Public Hearing Is Scheduled About Senior Housing Project
By John Freitag

There will be a public hearing on the Senior Housing project next Tuesday, Oct. 23 at 7:30 p.m. at the Education Building at the Justin Morrill Homestead.

The town of Strafford has received $34,300 from the State of Vermont's Community Development Program. The purpose of the meeting is to solicit further community input regarding senior housing in Strafford, as well as updating the community on how the grant money has been spent.

The Senior Housing Committee members, including Gretchen Rittenhouse who serves as chair; Mary Thompson, John Hawkins, and Steve Willbanks, have not had much luck with their choices for a site. The first place they looked at was the old Lib Harrington land next to Barrett Hall, now owned by Monty Tilles. It was found that this land did not have the ability to have a septic system on it.

The next choice, the Coffin land above the Newton School soccer field, which received the most attention, has been deemed "not feasible," because wetland regulations will not allow the project to be built in the location offered by the landowners.

The only other location that has been identified is the old town sand pit area. Along with the Varney ballfield, this is a roughly five-acre piece of land, now owned by the town. It is currently used for recreational purposes, including a baseball field and ice skating rink, recycling, and some town highway-related functions, including a storage trailer rented from Lucky’s, a salt shed, and chloride tanks. It had previously been considered as a potential town garage site, had good perk tests and was found to be out of the flood plain. However, given the problems with the other two sites, the Senior Housing Committee is moving cautiously and making sure there are no big problems before investing too much at this site. 

All are welcome to attend the October 23 meeting and hear how the grant money has been spent, and give input on where to go from here. Copies of the committee’s final report are available at the Strafford Town Office and may be viewed during office hours.

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