HARTLAND — A recent court decision has cleared the way for a farm store project planned for Route 5, just north of Exit 9 on Interstate 91.

A July 8 Superior Court ruling denied appeals by the town’s Planning Commission and the Two Rivers-Ottauquechee Regional Commission that sought to block construction.

Opponents had argued the proposed 9,000-square-foot farm store violated the town and regional plans and constituted “strip development.”

Environmental Division Judge Thomas G. Walsh rejected that assessment.

The farm store “supports the processing and sales of agricultural products produced directly on the property and at Sunnymede Farm,” Walsh wrote, “thus differentiating it from the traditional supermarket or big box store,” a retail use that would not be recommended under the regional plan.

Sunnymede Farms is a 600-acre cattle and maple sugaring operation located near Hartland Four Corners. Sunnymede LLC is owned by Florida real estate developer Aubrey Ferrao.

In 2018, Ferrao purchased a 17-acre former dairy farm at 88 Route 5, about two miles from Sunnymede Farm.

In June 2022, Ferrao submitted an Act 250 permit application for a two-story, barn-like structure housing a take-out deli, bakery, eating area, and 45-space parking lot that would include electric vehicle charging stations on the Route 5 parcel.

In September 2023, the District 3 Environmental Court issued Sunnymede an Act 250 permit.

A month later, the Hartland Planning Commission and regional planning commission filed an appeal in the Environmental Division of the Vermont Superior Court, alleging that the project violated the Hartland town plan and the regional plan.

Roughly 60% to 70% of the revenue generated by the proposed store would derive from goods produced on-site or at nearby Sunnymede Farm, which means that the farm store, located in a designated rural district, is a “resource-based commercial use,” an acceptable use under the regional plan, the decision held.

Opponents have said that they will not pursue the matter further.

“While we believe the Court erred in the conclusions it came to regarding the application’s conformance to the Regional Plan, (we) will not be appealing the Environmental Court’s decision on this application,” Two Rivers-Ottauquechee Regional Commission Executive Director Peter Gregory said by email this week.

The Hartland Planning Commission voted 5-3 at its July 17 meeting not to appeal the judgment, according to the meeting minutes.

“Sunnymede Farm is elated that the environmental judge concurred with the unanimous decision of the Act 250 Commission approving its farm outlet store,” Jim Goss, a lawyer representing Sunnymede LLC, said in a Wednesday email.

Goss referred to the judgment as a “stern rebuke to the regional planning commission, which inexplicably opposed this beautiful project, whose only purpose was to support a Vermont farm, in spite of the clear language of its own Regional Plan.”

At least one neighboring business owner welcomes the proposed farm store.

“I want to see Hartland be more of a destination because that is only going to help my business and the other businesses in town,” Hartland Diner owner Nicole Bartner said by phone on Wednesday.

Besides, “to have a place that has baked goods and sandwiches would be amazing,” she said.

Bartner holds that Hartland itself does not have sufficient businesses or attractions to be a “destination” in itself. A new business just off the highway and at the entrance to town would create “a reason for people to accidentally discover Hartland,” and hopefully come back again, she said.

Sunnymede does not yet have a construction timeline or a target opening date, but those should be “forthcoming shortly,” Goss said.

Christina Dolan can be reached at cdolan@vnews.com or 603-727-3208.