Ambulance ‘Station Creation’ on regional top 10 list for 2024
January 16, 2024 | By Lisa ScagliottiThe Central Vermont Economic Development Corporation recently announced its top-priority projects for 2024 and Waterbury Ambulance Service’s new station project is near the top of the list.
Architect's drawing of the Waterbury Ambulance Service facility (street view) proposed for Demeritt Place. Image by EHDanson Associates
The regional development group ranks Central Vermont’s 10 top priority projects as determined by a committee of three representatives each from the economic development corporation and the Central Vermont Regional Planning Commission.
This year, the committee reviewed a list that was double the number of projects considered for 2023, according to Client and Community Development Director Mercy Sheehan.
“This was a competitive application,” Sheehan said. “Everyone who applied described work that is valuable to our region. The committee discussed how many of these projects impacted current community-wide concerns like housing, childcare, flood recovery, and small business support.”
Project list
Prospect Heights housing project, Barre
Modernization and flood mitigation at masonry tools manufacturer Trow & Holden, Barre
Relocation to Berlin and expansion for Dessureau Machines, Inc., Barre
Waterbury Ambulance Service’s Station Creation, Waterbury
Scott Hill Loop water infrastructure project, Berlin
Relocation and expansion of Plainfield Co-Operative market, Plainfield
Convert commercial rental space to residential units, 172 N. Main St., Barre
Neck of the Woods Vermont Childcare and Early Education Center, Waitsfield
MakeShift makerspace by Generator, seeking a Montpelier location
Vermont Pro construction contractor workshop, office, employee housing, Warren
Being listed does not come with funding, but landing on the list puts projects forward given the application and review process the listing exercise requires, Sheehan explained.
Each year, Vermont’s 12 regional development corporations compile their top-10 projects list to present to the state Agency of Commerce and Community Development. The process involves a detailed review with multiple requirements and projects are scored, Sheehan explained. “It’s like a prescreening for projects seeking funding,” she said.
The state agency then uses the list to help prioritize projects around Vermont for financial backing. Sheehan said making it into the top 10 was an accomplishment for the 2024 projects. “There were 26 applications, double from 2023,” she said.
At the top of the Central Vermont list for 2024 is Barre’s Prospect Heights housing project and that placement is considered a significant boost, according to Aimee Green, executive director of the Barre Area Development Corporation. “We are very heartened to see it rise to top placement on this important list,” Green said. “We are very aware, as are our collaborators, of the extreme need for increased housing in Barre and the surrounding region. This project promotes workforce development and will ultimately provide critical housing for many Vermonters.”
The Prospect Heights project proposes up to 50 single-family homes and up to 80 units in multi-family construction.
Last year’s top-ranked project, Neck of the Woods, received the state of Vermont’s Community Recovery and Revitalization award as well as the Federal Northern Border Regional Commission’s Catalyst award to expand the Waitsfield childcare facility. Still in progress, the project returns to this year’s list. The center currently can accommodate 50 children from age six weeks through preschool and its goal is to serve up to 125 children, according to the regional development corporation.
“Neck of the Woods is honored to be on the list for a second year as we continue to make significant progress towards our goal of assisting the young families of our area with childcare and early education for their children,” says Neck of the Woods Board Secretary Betsy Jondro. “Being on this list helped us receive close to $1,000,000 in grants in 2023!”
Architect's drawing of the Waterbury Ambulance Service facility (front view) proposed for Demeritt Place. Image by EHDanson Associates
Waterbury Ambulance project moves ahead
The listing comes at a critical time for the Waterbury Ambulance station project. Initially planned for a site along Vermont Route 100 in Waterbury Center, the station design has been reworked for a new location in downtown Waterbury. The ambulance staff, board and project team changed course last year when construction estimates for the Rt. 100 site came in approximately $1 million more than anticipated. The location would have put the new station alongside offices under construction by Copley Hospital for its Mansfield Orthopedics clinic. The site is not on municipal water or sewer and the ambulance building would have required a fire-suppression system to be constructed on site for an estimated $600,000, explained Maggie Burke, Waterbury Ambulance executive director.
The nonprofit emergency response organization has been fundraising for the new facility project for several years with the goal to build a modern station replacing the early 1980s building it has outgrown on Guptil Road near the town highway garages. By last summer, Waterbury Ambulance had raised approximately $3.2 million toward its goal of $3.4 million for the project when it received an updated cost of $4.6 million. Site work and the necessary fire protection system accounted for $1.7 million of the new figure, ambulance officials explained.
The organization paused its development plans last summer to seek out an alternate site in town. It landed on an approximately 2-acre parcel at 155 Demeritt Place just off South Main Street that is on municipal water and sewer. Project designs were modified for the new location and the town Development Review Board on Jan. 3 gave it unanimous approval.
The new site is not without engineering challenges. Grenier Engineering and EHDanson Associates architects have worked to update the plans to elevate the building given that the building lot lies within the floodplain. The site also will need work to address drainage issues regarding stormwater that flows onto the site from higher ground near the interstate. Discussions before the town Development Review Board included neighbors adjacent to the site so that upcoming construction will improve stormwater issues for their properties as well. The project also will be reviewed for a state stormwater permit.
Burke said the project team is close to hiring a construction management contractor with the goal of breaking ground this spring and the service moving into the new facility next winter.
Project costs are being revised to reflect the new site and recent engineering and architectural work to modify the plans, Burke said. Meeting the new price tag will require additional fundraising, but it is expected to come in under what would have been needed to build on Rt. 100. Burke said the organization hopes that the listing by the regional economic development corporation will help attract some of the final funding needed.
More details on the Regional Project Priority List for Central Vermont, as well as information on how to apply for 2025, can be found at the development corporation’s website, centralvermont.org.