Thursday, March 29, 2018

Page 1

Inspiration

Weddings

Hoop stars

A basketmaker’s nests woven from found objects are on display in Vergennes. See Arts + Leisure.

Two local couples explain the process for planning their nuptials. See our special section.

A VUHS senior leads the 2018 Independent Boys’ Basketball AllStar Team. See Sports, Page 1B.

ADDISON COUNTY

Vol. 72 No. 13

INDEPENDENT Middlebury, Vermont

Thursday, March 29, 2018  52 Pages

$1.00

Residents rally for firearm safety

Middlebury gathering draws more than 500; petition seeks changes in laws By JOHN FLOWERS MIDDLEBURY — People rallying for tighter gun laws took their cause from the streets of downtown Middlebury on Saturday to a local gathering of lawmakers on Monday, as they maintained their full-court press on state officials to pass firearm safety legislation during the waning weeks of this session. Saturday’s rally in Middlebury drew around 550 people, according to one of the attendees, Fran Putnam of Weybridge. In addition to providing a forum for folks to share their views on gun violence, the event saw more than 350 people sign a related petition urging lawmakers to tighten rules for purchasing firearms. The petition asks for five specific reforms:

• Digitizing gun records. • Closing the loophole in the background check law that “allows people who shouldn’t be allowed to purchase firearms to slip through the

cracks and buy guns online or at gun shows.” • Reinstating the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention research on gun violence.

House OK’s one gun control bill; more measures still before the Legislature By JOHN FLOWERS MIDDLEBURY — Citizens have been gathering in the streets to demand more gun safety laws, and a series of related bills that would do just that are working their way through the Legislature The most prominent of those, bill S.55, was approved by the Vermont House on Tuesday on a vote of 89 to 54.

Already passed by the Senate, the bill will go to a Senate/House conference committee before landing on Gov. Scott’ desk to be signed into law. Scott has voiced support for the proposal. S.55 features a number of gun safety measures, including: • Expanding background check requirements to unlicensed (or (See Citizens, Page 7A)

• Passing a law banning assault weapons. • Outlawing the sale of highcapacity magazines. Putnam was pleased with the support both at the rally and the petition garnered on Saturday. “I want you to now that Addison County is behind gun safety,” Putnam reported at Monday’s legislative breakfast at the Middlebury American Legion headquarters. Five young participants at the Saturday rally were among the breakfast attendees. Sharing the microphone were Addison Central School District students Greta Hardy-Mittell, Andi Boe, Cathy Dyer, Zora Duquette-Hoffman and Anya Hardy-Mittell. “We wanted to remind the (See Gun control, Page 7A)

By JOHN FLOWERS MIDDLEBURY — Patrick Malone of Montpelier-based Malone Properties was the winning bidder at Tuesday’s auction for the 1741 Route 7 South building that for many years hosted Standard Register and most recently, Connor Homes. He confirmed to the Addison Independent his plans to renovate the now-vacant, 116,000-squarefoot building for lease to a single or multiple businesses looking to grow in Middlebury. Malone was one in a handful of bidders for the property, which includes 19.2 acres of land and two divisible building lots. The auction, conducted by Thomas Hirchak (See Building sells, Page 12A)

Major part of 2018’s downtown effort will be ‘microtunneling’ in four areas

By JOHN FLOWERS according to VHB Project Manager MIDDLEBURY — Work on Aaron Guyette. the much-publicized Middlebury More noticeable evidence of phase rail bridges project will kick off in two will become clear near the end around three weeks, starting with of April — prep work on the four a new drainage system that will be shafts and related microtunneling bored into four downtown locations. that will be dug to produce a drainage Officials from the Vermont Agency system for the downtown rail bed of Transportation, that borders the Otter K u b r i c k y Creek. Construction Construction and The most highVHB Inc., gave will at times halt profile of these shafts the Middlebury pedestrian flow will be near the selectboard an update through Printer’s intersection of Main on Tuesday about this Alley and thus Street and Printer’s year’s to-do list for the to the Marble Alley. Fencing will $72 million project. soon go up around the That effort is expected Works, officials project site, with the to conclude in 2021 said. But Guyette actual microtunneling with a new concrete anticipates a to begin in August. tunnel that will house narrow pedestrian Work at Printer’s the railroad track path will remain Alley is due to wrap through downtown sometime in April of open along the and supplant the Main 2019, according to Street and Merchants alley during most Guyette. of the work. Row rail bridges. Construction will at D o w n t o w n times halt pedestrian Middlebury residents, flow through Printer’s business owners and shoppers Alley and thus to the Marble Works, endured phase one of the project officials said. But Guyette anticipates this past summer. That involved a narrow pedestrian path will remain replacing the two deteriorating, open along the alley during most of 1920s-era rail spans with temporary the work. bridges. Work will also affect a portion Phase two kicked off recently with of the Marble Works this year — cutting of trees within the rail project primarily on the slope fronting the area. That work is almost done, (See Rail bridges, Page 13A)

Second forum on Mount Abe set for Saturday By CHRISTOPHER ROSS BRISTOL — A community group seeking creative solutions to address the needs of Mount Abraham Union High School will convene its second meeting this Saturday, March 31, from 9 to 11:30 a.m. at the school. The mission of the 5-Town Community Forum is to foster vigorous but respectful debate, encourage diverse participation (See Forum, Page 12A)

Vergennes zoning regs moving forward

By the way

Index Obituaries................................. 6A Classifieds.......................... 5B-9B Service Directory............... 6B-7B Entertainment.........Arts + Leisure Community Calendar......... 8A-9A Arts Calendar.........Arts + Leisure Sports................................. 1B-3B

Independent photo/Trent Campbell

Workers to get busy on Middlebury rail bridges by mid-April

Huge building on Route 7 auctioned off

Author Tanya Lee Stone, whose presentation was cancelled last month due to a snowstorm, will discuss her book, “Girl Rising: Changing the World One Girl at a Time,” on Tuesday morning, April 3, at 11 a.m. in the Mount (See By the way, Page 12A)

MORE THAN 500 protestors gather on the Middlebury town green Saturday afternoon for a March for Our Lives gun control rally. Some student participants at the rally made their gun control pleas to legislators at an event at the Middlebury American Legion hall Monday morning.

SUGARMAKER ETHAN WEST, above, stands with the wood pellet boiler he uses in his Goshen sugarhouse to make syrup and sugar, below. A wood pellet system is highly efficient, clean and eliminates time spent on wood gathering and preparation, West says. Independent photos/Trent Campbell

Boiler maker

New pellet-fired equipment streamlines Goshen maple sugaring operation By CHRISTOPHER ROSS GOSHEN — Sugaring season is off to a great start for Ethan West and his partner Annina Seiler. Their operation, dubbed Republic of Vermont, doubled its taps to 4,000 this year, and West has just installed a new wood pellet-fired evaporator. Since installing the new

equipment, he’s faced one dilemma he didn’t expect. “At first I was kind of bored, actually,” West said. No more opening the door every seven or eight minutes to load in more firewood. The new evaporator is mostly automated, so there isn’t much left for him to do but watch (See Pellets, Page 14A)

Next hearing is set; no move to smaller lot sizes just yet By ANDY KIRKALDY VERGENNES — With little comment, proposed new Vergennes zoning and subdivision regulations that would, among other things create Solar Energy Overlay District, took another step forward at the March 27 city council meeting. The council on Tuesday held the first of at least two required hearings on the proposed amendments, which would also ban street-level and basement apartments in the downtown business district and make another 20-plus changes, many minor but some significant. The only comments came in a letter from New Haven developer

Scott Hardy. The Vergennes Development Review Board recently approved Hardy’s plan for a four-lot subdivision on Comfort Hill that includes a 5.6-acre parcel in the city’s High Density Residential (HDR) zoning district. Hardy wrote “most of Vergennes residential single-family housing” already sits on lots of between 6,000 and 8,000 square feet, and he suggested that high-density zoning should reflect that reality with a reduction in the required minimum lot size from 15,000 square feet (about 1/3 of an acre) to about 10,000 square feet (about 1/4 of an acre). Hardy also wrote “while affordable elderly housing is important for a community … There are proven studies where multi-generational living is best for everyone.” He concluded, “Why not help (See City Council, Page 14A)


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Thursday, March 29, 2018 by AddisonPress - Issuu