RSSAuthor Archive for Shawn Cunningham

Chester snowmobilers: Class 4 road change could 'cripple' club

Chester snowmobilers: Class 4 road change could ‘cripple’ club Smokeshire land owners say road no longer belongs to town

By Shawn Cunningham © 2024 Telegraph Publishing LLC The discussion of a Class 4 road generally won’t fill the benches at Chester Town Hall, but last Wednesday more than 20 people turned out in person, with more attending via Zoom for a request to make a town road private. Paul Bidgood, who owns land in […]

Chester man released on $20,000 bail after agreeing to plead guilty to child sex charges

Chester man released on $20,000 bail after agreeing to plead guilty to child sex charges

By Shawn Cunningham © 2023 Telegraph Publishing LLC Jason Carrara, the Chester man who was arrested on two child sex charges on Sept. 24 and held without bail, has been released on a bond of $20,000, part of a deal with the office of the Windsor County State’s Attorney’s office that included a guilty plea […]

GMUSD board votes 6-3 to drop Chieftain name

GMUSD board votes 6-3 to drop Chieftain name Board chair Deb Brown resigns amid medical concerns

By Shawn Cunningham © 2023 Telegraph Publishing LLC Signalling that the board of the Green Mountain Unified School District would be holding another one of its unusual meetings on Thursday night, board Vice Chair Adrienne Williams announced that board Chair Deb Brown has resigned, citing medical issues from a concussion she suffered weeks ago. The […]

Jason Julian pleads guilty to 'environmental crime' in Connecticut

Jason Julian pleads guilty to ‘environmental crime’ in Connecticut Co-owner of quarrying firm under dispute in Chester

By Shawn Cunningham © 2023 Telegraph Publishing LLC Jason Julian, whose firm Julian Materials operates three quarries in Chester that have been the subject of many complaints, pleaded guilty on Friday to six misdemeanor charges in a Connecticut court. The charges, brought by the State of Connecticut, say that Julian illegally disposed of fill containing […]

DRB hearing turns rancorous as Julian Materials changes quarry application

DRB hearing turns rancorous as Julian Materials changes quarry application New plans include moving stone cutting outside Chester

By Shawn Cunningham © 2023 Telegraph Publishing LLC Years of quarry noise and months of zoning hearings boiled over at Monday night’s meeting of the Chester Development Review Board as Julian Materials proposed a heavily amended version of its conditional use application, while neighbors demanded to know when there would be enforcement of the current […]

GM board members spar over misconduct allegations

GM board members spar over misconduct allegations

By Shawn Cunningham © 2023 Telegraph Publishing LLC What was ostensibly a review of the board’s ethics code and behavioral norms following complaints about the actions of at least two members of the Green Mountain Unified School District board turned into a tense discussion of a single member’s creation of images that he emailed to […]

Andover Select Board agenda for Dec. 11

Andover Select Board agenda for Dec. 11

The Andover Select Board will hold its regular meeting at 6:30 p.m. on Monday Dec. 11 in the Andover Town Office, 953 Weston Andover Road. Below is the board’s agenda. 1. Call Meeting to Order. 2. Act on Agenda. 3. Act on Minutes of November 27th meeting. 4. Public Comment (Time allowance: Five minutes per […]

Chester Select Board agenda for Dec. 6

Chester Select Board agenda for Dec. 6

The Chester Select Board will hold a special meeting after a continued hearing about a proposed amendment to the Unified Development Bylaws which will begin at 6:30 p.m. on Wednesday Dec. 6, 2023 at Town Hall, 556 Elm Street and via Zoom. To join the meeting go to https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81988842129. 1. Continued Hearing re: Proposed Amendment […]

Chieftain hearing seems to inch forward but questions remain

Chieftain hearing seems to inch forward but questions remain

By Shawn Cunningham © 2023 Telegraph Publishing LLC When the board of the Green Mountain Unified School District board voted on May 18 that its Chieftain name did not violate the district’s policy on non-discriminatory branding, several individuals and organizations appealed that decision to the Agency of Education. Emily Simmons, the general counsel with the […]

Chester planners shuffle the deck

Chester planners shuffle the deck

By Shawn Cunningham © 2023 Telegraph Publishing LLC The Chester Planning Commission presented a fairly comprehensive amendment to the town’s zoning regulations to the Select Board on Nov. 15. The amendments are the commission’s response to Act 47 – the HOME (Housing Opportunities Made for Everyone) Act from the 2023 legislative session. The intent of […]

Chester DRB hears application for Goldthwaite Road wedding venue

Chester DRB hears application for Goldthwaite Road wedding venue Question arises about whether use is permitted for property

By Shawn Cunningham © 2023 Telegraph Publishing LLC Several neighbors of 76 Goldthwaite Road in Chester attended Monday night’s Development Review Board meeting to register their concerns about an application to put a “wedding venue.” But how the application got to the board in the first place would be a good question. The application for […]

Chester board considers waiting period between home sale and allowing short-term rental

Chester board considers waiting period between home sale and allowing short-term rental

Shawn Cunningham © 2023 Telegraph Publishing LLC Forty-six days into a six-month moratorium on new un-hosted short-term rentals, the Chester Select Board appears to be leaning toward instituting a waiting period between the purchase of a property and the opening of such a short-term rental. The goal is to make it less attractive for investors […]

Analysis: Act 46 impacts 'mental exercise' of shuffling schools between districts

Analysis: Act 46 impacts ‘mental exercise’ of shuffling schools between districts

By Shawn Cunningham © 2023 Telegraph Publishing LLC At the last Green Mountain Unified School District meeting on Oct. 19, member Scott Kendall of Andover asked for an analysis of whether it would be advantageous for Cavendish to “redistrict” to the Ludlow-Mount Holly District and if there would be an advantage or disadvantage to LMH […]

GM restructuring reboot gets under way

GM restructuring reboot gets under way

By Shawn Cunningham © 2023 Telegraph Publishing LLC Compared with recent Green Mountain Unified School District board meetings, last Thursday’s Restructuring Committee session was refreshingly low-key and constructive. It was all the more interesting because the committee is comprised of the entire board and 10 of the 11 members were present. The original four-person committee […]

Chester Select Board, TRSU Board begin budget work

Chester Select Board, TRSU Board begin budget work

By Shawn Cunningham © 2023 Telegraph Publishing LLC The beginning of November marks the start of budgeting season, a time when local government departments and schools propose next year’s spending for their oversight boards to review. And those boards usually look for savings and worry about getting voters to approve their decisions. The final draft […]

Andover Select Board agenda for Nov. 13

Andover Select Board agenda for Nov. 13

The Andover Select Board will hold its regular meeting at 6:30 p.m. on Monday Nov. 13, 2023 at the Town Office, 953 Weston-Andover Road. Below is the board’s agenda. 1. Call Meeting to Order. 2. Act on Agenda. 3. Act on Minutes of October 23 meeting & October 30 hearing. 4. Public Comment (Time allowance: […]

DRB hears objections to Julian Materials' permit

DRB hears objections to Julian Materials’ permit

By Shawn Cunningham © 2023 Telegraph Publishing LLC On Monday, Oct. 23, Chester’s Development Review Board continued its hearing on a conditional use permit application by Julian Materials to make changes in the use and operations of its three quarries in Gassetts. And with the next session not scheduled until Monday, Dec. 11, it’s looking […]

Londonderry woman arrested after rifle fire

Londonderry woman arrested after rifle fire

By Shawn Cunningham © 2023 Telegraph Publishing LLC A Londonderry woman is facing charges of reckless endangerment and first-degree aggravated domestic assault after a rifle was fired in the town Sunday night. No one was injured. According to the Vermont State Police, Ivory King, 34, of Londonderry, fired a rifle outside the home of a […]

GMUSD board actions on mascot appeal lacking in transparency

GMUSD board actions on mascot appeal lacking in transparency

By Shawn Cunningham © 2023 Telegraph Publishing LLC Anyone hoping for a bit more clarity on the issue of the Green Mountain Unified School District’s hiring a law firm for the appeals of its decision that the use of the name Chieftain does not violate its own policy would be disappointed after last Thursday’s board […]

Chester board issues health order on Potash Brook Road house

Chester board issues health order on Potash Brook Road house

By Shawn Cunningham © 2023 Telegraph Publishing LLC Last Wednesday’s Chester Select Board meeting would have been a simple housekeeping session with members signing loan documents, approving a grant application and passing on a liquor license renewal. But preceding the housekeeping session, the board held a health order hearing regarding the house on Potash Brook […]