Monday, June 20, 2016
Winooski City Manager Katherine Decarreau, who has overseen a revival of the Onion City during her seven years on the job, is resigning to take a position with the Chittenden Central Supervisory Union, the city announced Monday.
Decarreau, a city native and a Winooski High School graduate known as “Deac,” will depart August 1 to become the executive director of finance and operations for the union, which includes seven schools and 3,200 students in Essex and Westford.
“The opportunities in front of us are exciting and will require a very different skill set than the ones I brought to the position when I arrived,” Decarreau said in a prepared statement. “It is a really good time for me to return to more nuts-and-bolts work that I love. It is an equally good time for the city to evaluate our needs moving forward and to hire a new manager with the skills that will take us forward for the next part of our development.”
During Decarreau’s time in office, Winooski, which had long struggled to recover from the closure of its mills, welcomed an influx of young residents and workers and saw its downtown become a trendy destination.
Tags: Katherine Decarreau , Winooski , Seth Leonard , Image , Web Only
Monday, June 6, 2016
In Woodstock last Thursday afternoon, David Hall drove up a steep dirt road, his newly hired local consultant, Kevin Ellis, in the Ford sedan’s passenger seat.
He pulled up to King Farm, 154 acres of preserved farm and forest, with a clapboard farmhouse that is headquarters for the Two Rivers-Ottauquechee Regional Commission. It was the first of a handful of meetings Ellis had scheduled for Hall’s three-day visit. He was there to start convincing the commission staff and executive committee members that his futuristic plan is right for Vermont.
Bill Emmons, the committee chair, invited the wealthy Mormon businessman to take a seat at the wood table. Emmons, a Pomfret resident, wore Carhartts and a baseball cap with the words Cloudland Farm — a cattle-and-vegetable operation that’s been in his family since 1908.
Tags: cannabis related , David Hall , Two Rivers-Ottauquechee Regional Commission , Upper Valley , Image , Web Only
Wednesday, May 25, 2016
More than 100 people jammed into a meeting room mostly to express dismay and outrage over a proposal to increase the height limit for a swath of downtown from roughly 105 feet to 160 feet, or about 14 stories, in order to accommodate the $200 million-plus proposed redevelopment of Burlington Town Center.
The Planning Commission members listened but did not vote on a zoning amendment proposed for a special district that encompasses the mall and a few surrounding buildings. The commission is under pressure to make a recommendation on the zoning change to the city council by early July in order to stay on a timeline set for the project in a predevelopment agreement. The council approved the agreement May 2.
During public comments that went on for two hours, some speakers supported the height increase as necessary to make a much-needed mall makeover happen. But they were strongly outnumbered by critics, many of whom carried signs that read: "Our Zoning For Our Community!"
Tags: Don Sinex , Burlington Town Center , Genese Grill , Image , Web Only
Monday, May 23, 2016
Ellis Mills, a Montpelier firm run by Kevin Ellis and Bryan Mills, has started setting up meetings for David Hall, who plans to visit Vermont several times this summer.
Residents reacted with alarm in March, when a local blogger wrote about Hall's proposal to build a futuristic, environmentally sustainable community of 20,000 people at the hilly intersection of Sharon, South Royalton, Strafford and Tunbridge. The plan is based on a Mormon document known as the Plat of Zion.
By the time the news broke, Hall had already purchased about 900 of the 5,000 acres he says he needs. Vermont Public Radio reported in late April that Hall is acquiring another 500 acres.
Amid the outcry, Ellis saw an opportunity. "I called [Hall] up," said the inveterate lobbyist, who previously co-founded KSE. "I said, 'You need a guide.'"
Tags: David Hall , Central Vermont , Ellis Mills , Image , Web Only
Thursday, May 19, 2016
The name is a nod to the former Strand Theater, which burned down at the site in the mid-1950s. The proposed development by Burlington-based Redstone would make over a key block on the northwest corner of West Allen and Main, now the site of a pocket park and shuttered drive-through bank.
The hall could host conventions, performances and community events, said Bill Niquette, senior associate at Redstone. It's not envisioned as a commercial movie theater. The bank will be demolished.
The goal is for the Winooski development to extend the downtown-style street life on the lower block of Main around Sneakers Bistro, the Mule Bar and other businesses to what is now a "dead block," Niquette said. The building would have three or four entrances, with the event hall at the northern end of the block. It would also have a roof deck facing west.
Tags: Winooski , the Strand , Bill Niquette , Redstone , Image , Web Only
Tuesday, May 3, 2016
In a 10-1 vote, councilors signed off on a predevelopment agreement outlining commitments from the city and the developer of the Burlington Town Center project. This marks an important milestone for Sinex, who’s spent the last 18 months working with the city to refine his plan to turn the Burlington Town Center into a massive mixed-use development with apartments, retail and office space.
Tags: Burlington Town Center , Burlington city council , Don Sinex , Miro Weinberger , Image , Web Only
Monday, May 2, 2016
They called on state officials to challenge the federal preemption that has allowed Vermont Rail System to clear-cut trees and start construction on a rail yard and salt sheds in Shelburne without local or state environmental permits. Speakers made the case that it’s more than a one-town issue and said that Vermont needs to wake up to the danger of “freight hazmat.”
The days when there was something romantic about trains are over, Lydia Clemmons of Charlotte told the crowd. “We’re in a new era, an ugly era, the era of big rail.”
Tags: Vermont Rail Systems , Shelburne , David Wulfson , Gary von Stange , Image , Web Only
Thursday, April 28, 2016
Among them: Vermont Electric Cooperative, the Johnson-based utility that keeps Jay Peak Resort’s lifts spinning.
“They’re in arrears,” VEC CEO Christine Hallquist said Wednesday.
She declined to reveal how much Jay Peak owes or how long the ski area has owed it. But Hallquist acknowledged that the company has a hefty electric bill: It’s the co-op’s second-largest customer — behind WestRock, a Sheldon boxboard manufacturer.
Hallquist said she has been in contact with federal receiver Michael Goldberg, whom a judge appointed two weeks ago to oversee Jay Peak and the developers’ other assets. Federal and state authorities charged Quiros and Stenger April 14 with misusing more than $200 million raised through the EB-5 investor visa program.
Hallquist said she expects to hear details from Goldberg about a payment plan by Friday. “I’m happy with the response,” she said.
Tags: EB-5 , Bill Stenger , Ariel Quiros , Jay Peak , Q Burke , Vermont Electric Cooperative , Image , Web Only
Wednesday, April 27, 2016
Days after painting a dire picture of Jay Peak Resort’s financial health, federal receiver Michael Goldberg said Wednesday that he had enough money to keep the mountain open until revenues rebound next ski season.
“It’s business as usual. It’s actually better than business as usual,” he said Wednesday morning at the Hotel Jay & Conference Center. “We expect that the hotel will thrive. The only thing we’re praying for is snow [next] winter.”
Goldberg, who was appointed by a federal court two weeks ago to oversee the assets of two Northeast Kingdom developers accused of fraud, made the remarks at a press conference organized by Gov. Peter Shumlin. Earlier Wednesday, Goldberg, Shumlin and Secretary of Commerce Pat Moulton met with Jay employees to reassure them that their jobs remained secure.
“With all the press on this in the last 10 or 12 days, it’s obvious that the public kind of wonders: Is there a business here?” Shumlin told reporters. “Not only is this place alive and well but looking for staff. If you want a job, come and apply.”
Tags: Jay Peak , Q Burke , EB-5 , Michael Goldberg , Peter Shumlin , Pat Moulton , Bill Stenger , Ariel Quiros , Image , Web Only
Tuesday, April 26, 2016
“It will be sold eventually. It’s not going to be sold right away,” said Goldberg, who was appointed by the federal court to oversee several Vermont properties involved in an alleged funding scandal.
Ariel Quiros and Bill Stenger, developers of Q Burke and six other Northeast Kingdom projects funded through the federal EB-5 visa program, were charged April 14 by federal and state authorities with misusing the money and misleading investors.
Tags: Q Burke , EB-5 , Bill Stenger , Ariel Quiros , Michael Goldberg , Image , Web Only