RutlandHerald.com - We Are Vermont

"Their vision" "sprawl" "fast food junk" - - these assume that the town is a pristine village right now and that this is going to somehow ruin the town.

One idea at a time ...

sprawl: yup, right near the subway and two different pizza joints (both basically dumpy has-been eateries, not quaint or colonial in any way.) and the oil company. Across the street from the town sewage treatment plant and a condo complex. Yup, that's the New England colonial quaintness ideal right there.

too many gas stations: this is the real problem. If you come into town from the west, there are 3 gas stations within 100 yards of each other (and the previous location for this station). If you come into town from the other way, nothing. This new station would siphon off all the traffic entering from that end of town and would be an excellent place.

Competition: Give me a break. A McDs is competition for JavaBaba's? for the Pot Belly? for American pie? for any restaurants or pizza places? Not hardly. What is will do is drive a couple of the border-line pizza places under, leaving only eight places in town where you can get a pizza. Dunkin and Cumby's will lose big. The IGA is already gone.

Congestion: the proposed location would alleviate some of the main street traffic by giving all those truckers and town workers who currently stop and double park for Cumby's a place out of the main drag. This is actually a plus.

Looks: If this place is designed like the Middlebury or Woodstock Maplefields, then it would be a definite improvement to the looks of the town. The other stations are ugly as sin, the Shaws is typical supermarket, the Subway is tolerable but nothing to write home about.

I think if the town worked with this guy to get a good-looking building that fit the vision the town should have, then everything would look better by its inclusion.

Just sayin'

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