Essex students wrap up third Giving League season BY ANTHONY LABOR The Essex Reporter The Essex High School softball team has become accustomed to winning on the field over the years. They also earned another title over the weekend, as they came away with a first-place finish in the Competitive Giving League spring competition. The competition faces athletic teams from Essex schools against each other to see who can donate the most items for the Heavenly Food Pantry. The competition takes the total number of items donated and divides that by number of members on a team to determine who wins. After trailing on Day 5, the softball team rallied on the last day to take first-place overall with eight items donated per athlete. “You could tell the softball team was really excited to win,” said CGL creator Kristin Kany. “Everyone involved did a really great job.” Overall 1,334 items were donated for the spring competition with everything going to the Heavenly Food Pantry. With the first full year of the CGL in the books, it has raised over 3,700 food items for the Heavenly Food Pantry. According to the CGL website, the 3,700 items donated so far is enough to provide 1,000 meals for a family of four. It was the third season overall for the CGL and the first including the two middle schools in Essex as well. “Having the competition within the community of all Essex schools was great,” said Essex Middle School athletic director Chris Dumouchel. “The kids were all competitive for a good cause.” The Essex Middle School softball team came away with second place overall and the first middle school championship. They ended with just over six items donated per member. Essex Middle School girls’ track and boys’ track came in third and fourth in the competition. “Some of our teams got really into this competition,” said Dumouchel. “It provided a source of pride for our school and peers. It’s a great way to provide a little incentive for raising goods.” INSIDE MAY 22, 2014 R EPORTER THE ESSEX Vol. 34, No. 21 www.essexreporter.com Prsrt Std ECRWSS U.S. Postage Paid Permit No. 266 Essex Junction, VT 05452 Postal Patron- Residential Restoring the right to vote Citizens urge Town Meeting Day change By JASON STARR The Essex Reporter Hard to argue with Laurie Singer’s comments at Monday’s meeting of the Essex Selectboard. She joined a citizen committee in urging the board to put the annual town budget proposal to a ballot vote instead of a voice vote in the Essex High School auditorium that seats only a fraction of the town’s voters. Singer said her husband has been deployed with the military during recent Town Meeting Days and currently works out of state. He is one of many residents who, for myriad reasons, are unable to gather on the first Tuesday evening in March, and who therefore don’t get a vote on the annual budget. Putting the budget on the ballot would not only increase the time window to vote (7 a.m. to 7 p.m. at polling places), it would also allow for voting by absentee and early balloting. “He was (deployed), risking his life for everyone in this room, but he couldn’t vote,” Singer said of her husband during Monday’s meeting at the town offices. “You are taking away his right to vote. That’s what it comes down to. You’re taking away everyone who can’t make it to the meeting’s right to vote.” According to Robert Bates, who has worked on a “Budget-to-Ballot” citizen group that has studied the potential change, Town Meeting Day attendance this March was 260 people. That’s about 1 percent of the town’s population. By contrast, town- wide ballot questions draw about 6 percent, he said. While both town officials and the citizen group would like to see greater turnout, the group believes putting the budget on the ballot would at least improve participation. “We value Town Meeting and the last thing we want to do is undermine our annual gathering. We really believe in the Democratic process, but everyone’s voice should count, whether they are present or not,” said resident Deb McAdoo. The group proposes to retain the significance of Town Meeting Day by having residents debate and potentially amend the budget proposal as they do now. The budget amount voters approve through a voice vote in March would then be put on the ballot in April, joining the annual Essex school district budget elections, and ‘Demoralized’ residents seek avenue for change Five Corners redevelopment puts land development rules in focus By JASON STARR The Essex Reporter The Five Corners redevelopment proposal at the site of a former bank branch on the corner of Pearl and Park streets has spurred a group of residents to peel back the layers of Essex Junction’s land development process. What they have found, they have described as: “frustrating,” “discouraging,” “confusing,” “demoralizing.” The citizen group comprises residents of School Street and Park Terrace who are closest to the four-story apartment and retail building that received planning commission approval in December. Conceived by Milot Real Estate of Williston, the project is currently under Vermont Act 250 land use review. The group began to organize ahead of the planning commission hearings last year, bringing strong opinions that the building proposed is too large for its surroundings and would create pedestrian and motorist conflicts. After two hearings, it became clear that while their testimony was acknowledged, it was not going to sway planning commission action on the project. Planning commission members explained that, in fairness to the developer’s right to a predictable process, they could only judge the proposal against the village’s land use regulations. Those regulations are written in the village Land Development Code and are governed by the village's Comprehensive Plan, which sets an over-arching vision for Essex Junction. In a coincidence of timing, the planning commission embarked on an update to the Comprehensive Plan this year, just as the citizen group was raising questions about a downtown vision that encourages the type of building Milot proposed. Planning Commission chairwoman Diane Clemens urged residents to participate in the update, specifically the section about the aesthetics of the village’s downtown core. When School Street residents delved into the Comprehensive Plan and what it says about Five Corners, they found a vague and ambiguous document whose connection to actual Land Development Code regulations was difficult to grasp. Last week, they discussed the Essex senior captain Brendan Leonard drives toward the net during a game against Colchester at Essex High School on Friday afternoon. More boys' and girls' lacrosse coverage in sports section. OLIVER PARINI Blodgett moves new assembly operation to Saxon Hill By JASON STARR The Essex Reporter Blodgett ovens of Burlington is taking over 100,000 square feet of industrial space in Essex’s Saxon Hill industrial park that is being vacated by Swiss cable manufacturer Huber and Suhner. Huber and Suhner announced last fall that it would close its operations in Essex, relocating or letting go the roughly 70 employees that work there. The company opened the Essex facility in 1990. It is relocating functions performed in Essex to North Carolina and New Jersey by the end of June. Nedde Real Estate of South Burlington purchased the building on Thompson Drive and its surrounding 20 acres from Huber and Suhner last August, then leased it back to the company for the year. When the company announced it was closing the facility, Nedde began looking for another tenant. He had discussions with smaller companies looking to rent portions of the building. Then Blodgett made an offer on the whole thing. “It’s a large transaction, and it didn’t happen overnight,” said Nedde Real Estate owner Doug Nedde. Blodgett, which makes commercial ovens from its Burlington headquarters, was purchased in 2001 by Middleby Corporation of Elgin, Ill. Middleby acquired a steam-cooking equipment manufacturer in January, and awarded its operation to Blodgett. That is the division that will be locating in Essex. Blodgett Vice President of Operations Dan Coolbeth declined to name the company. He said the Essex facility will be responsible for assembly of steam cooking and medical sterilization equipment as well as shipping and receiving. The facility will initially house 15 employees, but he expects it to grow. Some Blodgett employees are already working on site. “We are going to be growing the business here in Vermont,” said Coolbeth. Saxon Hill has seen commercial growth recently with the construction of a new manufacturing facility on Allen Martin Drive and the relocation of Reinhart Foods from Colchester. Nedde said it’s become a focus of industrial growth in the area. “The market is becoming very tight in Chittenden County for industrial space, so there has been more and more interest in that area as a result,” he said. – See REDEVELOPMENT page 3a – See GIVING page 2a – See VOTE page 3a Hornets hold Lakers