Williston Observer

By Kim Howard
Observer staff

The first time Dylan Peters, 13, went snowboarding he spent most of his time falling down.

Four years later, the Williston Central School eighth grader has a first-place regional competition win freshly tucked into his jacket and is headed to the men’s snowboard division national championships of the Jeep Terrain Park Challenge.

His greatest hope for this weekend’s competition at Sugar Bowl in Lake Tahoe, Calif., is just to “have fun,” he said.

“It would be cool to win, but I’m going to be the youngest one there so I don’t know what’s going to happen,” Dylan said after school Tuesday.

His age didn’t stop him last month, however. Dylan “blew away the competition,” according to a press release issued by the Jeep Terrain Park Challenge, even though he was the youngest of 16 competitors at the Feb. 25 regional championships at Sugarbush.

“I was really surprised because I wasn’t expecting it,” Dylan said. “I just had fun in it.”

The snowboarding competitions consist of two runs out of which the judges pick a competitor’s best. Speed is not a factor – lucky for Dylan, as his 95-pound frame is unlikely to move as fast as the bodies of men in their late teens and early twenties. Instead competitors are judged on the tricks they perform and how cleanly they land their jumps in runs that last 90 seconds to two minutes.

Dylan, who is on the Bolton Valley snowboarding team, goes snowboarding three or four times a week to practice, including nights. He also enjoys soccer and eating, and said with a halting laugh that his favorite subject in school is chess.

“I like literature class I guess,” he begrudgingly acknowledges.

In his snowboarding future, Dylan hopes to master rodeos — “a flip when you’re spinning and doing a back flip,” Dylan explains – and “corks,” short for “corkscrews,” he said.

A corkscrew is a “spin 540 or 720 (meaning one and a half or two full rotations) and you’re going sideways so it’s not fully a back flip but you’re not up straight; it’s off-axis spinning,” he said.

Dylan’s mother, Sue Peters, said her son has always enjoyed being in the air.

“It’s kind of part of his personality, so we’re kind of used to it,” she said. “He loves trampolines, loves to jump off of things. As a toddler, this would be the child flinging himself off the swing set as far as he could go….I always say he’s an adrenaline hound.”

Dylan said he has never hurt himself snowboarding – to which his mother required him to knock on the wood table before him.

“I try not to watch very much,” she said.

But Peters will accompany her son on Thursday as they head to California for the competition, where Dylan can do what he loves.

“I like spinning and flipping a lot,” he said. “And doing crazy stuff (like) going off big jumps and hitting big rails.”

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By Kim Howard
Observer staff

Mud season this spring in Williston may be a little messier than usual as the community faces last week’s local school budget defeat. Residents largely point to tax bills as the reason for the rejection as school officials meet this week to decide next steps.

Williston’s proposed school budget was one of only17 defeated out of 250 statewide on Town Meeting Day, The Associated Press reported last week. In 2003, the only other year in this generation of voters to see a Williston school budget fail, 43 school budgets were voted down. In Chittenden County, Milton and Winooski were the only other communities last week that did not pass their proposed school budgets.

The budget for Champlain Valley Union High School was passed by 57 percent of the voters of Charlotte, Hinesburg, Shelburne and Williston. The local budget was rejected by 56 percent of Williston voters.

A number of random people questioned by Observer staff said they didn’t feel well informed about the issues so weren’t sure why the $15.9 million proposed local school budget didn’t pass. Those who did hazard a guess overwhelmingly came up with the same response.

“I think it’s mostly a message that they’re trying to send to the town in general that enough is enough with taxes going up,” said Paula Borah, who’s lived in Williston almost 18 years.

It’s tough for people to support budgets that go up faster than people’s salaries, Borah added. The proposed school budget was an overall 7 percent increase; actual per-pupil spending was a 6.1 percent increase.

Members of the Williston parent-teacher organization Families as Partners wondered if voter turnout also may have contributed to the budget’s defeat, according to minutes from last week’s FAP meeting.

Voter turnout was not wildly atypical, however. Of Williston’s registered voters, 24 percent cast ballots last week. The 10-year average in Williston is slightly higher than 29 percent.

Two years ago Williston passed the local school budget by 12 votes. Last year it passed by 69.

‘AFFORDING THE SCHOOL WE WANT’

Chittenden South Supervisory Union Superintendent Elaine Pinckney, a Williston resident, said there could be wide-ranging reasons the budget didn’t pass. Questions at town meeting about the school budget included the status of teacher contract negotiations, teacher contributions to health care, and the number of school administrators. Pinckney said she’s heard no single overriding concern.

“I don‘t think what you’re hearing in the community is ‘we’re unhappy with this school, we don’t think it’s doing a good job,’” Pinckney said. “I think what you’re hearing is ‘were having trouble affording the school that we want.’”

Parent Annie O’Shaughnessy, who has children in seventh and ninth grades, seemed to share that sentiment as she was looking for a movie in Passport Video last Friday night. O’Shaughnessy said her family moved to Williston nine years ago because Williston offered the best program for students with special education needs of any town in Chittenden and Addison counties. The support was so strong, neither of her kids required services beyond fifth grade, she said.

“So to find out that this town is no longer supporting the school district and its budget is really shocking to me and surprising,” O’Shaughnessy said. “And I feel a little embarrassed by how little I know about it. It just never occurred to me that a school budget wouldn’t pass in this town.”

Yet she said she can understand why the budget failed.

“I don’t think I can afford to live here next year, period, because I’m a single person now and single people can’t live here,” she said. Among residents, she added, “I think there’s a lot more feeling of protecting what they have and not feeling able to take any more taxes because they’re already stretched.”

Rep. Mary Peterson (D-Williston), a member of the Ways and Means Committee, suggested Williston’s school tax rate may already be less than what was advertised before the vote. Early tax estimates were based on a state base tax rate of 90 cents. The House of Representatives passed a rate of 89 cents last month; Peterson said though the rate must still pass the Senate and the governor, she cannot imagine either would propose a higher rate “unless something really unforeseen happened.”

With a reduced state base rate, the local school tax rate drops to about $1.75 – roughly a $20 savings per $100,000 of a home’s value. For a home valued at $300,000, that’s a $60 smaller school property tax bill.

WHAT’S AHEAD

The first regularly scheduled Williston School Board meeting after the budget vote was scheduled for Wednesday night, after the Observer went to press. Officials said they expected dates for additional meetings, and potentially the next vote, would be set at that meeting.

CSSU Superintendent Pinckney, who was district principal in Williston when the budget failed in 2003, said the conversations ahead may be difficult.

“At the same time that obviously people are saying ‘cut the budget,’ there are people out there who don’t want the budget cut who will be upset if the budget is cut in areas they don’t want cut,” she said.

When the school budget failed for the second time in 2003, Pinckney said board members and administrators had a meeting with the people “leading the charge” to vote against the budget.

“If there’s anything I learned, it’s do that sooner,” Pinckney said this week. “The thing is, this time I don’t think there’s a group out there. I think people individually went to the polls and said ‘too much.’”

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By Kim Howard
Observer staff

The controversy over a proposed landfill in Williston has jump-started discussions on solid waste at the state level.

Introduced late last month, Senate Bill 136 would create a group to study current state law and best management practices for solid waste facilities.

“It seemed to me that after 15 or 20 years since the last time there was a full evaluation (of solid waste management) that it was time to go back and look at where we are,” Sen. Ginny Lyons, D-Chittenden County, the bill’s co-author, said last week. “… Every time we recycle plastic or reuse something, we’re saving gallons of fossil fuel energy and that’s a strong interest in my committee – how do we conserve what we’ve got?”

Lyons is chairwoman of the Senate Natural Resources and Energy committee, where the bill currently is under consideration. She also was a member of the Williston Selectboard in 1992 when the town board signed a contract with Chittenden Solid Waste District agreeing to host the proposed landfill. Lyons noted Senate Bill 136 arose out of discussions she and Reps. Jim McCullough and Mary Peterson had with a local citizens’ group opposed to the landfill proposed for Redmond Road.

If the bill passes this legislative session, the Agency of Natural Resources would be required to convene a work group, which would include citizens, by July 1, with a report due to both the house and senate committees on natural resources and energy next January.

“I would think they’re going to want to look at where all the landfills are, how they’re regulated, guidelines for establishing new landfills… what are the lining requirements for landfills, are they still effective … All those things people have been concerned about during the dialogue of the Williston landfill they would probably want to look at for the state in general,” Lyons said.

Both Tom Moreau, general manager for the Chittenden Solid Waste District, and Craig Abrahams, a spokesman for a citizens’ group opposed to the landfill, welcome the bill.

“So many communities I’ve been reading about and talking to, there’s so much more involvement at the state level than here in Vermont,” Moreau said this week, noting that the Agency of Natural Resources changed little in the state’s comprehensive solid waste management strategy in 2006, the last time it was updated. By state law, the agency is required to update the strategy every five years.

Moreau questioned the proposed makeup of the work group – the proposal does not appear to include representatives of either of Vermont’s current landfills – and he questioned if Vermont’s population of 650,000 is big enough to muscle industries to take responsibility for disposing of product packaging. The legislative bill requests a report on the costs and benefits of such a “cradle to grave” approach.

Abrahams, a representative of VOCAL – Vermont Organized Communities Against Landfills, is enthused about the bill.

“Our ultimate goal would be waste reduction, increased recycling, focus on zero waste,” Abrahams said. “The three of those put together pretty much negate the need for any landfill.”

The group also wants to understand why state regulations don’t require a certificate of necessity for new landfills.

“Our hope is that this crazy unnecessary proposal is killed,” Abrahams said, meaning a new Williston landfill.

Lyons doesn’t anticipate that would be the working group’s recommendation.

“I don’t expect that we would see a recommendation to have a moratorium put on all landfills in the state,” Lyons said. “But it very much could affect the operation of the Williston landfill and the waste district,” from how waste is collected to the amount of land used each year and over time.

Lyons said she hopes the bill will move to the full Senate by Friday in order to receive best consideration in both the House and Senate this term.

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Long-time bagel baker opens his own place

By Greg Elias
Observer staff

Bagels have been a big part of Steve Durgin’s life.

The Williston resident has cooked them, served them and helped set up restaurants that sell them. Now he’s going to open his own bagel place.

Bagels Plus will be located in Taft Corners Shopping Center, taking the space where Koval’s Coffee, a long-running coffee shop, operated before closing in 2005. The new restaurant is tentatively scheduled to open in May.

Durgin said his eatery will combine a bagel bakery and a cafe. It will have the capacity to produce thousands of New York-style bagels a day and a menu diverse enough to tempt customers to stay a while.

He hopes to attract both patrons who want to grab a quick dozen bagels and those seeking a sit-down meal.

“It’s going to be a friendly atmosphere where you can bring your family and sit down and have a breakfast or a lunch,” Durgin said. “Also, if a person wants to come in and buy four or five dozen bagels and bring them to work, we’ll be set up for that.”

The menu will offer several flavors of bagels topped with many kinds of cream cheese. Other offerings will include muffins, sandwiches and soups. Salads will be served seasonally. A children’s menu will be available.

Bagels Plus will have seating for 23 customers. Customers will order and pay for their food at a cafeteria-style counter.

Durgin, 41, has been in the bagel business most of his adult life. He started in 1983 right after graduating high school, working at GT Bagel Factory across from St. Michael’s College. When the Bagel Factory’s partners split four years later, he went to work for one of them in a Stowe bagel shop.

In 1994, Durgin got a job with Burlington-based Brueggers. He worked in the corporate office, and traveled around the country to help open more than 150 new bagel outlets.

He continued to work for Brueggers until 2000 when he started an auto detailing company. But over the past few years he also kept his hand in the bagel business, working at the Bagel Market on Susie Wilson Road in Essex.

Durgin, however, had long dreamed of owning his own place.

“I was at a point in my life where I wanted to try to do this on my own,” he said. “What I explained to my boss is I didn’t want to be 60 years old and look back and say, ‘What if this would have worked?’”

Koval’s attracted a loyal group of customers during its 19 years of operation. Patrons sometimes lingered for hours, sipping coffee and chatting.

Durgin said his place will have its own atmosphere, but he would like the old restaurant’s patrons to return.

“I’m hoping to get them back,” he said. “If they want to sit there and have coffee and have something to eat and do some work and plan what they want to do for the day, by all means. I’m still going to have the people coming in and getting breakfast and taking off. On the weekends, I’ll probably have more families.”

Bagels Plus will be open seven days a week. Hours will be 6 a.m. to 4 p.m. on weekdays, 6:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. on Saturdays and 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Sunday. Durgin may adjust hours to meet demand.

He will spend the rest of this month and the next readying the restaurant. He plans to open by mid-May.

The new business represents a big leap for Durgin, who has worked for others for more than 20 years. But he figures it is the right kind of eatery to fill a gap in Williston’s ever-growing menu of restaurants.

“It’s a big step. It’s a scary step,” he said. “But I’m looking at the big picture and saying there are no bagel places in Williston.”

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By Greg Elias
Observer staff

With its original plan receiving a cool reception, a local church has downsized a proposal for a giant new facility in Williston.

Essex Alliance Church filed new plans on Monday that reduce the size of the original 168,000-square-foot building on Vermont 2A. The new proposal calls for a 141,500-square-foot facility that would still be one of the largest structures in town.

The Development Review Board will consider the revised proposal at a meeting Tuesday night.

Essex Alliance has outgrown its church on Old Stage Road in Essex. So last fall it proposed building a new church on a 54-acre site midway between Taft Corners and the intersection of Industrial Road. The original plan called for a sanctuary that seated 1,833 and parking for 611 vehicles.

But the Development Review Board and neighbors were alarmed by the sheer size of the facility.

“The scale is not appropriate for the area,” said DRB member Cathy O’Brien at a November public hearing. “It’s way too big … this is just enormous. I don’t think I could vote for a project of this scale.”

Fellow board member Scott Rieley likened the structure’s size to Wal-Mart. The building as originally proposed would have been half again as large as the Williston Wal-Mart’s 114,000 square feet.

Neighbors said the additional traffic generated by the new church would make it impossible to enter and exit their driveways and streets by further clogging already heavy traffic along Vermont 2A.

The new plan proposes about 16 percent less interior space. It calls for three low-slung, two-story structures connected by enclosed walkways.

The complex will include a 1,800-seat “worship auditorium,” church offices, a nursery and a cafe. It will also have a gymnasium and athletic fields.

Next week’s meeting will determine whether the new plan makes enough changes to address the town’s concerns.

Some Development Review Board members had suggested the original structure be broken up into several buildings arranged in a campus-like setting. The new plans appear at least in part to address that concern.

Planning staff members said they would prefer a parking garage rather than a traditional lot with hundreds of spaces. The new plan still shows a standard parking lot, albeit with 11 fewer spaces.

The Rev. Scott Slocum, lead pastor at Essex Alliance Church, could not be reached for comment. But the church’s Web site said the review process will shape the size of the facility. It also responded to comparisons with Wal-Mart.

“Our new home will certainly not be mistaken for a ‘big box store’ by any means,” the site says.

The proposal must navigate both town and state approval processes before anything is built.

On the town side, the project must obtain conceptual approval before moving on to preliminary and final reviews.

It is also subject to Vermont’s Act 250 land-use law. A few years ago, a 50-unit subdivision named Brandywine was proposed at the same site. The project, which was approved by the town, was denied an Act 250 permit because it was located on prime agricultural soils, said Williston Zoning Administrator D.K. Johnston.

According to its Web site, the church is hoping Williston will receive growth center designation under a new state program that encourages dense development in designated areas. The program eases Act 250 requirements for buildings like the church that fall within a growth center.

Even if Williston’s application for growth center status is approved, Essex Alliance Church would still be subject to Act 250 review, said Town Planner Lee Nellis. But he said the church would automatically become eligible to pay a mitigation fee to offset its impact on agriculture.

Essex Alliance Church was formed 40 years ago. It is a member of the Christian and Missionary Alliance, an evangelical Protestant denomination with national offices in Colorado Springs, Colo.

The Development Review Board will consider the church’s new plans on Tuesday, March 27. The meeting, which takes place at Williston Town Hall, begins at 7:30 p.m.

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