Letters to the Editor – May 19, 2022

Michael Russell and the Jimmo family

Planning Commission and events on private property

To the Editor:
I read with interest, amusement and confusion Scooter MacMillan’s article regarding the planning commission’s deliberation on regulating events on private property. I was interested because the new planning commission, freed from its development review duties, appears to be taking its new role very seriously. I was amused because this is a hot topic that has caught the planning commission’s attention while there are many Town Plan implementation goals that the planning commission should be addressing, but instead it is distracted by yet another shiny object. I was confused because I did not see in the article a reference to a Town Plan strategic objective or specific implementation goal on this topic.

This looks to me like a solution in search of a problem that is not identified in the Town Plan. For decades as a town, we have failed to make progress on clearly identified problems like a lack of housing diversity and the lack of local personal service and retail businesses. Why is the planning commission expending its precious and limited volunteer time on issues like backyard birthday parties? Let’s urge the planning commission to take the long view and address the important issues identified in the Town Plan. That’s what it is supposed to be doing, not finding new ways to regulate.

Michael Russell
Charlotte

Thanks for attending Leon Lestage celebration of life

To the Editor:
The family of Leon Lestage wishes to express their heartfelt gratitude to everyone that attended his celebration of life on May 7. We appreciated seeing the many friends, family, the University of Vermont basketball team, ROTC graduates and other students that Leon touched the lives of. We’d like to send a special thank you to the Vermont State Police for their presence. It was wonderful to see so many of Leon’s classmates, work associates and colleagues from his life.

Your kind words will live on in our hearts and minds.

Thank you,
Dixie, Michelle, Jay and Tyler Jimmo