The Hermitage Club's appeal of a decision by the Wilmington Development Review Board has been settled in Environmental Court, according to Hermitage officials.
In a decision issued on September 2, the Wilmington Development Review Board granted Hermtiage Club's request for a conditional use permit to build a 93-unit condominium hotel and two duplex villas at their Haystack ski area. Of the nearly 40 conditions of the permit, one required the Hermitage to reach an agreement with the town "regarding development plans and location for a garage to house the ladder fire truck to be acquired. Funding to cover construction of a town garage to house the fire truck shall be provided by the applicant. The fire truck shall be acquired and construction of the fire truck parking garage shall be completed prior to the opening of the hotel."
The purchase of a ladder truck that can provide fire and safety protection at the multi-story hotel is also the subject of an existing agreement between the town and the Hermitage Club, which has agreed to provide $300,000 toward the cost of purchasing the apparatus.
In an unusual move, the Hermitage Club asked the DRB to reconsider that and two other conditions. In regard to the condition to provide funding for a garage for the ladder truck, Hermitage Club officials argued that the waiver for the height of the hotel building under which the condition was opposed was not necessary under the zoning regulation. Although the board granted part of the request, they found the height waiver to be required under zoning, and declined to alter the condition to provide funding for a ladder truck garage. Hermitage officials appealed the decision to the Environmental Court.
Under the settlement announced last week, the Hermitage Club will house the ladder truck at their new Haystack maintenance facility. Hermitage Club President Jim Barnes called the settlement a "logical and workable compromise" and "the best solution."
But Wilmington Fire Chief Ken March isn't as enthusiastic about the solution. "I'm in no way happy with this decision," he said. "My concern is with life safety, and not just the people at the Hermitage."
March says locating the ladder truck on its own, near the edge of town, in a privately owned facility is less than ideal. Not only will it add significantly to response times, March says the agreement will cripple efforts to relocate his department outside the flood zone. In fact, at this week's selectboard meeting, members of the board's police and fire facility relocation committee said as much, that the agreement has taken the pressure off the town to build a new facility in the immediate future.
Wilmington Town Manager Scott Murphy says the settlement gives the town flexibility. "When we build a new firehouse, we can move the ladder truck there," he said. "But the settlement allows the Hermitage Club to move forward with their plans. Ideally, we'd like (the ladder truck) in the village, but we just don't have the place to put it."
Many in the community have questioned the decision to purchase a ladder truck. Some have complained that, with the town facing costs of as much as $500,000 for their share of a new ladder truck, and another $5 million for a new facility, the Hermitage wasn't paying enough of the cost. But March says the decision to purchase a ladder truck wasn't based on the Hermitage Club's plans alone - and the decision wasn't made in a vacuum.
The current ladder truck funding agreement isn't the same one negotiated with the previous Haystack developer. At his urging, the agreement was renegotiated. "At the time nobody knew what they were going to build, so nailing down a specific apparatus was difficult. So we hired an outside consulting firm to look at all the components, including what is happenin