WORK CREWS AT the Middlebury College campus are busy putting the finishing touches on various summer projects undertaken by the college each year, including the final coat on the trim of Old Chapel’s historic cupola.
Independent photo/Angelo Lynn

July 30, 2007

By ANDY KIRKALDY

FERRISBURGH — After more than a year and a half of haggling and delays, an insurance deal was struck last week that will pay Ferrisburgh another $950,000 for the loss of its town-owned former Grange hall, which was destroyed by an arson fire on Feb. 15, 2005, before it could be renovated into a town office building and community center. 

The town had earlier received about $1.03 million from PACIF, the insurance company that underwrote the project and is affiliated with the Vermont League of Cities and Towns, and its co-insurers. The earlier payment was for the value of the existing Route 7 structure, while the additional money goes toward the value of the finished project, including a duplicate Grange building up to modern code.

The town will be responsible for other elements of what is now estimated by Middlebury’s Bread Loaf Corp. as a $2.87 million project (up from about $2.6 million in late 2005), including a full foundation, new addition to the rear and new front porch. But Ferrisburgh already has most of the money for that in hand, officials said.

July 30, 2007

By MEGAN JAMES

MIDDLEBURY — Addison County farming and forestry industries can play a key role in achieving a national goal to produce 25 percent of the country’s energy from renewable sources by 2025, local agriculture leaders say.

Middlebury dairy farmer Bob Foster and Harvey Smith, state executive director of the Farm Service Agency, stressed that 25 percent is a conservative goal given that the United States currently gets about 6 percent of its energy from renewable sources, like wind, solar and biofuels.

The two spoke at a meeting hosted by the Addison County Regional Planning Commission (ACRPC) on Thursday. They agreed that just striving toward the goal could have an overwhelmingly positive impact on the local economy.

“I feel really good that we’re on the forefront of being able to develop something here in Addison County and in the state of Vermont that will really benefit us all, reducing our environmental impact, our air quality impact and also generating economic development,” Smith said.

July 30, 2007

By JOHN FLOWERS

BRIDPORT — Members of the Lake Champlain Restoration Association (LCRA) are enlisting the help of a tiny Polynesian catamaran in their efforts to clear nuisance aquatic weeds from the lake.

No, the catamaran in question isn’t being outfitted with a weed chopper, nor will it even sail in Lake Champlain. Rather, it’s a 72-inch replica of the famous “Hokulea” catamaran that in 1976 sailed from Hawaii to Tahiti. The model boat, lovingly crafted by Bridport resident Frank Russell, is being raffled off by the LCRA to help raise money for a garage that will house the organization’s new milfoil harvesting equipment.