Discover More from This Author: Polly

Town Meeting Day round-ups from around the region

March 12, 2025
By Polly Mikula Rutland re-elects Doenges as mayor, ousts three incumbent aldermen Incumbent Mayor Mike Doenges beat challenger Alderman Henry Heck 2,075 to 1,581. The mayor’s race saw about a 20% bump in turnout compared to 2023 but Doenges took about the same percentage of the total vote in each election: 56.5% in 2023 and…

Killington voters approve water line bond, work begins in April on Contract 4

March 12, 2025
By Polly Mikula At Town Meeting Day Killington voters overwhelmingly approved Article 4, a bond not to exceed $11.2 million for the final portion of the new municipal water system — Contract 5, 6A, and 7. The vote was 225 yes to 106 no. The next day, Wednesday, March 5, the town signed a contract…

Mountain Top Inn: 60 years, 60 kilometers of trails

March 5, 2025
By Polly Mikula Since 1964, locals and visitors alike have enjoyed the 60 kilometers of cross-country skiing at Mountain Top Resort in Chittenden. It was one of the first cross-country ski areas to open in the U.S. and also one of the first Nordic resorts to make snow, which it began in 1980. Mountain Top’s…

Expanding the Killington Select Board: pros, cons

February 26, 2025
By Polly Mikula Voters in the town of Killington will be asked to consider expanding its current three-member volunteer Select Board to five at Town Meeting Day this Tuesday, March 4.  The question has been on the ballot before, and the measure failed, but there may be more appetite for it this time. Unfortunately, there…

Q&A with Killington Select Board candidate Rick Bowen

February 26, 2025
Tuesday night, Feb. 18,the  Killington Pico Area Association (KPAA) held a forum for the four candidates vying for two seats on the Killington Select Board. One seat is for a 3-year term; the other a 1-year term. Incumbent Chris Karr will face a challenge from Patrick Cushing for the 3-year seat. Karr is the owner…

Killington prepares for spring: longest season in the East and Superstar lift replacement

February 19, 2025
Audi FIS Ski World Cup to return in 2026 Killington Resort, the largest ski and snowboard resort in Eastern North America, has announced plans for the replacement of its Superstar Express Quad and outlined its spring skiing operations for 2025. The 38-year-old Superstar lift will close to the public on April 13, making way for…

Sousa’s in the hot seat

February 19, 2025
By Polly Mikula A Feb. 6 petition calling for the “resignation or removal” of Mountain Views Supervisory Union’s  (MVSU) Superintendent Sherry Sousa garnered 114 signatures as of Tuesday, Feb. 18, but school leaders, educators and some district board members have since come to her defense.  Sousa, who has worked for 30 years in the district,…

Mountain Green condos $48m renovations is underway

February 12, 2025
By Polly Mikula Mountain Green Condominium Association, a 45-year-old, 215-unit association with a restaurant, spa, gym and two pools located across from Snowshed Lodge on East Mountain Road, is embarking on a $48 million renovation.  The renovations, under DEW Construction Corporation, will take about 2 1/2 years to complete. Work began in 2023 and is…

local furniture company is the go-to for high-end finishes in model homes

February 12, 2025
By Polly Mikula Steve Malone, developer of the new Base Camp at Bear Mountain townhomes, says all his model homes are decorated by Pompanoosuc Mills furniture, (a.k.a. “Pompy”) based in Thetford, Vermont. “It’s delux, Vermont-made furniture and a wonderful local company,” Malone said. “I’ve used Pompy for all of my model homes and many owners…

Base Camp at Bear Mountain plans to begin vertical construction this fall

February 12, 2025
By Polly Mikula Twenty-four 4-bedroom, 4-bath duplex townhouses with attached 2-car garages are underway at Bear Mountain in Killington. All of the townhomes will have ski-in ski-out access on the Bear Cub Trail. Site clearing for the new slope side duplex development at Killington Resort’s Bear Mountain began this past October and will resume with…

New 15,000 square foot distillery, tasting room and workforce housing in Killington seeks permits

February 12, 2025
By Polly Mikula  KB22 LLC submitted its site plan and PUD application to the town of Killington proposing a new 15,000 square foot distillery, tasting room/restaurant and workforce housing off Route 4 in Killington. The entry would be 85 feet east of the Greenbrier, before the intersection with Route 100, according to the site plan…

Feds pause Killington’s $25m RAISE grant

February 12, 2025
By Polly Mikula Killington was awarded a $25 million federal RAISE grant  with an additional $1 million local match to reconstruct Killington Road but those funds are now suspended per President Trump’s executive order to pause all funding for programs that include DEI (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion), Killington Town Planner Lisa Davis Lewis told the…

State’s Education Transformation Proposal, including a school choice lottery for all, is met with mixed reviews

February 12, 2025
By Polly Mikula Gov. Phil Scott’s education proposal would allow every student to opt into a school choice lottery system within their regional school district.  Testimony from Education Secretary Zoie Saunders in the House Education Committee, Thursday, Feb. 6, was the first public explanation of how school choice would work in Scott’s “transformation” plan. “It’s very provocative,”…

Killington voters will be asked to pass bond bringing municipal water through town

February 12, 2025
By Polly Mikula Killington voters will be asked to pass a $11.2 million bond for the final segments of the planned municipal water system, contracts 5-7, at Town Meeting Day, March 4.  This bond, Article 4 on the ballot, must pass for the town to complete the municipal water system down Killington Road to service…

Beast Week celebrates the team behind the mountain, Feb. 8-14

February 8, 2025
By Brooke Geery, Killington Resort With winter well underway, The Beast is running like a well-oiled machine, thanks to its dedicated and enthusiastic team. It takes a lot of people to keep things going. In fact, Killington Resort is one of the largest employers in the state of Vermont with over 1,500 employees during the…