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BELLOWS FALLS The problem of what to do to replace the Depot Street Bridge keeps getting thornier and more expensive.
But a business leader whose business is headquartered on The Island, which is served by the failed bridge, urged the Rockingham Select Board last week to think long-term.
Costs for the various options range from a high of $9.2 million to $5.2 million, with the local share ranging from $474,000 to $1.5 million.
Casey Cota, president of Cota & Cota Oil, urged the board to endorse what is likely to be the most expensive option for replacing the bridge, but would serve the town s businesses better.
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BELLOWS FALLS Village President Deborah Wright, Bellows Falls Village Moderator Paul Obuchowski and Municipal Manager Scott Pickup had a Zoom dress rehearsal Friday morning to iron out any kinks for Monday night s annual village meeting.
There is one big change: Obuchowski and Pickup decided to hold the meeting downstairs in the Town Hall, in the Lower Theater, rather than upstairs in the Bellows Falls Opera House, because of the technology and equipment needed for a Zoom village meeting.
Determined to get as many people to attend the meeting as possible either in person or virtually the decision was only made after Gov. Phil Scott loosened the distance requirements for a public gathering, Pickup stressed.
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BELLOWS FALLS â A complicated and expensive decision faces the Rockingham Select Board over what to do about replacing the decaying Depot Street Bridge.
The Rockingham board made a decision two years ago, choosing to replace the historic bridge with a look-alike concrete arch span, virtually at the same location.
But the Vermont Agency of Transportation and its engineering consultants discovered that the design would trigger expensive costs related to the nearby Great River hydro station, since the bridge crosses the historic Bellows Falls Canal, which acts as the water penstock which feeds the hydroâs turbines.
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BELLOWS FALLS â Two Vermont solar companies outlined similar but competing plans for a 2.2 megawatt solar array on the town-owned gravel pit in Bartonsville this week.
The Rockingham Select Board didnât make any decision Wednesday night, saying it might want to retain a portion of the gravel pit for unrelated highway maintenance operations, and it didnât know how much of the 44-acre parcel it would need.
The parcel is located between Route 103 and the Williams River, and adjacent to the former Vermont State Police barracks, which is now a truck-driving school.
BELLOWS FALLS â Two proposed solar projects got different receptions last week from the Rockingham Select Board.
Green Lantern Solar, which has proposed a facility at a town-owned gravel pit in Bartonsville, off Route 103, was back before the board, urging action before a state deadline for a higher electric net metering rate expires.
A second project, proposed for a town-owned field next to the historic Rockingham Meeting House by MHG Solar of Manchester Center, ran into opposition on several fronts â the facility would be located on prime agricultural land and it would be located in the historic district that surrounds the 1787 Meeting House.