By Lani Duke
New face on campus
POULTNEY—AmeriCorps Volunteer Liz Bourguet has joined the staff at Green Mountain College as the new native plant land manager on campus. She is working with students and faculty to promote native plant species while controlling invasive plants both on campus and at the 85-acre Lewis Deane Nature Preserve on St. Catherine Mountain, five miles from the campus.
New affordable housing planned
FAIR HAVEN—The Housing Trust of Rutland County plans a renovations pegged at nearly $800,000 at the Adams House and Carriage Barn in Fair Haven, the first major project in nearly 20 years. Funding comes from federal and state programs, targeting both affordable housing and historic properties.
Work is expected to begin about the end of November and continue into spring. The 13-unit affordable housing property will receive new boilers, hot-water tanks and oil tanks, while existing oil tanks and mercury-filled thermostats are removed. All marble elements of Adams House will receive a thorough cleaning, along with front porch repairs and exterior wood repainting.
To qualify for the new funding, the Housing Trust had to renegotiate its $290,664 loan from the town. The Select Board agreed in a 4-1 vote to forgive $72,000 of the loan principal while accepting Marble House Limited Partnership’s assumption of the $219,664 balance for 30 years at zero percent interest.
The Select Board had no expectation of seeing the loan repaid, according to John Lulek, Select Board chair, when the initial loan was granted. The arrangement was a financial maneuver to assure financing for the Housing Trust project. Locals consider the initial $1.3 million renovation and restoration, completed in 1997, to be a major factor in stabilizing the surrounding neighborhood, halting property deterioration and encouraging investment.
Congratulations…
to Middletown Springs on securing a $38,500 Vermont Bicycle and Pedestrian Program funding (including local match) for a scoping study on creating a shared-use, unpaved path providing access to the village center.
to Castleton University for drawing a record-setting crowd to its Sept. 26 homecoming game. Officials admitted a crowd of 4,117.
to Green Mountain College, featured in National Wildlife Federation’s new guidebook, “The Campus Wild: How College and University Green Landscapes Provide Havens for Wildlife and ‘Lands-on’ Experiences for Students.” The GMC section features the school’s shifting of its landscaping practices to native plants and developing its invasive species control policy.
