Celebrate Trails at the Old Lantern on May 20
by Margaret Russell, Co-chair, Trails Committee,
May 19, 2011, page 1.....

The Town of Charlotte and the Charlotte Trails Committee were recently awarded a $20,000 grant from the Vermont Department of Forest, Parks and Recreation for work on the Charlotte Town Link Trail. Dean Bloch and the Trails Committee worked on the grant application to get funding to begin the seven-mile pedestrian path through town. The Charlotte Link Trail will go from Mt. Philo to the Berry Farm and Cohousing, north to the Town Center and then on to the Charlotte Beach.
With this grant award, plus town matching funds of $5,000 from the Trails Fund, we will complete the permitting required for the path to go from Route 7 through Cohousing and begin construction on this section. Permits have been obtained from the Vermont Recreational Trails Program; still needed are an Act 250 permit amendment and wetlands permit and a Phase 1 Site Identification Survey for archaeological evaluation. The Selectboard also recently authorized applications for Act 250 and wetland permits to build a small bridge to cross a stream on this part of the trail to provide mowing equipment access. The Vermont Youth Conservation Corps is providing a crew to build the bridge, plus $750 for materials.
The Charlotte Link Trail will be a multi-phase project, requiring tremendous community effort and investment. Please help us celebrate and share our recent success at a benefit event this Friday, May 20, at 6:30 p.m. at the Old Lantern. Music at 7 p.m. will be “hill and valley folk” by Split Tongue Crow, with an opening set by Joe Redding. The Old Lantern offers a cash bar and a la carte menu by Chef Roland. A portion of the proceeds from a 50/50 raffle and ticket sales will go to the Charlotte Trails Fund. Tickets are $10 at the door or $5 with two canned goods to replenish the Burlington Food Shelf, which was robbed in April. We hope to see you there.