An electric aircraft manufacturer has been rapidly expanding in South Burlington, Vermont. Beta Technologies has spent tens of millions of dollars on property acquisitions over the past year. Aaron Calvin, a reporter at Seven Days in Vermont, has been covering the growth and spoke with WAMC's Molly Anderson about the latest.
INTERVIEW TRANSCRIPT
Editor's note: This conversation has been lightly edited for clarity.
Anderson: What brought you to this story? Where did this reporting start for you?
Calvin: Beta Technologies, the electric aircraft manufacturer, is one of the largest companies in Vermont and in the New England region. Last November, they went public and raised a billion dollars off of their initial stock offering, and have made major plans to scale up, with big implications for the Burlington area where they're based.
Anderson: I'm wondering what is the market like right now for electric planes? And for Beta Technologies specifically, where does their production of them stand?
Calvin: They have some planes, but they can't actually fly the planes, you know, wherever they want, like a regular aircraft or even like a personal aircraft. They're still awaiting Federal Aviation Administration approval. That is in the process of happening. They have a strong relationship with the FAA under the Trump administration, and just last week they were approved to start giving test flights to potential customers of these planes. But the hypothetical purpose of these, the commercial purpose of these planes, has been touted as potentially medical courier services, and it's kind of debated right now whether or not there is a viable commercial future for electric aircraft, particularly these eVTOLs that Beta and others produce that are vertical takeoff and landing crafts. But a major route to viability that has emerged for Beta has been the U.S. military. Beta has been partnering with companies like [GE Aerospace] to produce cargo craft that have been increasingly tested by the military. They had some big major demonstrations over the summer. They've received millions of dollars in military support, and Beta Technologies has also been branding themselves more and more as a defense company.
Anderson: Something that I found interesting when I was reading your piece is you mentioned that Beta has purchased homes near the sites as transitional housing for some employees. So it's more than just this development site for this innovation, but it's also becoming its own little village, you know, hence "Beta-ville." What could it look like down the line? And is that something that people are thinking about?
Calvin: Yes, definitely. The company's big plans for growth means growth around their primary base of operations, which is around the Burlington International Airport in South Burlington, and they have big plans to reshape that neighborhood, which has been industrializing more and more over the past few decades. But there is this sort of lone street, basically - called Shunpike Road, just south of their area of expansion - where they have purchased a few homes to offer, you know, place for people that they're bringing into Vermont to work at their facilities, a place to sort of transition. Some of the residents on the street have deep roots in the area. They have inherited their homes, and they don't like the way that this is transforming their little neighborhood. And it's a transformation that the city of South Burlington has ultimately been supportive of. And there's a rigorous zoning and development process that Beta is in the midst of going through right now to get approval for this big master plan for expansion that they have. So there's certainly a lot of public process around it, but there isn't much recourse for these residents of this area. And the rapid industrialization of that area certainly has potential implications for the value of residential property, and I think a lot of it is about the character of the neighborhood.
Anderson: We're at a point where people are becoming used to seeing or hearing about massive facilities or expansions like AI data centers that are coming to their communities and taking up lots of space. Something like that has become a very hot topic. It's become political. People have very strong feelings about it, but this is a little bit different. We're talking about planes, transportation, innovation in that sector. Do you think that Beta Technologies is sort of leveraging the fact that this is a homegrown Vermont company in order to get more people on board with their expansion in South Burlington?
Calvin: Yeah, I mean it's definitely sort of their value proposition in Vermont. I mean, so far there's been no threats of leaving the state if they don't get what they want, because they are getting what they want. And everyone from state officials to local city officials seems to be really on board. And in Vermont, the environmental and process laws historically allow a small group of residents to oppose a lot of development through its land use regulations and due process laws. That is changing because that's sort of been responsible for Vermont getting into the sort of post-pandemic pickle that it's been in, which there's just not enough housing for. I think we're going to start to see more cases of this where the state and local municipalities are going to privilege their need to grow and expand with the rights of property owners.
