The Colchester Sun WWW.COLCHESTERSUN.COM
MARCH 19, 2015
VOL. 14 No. 11
Heineberg Drive apartments top DRB agenda Colchester’s Development Review Board has a host of land use applications to consider at its meeting next Wednesday starting at 7 p.m. at the Town Meeting House on Main Street. Farrell Real Estate is applying to demolish an existing home and barn to build a four-story apartment building with 8,000 square feet of office space on Heineberg Drive. It would be the roadway’s southernmost development before the Winooski River, which separates Colchester and Burlington. The building and associated parking lot and landscaping will cover roughly 2 acres on the 11acre lot. The existing structures are described as dilapidated in application materials. The application is for preliminary plat approval to subdivide the parcel into two lots — the building lot and a second lot of more than 8 acres preserved as natural. “Through compact design utilizing a single building footprint, we have provided a substantial amount of open space and have preserved sensitive natural areas, attempting to preserve as many existing significant trees as possible,” the subdivision application states. An analysis of the building’s impact on Heineberg Drive traffic completed by RSG consulting engineers of Burlington concluded the development — going under the name Riverside Farms — will add 22 vehicle trips in the mornings and 28 trips in the afternoons. “(It) will not cause unreasonable congestion or unsafe conditions on the local roadway network,” RSG reports. Another application up for review Wednesday is a conditional use request to place a food truck at the top of Water Tower Hill, serving such businesses as Keller Williams real estate, Fox44 News and The Vermont Agency. The only walkable food options currently for people who work on Water Tower Hill are located near the intersection of Route 7 and Interstate 89. However, there are no sidewalks in the area to make it a safe walk. The food truck is applying to operate weekdays, serving breakfast and lunch. It would locate in the parking lots at 354 Mountain View and 302 Mountain View through the summer.
Prsrt Std ECRWSS U.S. Postage Paid Permit No. 266 Burlington, VT 05401 Postal Patron-Residential
School Board balks at spending caps By JASON STARR The Colchester Sun
Cpl. Francis Gonyaw and Cpl. Peter Hull pose for a photo with Colchester Police Chief Jennifer Morrison at their promotion ceremony on March 13 at the Colchester Town Meeting Hall. PHOTO CONTRIBUTED
Officers promoted after 25 years of service
By JOE CARDELLO The Colchester Sun
The Colchester Police Department promoted Cpl. Peter Hull and Cpl. Francis Gonyaw to the rank of Sergeant on Friday, March 13. Police officers, community members and media personnel gathered at the Colchester Town Meeting Hall for the morning ceremony. Effective on Friday Gonyaw was officially given his title change. Colchester Police Chief Jennifer Morrison said that Hull is scheduled to have his official promotion to Sergeant by May – once the two new officers Victor Bitka and Jesse Sawyer hired earlier this month have completed their field training. With the shift in position, Hull and Gonyaw will be one of three patrol sergeants at the department. At full strength they will oversee five officers. “Being a first line supervisor in any organization is a vital role,” Morrison said. “In police departments, the role of sergeant is the most important job in the house.” “How a sergeant leads his of her team has enormous impact on the performance and job satisfaction of the team members and it can make or break and organization’s ability to achieve its goals.” Morrison explained that in a small department with low turnover opportunities for advancements are limited, but that Hull and Gonyaw were certainly deserving of the opportunity. The two officers have been with the Colchester Police Department for over 25 years – six other sworn employees at the department are a part of the quarter-century club along with three civilian employees. Gonyaw has served as a detective, field training officer, firearms instructor and a domestic violence instructor. He has spent most of his time in the patrol division. Morrison said that his years as a patrol officer have helped him create exceptional bonds within the community. Hull has served as a detective, a DARE and youth services officer, field training officer, mountain bike
BACKGROUND Francis Gonyaw • Joined CPD in June of 1989 after his career with Milton PD. • Promoted to Corporal in 1992. • During his tenure he has served as a detective, field training officer, firearms instructor and a domestic violence instructor. • Since late 2014 he has served as an Acting Sergeant • In addition to his work at CPD, Francis has worked part-time for the Stowe Police Department for many years.
Peter Hull • Peter Hull joined CPD in 1990 after his career with Milton PD. • He was promoted to Corporal in 2000. • During his tenure he has served as a detective, a DARE and youth services officer, field training officer, mountain bike officer and he has coordinated the summer program of community service officers.
officer and he coordinated the summer program of community service officers. “He’s spent a lot of time in the school as a youth services officer,” Morrison said. “Which brings a lot of different collaborations. After working for years and years in the schools he has developed a lot of relationships with local youth, teachers and parents of his students.” “They bring different skill sets to the table, but the things they have in common is that they are incredibly experienced, mature and dedicated to the Colchester community,” Morrison said.
— Jason Starr
‘Bad luck’ for Tilley’s pub Bar owner ‘wants out’
as “multiple violations” at the bar, board members approved only a conditional liquor license that will be up for review in six months. The approval is likely moot, however, because By JASON STARR Thweatt said she has a deal in place to sell the bar by the end of this month. She did not identify the buyer The Colchester Sun or their plans for the establishment. According to a police report presented to the Owning the only bar within walking distance of St. Michael’s College has been more challenging Liquor Control Board, the bar was cited nine times than owners Susan and Michael Thweatt bargained in 2014 for liquor license violations including an employee selling alcohol without requisite training, for. The couple has resolved to sell Tilley’s Pub after serving an intoxicated person, on-duty consumption by an employee, and failure to pay fines on time. less than three years of ownership. “It’s been a tough two years for Tilley’s,” Susan Thweatt explained that the violations stem from Thweatt said of the bar on Route 15 that has had two incidents, one where an employee was drinking off duty then went back behind two previous incarnations under different ownership. Located “Believe me, it’s not the bar to remove trash. She acknowledged employing a between the Cumberland Farms as fun as everyone bartender who did not get reand Dunkin Donuts near the St. Mike’s campus in Colchester, thinks owning a bar.” certified as an alcohol server and being late paying fines. the bar counts among its Colchester Lt. Doug Allen said clientele residents of the nearby Susan Thweatt police were called to the bar 13 Windemere Estates Mobile Home Tilley’s Pub times last year but acknowledged Park and Champlain Housing that the state’s liquor control Trust affordable apartments at regulations are difficult to adhere to. Winchester Place. “There is a tremendous liability and tremendous Thweatt appeared last week at a meeting of the Colchester Selectboard, which doubles as the Liquor responsibility in owning a bar,” Allen said. Thweatt said former managerial staff stole Control Board when liquor licenses come up for renewal. Because of what Colchester Police Chief from the bar and that the neighborhood is prone to Jennifer Morrison described in a memo to the board streetfights. She also said some St. Mike’s students
Tilley’s Pub on Route 15 near St. Mike’s might soon be going under a different name. PHOTO | JASON STARR
arrive under the influence of drugs and become intoxicated “after one drink.” “Believe me, it’s not as fun as everyone thinks owning a bar,” she said. “We definitely want out. We’ve had a lot of bad luck.” Although the commission approved a six-month license extension, the approval is not transferable. New owners would need to apply for their own license to operate a bar.
As school spending controls are being debated in the committee rooms of the Vermont Statehouse, a parallel discussion has ensued among members of the Colchester School Board. During their meeting Tuesday, the board wrestled with the consequences of legislation that would change the relationship between school districts and state government, property taxpayers and other school districts. One particular piece of House Bill 361 – “an act relating to making amendments to education funding, education spending and education governance” – struck the Colchester School Board as harmful: a proposed cap on annual increases in spending on each student. The cap has been debated in the House Education Committee at between 1.5 percent and 2 percent annually. Colchester School District Superintendent Larry Waters explained Tuesday that if per-pupil spending increases were capped annually at 1.5 percent, not one of the last 10 annual Colchester School District budgets would have been lawful. Colchester has averaged an annual increase of roughly 4.8 percent – lower than the statewide average increase of 5.3 percent, according to Waters. Only three of the increases over the past 10 years would fall under a 2 percent cap, he said. Those were years that federal Recovery Act funding supported district spending. Outside of those years, annual per pupil increases have ranged from 2.5 percent to 8.5 percent in Colchester. The annual increases have pumped per-pupil spending from $8,100 in 2005 to $13,300 in 2015. School board member Curt Taylor, in his first meeting Tuesday after winning a seat in an uncontested election at Town Meeting Day, said he spent the earlier part of the day listening to debate on the bill in the House Education Committee. The committee is expected to make a decision on whether to include the spending cap provision in the bill before sending it to the Ways and Means Committee, he said. A vote on the House floor would follow, then deliberations in the Senate. Complex bills often require a House/Senate conference committee toward the end of the legislative session in early May before a final vote. After listening to school board members objections, and enumerating his own, Waters said he would impress them upon local legislators, including Ways and Means Committee member Jim Condon of Colchester. “It seems like a completely unrealistic piece of the bill,” board member Lindsey Cox said, noting that the cap would leave no room for spending increases caused by required or unforeseen maintenance on school buildings. “Does it mean we need to risk losing teachers because we need to put a new roof on a school? It doesn’t make sense.” Board chairman Mike Rogers said the cap would leave no ability for school –See SPENDING page 3