Chester solons get Class 4 earful

By Shawn Cunningham
© 2025 Telegraph Publishing LLC

As the Chester Select Board wordsmithed a final version of its policy on the maintenance and use of Class 4 highways at its Oct. 1 meeting, two landowners addressed objections – not to the policy in general – but to how it impacts their properties specifically.

Board meeting regular, Paul Bidgood  – who has at times forcefully and at other times cooperatively – pushed for the board to recognize his claim that Bailey Hill Road in the Smokeshire area was given up by the town many years ago. The road is part of the VAST snowmobile network and is maintained by the Chester Snowmobile Club.

Over the past few meetings, Bidgood, a Massachusetts lawyer, offered comments on the draft policy that members have found helpful. But last Wednesday, he was asking for an update on research into the road, adding that he thought it was taking too long. Town Manager Julie Hance said she had sent him an update by email that morning. Bidgood said he needed to check his email more often.

Kirk MacGinnis, a Florida resident who owns property on Wymans Falls Road, said he was there to make “a narrow lawful ask” to “pause the bridges, parking and trail work on Wymans Falls Road and the brook corridor until the Town completes the required process and confirms permit coverage.”

MacGinnis believes that town has violated state law by altering Wymans Falls Road in a way that burdens abutters and that it should have warned a site visit and a public hearing with notice to those abutters. He also contends that work done on the road triggers Department of Environmental Conservation review and that there has been no accessibility analysis under the Americans with Disabilities Act. Finally, he noted that the work excludes those who use wheelchairs — including his wife. He added that both he and his wife are “widely regarded as a Wymans Falls steward and host … we get that by default as tax-paying citizens.”

“I didn’t buy the property to be the steward of the property for the town,” said MacGinnis, who nearly a year before complained to the board that improving access to the Class 4 road was a violation of his property rights. At that time, he said such work would restrict his use of his land.

MacGinnis’ “narrow ask” is nine pages long with demands including the wording for six motions he wanted the board to vote on that evening. He also noted that he had applied to the civil unit of the Windsor Superior Court for a temporary restraining order if the board did not vote to pause any work on Wymans Falls Road and schedule hearings, get permits and complete an ADA review. He told the board he was doing this to protect the town from “avoidable liability.” It has yet to appear on the court docket.

Board Chair Lee Gustafson thanked MacGinnis saying that the board will look at the issues.

Little public feedback on local options tax

Turning to a discussion of a 1 percent local options tax on rooms and meals, including alcohol served on premise, board member Tim Roper said he was surprised at the lack of interest he has encountered while Gustafson said people he’s talked with are not happy about it. Roper said that the lag time between discussions on the issue and putting it on the March 2025 warning may have made the issue less pressing to the public.

The added tax is designed to fund the work of the town’s Housing Commission as it tries to attract interest and smooth the way for developers to build affordable housing in Chester. Town Planner Preston Bristow has estimated that the tax would raise about $60,000 per year.

Chester resident and former select board member Bill Lindsey remembered an economic development loan to Putney Pasta to get water and sewer to its plant on Rt. 103 south and suggested that avenue instead of a tax. Lindsey has said that once a tax was levied, it never goes away.

Gustafson asked how the Housing Commission would use the funds. Hance said that the town needs a “Chester specific” housing market study for developers to see how much housing is needed and where and the tax could help pay for that. She also pointed to consulting help on on housing costs and attracting developers by pre-permitting areas that would involve paying the permit fees.

After some discussion of the overall need for the tax and the idea of it sunsetting after a set period of time, Gustafson said that made him more comfortable with it.

The added tax will have to be voted on Town Meeting Day if either the Select Board or the public, through a petition, put it on the warning. Either way, a decision is needed by late January if the question is to make it on the printed warning.

Until then the discussion will be on future agendas if people want to weigh in.

Legion flags and coin drop

Ed Peterson and others from the American Legion dropped by for two items on the agenda. First for an approval of a fundraising coin drop to be held on Route 103 south from 9 .m. to 5 p.m. on Friday Oct. 10, then to hear about the town’s flag policy, which had been discussed at several meetings since the summer and was scheduled to be signed that evening.

Legion members asked for the policy to be read aloud and Roper, who advocated for it, did so.

Peterson said the Legion has 45 flags on Main and North streets including 35 new flags and poles. He understood the problem of the flags being fouled on their poles or sticking to the utility poles. He told the board that he and other members have been trying to keep the flags flying freely and they would try to conform to the policy, but he noted that that members are either working or are older.

The new policy says that the Town of Chester observes the U.S. Flag Code for United States and Vermont flags flown on or above town property. The board signed the policy and thanked the Legion members for coming.

Depot sidewalk funding comes through; more grants to be written

Hance told the board that two grants had recently come through.

One for $908,000 would  make it possible to complete the long-delayed sidewalk project from Bargfrede Road along Depot Street to the Town Hall.

The second was an Assistance to Firefighters Grant written by Mike Randzio. The town was awarded $187,000 for the purchase of 30 new portable radios for Fire/EMS, an ambulance monitor and other equipment.

Hance said these AFG grants are very competitive, but Chester has succeeded in securing two recently, an earlier one of $452,000 helped the town purchase the tanker that was recently delivered.

Hance also told the board she was planning on applying for a number of state grants including:

• Better Back Roads, for additional stone work on various backroads to comply with the erosion requirement;
• Historic Preservation Grant, for painting and cupola work at Academy Building;
• Municipal Planning Grant, for Town Plan upgrades;
• Recreation Grant, for a walking path at the Pinnacle;
• Transportation Alternatives Grant, for sidewalk upgrades;
• Stormwater Mitigation Grant, for enlarging some culverts and
• ACCD Priority projects, for the wastewater treatment plant upgrades.

Finally, the board decided to skip its Oct. 15 meeting because Hance would not be available and because there is not much to be done. The next meeting is set for Wednesday, Nov. 5.