Danville RR Station Fundraiser!

Photo from Danville Historical Society

Re-Imagine the Danville Train Station

Dear Friends and Neighbors,

The historic Danville Train Station renovation project is well underway and will be a true jewel to the town and the users of the Lamoille Valley Rail Trail. The foundation repairs are complete, the chimney has been removed, a new roof has been installed, and the decks have been built!  The railings around the deck will soon be attached. Some historic doors and windows are out for repair and needed replacements ordered.

Much work has been completed on the inside to turn the former passenger area into useable public space and exhibits. We are very excited to have the Danville Historical Society’s expertise to help transform the agent’s ticket office to its original grandeur. The former freight room, to become retail space, is under construction.

To finance this project, many grants have been secured, as well as early business/individual donations, as well as support from the town of Danville through a previously established building fund for repairs for this building.

Our target for individual/business donations is $165,000 of the $775,000 to be raised. Fundraising efforts are at 92% of the total of $775,000. To complete fundraising, $35,000 must be raised through donations. Donations of any amount are greatly appreciated. For those who use and love the rail trail, we are hoping you will find the soon to be amenities at the train station helpful and welcoming. There will be restrooms, an information kiosk, retail space area, and of course historic exhibits.

Supporting this project with a tax-deductible contribution is a great way to assist in the needed renovations to the historic train station. All donations should be made payable to:

The Town of Danville  (Train Station Project in memo line)

PO Box 183

Danville, VT 05828

 Please let us know if you would like your name added to the donor wall.

·   Engineers (Residents and Friends of Danville       $25 - $999

·   Passengers                                                             $1000 - $2499

·   Station Agents                                                        $2500 - $4999

·   Locomotives                                                           $5000 - $7499

·   Railroad Workers                                                    $7500 - $9999

·   Conductors                                                              $10,000 +

 “We are excited the Danville historic train station is being brought back to its original glory. It is a real treasure for all of us. We hope you will join us in supporting this important restoration.”

Wendi & Steve Larrabee

 Thank you for your consideration and please reach out with any questions.

 Sincerely,

Peter Crosby       802-535-4949

Kitty Toll            802-343-3144

IMPORTANT INFORMATION

AN IMPORTANT NOTICE FROM JOE'S POND ASSOCIATION PRESIDENT JOE HEBERT:

Good Morning:

Thanks to the work of member Dave Kidney,  the JPA petition to limit wake sports on Joe's Pond was recently submitted to the DEC [Vermont Department of Environmental Conservation]. We received an email yesterday indicating when the first hearing will be held which is, as noted below, on December 12th. For those who have an interest in either a written or public comment, please refer to the information listed in the attached email. In addition, there is a link that gives you an opportunity to review the petition. I would add that we met with the Town of Danville Selectboard last week who agreed to be a co-petitioner. Later this month we will be making a presentation to the Town of Cabot for their input.

Joe Hebert

President  JPA  

From: Agency of Natural Resources Department of Environmental Conservation 

 

Subject: Announcing Public Meetings for Wakesports Pre-Rulemaking December 12th

Hello,

I am reaching out on behalf of the Vermont DEC’s Lakes and Ponds Program to inform you of an upcoming public meeting to receive public input on proposed changes to Vermont’s Use of Public Waters Rules. On April 15, 2024, a new rule under Vermont’s Use of Public Waters Rules went into effect regulating wakeboats and wakesports on Vermont’s inland lakes. The newly adopted rule limits wakesports with a wakeboat to wakesports zones only. There are 30 inland lakes eligible for wakesports zones. Eight lake associations, representing nine lakes that are eligible for wakesports, have submitted petitions to the Watershed Management Division under the Use of Public Waters Rules requesting to prohibit wakesports on individual lakes.

More information about the wakesports regulation is available here: https://dec.vermont.gov/watershed/lakes-ponds/vermont-use-public-waters-rules/wakeboats

 

In accordance with the “procedure for evaluating petitions to adopt, amend or repeal surface water and wetland rules,” the Lakes and Ponds program will hold at least one public meeting to foster public participation in the petition process prior to making a determination on whether or not to initiate formal rulemaking. The public meetings will be divided into two meetings to initiate public engagement for multiple petitions. The announcement for these public meetings opens up the public comment period for review of all eight petitions.

 

WHAT: Public Meeting to receive comment on four petitions proposing amendments for lake-specific changes to the Use of Public Waters Rules governing wakesports on Waterbury Reservoir, Lake Fairlee, Caspian Lake, and Joe’s Pond.

WHERE:  National Life Dewey Conference Room, 3 National Life Dr., Montpelier, VT, 05620 (in person)

OR online via Microsoft Teams, using the link at the meeting time: Join the meeting now

Meeting ID: 268 492 569 354  Passcode: EExYY3

OR: Dial in by phone

+1 802-828-7667,,607382336#

WHEN:  December 12, 2024 from 4:30pm to 8:00pm

To submit a comment:

Written and verbal comments will be accepted. 

• Please submit written comments to anr.wsmdlakes@vermont.gov . Public comments will be accepted until 4:30 p.m. on December 23rd. IMPORTANT: when submitting a public comment, please include the word "wakesports" in the subject line AND the specific petition (lake) for which you are providing a comment. 
• Registration to provide verbal comments at the public meeting will be available here two weeks prior to the meeting

 

Equal weight is given to comments that are made in person, virtually, or in writing.

 

Draft Meeting Agenda

Meeting outline: 10-minute DEC intro followed by a 10-minute petitioner overview of their petition and 30-minutes of public comments. Repeat until all petitions have had public comments.

 

Draft agenda (approximate timing):

• 4:30: DEC intro to the petition process and meeting purpose
• 4:45: Caspian Lake petitioner overview
• 4:55: Caspian Lake petition comments
• 5:30: Lake Fairlee petitioner overview
• 5:40: Lake Fairlee petition comments
• 6:15: Waterbury Reservoir petitioner overview
• 6:25: Waterbury Reservoir petition comments
• 7:00: Joe’s Pond petitioner overview
• 7:15: Joe’s Pond petition comments
• 8:00: wrap-up

 

Copies of the petitions, along with any updates and pertinent information will be available at the following link: https://dec.vermont.gov/watershed/lakes-ponds/lakes-and-ponds-rulemaking

 

Thank you for your input and participation.

If you have specific questions about the meeting, please reach back out at this email address: anr.wsmdLakes@vermont.gov

 

****************************

I'd just like to add that this is an important issue and anyone who lives, vacations, recreates on, or simply loves Joe's Pond or any of the eight lakes involved in this important issue, should share your comments at this meeting. The health and welfare of Joe's Pond is not the sole responsibility of the Joe's Pond Association. Anyone who has ever sailed, paddled, fished on the pond, or watched a sunset from the public beach, needs to voice their opinion. --Jane Brown

Let it Snow!

We have been having very mild weather for November recently, but today that is changing - rapidly. Last week the temperatures were pretty mild and yesterday was in the 50s - very comfortable outside with just a light sweater. My pond was entirely frozen over on Saturday morning, but it thawed quickly and the weekend turned out to be pretty pleasant. Today started off at about 33 degrees and quickly dropped to below freezing. It's about 31 degrees now at mid-morning.

 This morning I awoke with snowflakes whipping by my window in clouds as a snow squall passed through. It didn't last long and the snow melted as it hit the ground, but throughout the morning there have been alternating rain, sleet, and snow showers. When I went outside a little before 9 to measure the precipitation in my rain gauge, the wind nearly took the door out of my grasp. The deck was slippery with half-frozen slush, and the outside of my measuring tube was covered with pebbles of frozen rain drops all over it. I didn't linger out there - the wind was ferocious. We've had a number of power outages in the past few days caused by high wind.

 I took a walk around the property Sunday afternoon and discovered a poplar tree had blown down on my lower lawn. It looks like it was mostly dead - at least it broke off about 5 ft off the ground and limbs are shattered so I'm assuming it was not very healthy. It makes a mess on the lawn and will need to be cleaned up before the lawn can be mowed again in the spring.

Yesterday I had to go to Cabot Village and was surprised that Burtt's Apples have closed for the season. I was hoping to pick up some apples and maybe more cider, but I'll have to get those things at the local stores from now on. Burtt's will be open a few selected dates before the holidays, according to their website. I got cider from them a couple weeks ago and after the first glass, didn't get back to it for a few days. Of course, being unpasteurized, it doesn't keep forever, and when I opened it again it puffed air at me and I knew it would have that wonderful "zing" that tickles your pallet as it turns from "sweet" to "hard" cider. I enjoy it at that stage. I finished off the bottle within the next couple of nights, enjoying hot, very tangy cider with popcorn one night, and paired it with Cabot cheese and crackers another night. So good! I remember having really "hard" cider with friends, Esther and Lawrence Bona in Concord many years ago. Both are deceased now, but I remember that cider was just about the smoothest alcoholic drink I've ever had - and the most powerful. 

Thinking about fermented cider reminds me of one of my father's stories. Dad never drank alcohol as far as I know, but he said one time when he was very young and doing road work with Ned Barnett, former road commissioner in Cabot, they stopped at some farmer's place and the man offered them some cider. Dad said they were standing on a porch and as he drank the cider he began to feel the porch post he was leaning against moving. That was apparently his first experience with hard cider -- and probably his last! I expect Ned got a big kick out of having initiated his young helper to the cockeyed world of inebriation. Cider was a staple in most homes years ago and often served as payment for services in place of cash. Cabot was well known for growing lots of apples and potatoes in those early years, the resulting liquor products providing a cash crop for hardscrabble farmers. This is a photo of my father, taken at our sugar house in about 1935 when he would have been about 28 years old.

Back to the present - today I'm hunkering down to catch up on emails and other stuff I didn't get to yesterday. It's a good day to stay inside. I will need to go out for the mail later, and also I dropped my  scoop this morning when I was filling the window bird feeder, so I'll need to scoot out the basement door and pick that up. It was a bad fumble on my part, so I'm thinking I may drill a little hole int he handle and tie a string on that I can loop around my wrist so I won't have to go out there when there's shovel-able snow on the ground. The birds were reluctant to get going this morning - the wind seemed to be buffeting them around a bit. I've changed my feeder to a more sheltered window this year, which I hope will be better for them.

The big news is that we did get a little rain overnight, and actually everything is pretty well soaked so our risk of wildfires is not very high locally, I'd say. The ground is still dry and we do need more rain (or snow) to replenish the water table and give everything a good soaking before winter sets in. With fires in New York state and New Jersey, we need to be really careful here in Vermont - our turn to experience  a wildfire disaster could come any time, I expect.

Stay warm and out of the wind.