Town looks to designate village centers

SHAFTSBURY — Work continues on the effort to have certain areas of town designated as village centers, with determining the boundaries of such areas the focal point.

The town Select Board unanimously voted in late March to support the Economic Development Committee's efforts to have certain areas of Shaftsbury receive the designation from the state. At that meeting, board members praised the work being done by the committee.

Cinda Morse, Economic Development committee member and Select Board member, is part of the effort aimed at applying for the designation. "What we were talking about at our last meeting was where to draw the boundaries for the area," she said. "We were looking at three possible areas."

Morse said the areas considered were the area from Cleveland Avenue to just beyond Airport Road, Shaftsbury Center (which includes the historic district and old cemetery) and around Whitman's Feed Store at the border with North Bennington. Morse said the committee decided against the area around Whitman's Feed Store, though.

"We decided not to try to include that area," Morse said. "It doesn't really fit the definition of a village center... it's not so much

for residential areas."

Morse said the town would be able to include multiple places in its application to the state. "We can have the area be noncontiguous," she said. "I think we would look at including both areas discussed."

According to Morse, the next steps after defining the center are relatively simple. "The state is really easy to work with on these projects. Once we decide the boundaries of the area and get the Bennington County Regional Commission to do the maps, we just go and talk to the village center people up in Montpelier.

"The real biggie is determining the boundaries of the center," she added.

The village center designation was created by the state government in an effort to designate growth areas and prevent sprawl. The designation offers such economic incentives as tax credits for renovations, facade improvements and code improvements. These credits, though, only apply to businesses.

Projects inside the village center also receive priority from the state.

The Select Board's approval, among other things, will be included in the final packet to be sent to the board that decides upon the designations. A town also needs a defined town plan and bylaws, both of which Shaftsbury already has.