FERRISBURGH — The Ferrisburgh selectboard has created a Town Center Committee to plan for the future of the village area along and around Route 7 that includes the town office building and the town-owned home next to it, Ferrisburgh Central School, the Union Meeting Hall, the former town clerk’s office now occupied by the Ferrisburgh Historical Society, and a number of homes and businesses.

Selectboard Chair Jessica James said the board was prompted to create the committee at its March 15 meeting in part by the likely decision of the Ferrisburgh Center United Methodist Church to sell “within a year or so” its building just to the north of town offices.

Town officials and residents at town meeting also talked about the future of the area, and James said the selectboard agreed it was wise to look forward.

“At town meeting the discussion came up of what are we doing with these properties. We have a lot of empty stuff in the center. We should be discussing things as a group,” she said. “They were asking if we could form a committee, and we formed a committee just to discuss that center.”

The board did not make appointments that evening and will be seeking volunteers in the weeks to come.

On March 15, the board also:

• Continued to discuss the potential $385,000 sale of the 34-acre town-owned parcel at the junction of Routes 7 and 22A to a pair of separate businesses. James said the town has a signed letter of intent, and lawyers for all sides were working to meet a March 21 deadline for a final sales agreement. She said the board remains optimistic about the deal.
• Talked about whether the town could apply any of its American Rescue Plan Act funding toward improving the elementary school playground, and concluded it probably could not, according to James.
• Heard from the board of listers that it had successfully appealed the town’s Common Level of Appraisal, an act that will save the town about $40,000 and save individual taxpayers a least a small amount of money on their school taxes. James said the board is still working with state officials on further raising the CLA, and another $80,000 of savings are possible.
• Returned James to her position as chair and also re-elected Clark Hinsdale as the selectboard’s vice chair.