A Developer's Plan to Build a Mormon Utopia in Vermont Hits Opposition

A wealthy developer is hoping to bring his dreams of a Mormon utopia to fruition. Joe Carmichael, writing in Inverse, reports that the proposed development is being spearheaded by David Hall, a wealthy Mormon businessman. Hall's vision takes the original plans—the so-called Plat of Zion—created by Church founder Joseph Smith and updates them in size (from one to three square miles in size) and with modern, sustainable amenities including sustainable energy systems (sun, earth, wind) and recycled water. There will also be an underground road system utilizing electric pods to shuttle the disabled around the town. Hall's community of 20,000 people, known as NewVista, will also be subject to a variety of rules.

As for the social engineering — that which makes this Hall’s utopian project, and not just a planned community — there is plenty to go around. Those who don’t enjoy the restrictions are free to walk at any time. But those who wish to stay? “Participants and their dependents are required to abide by the rules and bylaws of the community.”

These rules and bylaws are already numerous. There’s a strict, prescribed diet. “There will be a need for regulation of the kinds of food that are made available to NewVista residents,” Hall writes. “The traditional western diet… will have to be greatly modified.”

Residents will also be required to put all their "intellectual assets and cash" into the new town's capital fund. Carmichael reports that while Vermont has been welcoming of a host of communes and utopian villages for most of its history, Hall's NewVista town plan is facing opposition from neighbors in the town of Sharon (pop. 1,500) who say the plan is too big and will ruin the rural character of the area.

The Associated Press, via the Idaho Statesman, also reports that the Mormon church has joined Sharon residents in their opposition to Hall's plans. Hall has proposed a similar utopian town in Provo, Utah near Brigham Young University. The Church cites concerns over the effects of Hall's project on neighbors and the relationship the church has with those neighbors. Hall counters that church leaders are not forward thinkers and that the utopian towns would appeal to mostly non-Mormons anyways.