Author Archive for Shawn Cunningham
Chester Select Board discusses water rescue gear, approves historical marker
By Shawn Cunningham Water rescue, historical markers and potholes were among the items discussed at last Wednesday’s Chester Select Board meeting. Fire Chief Matt Wilson came before the Select Board to request permission to apply for a grant to cover a portion of the cost of equipment needed to train for water rescues […]
Public comment sought on new zoning regs; meeting set for May 19
The Chester Planning Commission will hold a meeting at 7 p.m. Monday, May 19 so that the public can give its opinions on the most recent version of the town’s Unified Development Bylaws. The bylaws are comprised of Chester’s zoning regulations, subdivision standards and flood damage prevention standards. The meeting will be held at Town […]
Fairground proposed as economic development tool for Chester
By Shawn Cunningham After more than a year of discussions on economic development, the Chester Select Board heard a proposal and a request for seed money to establish a fairground from artist and chainsaw carver Barre Pinske at its Wednesday, March 19 meeting. Pinske noted that he had read about the board’s economic development […]
Ready for some football? Agreement allows high schools to share athletic programs
By Shawn Cunningham One item in Assistant Principal Mike Ripley’s weekly reminders that is emailed to Green Mountain Union High School parents may have been a head-scratcher for many. The announcement of an information meeting about high school football for next fall doesn’t seem odd on the face of it, except that GM doesn’t […]
Bolstering existing businesses suggested as way to aid Chester
By Shawn Cunningham Noting that this was a once-a-year occurrence, David Pisha opened the first Select Board meeting after Chester’s elections of March 4. At its annual reorganization meeting, the board re-elected John DeBenedetti as chairman, Derek Suursoo as vice chair and Arne Jonynas as secretary. As it has at recent meetings, economic development dominated […]
Economic development gets a once over at Chester Select Board
After reviews of the financials and other housekeeping at its Feb. 19 meeting, the Chester Select Board turned to two lengthy discussions – one on proposed new water rates and one on economic development with an eye to growing the Grand List, the total assessed value of a town’s taxable real estate. It was noted […]
Chester auditors defend their work; Select Board again dips into Economic Development fund
By Shawn Cunningham Chester’s elected local auditors – Jack Cable, Phyllis Jewett and Ted Spaulding – appeared before the Select Board on Wednesday, Jan. 15 to explain what they do and answer questions that were raised by a proposal to eliminate their function to save the town $4,000 per year. According to Vermont state […]
Burtco seeks temporary gravel crushing, sales OK at car wash site
By Shawn Cunningham After a site visit earlier in the day, Chester’s Development Review Board on Monday began consideration of a project to extract, crush and sell gravel on the 5.3 acre site of Burtco’s new Abenaque Car Wash on Route 103 South. Stanton Scott of Burtco introduced the project as a way to […]
Chester Select Board OKs budget 4.75% above 2013; town to vote on March 3
By Shawn Cunningham On a snowy Thursday, Jan. 2, 2014, the Chester Select Board struggled with needs vs. wants as it finalized the 2014 water, sewer and general fund budgets in preparation for Town Meeting Day (held Monday, March 3 with voting on fiscal articles and the budgets. Elections occur on Tuesday, March 4.) […]
Chester town solar farm approved on a 3-1 vote
By Shawn Cunningham At its Dec. 18 meeting, the Chester Select Board approved the contract for a solar power farm to be built on town land at Route 103 and Trebo Road. Green Lantern Capital proposed the 5 acre, 500 kilowatt installation back in April of this year, making it the fourth company in the […]
Residents question use of town funds for re-enactment as Chester Select Board frets over tight budget
By Shawn Cunningham* The Chester Select Board meeting of Wednesday, Dec. 4 was unusual – not for its four and a half hour length – but for the crowd of more than 20 who attended it. Many were there to explain or advocate for funding under the 2014 town budget, including several members of the […]
Green Up Day funded; police, insurance budget concerns and solar farm discussion continues
By Shawn Cunningham If the Nov. 20 Chester Select Board meeting had a theme, it was “green,” with issues being discussed including next year’s budget (money), Green Up Day (conservation) and new information on the perennial topic of the solar farm on town land (clean energy). Chester resident and teacher Frank Kelley went before […]
Chester Select Board considers reviving solar farm proposal
By Shawn Cunningham After closing the door on a solar project on town land in a 3-2 vote at a previous meeting, the Chester Select Board re-opened the topic for further discussion last Wednesday night, Nov.6. Board member Bill Lindsay, who moved to accept the terms set out by project developer Green Lantern at […]
Chester Select Board says ‘it’s curtains’ for solar farm on town land
By Shawn Cunningham After a year of gathering information and deliberating, the Chester Select Board last Wednesday closed the door on the construction of a solar farm on town land across Route 103 North from Trebo Road. Earlier, at its Oct. 9 meeting, the board had expected to hear from the Luke Schullenberger – […]
SoVera observatory up and running on private land
By Shawn Cunningham Ron Jackson was in good spirits despite the heavy cloud cover as he rolled back the roof on his “new” observatory on a hill in Gassetts. There wouldn’t be any stars visible, so he trained his Celestron “orange tube” Schmidt-Cassegrain telescope on a pine tree several hundred feet away and invited a […]
Solar contract decision still hanging; VAST gets OK for trail through town forest
The Chester Select Board last Wednesday expected a presentation from Green Lantern Capital regarding financial details of its proposed solar farm on town land on Route 103 at Trebo Road. But Luke Schullenberger, the company’s founder and managing partner, was taken ill. Instead, Mike Wigham of Integrated Solar, which would be contracted to build the […]
Select Board mashup: Town solar farm now a question; supervisory union budget transparency questioned and answering a question: Who hired the consultant?
By Shawn Cunningham The Chester Select Board seems to be talking itself out of a solar farm deal that it has been working on for the past eight months. During its meeting on Wednesday, Sept. 18, board member Derek Suursoo kicked off the discussion on the proposed solar farm — slated for town land off […]
Issues over proposed bylaws returned to Planning Commission; Missing Link Bridge to be rebuilt
By Shawn Cunningham For the second meeting in a row, on Wednesday Sept. 4, the Chester Select Board went immediately into executive session. The closed door session was to talk with candidates for the positions of Lister and Planning Commission member. The board entered executive session at 7:07 and returned at 7:29 p.m.after which they […]
Study author recommends adding officers to Chester Police force
By Shawn Cunningham In a presentation to the Chester Select Board on Wednesday, Aug. 21, Doug Hoyt, a former police chief of Montpelier, suggested that the Chester Police Department staff should grow by two officers, to six total. Hoyt conducted a study of the police department under the auspices of the Vermont League of Cities […]
Select Board OKs business loan for carver Pinske, bond amount for portion of gravel pit restoration
By Shawn Cunningham While the Chester Select Board had a quorum of three for its Wednesday, Aug. 7 meeting, the absence of two members who had attended the July 17 meeting combined with the presence of one member who had not lead to complications in completing an economic development loan discussed at that previous meeting. […]
