The Mountain Times • Sept. 27-Oct. 3, 2017 • 1
Mounta in Times Volume 46, Number 39
I’m FREE - Pick me up and be prepared. Paper beats rock.
Rutland seeks to cash in on World Cup crowds By Alan Keays, VTDigger
By Paul Holmes
A monarch butterfly rests its wings in a Killington garden earlier this week. Many have reported seeing the species this year — a good sign! By Tom Poole
Fall events bring winter thoughts to Killington Killington offers a fantastic foliage backdrop to events this weekend. Starting Friday night, Sept. 29, shoppers vie for first dibs on new and used gear at the Pico Ski Club’s annual ski and snowboard swap and sale. The sales is held at Pico Mountain base lodge Sept. 29-Oct. 1. Then, the wildly popular Killington Brewfest offers over 125 varieties of craft beers on Saturday, at Snowshed and Ramshead base lodges. Pages 15, 17
Rutland developer ordered to pay $2.1 million for cleanup costs
By Stephen Seitz
RUTLAND—A Superior Court judge in Rutland Superior Court ordered Rutland real estate developer John Ruggiero to pay the state of Vermont more than $2.1 million to settle a brownfield lawsuit in a civil trial held on Sept. 25. Ruggiero, a former attorney who represented himself, told the court he would have a hard time paying up. “I don’t have the ability to bond,” he said. “I don’t have the ability to pay. I hate to agree to an obligation I can’t fulfill.” The case stems from a brownfield cleanup at 84 Woodstock Avenue in Rutland. Ruggiero had purchased what had been the Fillipo Dry Cleaners at a tax sale in 2006, and then demolished the property, but he never built anything on it. The site contained a large concentration of a dry cleaning solvent and carCleanup Rutland, page 5
Killington zip code offers a buyer’s market By Karen D. Lorentz
Volunteers send hurricane relief to animal victims The devastation wrought by Hurricane Harvey rallied volunteers in Vermont, who loaded trucks with food, bedding, toys and other pet supplies to send to Houston, Texas. Locally, Volunteer Services for Animals Humane Society filled a 34-foot RV, while another group of volunteers filled a 10-foot truck.
It’s been a busy year for the Killington real estate market, and while prices are moving up slightly for some properties, they still represent good values, real estate agents report. They note that Killington has “the best prices for a major resort area” and there is good inventory available although some shortages are being seen. Twenty single-family homes have sold in Killington as of Sept. 22, with an average sale price of $338,765. For the same time frame in 2016, 11 homes had sold, reported Ted Crawford, co-owner of Prestige Real Estate. He noted several higher priced home sales this year, over 2016. “To date 49 condos have sold in Killington with an average sale price of $149,535. Some complexes continue to have low inventory with no units for sale at Fall Line, Glazebrook, Hemlock Ridge,
Colony Club, or Pico Slopeside and only one at Pinnacle and Winterberry. Currently, there are approximately 67 condos for sale, not counting fractional ownerships,” Crawford reports. Kyle Kershner, broker and owner of Killington Pico Realty, reports that three homes sold above $500,000, including one above $1 million (the first in 29 months) versus one home sale above $500,000 in the same time frame in 2016. Additionally, a $1-million home and one over $500,000 are under contract. Kershner noted, “The number of sales for both condos and single-family homes in Killington are up year-to-date over the same time period in 2016, but paradoxically, the median sales price in both categories is down by nine and ten percent respectively. A possible explanation for this is that listing inventory in both Killington real estate, page 32
Living A.D.E. What’s happening? Find local Arts, Dining & Entertainment Pages 15-23
Mounta in Times
is a community newspaper covering Central Vermont that aims to engage and inform as well as empower community members to have a voice.
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By Evan Johnson
Housing units overlook Bear Mountain at Killington.
RUTLAND — Rutland city officials and business leaders are looking at ways to get money flowing downhill from the tens of thousands of people attending World Cup ski racing events at Killington Ski Resort this fall. “I think it’s important that we do this,” Sharon Davis, president of the city Board of Aldermen, said at a meeting Thursday. “We don’t have these kind of opportunities often where folks are visiting the region in this mass of numbers.” Alderman Tom DePoy added, “We need to get as many down here as we can to help out city business owners and everybody else.” Killington is hosting the 2017 Audi FIS Women’s World Cupski racing event over the Thanksgiving Day weekend, from Friday, Nov. 24, to Sunday, Nov. 26. Last year, the first time Killington hosted the World Cup racing event, it drew about 30,000 spectators over two days of racing. This year, with added activities Friday, the event runs over three days, with racing Saturday and Sunday, and an expectation of even more people. In looking at the economic impact of the World Cup event last year, town of Killington officials have said that based on tax receipts they estimated that an additional $10 million in revenue came into the community of Killington compared with the same quarter the year prior. At a meeting Thursday of the World Cup cash in, page 4
Sept. 27- Oct. 3, 2017
Rockwell museum pot dispensary rejected By Alan Keays, VTDigger
RUTLAND TOWN — The state has turned down a proposal to open a medical marijuana dispensary at the Norman Rockwell Museum of Vermont in Rutland Town. Dan Reilly Jr. and his company, Lily Pad Organics Inc., had been seeking to open Vermont’s fifth dispensary at the site on Route 4. On Friday Reilly was informed earlier in the day that his proposal did not score high enough to beat out another competitor for that new dispensary license. Instead the state awarded the fifth permit to PhytoScience Institute, which will open facilities in Bennington and St. Albans. “The reason was that we didn’t accumulate enough points,” Reilly said he was told by a state official. “They told me it was a very competitive process and they decided to go with someone else.” Josh Terenzini, Rutland Town Select Board chair, said Friday afternoon he was disappointed to hear the news about Reilly’s proposal. “It’s too bad that we won’t have [a facility] in this area to help benefit the people that need it the most,” Terenzini said. The state received seven applications from around the state from developers seeking that fifth medical marijuana dispensary license. The application process is confidential so not all the entiMuseum, page 4
Biz leaders discuss jobs, environmental efficiency By Evan Johnson
Jobs were the main topic of conversation at a recent conference at Killington Resort - specifically those in the energy efficiency sector. In a four-person panel at the Killington Grand Hotel on Wednesday, Sept. 20, representatives from the state, a regional development corporation, AgriMark and building technologies corporation discussed trends in employment and how Vermont’s energy efficiency sector could help existing companies work more efficiently and employ more Vermonters. The panel was part of Efficiency Vermont’s sixth annual Best Practices Exchange and was attended by more than 150 representatives from some of Vermont’s largest businesses. “We want to look at how energy efficiency lowers operating costs and makes businesses more successful and we also want to address how the state’s investment in efficiency has really helped all of us grow this sector that 10,000 jobs strong” said moderator for the panel Abby White, Efficiency Vermont’s marketing manager. Ted Brady, deputy secretary of the Vermont Agency of Commerce and Community Development, said while the rest of the nation knows Vermont as a dairy and maple “mecca,” smaller sectors of the economy are often overlooked. “It’s a story we need to tell better,” he said. He also outlined some of the challenges facing Vermont’s workforce, starting with a declining population. “From the time you woke up to the time you go to bed tonight, about six people will leave the Vermont workforce,” he said. “Get Environmental efficiency, page 3