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BENNINGTON â Gaining Appalachian Trail Community designation for Bennington required months of work by local volunteer committee members â especially after the COVID-19 pandemic struck during the application process â but now the group is immersed in some of the more enjoyable tasks.
Several committee members were strolling around the central downtown Thursday, sizing up locations to mount Benningtonâs official AT Trail Community signs.
Steve Love and Sylvia Cassano, co-chairs of the group, along with town Community Development Director Shannon Barsotti, Jonah Spivak and Michael Wajda, said they are determining spots where the metal signs would get plenty of notice.
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BENNINGTON â The downtown and its businesses proved surprisingly resilient during the COVID-19 pandemic, and the district seems poised for growth, Better Bennington Corporation board members told the Select Board.
The downtown improvement district organization presented an overview Monday of the difficult past year and of plans for the coming year, along with the annual BBC budget, which was approved unanimously by the board.
With new businesses appearing during the pandemic and prior plans persevering despite the health crisis, BBC board Vice President Michael Keane said, âIt really looks as if we are coming through this fairly whole.â
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BENNINGTON â Bennington is applying for a $1 million grant on behalf of two local housing projects for people in recovery from substance misuse.
The town Select Board, in a 6-1 vote on Monday, approved the grant application request from Shires Housing. The housing developer said it intends to use the funds to buy two Bennington homes and transform them into recovery housing, with $500,000 allotted for each project.
The specific properties to be developed were tied to the request for the Vermont Community Development Program grant. Squire House, located at 185 North St., will house up to nine women in recovery, according to a presentation by project proponents at the board meeting. The houseâs programming will be run by Mission City Church and the Vermont Foundation of Recovery, which manages other recovery housing in the state.
BENNINGTON The Select Board is considering grant applications seeking a total of $1 million to develop recovery housing units in two downtown buildings for up to 17 people dealing