To The Editor:
Our town needs a new town office. Our current town office which has served Waitsfield for many years is too small and in a proven flood area, unacceptable!
At one of the meetings I attended, Ted Tremper brought up an interesting idea that deserves study and could be part of a comprehensive solution and an important addition to the town and the Mad River Valley.
I could see a logical improvement to historic Waitsfield that could solve many problems and maintain the historic landmarks. As we all know the town has an option to buy the two Flemer barns which directly attach to the polo field and town orchard that we already own. Open Hearth has been studying how they could turn the smaller barn into a permanent home. Their presentation leads me to believe that they could be the first anchor tenant in developing the Flemer properties (this could involve some sort of lease of the property or outright ownership of the property, this location would give them a wonderful indoor facility and a perfect outdoor play/recreation area using the polo field, plus an offstreet parking area that could also be used by the Valley Players Theater). The big barn could become a multi-use building, a major part of it could be rebuilt into a modern library (Ted's idea) and the rest of the building would have to find some other compatible use.
The current Joslin Library could be turned into a wonderful town office (which as far as I could tell from reading the deed could be legally allowed if the library trustees support the change). This would accomplish solving many town needs, not cause any urban sprawl or change the nature of the historic village. The natural flow of the Open Hearth children onto the playing fields and the library seems to me and others to be a great solution.
Michael Sharkey
Waitsfield
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