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COLCHESTER -- The fate of education spending, road construction and possibly even general municipal services hangs in the balance in Colchester in the wake of budget defeats and near-defeats on Town Meeting Day...
A capital projects funding mechanism that supports projects such as new sidewalks and street paving in Colchester fell to defeat, 1,419 to 1,332...
Residents' vote against the capital projects threatens a variety of planned projects in Colchester, Public Works Director Bryan Osborne said. Those include reconstruction of a segment of Poor Farm Road, planning and engineering for East Lakeshore Drive sidewalks, improvements to Severance Corners, and safety reconfigurations for the intersection of East and Depot roads.
Voters since 1993 have re-authorized the capital expenditure every sixth year or so, by agreeing to spend 4.5 cents of the tax rate on the projects. The amount of money varies year to year, depending upon the size of the grand list, but this year, the figure would have amounted to $563,000, Osborne said.
Osborne said the defeat could jeopardize state and federal matching funds Colchester uses to pay for road and sidewalk construction projects. "We are now in the process of fully understanding the impacts of this vote," he said...
A ballot measure authorizing the Selectboard to look into purchasing Camp Holy Cross from the Roman Catholic Diocese of Vermont was approved. The fate of that land is uncertain, as Colchester will be reaching out to the diocese to buy the land alongside a host of private would-be buyers seeking the land, Town Manager Al Voegele said.
Contact Matt Sutkoski at 660-1846 or
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RUTLAND (AP) — Police say a pedestrian was struck and killed by a vehicle in a Rutland parking lot.
Police say 82-year-old Sylvia Bersaw died at the hospital.
Witnesses told police she was walking into Hannaford's supermarket in the Green Mountain Shopping Plaza with her daughter on Tuesday when a vehicle backed up and knocked them over.
Police say the driver, 87-year-old Wayne Miller, of Rutland, applied the brakes before hitting the women.
The Rutland Herald says Bersaw's daughter, 55-year-old Joanne Severance, also was taken to the hospital. Her condition was unknown.
Chittenden County Transit Authority General Manager Chris Cole, Local Motion Director Chapin Spencer, Annie Bourdon of CarShare Vermont and other transportation leaders discuss transportation issues, ideas and initiatives. Today's show is hosted by Chapin Spencer who talks with Adele Dienno, Membership & Special Events, Local Motion and Will Flender, Burlington Walk/Bike Council.
Charlotte voters will face several new choices on Town Meeting Day along with familiar items.
Two new articles this year ask whether voters will create a reserve fund for development of trails and if they will support the fund by providing $25,000 per year for three years. A favorable vote would add slightly more than a quarter cent to the tax rate, or about $8 in taxes for a $300,000 home.
By secret ballot, voters will determine whether the town will issue bonds of not more than $1.2 million to acquire 51 acres of land adjacent to the Town Hall. Selectboard Chairman Charles Russell said the board has an estimate for a 10-year Recovery Zone Economic Bond at a rate of 2.776 percent. The first year payment would be $25,247, with succeeding years' amounts decreasing from $150,000 to $122,000. With the current grand list of $9,279,373, an annual payment of $140,000 would increase the tax rate by about 1.5 cents per $100 valuation, or $30 for a $300,000 residence.
The Selectboard will hold informational meetings about the land purchase at 7 p.m. Wednesday at the Charlotte Senior Center; 7 p.m. Feb. 25 in the parish hall of Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church; and 7:30 p.m. March 1 in the Charlotte Central School multipurpose room...
Charlotte Meeting: 9 a.m. March 2, Charlotte Central School multi-purpose room. Voting: 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., Charlotte Central School multi-purpose room. Proposed town budget: $2,504,178; up 2.9 percent over current budget ($2,432,517) Selectboard: Ed Stone, incumbent, for 3-year term; Winslow Ladue, incumbent, for two-year term.
MONTPELIER -- Fourteen-year-old Renae Hall says Vermont can't live without a law restricting the use of cell phones by drivers.
But construction contractor Gary Grzywna says his drivers can't live without mobile phones.
Vermont lawmakers hoping to crack down on driver distractions heard the opposing views Wednesday at a hearing aimed at determining whether to ban or restrict the use of cell phones by drivers, either by including it in pending legislation that would ban behind-the-wheel texting or by passing a separate bill.
A measure that would establish a $100 fine for texting while driving has been approved in the state Senate and is awaiting action in the House.
"Riding in cars with all my friends that are driving, they are texting and they are talking on the phone," said Hall, of Hardwick, addressing a joint meeting of the Legislature's transportation committees.
"Observing them, it's unbelievable how distracted they actually do get. I'm in the passenger seat, wondering why. Why would they do that? Why wouldn't they pull over the car? Wait five minutes, it's not that important," she said.
Grzywna, of Grzywna Construction in Richmond, said he needs cell phones to communicate with employees on the road.
Banning their use? For young drivers, maybe, but not for adults, he said.
"If I've got a guy that I send to go get materials and all of a sudden I need something else, I need to call him and say, 'Hey, I need this or that.' If he can't pick up the phone and respond, then I've lost the productivity of him going and doing that, or I've gotta' try to get a hold of the place."
Even if the state passes a ban, he wouldn't abide by it, Grzywna said.
State Sen. Richard Mazza, who chairs the Senate Transportation Committee, said lawmakers are more eager to pass a ban on texting than on cell phone use. If a general cell phone ban is passed, it would more likely be aimed at junior operators, he said.
"We can't ban everything," said Mazza, D-Chittenden/Grand Isle. "There's a lot of good discussion that shows there is a use for cell phone usage. Do we want to ban them entirely? I don't know."
Most of the speakers who testified Wednesday urged some sort of cell phone restriction, though.
Sharon Racusin, 55, of Norwich, who walks four miles to work every day and makes a point of watching drivers as they pass her, said a ban that allows the use of hands-free cell phones wouldn't be ideal because drivers could still be distracted because of the conversation they're having.
"This is not about freedom of choice," she said. "It's a matter of safety."
ESSEX JUNCTION -- A grassroots movement to spruce up downtown Essex Junction that has been chugging along for more than a year keeps gaining steam.More than 100 people attended a nearly four-hour Railroad Avenue revitalization meeting Wednesday night at Essex High School -- several dozen more people than showed up at a similar meeting during the summer.
"That meeting led to more than 300 ideas," Sue McCormack, one of the organizers, said Wednesday, referring to the summer gathering. "We're trying to go from this huge number of ideas to something manageable."
McCormack and a few neighbors on Central Street, which intersects Railroad Avenue, started the movement to try to deter crime, specifically drug dealing. Since then, volunteers have united to clean up the area, and in December they displayed model train sets in downtown storefronts.
"The situation is definitely improving," said Jaye O'Connell, one of McCormack's neighbors, at Wednesday's meeting. However, there's still work to be done. The Amtrak station on Railroad Avenue does not yet look like the "gateway to Essex Junction," O'Connell said.
"That thing needs to be a railroad station instead of a bunker," agreed Stephen Selin.
Renovating the train station was a top priority for most of the group, as was the need for more green space, restaurants, shops and events. Wendy Needham suggested the village invite artists and street performers to the neighborhood.
"Like the people on Church Street (in Burlington) in terms of the arts," Needham said. "You don't need a ticket; they're just there."
McCormack and the steering committee that has led the movement plans to meet March 18 to decide which of the ideas generated at Wednesday's meeting to pass on to volunteers and the village Board of Trustees.
Earlier this year, the trustees proposed more than doubling the budget for economic development, from $36,000 to $77,860, for the next fiscal year.
The increase would allow the village to better assist volunteer-driven community projects such as the revitalization of Railroad Avenue, Village Manager Dave Crawford has said.
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Old habits die hard, but transportation planners in Chittenden County say they are seeing a definite (if slight) change in how we're choosing to get to the office, and they're thrilled about it.
"People are choosing other ways besides driving themselves to work," said Bryan Davis with the CCMPO, the county's transit planning organization. "They're now looking at car pools, or taking the bus. Transit ridership is through the roof."
Davis joined alternative transit advocates on Church Street Monday afternoon to applaud the release of new data comparing commuting patterns from 2000 -- and 2008. The trend, he said, represents a clear bonus for the environment, for personal health, and means less wear and tear on local roads.
The shift, if glacial, suggests the percentage of people driving alone in their cars to work fell over the eight year period, down from 76.3 percent in 2000 to 73.6 percent in 2008, a nearly four percent decrease.
Nationally, 76 percent drive alone to work.
Ridership on the CCTA bus system rose from 1.1 percent to 1.8 percent of the county's population, while those who said they ride their bicycle to work jumped from 1 percent to 2 percent.
Walkers accounted for 7.3 percent of the morning commute in 2008, up from 5.6 percent gleaned from the 2000 Census.
"And now with CarShare, people can combine those transit modes," Davis added.
CarShare Vermont, in operation for only a year, allows its 450 members to use one of their nine vehicles for errands or weekend trips, as needed.
The data does not include non-work trips, thought to be the majority of travel around the region, though the CCMPO believes they are likely to mirror the commuting trends.
Chapin Spencer of Local Motion, a bicycle advocacy group, said the change in habits "don't happen by accident," and he credited the work of many organizations that have created "conditions where people can choose something other than driving solo."
