By Lani Duke
Castleton U “gives back” to Fair Haven community
FAIR HAVEN— Castleton University’s track and field team “spring cleaned” the center of downtown Fair Haven, tidying up the streets and public areas from Community Bank west to Liberty St. and Carl Duffy’s Store. Twenty-five athletes and their coach took part, using the town’s loader, dump truck, brooms, rakes, and shovels the morning of April 5.
They also painted interior portions of Fair Haven Concerned, a community organization that distributes heat and rent assistance and maintains a food shelf for residents of Fair Haven, West Haven, and Benson.
Team coach Dave Heitkamp explained that all Castleton sports teams were taking part in community service projects. The appreciation between town and school is mutual; Castleton University athletes use the Fair Haven Union High track for practices because the university lacks its own track.
CVS students win first prize for architectural history 3-D model
CASTLETON—The 3D-printed miniature recreations of the Old Cobbler Shop and Hope House created by Castleton Village School sixth and seventh graders won first place in the fourth annual Middle School and High School Olympiad of Architectural History in Vermont at Vermont Technical College in Randolph Center. Team members were from the school’s Jump program, a personalized learning block that concentrates on a specific subject. Along with faculty co-advisor Trevor Kelson, the team had been working on the project since October.
Scoring was based on student historical knowledge and research (40 percent), student presentation and task distribution among team members (30 percent), and model architectural detail (30 percent). Students researched their buildings’ architecture and construction, histories, historical colors, and settings, including black walnut trees that furnished leather dye.
The team presented its research on Hope House in the form of “An Interview with James Hope,” a Hudson River School painter who started building Hope House in 1851. The team created virtual reality tours of both buildings’ interiors and drone video footage of their exteriors.
The 3-D models were created by an Afinia 3D printer following student-made designs in the Sketch-Up program. The students built each model in three segments, each requiring approximately 115 hours of work. The Hope House model is 4 ½ inches tall, 1/80 scale; the Cobbler Shop, 2 inches high, a 1:100 scale.
Their research and finished work is being included in student portfolios, “electronic portfolios,” Principal Linda Peltier told the Rutland Herald.
Housing Trust working two major Lakes Region apartments
The Housing Trust of Rutland County is close to wrapping up renovations at the 17-unit Heritage Court Apartments in Poultney, and the 40-apartment Appletree Apartments in Fair Haven. Heritage Court is getting a new heating system, insulation, windows and doors, siding and roofing, modernized kitchens and baths, new finishes within the units, a reopened community room and handicapped-accessible laundry room. Retooling is nearly complete at 624 York St.
The swimming pool is being removed; site work will reduce asphalt and minimize tripping hazards in sidewalks, according to the housing trust website. Naylor & Breen Builders are the general contractor, with Arnold and Scangas Architects design, and J.D. Kantor, Inc., the development consultant for the senior living complex.
In Fair Haven, the housing trust has applied for an amalgam of federal and state aid to renovate the Appletree Apartments on Appletree Lane. The organization submitted applications for a Vermont Housing Finance Agency construction loan, permanent loan, and tax credits; and other federal and state funds from the Vermont Housing and Conservation Board, Housing Trust Executive Director Elisabeth Kulas told the Rutland Herald.
The Fair Haven Select Board may apply for an additional funding source, a $500,000 implementation grant from the Vermont Community Development Program, or about 6 percent of the entire project expense. In all, the 40-unit complex will receive $8.7 million in improvements after its purchase – $5.5 million in construction alone, according to project manager Melissa Disorda.
Given approvals, the project will receive 95 percent of the necessary funding before July; construction could begin by the first of the year and be completed by 2020, Disorda projected.
The renovation includes installing air-source heat pumps and upgrading insulation in walls and attics. All units will receive new kitchens, baths, and flooring. Electrical and mechanical systems are to receive upgrades to meet code specifications, with siding and roofing replaced as needed.
The 9 ½ acre site is to also receive upgrades in the access road rebuilding, parking areas and sidewalks, energy-efficient exterior lighting and site drainage.
While renovation is taking place, residents “in good standing” will temporarily be housed elsewhere, in compliance with the Uniform Relocation Act, applicable when federal money funds housing improvements.
Owner Marsha Milot has owned the property since 1980, first with her husband, then alone after his death, property manager Debra Eddy said.
