All Entries in the "Chester" Category
Chester Planning Commission reboots with new members
By Shawn Cunningham © 2017 Telegraph Publishing LLC Nearly five months after three resignations deprived it of a quorum, the Chester Planning Commission reorganized itself with four of its five seats filled on Monday, July 17. Newly appointed members Barre Pinske and Tim Roper were welcomed by commission chair Naomi Johnson who worked through introductions, […]
Conservancy nears goal to create access to Chester swimming hole
By Shawn Cunningham © 2017 Telegraph Publishing LLC Less than a year ago, then-Chester Select Board chair John DeBenedetti asked Lydia Menendez how the Vermont River Conservancy would raise the money needed to buy 1.84 acres and a create public access to the Rainbow Rock swimming hole and give it to the town. “Magic,” quipped […]
Chester tax rates decline again; resident seeks to buy town land
By Shawn Cunningham © 2017 Telegraph Publishing LLC Chester’s tax rates are dropping again this year as they have for several years. At its July 5 meeting, the Select Board set the non-residential tax rate at $1.9793 per $100 of assessed value and the homestead rate at $1.9274. Last year’s rates were $2.0182 and $1.9545 […]
Possible lightning strike destroys Chester home, storms wreak more havoc
By Shawn Cunningham © 2017 Telegraph Publishing LLC Chester residents Dennis and Jan Rounds lost their Chester home to a fire in the early hours of Sunday. No one was at home at the time. Chester firefighters, who spent the early hours of Sunday morning extinguishing the house fire on Fenton Road, speculated that the […]
Chester board finds itself in a DRB dustup
By Shawn Cunningham ©2017 Telegraph Publishing LLC Chester’s planning and zoning functions continue to be problematic even after the adoption of “pro-business” changes to the Unified Development Bylaws earlier this year. Front2Back Landscaping owner Randy Miles complained to the Select Board at its June 14 meeting that the Development Review Board had denied his application. […]
Truck inspection yields cause of yesterday’s Hazmat leak
By Shawn Cunningham © 2017 Telegraph Publishing, LLC One nail, sticking up as little as a quarter of an inch from the surface of a pallet punctured one plastic drum being carried on a Clean Harbors Environmental Services truck and closed Rt. 103 in Chester for nearly 20 hours starting on Tuesday afternoon, according to […]
UPDATE: ROUTE 103 NOW OPEN Route 103 South still closed as Hazmat cleanup continues
By Shawn Cunningham © 2017 Telegraph Publishing LLC At 8:30 a.m. on Wednesday, more than 18 hours after the 911 call that unleashed a large emergency Hazmat response, Chester and Springfield firefighters, ambulance crews, local and DMV police and other responders were still on the scene with Rt. 103 South closed east of the Chester-Andover […]
Sun shines on 2017 Chester Alumni Day Parade
©2017-Telegraph Publishing LLC After several days of rain, the clouds parted just in time for the annual Chester Alumni Day Parade on Saturday, June 6. Chester architect Claudio Veliz shot these photos commemorating the event. Click any photo to launch the gallery.
2 named to Chester Planning Board, shoring up of Rt. 35 starts
By Shawn Cunningham © 2017 Telegraph Publishing LLC Leaving one of the three vacant positions still open, the Chester Select Board appointed two candidates to the Chester Planning Commission at its meeting on Wednesday, June 7. The board, which interviewed five candidates in executive sessions this spring, put Chester residents Tim Roper and Barre Pinske […]
Chester commemorates Memorial Day 2017
By Shawn Cunningham © 2017 Telegraph Publishing LLC Although the weather was dreary and threatened rain, Chester once again observed Memorial Day on its traditional May 30th date. With honor guards from the American Legion and Chester Fire Department in the lead, residents watched as the Green Mountain High School and Chester-Andover Elementary School bands, […]
Chester board talks new fire station, cemetery expansion
By Shawn Cunningham ©2017 Telegraph Publishing LLC The Chester Select Board discussed plans for expansion of the Brookside Cemetery and a new emergency services building at its meeting last Wednesday – but one member appeared frustrated that topics brought up more than two years ago were still being “kicked down the road.” After hearing presentations […]
‘Worst of the worst’ on Route 11 budgeted for summer temp fix
By Shawn Cunningham © 2017 Telegraph Publishing LLC Complaints by local officials about the poor condition of Route 11 between Londonderry and Chester appear to have gained some traction of late as VTrans has offered an interim step in repairing the road. And one Londonderry ambulance service member says improvements can’t come soon enough since […]
Questions abound at Act 46 merger meeting in Cavendish
By Shawn Cunningham © 2017 Telegraph Publishing, LLC About 40 community members gathered in the cafeteria of Cavendish Town Elementary on Tuesday night to hear a presentation on the proposed Act 46 merger of Andover, Baltimore, Cavendish and Chester to create a Green Mountain Unified School District. They also asked questions of members of the […]
‘Whole lot of luck’ spares Chester home from afternoon fire
By Shawn Cunningham © 2017 Telegraph Publishing LLC Events could have worked out very differently this afternoon on Orcutt Drive in Chester. But when the wire from a Green Mountain Power pole to Kyle and Becky Martens’ house began arcing and caught fire, everything fell into place to keep what could have been a major […]
Chester board discusses emergency preparedness, new fire station
By Shawn Cunningham © 2017 Telegraph Publishing LLC The Chester Select Board had a light agenda so it could move onto executive session to interview Planning Commission candidates, but took time to discuss emergency preparedness and the status of an emergency services building at its April 19 meeting. The question about emergency preparedness arose when […]
Act 46 RED goes to voters: What will merger mean?
By Shawn Cunningham © 2017 Telegraph Publishing LLC Next Tuesday, May 2, the voters of Andover, Baltimore, Cavendish and Chester will decide whether they will join their existing school districts into a new, unified one to fulfill the requirements of the state’s school consolidation law. The Regional Education District — or RED — that will […]
Between school mergers and splits: How did we get here?
By Shawn Cunningham © 2017 Telegraph Publishing LLC Enacted by the Vermont legislature in the spring of 2015, Act 46 was designed to improve education opportunities for Vermont students while lowering the cost of providing those opportunities through mergers that would scale up the state’s schools and help create efficiencies. And that’s more than just […]
Students from GMUHS, Cavendish Elementary Rally for Planet
By Tuckerman Wunderle ©2017 Telegraph Publishing LLC MONTPELIER On Wednesday, April 12, students from Green Mountain Union High School and Cavendish Town Elementary School flocked to Montpelier to participate in the 2nd annual Rally for the Planet, organized by the Vermont Youth Lobby. The Green Mountain and Cavendish contingents joined about 1,400 other students from […]
New owners of Country Girl Diner fulfill lifelong dream
By Stephen Seitz and Cynthia Prairie © 2017 Telegraph Publishing LLC The Country Girl Diner in Chester may have changed hands, but the new owners are assuring their customers that further changes will be incremental and, then, only for the better. Jess Holmes and Paul Frasca, who have been managing and cooking at the diner […]
Chester board talks economic growth; sets Planning interviews
By Shawn Cunningham © 2017 Telegraph Publishing LLC With a smaller crowd in attendance than at most of its recent meetings, the Chester Select Board on Wednesday, April 5 signed the Unified Development Bylaws that have been a bone of contention for months. In a related action, the board discussed the questions and timetable for […]
