Archive for category: Greensboro News

Interested in skiing from the Highland Lodge to Craftsbury but not interested in dealing with the logistics of leaving a car in two locations?  With great ski conditions now available this winter, the Craftsbury Outdoor Center has resumed its shuttle service from the Center to the Highland Lodge on weekends.  The shuttle leaves the Outdoor Center at 9:30 AM for the Lodge.  They do request a payment of $5 in the Activity Center to help cover the cost of running the shuttle.

For more information and to confirm that the shuttle will run on any given weekend (it really can change from week to week), check the Center’s website at

https://www.craftsbury.com/skiing/nordic-center/nordic-center-home/

The Greensboro DRB unanimously approved Jennifer Ranz’s application for an event venue at her landmark Greensboro Barn.  The DRB’s decision, as well as supporting documents and letters from community members supporting and opposing the application, is available for review here:

https://www.greensborovt.org/zoning-board/

David and Wilhelmina Smith, owners of the Highland Lodge, fulfilled a dream of many years by conserving, in perpetuity, their 76 acres west of Craftsbury Road and south of North Shore Road in Greensboro. At a ceremony in Highland Lodge, the Smiths met with Tracy Zschau, conservation director of the Vermont Land Trust (VLT), and Julie Curtin, VLT attorney, to sign a conservation easement agreement with the land trust. (see map)

The agreement provides that the Smiths and future owners of the Lodge will not develop the lakeside portion of the Lodge property. It excepts a half-acre parcel on the Caspian Lake shore that will provide beach rights to future Lodge owners and some of the adjoining camp owners, but restricts use of the remaining forest and wetland only for open space uses like forestry, agriculture, recreation and education. At the signing, David Smith said: “This conservation easement allows us to preserve our natural living environment for everyone to enjoy.”

The conservation easement was professionally appraised at $282,000, the bulk of which the Smiths donated as a charitable donation to the land trust. About one quarter of the value was provided by contributions from the Stony Point and Freeman Foundations, the Greensboro Land Trust (GLT), and the Town of Greensboro through the Greensboro Conservation Fund.

The property contains the Porter Brook Natural Area, where Greensboro residents have hiked in previous years, and which summer workshops for children have visited. Its interior path has also served as a snowshoe trail. The easement agreement does not guarantee future public access to the area, but it is hoped that future Lodge owners will want to maintain the trail and allow public access. The easement includes a 22-acre wetland protection zone, and riparian buffer zones along Porter Brook that will protect water quality and aquatic habitat.

The VLT representatives congratulated the Smiths on their dedication to conservation of a beautiful natural area, and Clive Gray, clerk of the Greensboro Conservation Commission and GLT chair, said the select board had instructed him to convey its gratitude to the Smiths.

“The Smiths have been excellent stewards of their property for many years,” said the VLT’s Tracy Zschau. “It is gratifying to join them in ensuring that these sensitive and scenic areas will be protected for the long term.”

The Highland Lodge is now under contract with an anticipated closing date in October 2016. The prospective buyer is Heidi Lauren Duke, who was the stage director of the “First Annual Opera Spectacular” for the Greensboro Arts Alliance & Residency’s summer programming this year. She is a director and choreographer with experience staging productions both nationally and internationally. Details on the planned use for the Lodge are not set and a formal press release will be published in mid-October. In the interim, Ms. Duke welcomes support from the community and wants to celebrate the contributions of the Smith Family and the Lodge to the Greensboro community during its long history.

As many in our membership know, Ross Connelly, publisher of the Hardwick Gazette, put the paper up for sale through an essay contest this year.   The contest received national press coverage, including a poignant article in The New York Times earlier this month (https://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/26/us/want-to-own-a-newspaper-a-vermont-contest-has-trouble-finding-takers.html?smid=fb-share&_r=0).

The contest needed a minimum number of entrants for it to be a viable solution for Mr. Connelly to hand over the reins of his paper, but unfortunately, it has not met that minimum.   The Hardwick Gazette is our area’s major source of news and information about local government, sporting events, schools, and more. It would be a serious loss to our community were it to shutter its doors.

Perhaps you are a journalist and have always dreamed of running your own shop. Or perhaps you are simply a community member who values the Gazette and its contributions to our corner of Vermont. Either way, please consider participating, even if it is without the intent of winning. Your submission could be as simple as letting Mr. Connelly know that you don’t want to be selected, but that you value the Gazette enough to participate in its future.

To participate, write your essay and submit with a check for $175 to:

Hardwick Gazette Essay Contest

PO Box 367

Hardwick, VT 05843

The Greensboro Planning Commission is holding the first in a series of public forums on August 15th, 2016 at the Fellowship Hall.  The Planning Commission is seeking public input regarding the community survey results and invites further discussion about what we want Greensboro to be as based on those results.  Public input gathered at the forum will be strongly considered by the Planning Commission as it works on revising the Town Plan. The public forum will be held at the Fellowship Hall on August 15, 2016 and will begin at 7 PM.  For more information, please contact the Town of Greensboro, Zoning Administrator at (802) 533.2911.

Subsequent dates for future community forums to be announced soon.

Please review the Community Survey Results  before the forum.

Please join us!

The Greensboro School Board will host a community forum on Tuesday, July 26. The forum will focus on Greensboro’s efforts to comply with Act 46. Greensboro residents and taxpayers are invited to join the conversation about the issues and opportunities presented for the town under this law. The forum will focus on Greensboro’s participation in the Alternate Structure currently under review by the OSSU Exploratory Committee and the possible impact of this option on Greensboro students and taxpayers.   The forum will also provide an opportunity for the community to learn more about conversations with other area districts. No changes to Greensboro’s current school governance will be voted on at this meeting.

The forum will be at 7:00 PM on Tuesday, July 26 in the Lakeview Union Library. All Greensboro community members, including non-resident taxpayers, are encouraged to attend.