Killington seeks rec director

Rutland Herald

November 12,2013

 

KILLINGTON — The town is looking for a new recreation director.

After two and a half years, Lyndsay Gang has left her post at the Parks and Recreation Department for a position at Killington Resort. During her time, Gang started a number of new programs, such as this summer’s chili cook-off.

The year-round position is part time for most of the year and full time during the summer. Interested candidates must have bachelor’s degree in recreation, leisure services, park administration or a closely related field. A minimum of three years of executive experience in parks and recreation or a related field is desirable.

Interested candidates can send an email to Town Manager Seth Webb at sethwebb@town.killington.vt.us.

Town mulls cell tower proposal

Rutland Herrald

By Josh O’Gorman
staff writer | November 11,2013

 

KILLINGTON — A proposed cell tower is supposed to improve the signal for callers along the Route 4 corridor, but what will it look like and what good will it do for residents on the north end of town?

The Killington Select Board recently heard from Elizabeth Kohler, a lawyer for AT&T Wireless, which is seeking approval to construct a 140-foot-tall tower on a 2-acre parcel just off Brad Mead Drive.

“We are here looking for town support and a positive recommendation to the Public Service Board,” Kohler said. “The Public Service Board gives great deference to the towns.”

In addition to the tower, the proposed project would include the construction of a fenced-in compound measuring 50 feet by 50 feet. The compound would include a small building with a backup generator.

Kohler said construction would begin “after mud season” in the late spring or early summer of 2014.

It is the state Public Service Board that will decide if AT&T Wireless receives the go-ahead to build the tower. Kohler is also seeking a positive recommendation from the Rutland Regional Planning Commission. The proposed location is near the existing cell tower in town, on top of Killington Mountain. Selectmen Chris Bianchi and Bernard Rome both noted they are AT&T wireless customers who do not get a signal at their homes on the north side of town and asked why the proposed tower would be so close to the existing one.

Kohler said the location of the proposed tower was “based on demand” and AT&T is looking at other sites in town.

The tower would contain 12 satellite dishes, with room for two more in the event additional carriers wanted to enter the Killington market.

Rome asked if there would be any attempt to camouflage the tower. Kohler said AT&T Wireless recently conducted a “balloon test,” in which they floated a 6-foot-diameter balloon at a height of 140 feet and then drove roads between two and four miles away, taking pictures of the balloon to use for a study intended to show how visible the tower would be.

That study is expected to be in the hands of town officials this week.

Bianchi noted the tower’s location would be in visible proximity to what he called a “popular tourist destination,” the lookout on Deer Leap Mountain.

“When you look out, the thing you’ll be looking at is the tower,” Bianchi said.

Rome said there were still questions to be answered before the town gives a recommendation, which Kohler hopes to have by the end of the month or beginning of December.

“There is a question of where it will be and how it will look, because those things can be pretty ugly,” he said.

josh.ogorman

@rutlandherald.com

Bed burglar: Police seek person who broke in, slept in bed

• Rutland Herald

  November 11,2013

   

  KILLINGTON — Police are looking for the person who broke into a residence and slept in one of the beds.
  
  Sunday afternoon, state police responded to the Woods Resort & Spa, where it was discovered someone had broken into one of the condominiums and used one of the beds.
  
  The perpetrator is facing charges of vandalism and unlawful trespass.
  
  Anyone with information is asked to call the Vermont State Police Rutland Barracks at 773-9101.

Police probe Killington burglary

Rutland Herald

November 11,2013

 

Police investigate

Killington burglary

KILLINGTON — State police are investigating a burglary of a Killington Road business.

Around 5:45 a.m. Sunday morning, state police responded to a burglary complaint at the Sunup Bakery, located at 2250 Killington Road.

According to Trooper Michael Tietz, someone entered the shop and stole approximately $50. The crime occurred sometime between 3:30 p.m. Saturday and 5:30 a.m. Sunday.

“We know it happened before the snowfall because there weren’t any tracks,” Tietz said.

It is unclear how the burglar got into the bakery, although there was no sign of forced entry, Tietz said.

Anyone with information is asked to call Tietz at the Vermont State Police Rutland Barracks at 773-9101.

Killington Village fight moves to E-Court

Rutland Herald

JOSH o’GORMAN
STAFF WRITER | November 08,2013

 

PROVIDED IMAGE

Killington’s proposed ski village is shown at dusk in this architect’s rendering.

The battle over the proposed multi-million-dollar development in Killington is moving to the state Environmental Court.

Thursday was the deadline for parties to file appeals on a pair of permits issued Oct. 7 for the Killington Village, a massive project that includes 2,300 residential units and 200,000 square feet of retail and commercial space.

The developer, SP Land Company, received a permit to go forward with the first phase of the project, estimated at around $100 million. That would include 193 residential units, a 32-unit subdivision, 31,622 square feet of commercial and retail space, and a 77,000-square-foot skier services building to replace the Ramshead and Snowshed base lodges.

An attorney for SP Land filed a notice of appeal Oct. 30, with the Environmental Court in Barre. The notice is just that; it contains nothing about what prompted the appeal, but in an interview SP Land President Steven Selbo shared some details.

“We’re working on fine-tuning what that response will be,” said Selbo, whose company has until Nov. 20 to file a statement describing the perceived problems with the permit.

Selbo said a chief point of contention is a permit condition requiring SP Land to pay as much as 50 percent — with a maximum of $25,000 — for a traffic corridor study along Killington Road, Route 4, Route 100 and Route 103 from Killington to Interstates 89 and 91.

The scope of the study is unclear; it refers to studying “traffic impacts from the Phase I development upon the Killington Road/US4/VT103 corridors from Killington to I-91 and I-89.” There is no reference to Route 100.

“That’s not a scenario any developer could live with,” Selbo said. “It’s continued oversight by Act 250 that is not typical of Act 250.”

Selbo said SP Land also objects to a permit condition requiring sprinkler systems for the residential units, as well as other issues he declined to discuss.

“We came to the conclusion that we need to appeal,” Selbo said. “If there were one or two issues, we might have filed a motion to alter, like the resort did with the parking lot permit.”

Related to this project is a permit issued to Killington/Pico Ski Resort Partners, or KPSRP, to construct a 1,276-space parking lot, reconfigure the parking lot of the Killington Grand Resort and construct a stormwater detention pond and related utilities.

KPSRP filed a motion with the District 1 Environmental Commission to alter the permit, seeking to strike a condition requiring the resort to manage the parking facility “in a manner sufficient to prevent intrusion of visitors parking onto adjoining or neighboring condominium owners’ property.”

The Pinnacle Condominium Association, whose property is adjacent to the proposed parking lot, filed a response opposing the motion to alter.

There were no appeals filed in Environmental Court related to the parking lot permit, and no other appeals filed in relation to SP Land’s permit.

“We feel we were treated differently than other applicants seeking an Act 250 permit,” Selbo said. “We appreciate that we’ve gotten to this stage in the process, but this is a business and we cannot execute our business with the conditions of this permit.”

josh.ogorman@rutlandherald.com

Killington golf course profits on the rise in 2013

By JOSH O’GORMAN STAFF WRITER

Rutland Herald

 

   ‍KILLINGTON — The Green Mountain National Golf Course is projected to turn a higher-than-expected profit this year.    A report released Monday by the town of Killing-ton shows the town-owned golf course is projected to generate a net profit of $52,609, slightly more than the $52,000 net profit projected in the 2013-14 town budget.    “The goal was to make the golf course self-sustaining when the debt is retired. The last two seasons demonstrate that the plan is working,” said Town Manager Seth Webb. “Course revenues are fully funding the operations and capital needs, and excess revenues are being used to help pay down debt.”    The town is projecting budget revenues of $1,202,850, and expenses    — both capital and operational — of $1,150,241.    David Soucy, general manager of the golf course, noted a number of new events as contributing factors to the golf course turning a profit.    “Through the successful recruitment of a number of new tournaments this year we were able to bring in previously untapped revenue while carefully controlling operating expenses,” Soucy said.    New events at the golf course this year included the Cairo Shriners Tournament, the General Electric Employees Tournament and the Table 24 Golf Tournament, a fundraiser benefiting the Carly Ferro Purple Angels Foundation.    The golf course was also the location of the Killing-ton Junior Golf Championship — hosted by the American Junior Golf Association — and the New England Amateur Championship. These sorts of out-of-state visits contributed an estimated $225,000 to the local economy, according to the report.    The net profit will be transferred into the town’s general fund and will be used for annual debt payments on the golf course. The 2014 debt payment will be $561,244.    In 1993, Sherburne voters approved a $5.5 million bond to purchase 230 acres of land and construct a golf course. josh.ogorman    @ rutlandherald.com  

Comment: The taxpayers are still on the hook for over a half million
(and that's just this year). It's getting pretty old seeing these fluff pieces on the golf course. If this was a normal business at least the interest on the debt payments would come out of reported net income never mind that their cash flow would be totally inadequate to meet its debt obligations. It is only because the taxpayers are footing the bill that the course can even remain open 
Vito 

Word Games

Below is correspondence between Jim Barlow and Seth Webb regarding the setting

aside of undesignated funds last year for the retirement of the golf course debt

balloon payment. If the money was voted to be set aside for this why is a

separate vote needed to set up a restricted fund for this purpose.

The very definition of a sinking fund is that its use is restricted for a

certain purpose. This legal jockeying seems to me is just an attempt to preempt

these funds being set aside. The town administration waited this long to even

address this issue when the money should have been set aside thirty days after

the March vote.

The question is what happens if the vote is against setting up a restricted fund. 

Logically the money would then be fair game to be reassigned.

Vito

From: Jim Barlow [jbarlow@vlct.org]

Sent: Tuesday, October 15, 2013 8:20 AM 

To: sethwebb@town.killington.vt.us 

Subject: RE: budget 

Good Morning Seth,

To make clear, Jim Haff's question of January 22nd asked how to allocate funds to a designated fund for golf course repayment and whether it can be done with a special line vote (i.e., a special article) or through the town budget (i.e., a budget line item). My response was that either method was acceptable. Your question of September 18th was whether a special article was required to create this designated fund for golf course repayment. My recommendation was to ask the voters for specific authorization to create a sinking fund to retire the golf course debt on the ballot at town meeting in 2014. I think that this is the best practice The question of how to create a reserve fund (i.e., your question) is separate and distinct from how to appropriate money to that reserve fund (i.e., Jim Haff's question). My opinion was, and remains to be, that money can be appropriated to a reserve fund by a special article or through the town budget at town meeting. My opinion was, and remains to be, that the best way to create a reserve fund (or sinking fund) is to present the question of creating the fund to the voters at town meeting. There is nothing inconsistent about these opinions.

Jim Barlow

Senior Staff Attorney

VLCT Municipal Assistance Center

Jbarlow@VLCT.org

229-9111 x 1914 229-2211 (Fax) SKYPE - Jim.Barlow9 

Comment: There may be nothing inconsistent about these opinions in and of themselves, however the need for the second opinion seems redundant as stated in my introduction. Its obvious to me, and I would assume most people, that when you vote to appropriate money for a certain purpose, the money will be used for that purpose without the need for another vote to confirm the previous vote. All the legal mumbo jumbo aside, the intent of the voters was clear. Now that we the taxpayers have assumed the responsibility for paying off the golf course debt we do not want further demands on our taxes in the form of interest to rollover this debt or to have funds set aside for the balloon payment raided for some other purpose. This is what this ruse is all about: the hope is to confuse the voters with all this legal monkeying around so they'll vote against a restricted fund and undo last March's vote.

Vito