The year in review

It may come as no surprise to readers to note that solar panel siting and commercial wind turbines made the list, along with Waitsfield's water project, the endless repaving and construction  on the Sugarbush Access Road, the Moretown quarry and a Warren resident single-handedly chasing down a car thief, using his cell phone to alert the police to his location.

Solar panel siting and potential wind farming were top stories of the year

The issue of how and where solar panels are sited and a proposal to investigate the feasibility of the Northfield Ridge for a commercial wind farm were the hottest topics in The Valley in 2010.

It started when the Kingsbury Farm and Yestermorrow installed prominent and visible solar trackers in fields along Route 100 in Waitsfield and Warren. <MI>Valley Reporter<D> readers began to comment and the issue came up at local select board and planning commission meetings.

Investigation into siting regulations revealed that the Vermont Public Service Board has jurisdiction over how and where alternative energy installations are sited -- if those installations feed into the existing power grid. Furthermore, local participation is not mandatory although if any local Town Plan had specific regulations that spelled out how and where solar trackers or wind turbines could be installed, the Vermont Public Service Board would have to take that into consideration.

Waitsfield's Town Plan has a very specific prohibition of commercial wind farming on the Northfield Ridge - which made for some very crowded meetings of the town planning commission this spring and summer. Citizens Wind, a Massachusetts-based commercial wind company, came before the planning commission in April to present preliminary plans to site 19 to 24 500-foot-tall turbines on the Northfield Ridge. Company representatives answered several hours of questions from Waitsfield and other Valley residents who filled the basement of the Waitsfield United Church for the April meeting.

Prior to the meeting, Waitsfield Planning Commission members had been working through a rewrite of the Town Plan, as is required by state law every five years. At the April meeting, Citizens Wind representative Randy Male said he was hopeful that Waitsfield would amend its Town Plan, lifting the prohibition on commercial wind farming on the Northfield Ridge.

Dozens of citizens were just as hopeful that the town would not remove that prohibition and said so publicly at planning commission meetings, in letters to the editor of <MI>The Valley Reporter<D> and in many other venues throughout The Valley.

The planning commission declined to lift the prohibition from the Town Plan and a nonprofit citizens' group known as Friends of the Northfield Ridge was created to continue to lobby for protecting the ridge from commercial wind development.

In the meantime, Citizens Wind was invited to adjoining Moretown to discuss commercial wind farming on the north end of the Northfield Ridge as it runs through Moretown. That town has no restriction in its Town Plan regarding commercial wind farming. After an initial meeting with the town, Citizens Wind has neither filed application with the Public Service Board to install a temporary wind measuring device on the ridge nor begun the public outreach that Randy Male indicated would begin.

Concurrently, all Valley towns were being courted by a solar installation company that went town to town offering to finance and install solar installations (fixed and tracking) large enough to supply each town's total electricity needs. The projects needed a suitable piece of town land and towns were required to sign a multi-year power purchase agreement and then had the option of purchasing the system at the end of the power purchase agreement.

The catch was that the projects and power purchase agreements had to be in place and before the Vermont Public Service Board by July 15 which turned out to be faster than the wheels of municipal government could work. These solar projects had relied heavily on state and federal tax credits and alternative energy credits - some of which disappeared before any town could come to any agreements.

Vermont Environmental Court rules out a quarry for Route 100B in Moretown

After six years, the Vermont Environmental Court denied Rich Rivers' appeals of local and state permits for a proposed quarry on 93 acres north of Moretown Village, along Route 100B, last spring.

The decision relies heavily on legal precedent and the definitions of what characterizes undue adverse impacts. It was not appealed by Rivers.

David Grayck, lawyer for the project opponents, called the decision well supported by the evidence and said the decision showed that the quarry did not fit into the existing neighborhood. "In this regard, the Court's decision implemented the basic principle that Vermont's environmental laws are there for the protection of the public, not any single or group of individuals. Given the strong evidentiary foundation to the court's decision, there are virtually no grounds whatsoever for a reversal by the Vermont Supreme Court, if there is an appeal," Grayck said.
 
Rivers applied for and was denied conditional use approval from the Moretown Development Review Board for the proposed quarry in 2004. In 2007, he was denied an Act 250 permit for the project. Rivers appealed both decisions to the Vermont Environmental Court. The appeals were heard in 2008 and 2009 and upon issuance of the decision on March 25, Judge Thomas Durkin apologized for the time it took to render a decision.

"The Court has reviewed the nearly 1,000 pages of post-trial filings submitted by the parties, as well as the evidence admitted at trial, other relevant filings, and the Court's own trial notes, which together take up four bankers' boxes. Even in light of this volume, the undersigned has allowed these consolidated appeals to remain under advisement for far longer than was reasonable, thereby causing a substantial delay in the current resolution of these appeals. The undersigned regrets this error and has attempted to craft a complete Decision on the Merits, so as to not contribute to further delay in these proceedings," Durkin wrote in the 70-page decision.

The project was denied because it failed to meet Act 250 Criteria 8, 9(E) and 10. Criterion 8 deals with undue adverse effect on aesthetics, scenic beauty, historic sites or natural areas. Criterion 9(E) covers conformance with the town's capability and development plan concerning the extraction of earth resources and Criterion 10 considers whether a project is in conformance with local or regional plans, including the Town Plan.

Durkin also analyzed whether the project could/would conform with Moretown's zoning and its Town Plan. He noted that the zoning ordinance requires that extraction of earth resources must not cause a hazard to public health or safety or have an undue adverse impact on neighboring properties and uses.

Sugarbush installs new snowmaking pipes on SB Access Road - delays last for months

Crews from Sugarbush and the town of Warren responded to a leak in one of the resort's snowmaking pipes in November 2009. Resort snowmaking teams detected pressure irregularities in the system as they were restarting snowmaking operations in preparation for this weekend's scheduled opening.

When the leak was discovered on the access road just up the hill from the Wheeler Brook Apartments, snowmaking operations were immediately shutdown, Sugarbush and town repair crews were mobilized and a 20-foot section of the access road was closed. Sugarbush contracted with Kingsbury Construction and G. W. Tatro to assist with the project, and the town of Warren contributed essential resources during the repair/reconstruction process.

The town also completed a culvert replacement project on the Sugarbush Access Road that closed the section of the road from August 4 until August 23; the project was scheduled to completed on August 18.

G.W. Tatro was contracted to replace the culverts and complete patch paving along the section of disturbed road. Town officials and members of the town's road crew expressed concerns about plowing the road in the winter and the potential for the equipment to be damaged as a result of the patch paving.

Select board members said they would inspect the work in the springtime. Tatro agreed contractually to return the roads, ditches, swales, driveways, et cetera to the same if not better condition if they damage the road in any way.

Faillace chases down car thief - twice

The tale of the teenage car thief who eluded state police and led a citizen on a high-speed chase through East Warren Monday night had people shaking their heads throughout The Valley this week; the 18-year-old who admitted to a countywide crime spree may be going to jail (although he is out on bail) and Warren resident Francis Faillace pretty much chased him there.

There were two high-speed car chases on February 1; both originated at the four-cornered intersection of Roxbury Mountain Road and East Warren Road. There were a total of four cars stolen, all by one Jeremiah Sadler of Warren, during a chase that covered three, almost four towns.

East Warren resident Francis Faillace chased down a serial thief who made a night out of stealing cars while he was out stealing cars.

Faillace chased Sadler in two different cars through three towns, two times, only crashing once. He communicated with the state police and his parents via cell phone, alerting authorities to his location as he chased the burglar.

A fleet of Vermont State Troopers then picked up the chase, which, by Faillace's account, led them up the Sugarbush Access Road, where the suspect crashed his stolen car and escaped on foot. Police reportedly followed with dogs.

Faillace then once again pursued the suspect (who he assumed was trying to get to Barre by way of Roxbury Gap) in his car. He once again contacted state troopers and told them that he was chasing the same suspect, in a different car, for the second time -- this time towards Moretown.

Sadler led Faillace on another high-speed chase through Waitsfield to Moretown Mountain Road, where Faillace said he feared losing cell phone service before the police caught up.

Police were able to track Sadler with a canine after they found a stolen car near a residence in Barre City.

Sadler is a suspect in approximately 20 thefts and 100 larcenies from unlocked vehicles throughout Washington County. There are also several other pending cases and charges involving Sadler currently.

Sadler was arraigned and released on $1,000 bail.

A decade later - Waitsfield begins work on municipal water project

After more than a decade in the planning stages and three town votes and some still pending legal action, Waitsfield began work on a $7.6 million municipal water project this fall. The project is funded from state and federal grants and will supply water to Waitsfield Village, Irasville, Old County Road and Tremblay Road.

Water for the project comes from a well that the town drilled in what it argued was the right of way of a town road, the Class 4 Reed Road. Two adjoining landowners, Virginia Houston and Jean Damon, recently won a legal battle in Vermont Superior Court when the judge ruled that the town had not proven that the Reed Road was a town road.

Seven days after that court decision the town fired its attorney and the select board has yet to determine whether to appeal the decision, file a motion for the court to reconsider (since the November trial regarding the Reed Road, one former town road contractor recalled specifically having graded and added gravel to that road), or begin the process of condemning the road.

In addition to the legal issue of the road, the town is also working through a legal challenge to the easements it took by eminent domain on two parcels of land adjacent to the town well. The town took a wellhead protection easement on a 0.42-acre parcel and a 0.46-acre parcel, one owned by Virginia Houston and the other by Jean Damon. Those property owners were paid $7,500 for the easements, twice the appraised values, and both are challenging that action in court.

Prior to the late November court ruling on Reed Road, four different contractors had begun installing the water mains for the project including along Tremblay Road, Route 100 north and south of Waitsfield Village and up to Bushnell Road where a water storage tank will be installed.

American Flatbread spins off frozen division to New Hampshire company

In February, American Flatbread, Waitsfield, licensed the production, marketing and sales of its frozen flatbread business to Rustic Crust in Pittsfield, New Hampshire.

Rustic Crust is now baking the 6,400 frozen flatbreads weekly that used to be produced at Flatbread's Lareau Farm location. Business founder and owner George Schenk said the decision to relinquish the frozen division was a difficult but necessary decision and said it would allow him to better focus on the restaurant business.

Part of his reasoning in making the change, Schenk said, was his own discomfort with the environmental impact of baking frozen breads in Waitsfield and shipping them all over the country.

Prior to February, the frozen flatbread production took place five days a week at the Lareau facility and the production facility was transformed into a restaurant on Friday and Saturday nights.

Since the spin-off, the restaurant has been open Thursday through Saturday with Wednesday night barbeques and other special events.

Schenk, 57, started American Flatbread 25 years ago in June 1985. In 1984, he had started working as an appetizer chef at Tucker Hill Lodge and then started writing the appetizer menu in late 1984. In June 1985, as part of writing those menus, he developed the concept of the stone-oven-baked bread that became American Flatbread.

He built his first oven at Tucker Hill in 1987, after building a trial oven at his home in Warren in 1985. He built field ovens for Tucker Hill-catered events in 1985 and 1986. He left Tucker Hill in 1991 to create the wholesale production facility at the Lareau Farm but planned to keep the restaurant business at Tucker Hill. When the oven at Tucker Hill collapsed in the spring of 1992, he consolidated operations at the Lareau Farm Inn.

October flood does little damage/July hailstorm devastates local farms

Brief but severe thunder and hail storms hit areas throughout Waitsfield, Fayston and North Fayston on Saturday, July 17; close lightning, strong winds, hail and one-half inch of rain were reported.

The storm lasted approximately 30 minutes but was strong enough to down trees, damage crops, and cause power outages throughout The Valley.

Hurricane Nicole wrought her own havoc on The Valley on October 1 with five and one-half inches of rain in 24 hours. The Mad River breached its banks early on Friday, sending firefighters and emergency management personnel into duty and many sightseers into action with their cameras.

Friends of the Mad River and the USGS data concur that the flood, while significant, was measured as a flood of 5- to 10-year severity. For comparison, the flood of 1998 was considered a 500-year flood in Warren and a 100-year flood throughout the rest of the watershed.

Naming a flood a 5- or 10- or 500-year flood refers to the comparison of the stream flow during flood events with historical stream flow data to predict how often that same stream flow will reoccur.

During that day, the Moretown USGS (United States Geological Service) gauge topped out at a height of 10.39 feet, with the water discharge at 8,230 cubic feet per second at 3 p.m. In the flood of 1998, the water height reached 14.13 feet and the discharge rate maxed out at 10.39 cubic feet per second. The 1998 flood caused extensive road and farm crop damage, washed away one home and damaged dozens of homes and businesses in The Valley.

<B>Sugarbush completes redevelopment project - Gov. Douglas cuts the ribbon<D>

Phase 2 of Sugarbush Resort's $10 million base area expansion was completed this year; two new lodges were unveiled Friday, December 10, at a ribbon cutting ceremony.

The redevelopment project included upgrades to two and one-half miles of snowmaking pipe servicing Lincoln Peak as well as Mount Ellen. The Farmhouse, the new skier services building, is 14,500 square feet, and the new children's adventure center, The Schoolhouse, is 12,500 square feet and opened to skiers on opening day.

In addition, Phase 2 of the renovation project includes a new entrance plaza.
The Farmhouse provides skier services such as tickets, season passes, adult ski and ride, rentals, repairs, restrooms, a cafe and guest lockers. It will also be home base for Sugarbush's "First Timer to Life Timer" program - a ski industry program designed to recruit adults into skiing and riding with an approachable curriculum and an affordable price.

The Schoolhouse houses the children's programs (Micro, Mini and Sugar Bear programs) as well as summer camps and is now open.

The project started last April after being delayed a year; Pizzagalli Construction company was awarded the contract to build the project. They were also the contractor for Phase 1 (Clay Brook residences, Timbers and the new Gate House Lodge).

Phase 2 of the Lincoln Peak project was funded in part through a federal and state EB-5 visa program whereby foreign investors provide funds for projects in exchange for permanent residency (green card) status. Through the program, investors provide $500,000 and receive permanent residency status for themselves and their families.

It allows individual from outside the country to invest in projects that save or create jobs in the U.S. in exchange for resident status.

WWSU and teachers go to fact finding over contracts and reach agreement

The Washington West Supervisory Union ratified contracts with two teachers associations, leading to teachers' salaries being frozen for this year and teachers receiving a 1.5 percent increase next year. There will be no step increases in either year. That action came this fall after the parties were in contract negotiations for half a year.

A separate contract for support staff of Moretown, Waterbury/Duxbury and Harwood covers last year and this year, plus 2011. It calls for a 1.9 percent increase both years and the contracts for all three schools were unified.

WWSU represents five elementary schools, two middle schools and one high school. Contract negotiations reached an impasse last summer and went to fact finding. The fact finding document, released September 10, spelled out the positional differences between the parties. Those differences came down to wages and health care and were ironed out during September 20 meetings.

Going into the last round of meetings, the WWUS reps proposed a 1 percent reduction of each teacher's 2009-10 salary and proposed no further increase in base salaries, no step or column movement and no increases to teachers who are off the step/column schedule. The board further proposed that that 2009-10 salary schedule - as reduced by 1 percent - become the 2010-11 pay schedule.

The teachers associations proposed a two-year contract with 3.5 percent increase in 2010-11 and 4.5 percent in 2011-2012. And the associations proposed that each teacher would advance one step in salary schedule annually. The factfinder who worked with the parties, Ira Lobel, proposed a one-year wage freeze, except for column (educational level) increases, and he rejected the unions' call for a two-year contract.

Harwood Union issues reduction in force letters for teachers

Harwood faced the potential reduction in force of nine faculty members this year; declining student enrollment, a fixed budget and unresolved contract negotiations led school board members to issue RIF letters last spring, only to rescind them in June.

After an executive session June 16, school board members made a motion to rescind the RIF notifications and reinstate all nine faculty positions. As a result, faculty members that received RIF letters in April were offered letters of intent.

The school board is in the process of commissioning a committee comprised of faculty, students, community members and board members to investigate and provide input on upcoming potential changes at Harwood. The school board ultimately reinstated all nine teachers.

Kingsbury Farm farmers chosen, other farmers question project structure

It was the first official season for farmers Aaron Locker and Suzanne Slomin at the Kingsbury Farm and Market in Warren. Locker and Slomin were chosen by the Vermont Foodbank to run the 22-acre farm and pay their rent in food for the foodbank. The Vermont Foodbank purchased the farm from the Vermont Land Trust. The land trust, the town of Warren and a coalition of local groups purchased the farm in 2007 to conserve it.

At some point this summer, however, other local farmers and community members questioned what they felt was unequal competition for the produce market in The Valley. At issue was the question of whether the Vermont Foodbank changed the structure of its agreement with Locker and Slomin and was giving them an unfair advantage over other local farmers.

The issue simmered in the opinion pages of The Valley Reporter and in discussions throughout The Valley until a community forum was held in July.  Community members packed into the office of the Kingsbury Farm to air concerns about the management and operation of the Kingsbury Farm. The forum was moderated by Vermont Foodbank CEO John Sayles and board member George Schenk.

Many in attendance expressed concerns over how the model for the Kingsbury Farm had come to incorporate a commercial component. Although the Vermont Land Trust and the Vermont Foodbank worked with a steering committee of community members in the Mad River Valley, the decision was never opened up to the public.

At the forum, Sayles acknowledged that he and the foodbank had changed the business model without doing the necessary public and community outreach.

Some community members expressed concern about the implications of the Kingsbury Farm for the local economy. The commercial component of the farm has put it in competition with other farms already operating in the area.

In the proposal they submitted for the Kingsbury Farm, current lessees Aaron Locker and Suzanne Slomin recognized that locally produced, fresh food tends to be very expensive. Through the commercial component of their proposal, they aimed to keep their produce affordable.

Slomin and Locker explained that by building the farmstand at the Kingsbury Farm, they hoped to improve the market for local farmers. The facility includes refrigeration and a kitchen. They hoped the stand would serve the farming community of The Valley.

The Valley Reporter and Harwood Union FBLA host gubernatorial debate

The Valley Reporter, along with the Harwood Union Future Business Leaders of America, hosted five democratic candidates for Vermont governor at a candidates' debate on June 13. Candidates responded to questions and debate issues that ranged from job creation to secession.

Vermont state Senator Susan Bartlett, Senate President Pete Shumlin, state Senator Doug Racine, Secretary of State Deb Markowitz and former state Senator Matt Dunne offered their position on Act 60/68, health care, climate change, renewable energy, economic development and tourism.

None of the candidates would respond to the question as to which candidate they would support should they not win in the primary; all agreed that they would support whichever Democrat they believed could defeat Republican Brian Dubie.

Fayston reappraisal raises questions about Common Level of Appraisal

In July, Fayston released a reappraisal for the town that increases the Grand List from $286 million to $370.6 million, but taxpayers didn't get their new tax rate until the middle of August and the town did not know until late August whether the new tax rate brought the town's Common Level of Appraisal (CLA) up to 100 percent.

The state set the town's education tax rate after grievance hearings on the reappraisal were completed the first week of August. Lister Gussie Graves said the goal of the reappraisal is to achieve 100 percent of fair market value. The state uses the CLA to determine each town's statewide education tax rate. Towns must reappraise if their CLA falls below 80 percent of fair market value.

The reappraisal resulted in a total nonresidential tax rate of $1.6438 and a total residential rate of $1.5465.

Data from the Vermont Housing Data website (housingdata.org) provides historic sales prices for primary and vacation homes in Fayston. The website provides median and average prices from 1988 to 2009. In 2004, when Fayston last reappraised, the average price of a primary residence sold in the town was $205,161. In 2009, the average price of a primary residence sold in the town was $257,755, an increase of 26 percent. The average price of a vacation home sold in 2004 was $160,846 and in 2009 the average price of a vacation home almost doubled to $319,643, an increase of 99 percent. Average primary home prices peaked in 2006 at $393,050. That year vacation homes averaged $303,755.  Average vacation home prices peaked at $397,833 in Fayston in 2007, a year when average primary homes cost $284,933.

Waitsfield creates task force to revisit question of municipal septic

With its municipal water project funded and at least partially underway, pending unresolved legal issues, Waitsfield turned its planning attention once again to the issue of municipal septic. At the behest of the town planning commission, the town applied for and received a grant to investigate the feasibility of decentralized wastewater treatment options for Irasville and Waitsfield Village.

This summer the town received an $8,450 grant from the Vermont Department of Housing and Community Affairs to fund the study and hired Stone Environmental to conduct the study.

Drew Simmons, a member of the planning commission and chair of the commission's wastewater committee, said that the grant will be used to look at existing wastewater needs in the village and Irasville, soil types and disposal options and the needs of home and business owners.

A year ago, the planning commission went to the town select board and asked whether the planning commission should be looking at what is next for municipal wastewater treatment, since a proposal for a large centralized wastewater system was turned down by voters two years ago.

The town formed a planning commission wastewater committee, which includes Simmons, Joshua Schwartz of the Mad River Valley Planning District, former planning commissioner Peter Lazorchak, Darryl Forrest, who serves on the town's water task force, and Robin Morris, who serves on the water task force and is a former planning commissioner.

The subcommittee applied for and received the grant and is now working towards identifying the town's future plans for dealing with wastewater in The Valley.

Simmons said the issue of wastewater must be dealt with to maintain a sustainable economy in The Valley. 

Task force members hope to come up with some solutions that are less costly than a large centralized system and that are better suited to the community's needs.

Greshin wins re-election to the Vermont State House

Valley voters returned incumbent Adam Greshin (I-Warren) to the Vermont State House on Election Day, November 2.

Greshin, vying for his second term, received a total of 1,318 votes from Fayston, Waitsfield and Warren voters. His challenger, Mac Rood (D-Warren), received a total of 987 votes from the three towns.

On Monday, October 18, <MI>The Valley Reporter<D> hosted a legislative candidate's debate between incumbent Independent state Representative Adam Greshin from Warren and his challenger, Democratic candidate Mac Rood, also from Warren.

A large number of Valley residents turned out at the event at the Big Picture Theater in Waitsfield to ask questions of the two candidates in addition to the questions submitted by Valley Reporter readers. Valley Reporter editor Lisa Loomis moderated the debate.

Contaminated soil at Moretown Landfill raises ire amongst townspeople

Representatives from the Vermont Agency of Transportation have apologized to town officials in Moretown for not properly notifying the town about the potential shipment of approximately 33,000 tons of contaminated soil to the landfill last spring.

Select board assistant Cheryl Brown told select board members that following news of ANR's review of the Environmental Protection Agency's plan to ship the hazardous waste to MLI, she contacted ANR.

MLI was slated to receive the dioxin-contaminated soil from a superfund site in Massachusetts; the state balked at the EPA's determination that the soil was not considered "hazardous waste," because the concentration level of the hazardous material, dioxin, was not high enough to deem the soil "hazardous waste."

Brown said that ANR is required to notify the landfill host town and copy the municipality on all correspondence as a part of the Act 250 permit.

ANR representatives called their failure to notify the select board a "mix-up" and that the case happened very quickly and apologized for failing to notify the town's select board beforehand, according to Brown.

Brown said that the host town agreement between with the landfill is due to expire in August of 2011 and it is "time to start working on it again."

In May 2009, the EPA ordered a reassessment of the chemical and its potential human health risks by completing a draft of Preliminary Remediation Goals (PRGs).

The EPA began taking public comments on the issue via their website on January 7 but extended the deadline to April 2010 to allow additional time for consideration.

Moretown Landfill plans for Cell IV

Moretown Landfill general manager Tom Badowski presented plans for the addition of a fourth MLI cell to members of the Moretown Select Board one year ago. Cell III currently has three years left until capacity while the total landfill capacity is estimated at around 15 years.

According to Badowski, one of the permitting obstacles that MLI will face is the existence of what he called "small seasonal streams" on the proposed site.
"We would impact some wetlands; we're in the process of doing a plan to mitigate these wetlands. Unfortunately, with the deeryard we were able to go out and buy some of the development rights of similar deeryard for mitigation; here we'd actually have to go and construct wetlands," he said.

MLI's application is to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to construct the wetlands. In addition to local town permits, the project will need Act 250 approval as well as permits for waste management, stormwater runoff, stream, air quality and waste management, according to Badowski. He estimates that the whole permitting process will take a year to complete.

Badowski said they anticipate the permits will be granted by the third quarter of 2011 with construction commencing in early 2012.

Funds from the Moretown Landfill represented a significant portion of Moretown's municipal budget which was approved at $1,005,723. At the 2009 Town Meeting, an article was passed by the voters that allowed the revenues received in 2009 from MLI to be divided so that 25 percent is deposited into the Savings Reserve Fund, 25 percent is deposited into the Capital Reserve Fund, and 50 percent is used to lower the 2009 tax rate.
 
In 2009, the town anticipated $412,000 in tipping fees from MLI and, with the distribution of funds, anticipates $288,400 in revenue to the town, according to the preliminary budget.
 
For more information on the proposed plans contact the Moretown Landfill, 244-1100.

Egan's Big World closes/bank auctions property

A handful of bidders and two serious contenders participated in an October auction of Egan's Restaurant in Waitsfield, but the bank ultimately bought the property for $501,000.

The restaurant was auctioned on Thursday, October 14, at 11 a.m. by the Thomas Hirchak Company. The building is located on the corner of Routes 17 and 100 and in the past held a 250-seat restaurant, an apartment and other commercial space. It sits on 0.9 acres and the auction includes furniture, fixtures and all the equipment in two commercial kitchens.

Until last spring, the business was operated by Bernie Isabelle, who started the restaurant in the former MadBush Lodge further south on Route 100 between the Rolston and Bundy Roads. 

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