Archive - Jun 2010 - Page
June 24th
BRISTOL — After pushing hard for months to advance a new draft of the Bristol Town Plan and a proposed extraction ordinance, planners in Bristol are taking the foot off the gas. With still no consensus at hand in the contentious debate over gravel mining in the town, the planning commission is saying another year could pass before the issue comes to another vote.
BRISTOL — Proponents and opponents of a gravel pit near the Bristol village will meet again on Monday for an Act 250 hearing, the latest chapter of a years long fight over a proposed 26-acre excavation project off of Rounds Road.
After two separate applications for town zoning permits and several appeals to the state Environmental Court, commissioners from Rutland County will weigh in on whether or not the proposed gravel pit conforms with Act 250, the state’s Land Use and Development Act.
BRISTOL — Bristol selectmen at their meeting Monday evening met with Jim Lathrop to discuss a glitch in trucking regulations on Interstate 189.
Lathrop told the board that Interstate 189, which connects Route 7 to Interstate 89 near Burlington, had been excluded from a recent decision to increase weight limits on Vermont Interstates. That means that trucks carrying heavy loads — like logging trucks or trucks hauling wood chips, as Lathrop’s business often does — cannot drive on the spur between Route 7 and I-89 without risking a ticket.
ADDISON COUNTY — Three Addison County communities have been selected as recipients of artwork from the “Art of Action” project, an arts program designed to interpret the social, cultural and political issues affecting the future of Vermont.
VERGENNES — Vergennes is falling into step with arts organizers in nearby towns who, in the last few years, have set up regular arts walks in Middlebury and Bristol.
The public is invited this Saturday to view a variety of art at four stops in the Little City: the Vergennes Opera House, Bixby Memorial Library, Studio V, and Creative Space. The last two are both relatively new galleries in town, said opera house Executive Director Jackson Evans, and the ramble is a way to showcase some of the work on display there.
MIDDLEBURY — At its annual awards banquet on Monday, the Middlebury Lions Club formally pledged $25,000 to the Middlebury Volunteer Ambulance Association (MVAA), which is raising money to pay for its new headquarters just north of Porter Medical Center.
Outgoing Lions Club President Dave Nourse presented the first of five annual $5,000 checks to Mickey and Carol Heinecken, who are spearheading the MVAA fund-raising effort.
BRISTOL — Concerns about the excessive use of executive sessions sparked a brief discussion about Vermont’s Open Meeting law on Monday night, when two Bristol residents pushed the town’s selectboard to limit the use of closed meetings in town affairs.
ADDISON COUNTY — Springtime in teacher Jan Davis’ classroom comes with a bang. Her third-grade students at the Monkton Central School year after year count down the days to “Hatch Day,” when their incubated chicken eggs will crack open to reveal tiny chicks.
Hatch Day is the culmination of an embryology unit meant to teach students about the development of cells and eggs.
“It really is a favorite unit of both the kids as well as the other students in the school, because they know chicks are coming,” Davis said. “There’s a real excitement in the air.”
