The Waitsfield Select Board is working with representatives of the investors who purchased the Old Fairgrounds on ways for the town to acquire ownership of some of the parcel that might be appropriate for housing.
Late last year, a group of investors purchased the 110-acre property from the Lee family, with an interest in conserving approximately 100 acres of forest land that abuts the Wu Ledges Town Forest and the Mad River and exploring possible housing development on open land used as the Mad River Valley’s fairgrounds in the late 1880s.
This summer the board has been meeting with representatives of Fair Grounds LLC, which purchased the property, according to select board member Brian Shupe. Shupe said that he expected a path forward in the next three to six weeks.
The investors have chosen to remain anonymous for the time being and when purchasing the property indicated a desire to work with the town to expand the town forest and protect the parcel. The land is located on the east side of the Mad River near the southern end of Irasville. It adjoins a string of other town-owned properties along the Route 100 and Mad River corridor, including the Austin Parcel, the Tardy Parcel, and the Lareau Swim Hole.
“In addition to the former fairgrounds area, which is situated on a large, flat plateau located behind Our Lady of the Snows Catholic Church, the parcel includes a flood plain field presently used for agriculture, 100 acres of mature forest, wetlands and wildlife habitat, high ledges providing views of The Valley, and a stream that flows into the Mad River near a large rock outcrop at Lareau Swim Hole.
“While the LLC has opted to remain anonymous, they have let the town know they are hoping for a thoughtful, inclusive public process to help determine future uses of the property, with an emphasis on conservation coupled with sustainable housing development on a small portion of the property,” Liza Walker, Vermont Land Trust representative in The Valley, said last year when the sale closed.
In the late 1980s the property’s owner, Johnson Lee, proposed a large development that included over 200 condominiums and a nine-hole golf course. Lee died in 2005. Nearly 17 years later, Lee’s children sold it to Fair Grounds LLC.
