Back to the Future

by Art Woolf

A group of the good citizens of Ferrisburgh have formed the Friends of Ferrisburgh for Responsible Growth (FFRG) to fight a proposed Champlain Oil convenience store/gas station on U.S. Route 7.   According to the Freeps

Landscape architect Jean Vissering of Montpelier, hired by FFRG to prepare an aesthetic impact assessment of the proposed project, presented her findings Wednesday. She said zoning bylaws say commercial uses should be a size that protects the residential character of the district, and the town plan calls for uses typical of a 19th-century highway crossroads area.

Vermont Tiger's sources tell us that in response to FFRG's concerns,  Tony Cairns, the project developer and owner of Champlain Oil, has hired a certified 19th century consulting retail specialist and we have obtained a copy of his new plan. 

It includes fourteen horse stanchions and water troughs plus a parking area for three stagecoaches.  Instead of the planned Wi-Fi connection, the facility will have a Western Union telegraph office. Rather than the fast food franchise originally planned, visitors arriving by stagecoach and horse will be able to eat at the family-style restaurant and be able to watch chickens, pigs, and sheep being slaughtered and butchered for their meals.

"We think our customers will appreciate eating locally produced food and watching it being produced," said Mr. Cairns.

The energy efficient windows originally planned will be replaced with authentic 19th century windows (without screens) that open to allow fresh air (and bugs and smells) into the building.  Dishes from the restaurant will be washed by Mr. Cairns' children with water obtained from a nearby stream.  That's after they return from their one-room schoolhouse, which is a 30-minute walk away, and after they finish shoveling the horse manure out of the horse and stage parking areas. Visitors, and Mr. Cairns' children, will take full advantage of the authentic two-holer outhouse behind the building.  (A map shows the outhouse being placed right next to the stream, again preserving 19th century authenticity.)

This could be a precedent-setting project.

Comments

[Impeach Congress (and the VT Legislature)]

Gotta love those "citizens for responsible growth" organizations. Still have to drive 45 minutes to buy coat hangers and underwear here in StAlbans.

[Trustafarian]

Might have a problem getting a septic permit for that two-holer though.

[RFC]

The Act 250 hearing for this matter should be a bonanza for historians. One hopes that it will be televised (if the FFRG doesn't object to the use of electricity).

I presume that all of the District 9 Environmental Commission members will be required to wear 19th Century clothing, sit on three legged wooden stools and take the minutes by dipping a feather in an inkweel and writing on a piece of parchment. Mead will be made available for those who are thirsty. If the weather is like that of today - dark and rainy - it may be necessary to use candles for lighting as fluorescent bulbs will not, of yet, have been invented. The thatched roof might be leaking a bit.

It should be a grand show.

Good luck.

[Chris Campion]

I'm having trouble reconciling a "progressive" movement with roots deeply buried in a Luddite philosophy.

It's not responsible, nor is it growth, to seek the wholesale cessation of development. There is no project that is attractive to groups like these, unless it's a tax-funded purchase of land for eternal preservation.

These types of groups are friends only to their own sense of self-righteous elitism.

[T. Shea]

Jean Vissering will apparently say anything that the person hiring her firm wants hear.

She testified at PSB hearings that 400 foot turbines would be visually appropriate on the ridgeline in Searsburg (and that the existing 200 foot ones were also appropriate).

This in a town that has NEVER had more than 200 residents and which would be described more as wilderness than as rural, let alone industrial. Then she claimed that residents on my road are 'used to' seeing them. She did this with a straight face.

From the transcript:

"Q. Now you had also mentioned that the people that live on Route 8 are used to seeing the existing turbines. Do you have any basis of talking to anyone that
lives on Route 8 because you didn't talk to me?
A. (Ms. Vissering) That's just a presumption because they are there. So -- and they are part of that landscape at -- at the moment. So it is part of the existing context. "

"BOARD MEMBER BURKE: Still in fairness, I think Mr. Shea's question was a fair question. I don't think you answered it. Did you talk to anybody that lived on Route 8?
MS. VISSERING: No, I did not. "

She also claimed that the flashing strobes that were documented in the construction plan weren't "required" by the FAA so she did the visual impact study without considering them.

From the freeps:

"Vissering said the project would be out of character with the surrounding area in scale and lighting levels..." For the convenience store, not the massive turbines!

So, massive strobe lit wind turbines are OK in the National Forest, but a convenience store is too industrial for a small town?

The woman appears to be practicing an older profession than landscape architect.

[Lazarus Long]

Chris:
"These types of groups are friends only to their own sense of self-righteous elitism."
You got that right!

[T. Shea]

Sorry for the typo's in the earlier post.

Also forgot to say (as the article states):

It is a US Highway! Its original purpose was to provide a thoroughfare from NYC to Montreal. Isn't a gas station considered appropriate for a US Highway?

Considering it is designed to accommodate gas driven vehicles, wouldn't that be the MOST appropriate use according to the character of the road?

Why not force the farms along Rt. 7 to close, because they are not in keeping with the character of the highway?

[GreggB]

People with these ideals are Vermont, and the state has given them the legal tools to prevail. Anyone who thinks all VT needs is a lower tax rate and more sensible permitting needs to rethink the possibilities. Vermont is the new Detroit. Stick around at your own peril.

[Rich Lachapelle]

I would also assume that the building codes consistent with their
desire for a "retro" motif would mandate the use of lead based paint
and asbestod fireproofing.
Authenticity is key here.

[Cairn Cross]

Hey Art I know you are trying to be funny but within spitting distance of the proposed truck stop there is a hotbed of draft horse activity including Clay Country Farms (Shire Breeders), The DeVores family which has added Friesen breeding to its dairy farming activity, my wife's horses (I won't even begin to describe this) as well as about a dozen other draft horse owners, and small draft farmers. If Tony builds the property as you report, it may get a lot more activity than you or he think. On the other hand if he builds it to 21st century standards I may very well fuel up and grab a cup of coffee on my way to work in my car not on my horse.

[Peter Joes]

Seems to me that the facility you described would need at least a three holer.

pj