PUTNEY — The Selectboard on Aug. 28 approved a Planning Commission request for a resolution to pursue a $15,000 grant toward a 2014 zoning study of the Interstate 91 Exit 4 area.
The study, if funded by the state's Department of Economic, Housing and Community Development, will allow Putney planners to collaborate with their Dummerston counterparts in assessing what Phillip Bannister, chair of the planning commission and development review boards, called the gateway to Putney.
“Dummerston is going through issues with Route 5 corridor development, so this [study] may provide some further information for them to try to clarify for their community what some of their expectations are for the corridor,” he said.
Though Dummerston and Putney are neighbors, “Dummerston zoning is not consistent with the density of Putney Village zoning,” he explained.
Bannister told Selectmen he had met with Sam Farwell, chair of the Dummerston Planning Commission, whom he said is making a similar resolution request of his selectboard.
About a mile of land around Exit 4 is of interest to both communities in terms of development planning, Bannister said, adding, “Development is typically a starting point.”
“People think of the Sunoco as the Exit 4 area, but there's also the Putney Inn side. So we want to take an intimate look, maybe as big as a mile,” he added.
Plans for the area Park and Ride will be firmed up before this study gets underway, and will be unaffected, Bannister said.
Bannister's bid for the $15,000 grant will not require any town matching funds. “It doesn't cost you anything,” he told Selectmen.
If it comes in, the money, to be pooled with what Dummerston's planners aim to receive in their grant bid, would pay for an outside planing consultant to investigate the site, identify issues, generate a public hearing to discuss the issues, and fund a written report.
Putney's Selectboard approval was unanimous.
The Municipal Planning Grant Program encourages and supports planning and revitalization for local municipalities in Vermont.
Awarded annually and administered by the Department of Economic, Housing and Community Development, the Municipal Planning Grant Program says it works to strengthen Vermont by funding local planning initiatives that support statewide planning goals.
Since 1998, the Municipal Planning Grant Program says on its website, it has provided over $9.1 million to over 227 cities and towns across Vermont to help breathe new life into communities, plan for future growth and development, and improve quality of life.