Chester Select Board OKs funds to assess three properties for housing; July 4th event on Green

By Shawn Cunningham
© 2026 Telegraph Publishing LLC

Last Wednesday’s Chester Select Board meeting again had an agenda filled with non-controversial, routine tasks for the board with documents to sign, appointments to make and approvals to grant.

The board looked at a request from the town’s Housing Commission for $11,300 from the housing reserve fund to pay for appraisal services and/or market studies by Martin Appraisals for three properties for possible housing development. Town Manager Julie Hance told the board that the town received a discount for ganging the three jobs together.

The properties are:

• 878 Route 103 south,  140 acres owned by the town where the backup water tank was constructed;
• 80 Canal St.,  also town owned and the site of a backup well for the town water system.  According to the contracts for these sites the work is an analysis “that will involve researching and analyzing local, regional and national market trends to consider the feasibility of development” of housing there.
• 985 Route 103 south, 11 acres owned by Dennis Allard, to be appraised to determine the “market value” of the property.

The reserve fund was established by a vote at the Town Meeting in 2025. It has been receiving funds from fees charged for registering short-term rentals. An article to adopt a 1 percent local option sales tax to add another revenue source to the housing fund was defeated at Town Meeting in March. The Housing Commission cannot disburse funds without the approval of the Select Board and, in this instance, the board approved the spending.

The commission was also in the spotlight as the board needed to replace Lauren Fierman, who was elected to the Select Board and stepped down from the commission to avoid conflicts when appropriating funds.

Two Chester residents – Jerry Ucci and Sophia Stone – contacted Hance to express interest in the post, but only Ucci showed up for the meeting. The board then appointed him after he spoke of his personal interests in the housing market including rentals he owns. Fierman pointed out that whenever the commission’s decisions and Ucci’s interests overlap, he should recuse himself from voting.

For a second time in as many meetings, Sharon Baker appeared before the board with a proposal for use of the town Green. This time, Baker wants to put together a Fourth of July celebration for the nation’s 250 anniversary. She asked to reserve the Green for that day and put out the word for ideas. Baker said that Carla Westine of the Chester Historical Society was planning a slide show and other society members would be giving cemetery tours. The board welcomed the idea and thanked Baker for her efforts.

The one-year term of Chester’s Town Clerk, Amie Record, was coming to an end and the board was asked if it would appoint her for a full three-year term. In the past, town clerks were elected to such terms, but the town voted to make the job an appointment a few years ago. The reason was that the job was becoming so technical that there was concern that qualified (rather than popular) candidates were selected.  When Debbie Aldrich retired in 2025, Record was appointed for a single year.

Board members praised Record’s work and unanimously appointed her to the three-year term.

Sidewalk grants, summer construction

During the old business portion of the meeting, Hance told the board that the construction season is beginning and there’s a lot of work planned for this summer. The work on the sewer system in the Depot area is now underway as is the bridge consolidation and replacement at Thompson and Jewett roads.

Hance said that the town would be going out for bids on the sidewalk work between Bargfrede Road and Town Hall with that project having a two year construction window. That project was held up for a number of years due to the Vermont Railways and State of Vermont dragging their feet on an easement for the sidewalk crossing the tracks. While the easement finally came through, Hance said it expires at the end of this year so the town needs to get that portion of the work done.

“They had the audacity to put an end date on my easement, that took nine years to get,” Hance told the board.

On Monday, Hance told The Telegraph that the construction companies know that the sidewalk and sewer projects have to be coordinated.

In addition to the Depot sidewalk project, the town recently received a Transportation Alternatives Grant for $594,000 to upgrade the sidewalks from Town Hall up to North Street. Hance told The Telegraph that the project has not yet been engineered so she doesn’t yet know how far the money will go, but the hope is to extend the new sidewalk to the Unitarian Church. The town has to come up with a $148,500 match, which won’t be due until 2027 and will probably be part of a bond.