Williston Observer

By Kim Howard
Observer staff

A classroom at Allen Brook School will be filled with would-be hunters on Friday evening.

The hunter education course – required for any new hunter to obtain a license – is one of dozens offered across the state as the fall hunting season gets underway.

Hunters young and old come together for the courses. Greg Paulman, instructor for the Williston class, estimates that as many as half to two-thirds of his course participants each year are youths; there is no age restriction for hunting in the state. Some parents take the course alongside their kids, and some students are adults taking up hunting later in life, according to Chris Saunders, hunter education coordinator with the Vermont Department of Fish and Wildlife.

“These classes have helped and are instrumental in reducing the number of accidents in Vermont and nationwide by at least 75 percent over historical levels,” Saunders said.

“These classes are aimed at producing the safest, most responsible hunters possible.”

Taught by certified instructors, the courses last a minimum of 12 hours. The course offered in Williston starting this week is 18 hours. Paulman said late enrollees are welcome provided space is available; a missed session can be made up through independent work.

Paulman acknowledged that sometimes hunting is not well understood by non-hunters.

“It’s a cultural thing,” Paulman said. “And (for) a lot of people, whether they end up with a deer in their freezer… can make a difference in the amount of meat they have to eat over the winter.”

Paulman said the State of Vermont carefully plans out the number of animals that can be harvested each year to ensure a sustainable population. Some animals that are hunted would otherwise starve to death over the winter, Paulman said.

“Let’s face it: we’re developing places that used to be their habitat,” Paulman said.

Saunders said while all of those things are true, people hunt for a range of reasons.

“For some hunters it is part of a cultural tradition,” Saunders said. “It is about being with family and friends. It’s an important date on their calendar… It’s a very important relationship with nature and getting out in the wild and not just observing things but participating in nature.”

Vermont leads New England for the highest percentage of residents who hunt, according to the U.S. Department of Fish and Wildlife 2001 National Survey of Fishing, Hunting, and Wildlife-Associated Recreation. Fifteen percent of Vermonters age 16 and older hunt, compared with 6 percent nationally, survey results said. The industry adds to Vermont’s economy. An estimated $52.4 million was spent in Vermont on hunting activities in 2001, according to the survey.

Though perhaps better known for commercial space in Taft Corners, Williston logs its share of successful hunts each year. Over the last three years, an average of 46 deer alone were harvested within town limits. A handful of those were shot by youth.

A town ordinance allows firearms to be discharged in Williston south of Interstate 89, and along a narrow strip of land in northeast Williston, except within 500 feet of buildings, public parks and recreation areas, and roads or footpaths.

Paulman said hunting is generally a safe sport. Falling out of a tree or having a heart attack are the leading causes of injury or death in the sport, though he said there is about as much chance of dying while hunting as while playing baseball.

Hunting licenses are available for $16, or $8 for youth, online through the Vermont Department of Fish and Wildlife. Locally, they may be purchased at the Town Clerk’s Office, BJ Guns and Sporting, Dicks Sporting Goods, Powderhorn Sports, and Wal-Mart.

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First of three sessions to be held Sept. 26

By Greg Elias
Observer staff

Williston’s recent history is a well-worn tale of retail and residential development and the upheaval that comes with rapid growth. But when you start digging, it turns out the town has a far richer, more complex story.

Residents can learn more about their town’s untold human and natural history during a three-part series of workshops starting next week.

Called “Williston Geographic,” the workshops are part of program called PLACE, short for Place-based Landscape Analysis and Community Education. Conducted by the University of Vermont in conjunction with Shelburne Farms, PLACE’s mission is to educate residents about their towns.

“They will be fun, informative, eye-opening and interactive,” wrote Jesse Fleisher, a UVM graduate student who will lead the workshops, in an e-mail. “Our hope is that people will leave knowing more about Williston than they ever did before, that they we will want to learn even more on their own or with each other, and that by sharing knowledge and experience in a public forum we can facilitate an ongoing community dialogue about the current and future stewardship of Williston’s unique cultural and natural heritage.”

All three workshops will be held 7-9 p.m. at Williston Central School’s auditorium. Each presentation will be followed by a field trip on the subsequent Saturday, with the place and time to be announced at each workshop. The schedule:

Wednesday, Sept. 26. “Forests, Fields and Rocks: The Natural Landscape of Williston.” The workshop will include an overview of Williston’s landscape and place it within the larger geographic context of the Champlain Valley and the entire state, Fleisher said. He will also give a timeline of the town’s human history and sketch Williston’s natural history.

Wednesday, Oct. 25. “People and the Williston Landscape: A History of Change.” Fleisher said the session focus on where inhabitants came from and how they shaped the landscape. It will cover Native American settlements, the Thomas Chittenden era and modern times.

Thursday, Nov. 14. “Soil, Water and Wildlife: The Landscape Ecology and Fauna of Williston.” As the title indicates, the final presentation will spotlight Williston’s wildlife. Fleisher said he will discuss how wildlife changed as Williston’s landscape evolved. The presentation will also “try to bring past, present and future together as we wrap up the series,” he said.

Walter Poleman, PLACE director and senior lecturer with UVM’s Rubenstein School of Environment and Natural Resources, emphasized the collaborative nature of the program.

He said the presentations grew out of a semester-long effort by graduate students working with Williston’s Conservation Commission. They inventoried the town’s natural features and looked at how humans impacted the landscape.

In addition, Poleman said eight Williston teachers participated in professional development sessions on the PLACE program, working with Shelburne Farms to learn more about the town’s natural and human history. The idea is to pass the information down to students.

The workshops are not lectures, Poleman said. They will include an interpretive slide show and an opportunity for discussion.

The idea is to encourage an ongoing dialogue that could help shape the town’s future, Fleisher said. He hopes residents will share their knowledge of Williston with each other during the workshops and “maybe fill in the blanks with some interesting pieces (of information) they weren’t aware of or hadn’t thought of before.”

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By Greg Elias
Observer staff

For 45 years, voters have cast ballots at Williston Central School. But tight parking and safety concerns made town officials conclude it was time for a change.

Town Clerk Deb Beckett said Williston’s Board of Civil Authority decided last week to move the voting venue. An informal agreement has been struck to hold balloting at the Army National Guard Armory, located just across U.S. 2 from the school.

“For several years, we’ve had issues with parking and safety concerns,” Beckett said. “People are coming and going while students are running back and forth. It’s amazing no kids have been hit.”

There are far more open parking spaces near the Armory, which is located next to Town Hall, Beckett said. Parking at the school is difficult to find when school is in session, which is the case in March and November when elections take place. And she said voters driving to the polls create safety hazards for students.

Motorists arriving at the Williston Central School must navigate the one-way, horseshoe-shaped driveway and then circle parking lots in a sometimes fruitless search for an open space.

Sgt. 1st Class Wendell Morse, who works out of the Armory, said there is an informal agreement to allow voting there. He said a written agreement could be finalized at a later date.

Most activity at the Armory occurs on Friday afternoons and weekends, when training exercises take place. Morse said voting, which is held Tuesdays, would not conflict with military operations.

There are about 50 spaces in the newly renovated parking lot at Town Hall, said Neil Boyden, Williston’s public works director. There are at least 10 spaces around the Armory.

Voting has been held at Williston Central School since 1962, Beckett said. In 1960 and 1961, balloting took place at the Armory. During most of the 1950s, voting was conducted at Town Hall.

At least for the next election in March, Beckett said an informal agreement with the Army National Guard that allows voting at the Armory may suffice. She said she wants to see how the new venue works before striking a long-term agreement.
“Before we make anything permanent I really want to make sure it works,” Beckett said.

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By Kim Howard
Observer staff

Representatives for Chittenden South Supervisory Union teachers and school boards reached a tentative agreement last week for a new teacher contract. No details of the agreement will be made public until ratified by local boards and the teachers association. Ratification is expected in October.

“Matters related to collective bargaining are not matters of public record per Vermont’s open meeting and public records law,” Scott Cameron, attorney for CSSU, wrote in an email. Though negotiating parties can agree to disclose details of deliberations or the tentative agreement, he added, that is not the normal practice.

“There are a few hundred teachers in five different schools, as well as a score or two of board members from those same schools who were not on the negotiating team or privy to the details,” Cameron wrote. “They all need to be briefed.”

CSSU includes schools in Charlotte, Hinesburg, Shelburne and Williston, and Champlain Valley Union High School.

CSEA President Christopher Hood said in an email that the tentative agreement was reached “as a result of cooperation and compromise.” He apologized for being unable to answer other questions.

The last CSSU teacher contract, a three-year contract that expired in June, granted annual salary increases of 4.55 percent with teachers contributing 10 percent to health insurance co-payments. The average salary last year for a full-time teacher in Williston schools was $60,924; the average CVU High School teacher salary was $57,768.

In 2004, the last time a teacher contract was negotiated, teachers and school boards also could not come to an agreement before that contract expired. That year, just as in this year, mediation failed, and a fact finder was required to make recommendations to move negotiations forward. A contract, which was applied retroactively, was ratified midway through the school year.

This year’s fact finding report was submitted to the negotiating parties on Aug. 29; it will not be made public since an agreement was reached within 10 days, provided the agreement is ratified.

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North Williston segment planned

By Greg Elias
Observer staff

The town plans to start work on a North Williston Road sidewalk this fall even though it has not secured easements from all property owners along the route.

Officials said Monday that the project would be put out to bid this week. Construction of the sidewalk, which will run from U.S. 2 to Mountain View Road, could begin as soon as a bid is selected.

But the sidewalk may not be completed this fall, at least not as planned. Three or four property owners along the route have yet to grant easements, said project manager Ken Stone, who is helping the town acquire those easements. Without permission to use a slice of the homeowners’ properties, the town may have to leave gaps in the sidewalk or design detours.

Williston Public Works Director Neil Boyden said he’s trying to move the project forward. The North Williston Road stretch is one of several sidewalk projects funded under a $2.6 million bond approved by voters in 2004 but stalled by easement issues.

Boyden said starting construction is not a way to pressure landowners who are holding out on easements. He wants to push forward with the project because further delays may cause cost overruns.

“We’ve got to get it going,” Boyden said. “Every year that goes by, costs continue to escalate. That’s the primary driving force – we’ve got a fixed amount of money.”

He pointed to the public safety buildings project, also funded by a voter-approved bond. The town was forced to ask voters for more money when the project’s original $6.8 million cost ballooned to more than $8 million.

Without the easements, Stone said the town might have to leave gaps in the sidewalk, forcing pedestrians and bike riders out into the road in some places.

“I’m not sure about that,” Boyden said. “We may have to slide it out into the right-of-way.”

The right-of-way Boyden referred to is publicly owned land that extends out from the edge of roads.

Boyden acknowledged that detouring part of the sidewalk into the right-of-way could reduce its appeal, moving walkers and riders closer to passing traffic. The ideal situation, he said, is to obtain all the remaining easements.

The North Williston Road segment is a key link in a series of sidewalks that will eventually allow pedestrians and bicyclists to travel from one end of Williston to the other.

The town previously agreed to narrow the North Williston Road sidewalk to 6 feet to mollify property owners along the route. Some homeowner objected that the originally planned 10-feet-wide recreation path would take up most of their already small front yards.

Williston Recreation Committee member Tim O’Brien said a sidewalk of any size would be better than the current situation, where walkers and riders dodge speeding cars on the narrow, two-lane road. He said sidewalks will connect Williston’s neighborhoods and make it safer to walk and ride around town.

O’Brien won’t let his youngest son ride a bicycle to school along North Williston Road. O’Brien said he instead drives his child to the Brennan Woods subdivision and he rides from there.

In addition to the North Williston Road project, the bond is supposed to pay for sidewalks along U.S. 2, Vermont 2A and Mountain View Road.

To date, only a portion of the U.S. 2 sidewalk has been completed. The rest of the work has been delayed while the town negotiates with property owners.

Those negotiations have moved slowly. On Mountain View Road, for example, only two of the 43 property owners have granted easements. The town wanted to complete the stretch along U.S. 2 this year, but two property owners refuse to grant easements.

When the sidewalk bond was approved, voters were told the funding would allow the town to complete the work in three to five years instead of up to 20 years it would take if the projects were funded piecemeal. Boyden acknowledged that the work has progressed more slowly than expected, but he still hopes that property owners will grant easements so the projects can be completed on time.

“I’m still pretty confident that we can continue to negotiate and get all the easements we need,” Boyden said.

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