All Entries in the "Chester" Category
Despite objection, Chester board refuses to remove road from list Community coalition hopes to build 'safe space' for youth in Chester
By Shawn Cunningham © 2024 Telegraph Publishing LLC Signing the annual certification of road mileage is usually a low-key, pro forma task in a select board’s first February agenda, but last Wednesday night a land owner who objects to the classification of an old road became increasingly agitated, raising his voice and insisting the board […]
Julians are back with a new gambit and engineer
By Shawn Cunningham © 2024 Telegraph Publishing LLC Seven days after Chester Zoning Administrator Preston Bristow sent a Notice of Violation to the Julian companies,which operates quarries in Gassetts, he received an answer. The notice had given the Julians the choice of correcting five violations or appealing the notice to Chester’s DRB. The Julians chose […]
Chester cites Julians for quarry violations
By Shawn Cunningham © 2024 Telegraph Publishing LLC After years of complaints and a recent conditional use application that dragged on but eventually went nowhere, the Town of Chester has cited the operator of three quarries for five violations and is demanding that a number of steps be taken immediately. On Jan. 17, Julian Materials […]
Who’s on the March 5 ballot for offices in Andover, Cavendish, Chester and Grafton?
© 2024 Telegraph Publishing LLC Monday, Jan. 29 was the deadline for candidate petitions to be turned in at Town Clerks’ offices all over Vermont. Here are the candidates for offices in our area who will be voted on by Australian ballot on Tuesday, March 5. Those running for offices in Weston and Londonderry will […]
Chester board hones STR regulations, focusing on unhosted rental limits and raising annual fee
By Shawn Cunningham © 2024 Telegraph Publishing LLC After several months of discussions, the Chester Select Board, on Wednesday, Jan. 17, closed in on several additions that would tighten the town’s short term rental ordinance, especially with regard to unhosted rentals. Back in early September of last year, after many months of discussions of additional […]
UPDATE: Julians pull out of zoning application; Will DRB proceedings go on?
UPDATE- DRB accepts Julian withdrawal, Town to file notice of violation On Monday night, Chester’s Development Review Board issued an order accepting Julian Materials’ withdrawal of its zoning application for three quarries in the Gassetts area. And in answer to neighbors asking “where do we go from here” Zoning Administrator Preston Bristow said would “file […]
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 […]
Flooding hits S. Vt.: Derry shops whacked again Dirt roads take the brunt of other damage
Video by David Lewis of Windham. The Chester Telegraph thanks all of our reporting partners who provided photos, video and insights into today’s events. See photo gallery below. To launch the gallery, click any image. By Cynthia Prairie and Shawn Cunningham ©2023 Telegraph Publishing LLC Our southern Vermont region was hit with another rainstorm […]
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 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 […]
Flood resiliency takes center stage at legislative forum in Weston Area residents anxious for solutions to persistent flooding
By Cynthia Prairie ©2023 Telegraph Publishing LLC WESTON Flood resiliency and mitigation was the major topic addressed during a gathering on Saturday of about 30 residents of Weston and surrounding towns for a discussion with state Rep. Kelly Pajala, and state Sens. Alison Clarkson, Dick McCormack and Becca White. McCormack, Clarkson and White represent Windsor […]
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 […]
Chester’s Whiting Library welcomes new director
By Cynthia Prairie ©2023 Telegraph Publishing Chester’s Whiting Library has a new library director, Gail Zachariah, a Westminster resident and head of engagement and youth services at the Keene, N.H., Public Library for 23 years before her departure in August. She will be the second library director since Deirdre Doran resigned last spring. High school […]
State action on Chieftain appeal looks stalled
By Shawn Cunningham © 2023 Telegraph Publishing LLC While the board of the Green Mountain Unified School District board has stopped paying for an attorney to defend its Chieftain name, appeals to the Vermont Agency of Education, which could permanently settle the issue of whether the name violates school policy, appear to have stalled. The […]
Chester Select Board to explore offering benefits to full-time Whiting Library staff
By Shawn Cunningham © 2023 Telegraph Publishing LLC While last Wednesday’s Chester Select Board agenda was short, it yielded a lot of discussion and some progress on a couple of long-standing issues. Whiting Library Board chair Matt Gorsky came before the board to ask for “some reasonable accommodation” to get benefits for the library’s two […]
Carrara arraigned on child sex charges, held without bail
By Shawn Cunningham © 2023 Telegraph Publishing LLC Appearing via video conference from Southern State Correctional Facility in Springfield, Jason Carrara of Chester was arraigned Monday, Sept. 25 by Judge John R. Treadwell in the Windham County Superior Court in Brattleboro. Representing Carrara, attorney Brian Marsicovetere entered a plea of not guilty to a charge […]
Chester man arrested on child sex charge
By Shawn Cunningham © Telegraph Publishing LLC Police arrested a Chester man today, Sunday, Sept. 24, on a charge of aggravated sexual assault on a child. According to the Chester Police, 40-year-old Jason Carrara surrendered at the Public Safety Building on Pleasant Street and was processed before being taken to Southern State Correctional Facility to […]
A bird’s eye view of the Chester Fall Festival
©2023 Telegraph Publishing LLC Thanks to drone pilot Tuck Wunderle, The Telegraph took an early Sunday morning flight over the 2023 Chester Fall Festival on the Green in beautiful Chester. The festival was held Saturday, Sept. 16 and Sunday, Sept. 17. Weather concerns might have held some people back on Saturday, but Sunday saw […]
DRB holds first hearing on permits for Julian quarries Site visits set for Sept. 25
By Shawn Cunningham © 2023 Telegraph Publishing LLC Development Review Board hearings are quasi-judicial proceedings that can be quiet, formal affairs that consist of taking testimony and checking boxes. But they can also be confrontational and charged with emotion when people disagree over development plans. The latter was what Chester DRB chair Bob Greenfield was […]
Chester board bans new, unhosted short-term rentals for six months
By Shawn Cunningham ©2023 Telegraph Publishing LLC On Wednesday night, after much discussion and public comment, the Chester Select Board voted to impose a six-month moratorium on new unhosted short-term rentals beginning on Oct. 1. The suggestion for the moratorium came from Zoning Administrator Preston Bristow, who pointed out that there are seven such rentals […]
