RIPTON — The Ripton planning commission this summer is scheduled to field an application for 10 cabins on part of a 112-acre parcel at 2430 North Branch Road. The 10-unit planned unit development is being considered by property owners Carol and Marty Kulczyk. Tentative plans call for the cabins to be rentals and confined to a 24-acre segment of the 112-acre parcel. The Kulczyks would like to build the cabins — ranging from 400 to 600 square feet — in four phases, according to recent planning commission minutes. Each cabin would have a bathroom and an efficiency kitchen. Plans call for all the cabins to be served by a mound system.
Meanwhile, the Ripton town office has a new vault door, recently purchased and installed at a total cost of $8,175 (from the town’s building fund). The Ripton selectboard is keeping track of future town office needs, thanks to a recently completed energy audit and “historic condition assessment” performed by Shoreham’s Jeremiah Parker. Parker’s study indicated the town should consider investing in a standing seam roof; a new heating system; better handicap access; and new first-floor flooring and insulation to make the town office building more functional and energy efficient into the future.
Consultant Amy Sheldon spearheaded a series of plantings to cap a stabilization project for the Middlebury River in Ripton Village.
Ripton officials are preparing to discuss the extension of an in-lieu-of-taxes agreement with Middlebury College, which has considerable land holdings (including the Bread Loaf campus) in the town.
The selectboard has endorsed a ban on all night-time shooting in the U.S.  Forest Service gravel pit off Steam Mill Road. There are some homes nearby on the Natural Turnpike Road.
Forty new signs have arrived for Lincoln Road. The signs are required by the Vermont Agency of Transportation as a condition for a paving grant for the road.
As of May 4, the delinquent tax list in Ripton stood at $44,436.29.
Ripton Elementary this summer will welcome a new principal — Tracey Harrington, who replaces current leader Marta Beede. Beede has decided to leave to pursue a new career opportunity.
PROPERTY TRANSFERS:
•  George Brewer Jr. Revocable Trust to Helen Carney, a multi-unit dwelling at 671 and 683 North Branch Road, $170,000, March 14, 2011.
•  Irene Poole to Walter O’Donoghue, a home at 31 Burnt Hill Road on 3.4 acres, $215,000, Oct. 1, 2010.
•  Bryan and Amy Wilson to Lynn Coeby, 10.45 acres off Old Town Road, $40,000, Aug. 23, 2010.
Reporter John Flowers is at [email protected].