Latest News
Minutes from the July 2 special hearing on The Walloomsac Property LLC's application for a Conditional Use Permit are posted under the Board of Trustees tab, in the Trustees Meeting Minutes section. At the end of that public hearing, the Trustees went into a closed deliberative session, during which they voted 3-2 that the application was eligible for consideration under Old Bennington's Interim Bylaw, adopted last January. The vote was the first step of a two-step process for the Trustees. They must next deliberate and decide whether to grant the Conditional Use Permit. They have 45 days to make that decision and issue it in writing.
Minutes from the July 8 regular Trustees' meeting will be posted within five calendar days, under the Board of Trustees tab, in the Trustees Meeting Agendas section.
The Treasurer's Report for June can be found in the Treasurer's Reports section of the Board of Trustees tab.
Once again, the Village's Nominating Committee will be meeting with residents interested in serving on the Planning Commission or the Zoning Board of Adjustment. The members of the Nominating Committee have served as Village officials in the past and are well equipped to give interested residents a sense of the duties and time commitments involved. If you're interested, please contact Suzanne Buchsbaum at suzanne.buchsbaum@gmail.com.
The Village Clerk is building a list of the email addresses of residents who wish to be notified in advance of public meetings -- particularly special Board and Commission meetings that are off the usual monthly schedule. (These meetings will continue to be "warned" on the Village website, according to Vermont's Open Meeting Law, but we're aware that few residents check the website every day to see if any special meetings or other off-schedule events are coming up. We do not intend to spam residents or sell their email addresses.) If you'd like to get these emails, please send your email address to the Clerk, Mary Walsh, at mary.williams.walsh@gmail.com.
For Information concerning Vermont's Open Meeting Law, see the Open Meeting Law Notice under the "Other Documents" tab. The law requires any person aggrieved by an alleged violation of the Open Meeting Law to provide the Village a written notice of such allegation before bringing any civil action in court. A sample Open Meeting Law Complaint Form is also posted under "Other Documents."
About Us
Location
Old Bennington is situated on a height of land approximately one-half mile west of the center of the Town of Bennington, which lies in the Walloomsac River valley below. Looming over the Village to the southwest is Mount Anthony. A ridge called Monument Hill elevates the northern third of the Village, but along the eastern edge of the Village the land falls sharply away in a steep slope toward the river below. The remainder of the Village is fairly level. Many large, well-spaced houses are surrounded by lawns and gardens. We still enjoy the luxury of some open land with beautiful vistas.
History
The Village of Old Bennington represents the original center of Bennington. Samuel Robinson and a band of religious separatists from Connecticut and Massachusetts founded it in 1761. Over the past 265 years the focus of industrial, commercial and residential development has shifted to the valley below, and Old Bennington has become a small, incorporated Village within the Town of Bennington. Its character has become a historical, single-family residential community.