Submissions from True North responding to neighbors’ requests for a full Act 250 review of the therapeutic wilderness program were originally due in March, but that deadline was extended until April 11. On April 8, the applicant filed a second request asking that the deadline be extended until April 28. The District 5 Environmental Commission has agreed with that extension.
In February, the District 5 Environmental Commission issued a proposed permit for True North Wilderness Program, without holding public hearings to review the project under the 10 regular Act 250 review criteria.
Requests for full Act 250 hearings for True North Wilderness Program were submitted to the District 5 Environmental Commission by adjoining landowners Russ Chalom and Kinny Perot. The Agency of Natural Resources Fish and Wildlife Department filed comments as well.
True North Wilderness Program (TNWP), Waitsfield, is seeking a state Act 250 permit for the wilderness therapy program it operates on land on Dana Hill Road and in the Howe Block of the Camel’s Hump State Forest.
True North is run by Madhuri Maves and her husband Tyler Maves. They operate their program on 25 acres of land owned by Madhuri Maves parents, Tom Barefoot and Joni Zweig. True North received a Waitsfield Development Review Board permit last December.
That permit from the Waitsfield Development Review Board brought True North’s permitting up to date with its uses and was issued despite the objections of a neighbor with concerns about the impact of the program on the land and the water. The permit was issued with an ownership condition requiring that ownership of the land remain in the Barefoot/Zweig/Maves family to keep the permit valid.
True North is concurrently involved in seeking a conditional use permit to build an independent school and therapeutic wilderness training support center facility, a maintenance building, a 36- car parking structure, 12 remote campsites, each with a 24-foot diameter yurt for sleeping and a 12-foot diameter therapy yurt with a separate building housing a composting toilet. True North will offer services for up to 42 adolescents with an additional 18 staff members when at full capacity. The project is proposed for Bassett Hill Road which is just past the end of Murphy Road, on the right. Murphy Road is located off of Center Fayston Road.
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