Author Archive for Shawn Cunningham
An explainer: Clearing up some confusion surrounding Chester’s referendum
By Shawn Cunningham ©2014 — Telegraph Publishing LLC On Tuesday Nov. 18, Chester voters will have the opportunity to cast a ballot – Yes or No – on a zoning issue. Over the past few weeks, there have been many posters, letters to the editor, Facebook posts, a petition and even a mailing from the […]
Chester Select Board raises sewer rates, green-lights design of water system upgrade
By Shawn Cunningham © 2014 – Telegraph Publishing LLC In a busy Nov. 5 meeting run by vice chair Derek Suursoo, the Chester Select Board raised sewer rates effective immediately for its 600 users, gave a nod toward hiring Golden Cross for a winter ambulance restructuring and OK’d a $155,000 contract to design a $4.6 […]
New zoning bylaws complicate Chester armory development
By Shawn Cunningham © 2014 – Telegraph Publishing LLC An application for a conditional use permit to convert the former Army Reserve armory on Route 11 west for light manufacturing met with a friendly reception from Chester’s Development Review Board on Monday night. But a snafu in the new Unified Development Bylaws made the process […]
Grafton Select Board mulls Town Office repair bids, new town garage
By Shawn Cunningham @The Chester Telegraph – 2014 The Grafton Select Board opened bids for repairs to the town offices at its Tuesday, Nov. 3 meeting, but the project ended up back on the table when one of the bids failed to include major portions of the work. The town received two bids for the […]
Chester planning board to send referendum info letter to homeowners
The Chester Planning Commission met Monday, Oct. 27 to discuss the wording of a letter to be mailed to residents regarding the referendum on a zoning issue to take place on Tuesday, Nov. 18. The vote is a result of a successful petition drive signed by 148 registered voters to remove “automotive sales/service/fuel” use that […]
Overturned truck closes Route 11 for five hours
By Shawn Cunningham © 2014 The Chester Telegraph A clickable photo gallery follows the story. A tractor-trailer carrying a load of 2 by 4 lumber west on Route 11 left the pavement yesterday, spilling its cargo and closing the road from Church Street to Andover Road in Chester for about five hours in the afternoon. […]
Chester Select Board talks budgets, sets date for referendum
By Shawn Cunningham ©2014 The Chester Telegraph The Chester Select Board set 6 p.m. Monday, Nov. 17 for a special town meeting and 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 18 for the vote on the question of whether the sales and service of automobiles and other vehicles and the sale of fuel should be […]
Automotive section of Chester zoning changes to go to referendum
Chester Town Clerk Deborah Aldrich said the town has certified the signatures of 148 voters on a petition submitted on Tuesday, Oct. 7 asking for a town-wide vote on the question of whether to add automotive sales, service and fuel sales to the Residential/Commercial district of Chester. That district runs from the St. Joseph’s Catholic […]
This weekend’s ‘buzz’
The Big Buzz is under way. The annual chainsaw carving event started five years ago by Chester carver Barre Pinkse has grown to 40 carvers who work their craft right in front of the crowd. With carvers coming from as far away as Germany and Sweden, the festival has become international. Many bring finished items […]
Chamber bandies local option tax for regional marketing
By Shawn Cunningham ©The Chester Telegraph — 2014 The head of the Okemo Valley Regional Chamber of Commerce has approached the Chester and Ludlow town managers asking for their thoughts on a local option tax, saying that it could be used to market the area and hinting that the money would go to the chamber. […]
Chester board eyes shortfall, ‘edging’ toward balance
By Shawn Cunningham ©The Chester Telegraph — 2014 Entering the last quarter of the year and with budgeting ahead, the Chester Select Board’s attention at its Oct. 1 meeting was focused on money. With the collection of taxes and water and sewer bills lagging, storm expense awaiting reimbursement and the underpayment of the emergency services […]
Chester wrestles with tight budget; Hearse House planning moves ahead
By Shawn Cunningham ©The Chester Telegraph — 2014 During the Chester Select Board’s regular meeting on Wednesday, Sept. 17, town manager David Pisha reported that funds – including property taxes — are coming in slower than last year. Select Board member Derek Suursoo noted that the financial report handed out didn’t give him the detail […]
Objections to zoning changes fail to sway Chester Select Board
By Shawn Cunningham ©The Chester Telegraph — 2014 On Wednesday, Sept. 17, about 25 Chester business owners and residents gathered at the Chester Select Board to express their views on several proposed changes to the town development bylaws. Most were concerns about two specific changes — raising a minimum residential lot size and rezoning a […]
Editorial: Chester officials can do more to engage the public
By Shawn Cunningham ©The Chester Telegraph — 2014 Tonight, Wednesday, Sept. 17, the Chester Select Board is scheduled to adopt new zoning regulations, and from comments made by board members at the Sept. 3 meeting, Chester residents either don’t have an opinion on the regulations or are not engaged in the process because they have […]
Chester residents take aim at proposed 3-acre lot size, gas sales zone expansion
By Shawn Cunningham ©The Chester Telegraph — 2014 Residents who turned up to offer input on Wednesday, Sept. 3 on Chester’s proposed Unified Development Bylaws complained about a suggestion to change the minimum lot size to 3 acres and to extend gasoline sales on Main Street from St. Joseph’s Church to Pleasant Street in an […]
Plan for Chester Ambulance reorganization explained; beautification panel proposes restoration of ‘hearse house’
By Shawn Cunningham ©The Chester Telegraph — 2014 At its Wednesday, Sept. 3, meeting, the Chester Select Board looked at a grassroots effort to restore the hearse building at Brookside cemetery, questions about the application for historic site markers and the restructuring of the Chester Ambulance service Back in June, the board had heard about […]
Explainer: In search for fairness, Vermont’s school funding calculations tax the brain
By Shawn Cunningham ©The Chester Telegraph – 2014 Whether you live in a Victorian on The Green, an old farmhouse up a dirt road or a yurt off the grid in the hills, you have one thing in common – property taxes. The largest portion of that annual payment is the education tax. It’s also […]
40 listen as state ed experts explain education funding formula
By Shawn Cunningham ©The Chester Telegraph – 2014 The first two hours of the Chester Select Board meeting for Wednesday, Aug. 20 was devoted to a seminar on how the state education tax rate is calculated and why Chester’s tax rate took such a jump this year. The program was led by Steven Jeffrey, executive […]
Chester architect wins competition to help design Japanese resort
Chester architect Claudio Veliz has projects in Ludlow, Chester, New York City and now Hokkaido, Japan. Veliz learned over the weekend that he had won one of two spots on a panel that will design a new eco-ski resort in the snowy northernmost prefecture of Japan. According to Veliz, an eco-ski resort has no lifts […]
After a year’s wait, new Chester website caught in a web of uncertainty
By Shawn Cunningham ©The Chester Telegraph — 2014 On July 3, 2013, the Chester Select Board voted to have a new town website constructed, using economic development funds to pay $10,000 to a company that had not yet been incorporated and had constructed just one website – its own. Kyle Rogstad, one of the partners […]
