Williston
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Permit #15 Williston,VT 05495 POSTAL CUSTOMER
MAY 30, 2024
Williston prepares a new Town Plan
WILLISTON’S NEWSPAPER SINCE 1985
WWW.WILLISTONOBSERVER.COM
Interim CVU principal named OBSERVER STAFF REPORT
in St. Albans and were ready to partner as owners. “That’s when we decided to start growing a little bit,” Hayden Fersing said during an interview last week. “We had a bigger team, we all enjoyed it, so it became more feasible for us.” As a foursome, the family opened a second location in 2018 on the Church Street Marketplace in Burlington, a spot formerly occupied by Bruegger’s Bagels. Their third store opened four years later, when the original Bagel Market came up for sale on Susie Wilson Road in Essex. Now Burlington Bagel Bakery has claimed the high visibility
After the announcement earlier this month that CVU Principal Adam Bunting will take over as interim superintendent of the Champlain Valley School District, the district has an nou nced that longtime Katherine Riley CVU educator Katherine Riley will take over as interim principal of the high school starting July 1. According a district news release, the appointment will be for the 2024-2025 school year. Riley has worked at CVU since 1998, first as a social studies teacher then as the director of curriculum and the Snelling House director. She has helped the school transition to a proficiency-based evaluation system and develop current graduation requirements. She holds a bachelor’s degree from St. Lawrence University and a Master’s of Education from Plattsburgh State University. She taught in New York prior to coming to Vermont and has international teaching experience in both Bhutan and Peru. At CVU, Riley has led numerous international student trips and advised both Amnesty International and the Student Council. “With 12 years of experience at the administrative level and 14 years as a teacher at CVU, I feel that I am qualified to step into this leadership
see BAGELS page 2
see PRINCIPAL page 4
BY INDIRA BUSH Observer staff Williston residents have seen a lot of change in recent years. The town’s population is expected to grow to 11,000 by the end of this decade, along with continued growth in the housing and business sectors. A new Town Plan is due just in time. Williston’s existing Town Plan, covering 2016-2024, is expiring at the end of the year, and a new one is needed by Aug. 25, 2025. The new Town Plan will cover the years 2025-2033 and has been in the works for some time, with multiple rounds of public input. An online survey distributed last year by the Planning and Zoning Department had 333 responses, and about 130 residents have participated in various roundtable discussion events. Citizens of all ages have also created “Postcards from the Future” — small cards where they share their hopes for Williston’s future. A town plan is “like a gigantic to-do list,” Town Planner Matt Boulanger explained, with 12 sections outlined in state law. Sections include topics like land use, education, hazard mitigation and housing. This time around, the town’s planning commission is including other considerations, like how to make the town more livable, resilient and equitable. see TOWN PLAN page 4
Respect Members of Williston’s Scout Troop 692 observe Memorial Day with the placement of flags and honorary salutes in Williston’s cemeteries. For more of Williston’s Memorial Day observances, see Page 24. OBSERVER COURTESY PHOTO
Your Friendly bagel baker
Burlington Bagel to take over former Friendly’s spot BY JASON STARR Observer staff
Burlington Bagel Bakery has been on a run of expansion since its second generation of local family ownership joined the business in 2018. Kyle and Tammy Fersing of St. Albans bought the business in 2001, running the sole Shelburne Road location in South Burlington that was originally opened in 1979. By 2018, two of their children, Hayden and Avery, had graduated from BFA High School
Burlington Bagel Bakery plans to open a fourth Chittenden County location later this year at the former Friendly’s Restaurant spot in Williston. OBSERVER PHOTO BY JASON STARR
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