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Keeping your community covered. We're committed to producing high-quality, fact-based news and information that gives you the facts in this community we call home. If our work has helped you stay informed, take action, or feel more connected to Windham County – please give now to help us reach our goal of raising $150,000 by December 31st.
Citing legal concerns, the Select Board rejected a petition signed by 40 Grafton residents and submitted by Friends of Grafton's Heritage founder, Liisa Kissel, an hour before the Jan. 24 deadline, requesting that an article, “Shall the town prohibit large-scale industrial wind installations in Grafton,” be added to the warrant for the Annual Town Meeting.
Select Board members sought the advice of the Vermont League of Cities and Towns, which said that “the Vermont Legislature has not conferred upon voters a statutory role in the regulation of net metered wind projects.”
They were told that what limited role does exist for municipalities to participate in the state Public Service Board's review process is granted to Selectboards and Planning Commissions.
Therefore, the VCLT said, the Select Board could decide whether to include the petitioned article.
The Select Board has approved the 20 articles, including two that will address the Stiles Brook commercial wind project, for the Annual Town Meeting, which will take place March 5 at Town School District Offices at 10 a.m. Polls by Australian ballot will open at 9 a.m. and stay...
The Selectboard has discussed the necessity of hiring a lawyer to negotiate with the Public Service Board should a company contemplating a wind farm project decide to pursue it. The Iberdrola Renewables will soon erect meteorological (MET) towers for its Stiles Brook Project, which could cause the town to...
In a Feb. 2 meeting organized by the Selectboard to discuss development of a potential commercial wind farm project, townspeople learned that it will take from three to seven years to develop the site fully and to construct between 10 and 30 wind turbines on the ridge. But all that would depend on what developers find from meteorological testing towers proposed for the Stiles Brook Project. Iberdrola ultimately hopes that 5,000 acres owned by Meadowsend Timber LLC (MTL), a New...
Towns across Vermont continue to wrestle with Tropical Storm Irene-related repairs and find themselves stuck, in the words of one town official here, between an abutment and the river. Newfane has engaged a disaster management service, Storm Petrel of Halifax, to help it negotiate state and federal regulations on reimbursable costs of rebuilding. The Lynch and Hickey Road bridges are moving forward relatively easily. A third project is more complex, but is on the list of projects the town has...
Falls Area Community Television (FACT) is getting a new look and better functionality, thanks to the 5 percent franchise fees cable towns collect and earmark for public access television. Executive Director Jacob Stradling said the renovations will bring “greater appeal from the door. It wasn't immediately clear (we are) a TV station.” Renovations are budgeted at around $26,000, Stradling said, but the cost might push $35,000. Funding comes from donations and cable provider franchise fees. Stradling said the biggest change...
The Putney Public Library had some good news for the Selectboard at its Jan. 2 meeting. “We've got a great budget here,” Library Director Steve Coronella told the board. “We're only asking for a 1 percent increase.” Coronella said the library is level-funding its budget. He explained the requested amount from the town came in at $11,039, and that is down $1,011 from last year due to several staffers' family members electing to go with alternative insurance options. Coronella noted...
In spite of an ultimatum to contractor Baybutt Construction, the town is poised to move ahead with the Rockingham Free Public Library renovation project and - with luck - not suffer any financial losses. Town Counsel Stephen Ankuda said that it is too early to tell if Baybutt, based in Keene, N.H., will “get their ducks in a row and get back in the good graces of their subcontractors” by the deadline this Thursday. But that would be “the best...
