Zoning Hearing on the Inn at the Old Lantern
by Edd Merritt
April 22, 2010, page 5.....

Lisa and Roland Gaujac put their proposal to build an inn behind the Old Lantern on Greenbush Road before the town’s Zoning Board of Adjustment on April 7. Lisa Gaujac said they had a permitted use for four bedrooms and that they were asking the board for conditional usage of up to eight bedrooms. The town’s plan, she said, encourages what they propose – such types of retail and commercial services – and the standards for the industry suggest, “You need six rooms in order to break even financially.” In terms of the inn’s impact on the character of Charlotte, she noted that in their vision for the structure, they see it appearing as a “country house with a barn” which she felt was in keeping with the desires expressed in the town plan. The inn’s imprint of approximately 4,500 square feet she said was “comparable to many houses already on Greenbush Road.”
Placement of the inn on the site created a degree of controversy for the neighbors. The Gaujac’s engineer for the project, David Marshall, said that the site was chosen because of existing trees and hedges around a stone wall that would cover the parking area for the inn from neighbors’ view.
The Frosts, neighbors to the north, said that existing hiking trails crossed the property from north to south and they were concerned that the new building would interfere with walking paths to the town-owned Barber sliding hill. Referring to the open land that once served as the Old Lantern’s campground, Mike Frost urged the Gaujacs to move the building closer to the Old Lantern, maintaining unimpeded walking passage to and from Barber Hill.
Another northern neighbor, Maura Wygman, asked the Zoning Board to consider carefully whether the increase from four to eight bedrooms would have a deleterious impact on traffic to and from the inn and whether there would be sufficient parking area.
Former co-owner of the Old Lantern, Jim Dickerson, said that he and his partner, the late Peter Coleman, had talked with the Vermont Land Trust at length about maintaining the view up Barber Hill. He felt the Gaujac’s proposal would meet that condition, and he encouraged the board to approve it.
The hearing was continued to Wednesday, April 21.