City right of way issue is clarified

The Vergennes Development Review Board didn’t issue the permit that’s led to a building being erected 18 inches into the city’s West Main Street right of way, City Manager Ron Redmond clarified to the Independent last week while also expressing confidence in a resolution. 

The 41st annual Vergennes Day celebration will be held on Saturday, Aug. 26, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Thanks to a grant from FIRSTinVT, Bixby Memorial Library will host a Lego robotics camp for kids aged 9 to 14 at the library Monday, June 26, through Friday, June 30, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.

On Tuesday, June 20, students at Vergennes Union High School along with a big swath of the broader community hosted Vergennes’s first ever Pride Parade and celebration as a direct response to a talk by an anti-trans activist at VUHS.

ANWSD leaders should follow the 5 tenants of Vergennes Union High School: Presence, Integrity, Respect, Kindness and Self-Challenge.

A group advocating “parents’ rights” to host anti-transgender advocate speaker at school library next week.

The Vergennes City Council and its legal counsel recently addressed the thorny issue of a new nine-unit condominium building under construction that juts slightly more than a foot into the city’s West Main Street right of way. 

While the warm summer sun shining and thoughts of solar energy are not far from many people’s minds, Vergennes in mid-July will be the site of an expo designed to educate people about ways to power our modern lifestyle without polluting the planet.

On a hot summer night, many folks in these parts like nothing more than sitting outside and enjoying the breeze. In Vergennes, they do things one better every Monday.

The Vergennes City Council last week heard why the city’s Green Street fire station needs about $2.2 million in upgrades.

Vergennes is applying for a $119,337 grant through the Agency of Transportation that city officials hope will allow a long-awaited new stretch of sidewalk to be installed between Macdonough Drive and the north side of the Otter Creek bridge.

In a unanimous decision followed by a standing ovation from both councilors and about 15 meeting attendees, the Vergennes City Council on May 9 confirmed interim Vergennes Volunteer Fire Department Chief David DiBiase as the head of the department. 

In 2022, backers of a proposed 9,600-square-foot covered pavilion to the rear of the Vergennes recreation park off East Street saw the $309,000 Phase One of their dream come true. 

In addition to appointing David DiBiase as the city’s fire chief, the Vergennes City Council on May 9 voted unanimously to appropriate $3,000 from the city’s Watershed Fund to support a proposed nine-hole Disc Golf course in Falls Park.

When the Memorial Parade in Vergennes steps off at 11 a.m. on Monday, May 29, the parade route will once again be filled with thousands of people coming to experience a tradition spanning more than 60 years.