this morning there were two."

Krowinski offered to work with the city on alternatives to the buffer zone — as did two women who oppose abortion.

"We felt like we were not listened to the last time," said Agnes Clift, who demonstrates outside of Planned Parenthood, and who challenged Burlington's ordinance in federal court. "We just want to offer our help to you."

Clift and Bridget Mount, a fellow plaintiff in the lawsuit against the Burlington buffer zone, maintained that their actions were being misrepresented.

"Women deserve to be protected, and we fully agree with you on that," Clift said. "We will continue to be there, praying and offering support and literature to people who will accept it. We will continue to not harass women. We never have. There's no evidence that we ever have."

Kay Frances Schepp, a clinical psychologist who works in Burlington, spoke of people she knew who had gone to Planned Parenthood for various health services. She said the patients were a "vulnerable population" that Burlington needed to protect in addition to protecting free speech.

"I'd ask the council to look beyond the controversy about abortion, because the steps of a health clinic is not the place to debate it, and to find ways to provide dignified, respectful, supportive health care," Schepp said. "And I do believe that if any city can do both, Burlington can."

The Ordinance Committee is tasked with working with city staff, Planned Parenthood and the public to understand the city's options moving forward.

In other City Council business:

The City Council voted unanimously to approve Neale Lunderville as the new interim general manager of the Burlington Electric Department. Mayor Weinberger appointed Lunderville to lead the utility for six to nine months at an annual salary of $127,400. Lunderville previously served in official roles under Governor Jim Douglas and Governor Peter Shumlin and co-founded a natural gas delivery company, NG Advantage, in 2012.

Contact April Burbank at (802) 660-1863 or aburbank@freepressmedia.com. Follow her on Twitter at www.twitter.com/AprilBurbank