Jason Starr

1 week ago | willistonobserver.com | Jason Starr

The Williston Housing Committee will begin taking applications in July for two new housing programs approved by the selectboard earlier this month. The board launched both a housing retention and housing improvement program for Williston residents as part of its May 6 adoption of a Williston Housing Trust Fund policy. The trust fund was established in 2017 to support housing affordability, and the board empaneled the housing committee in 2023 to recommend potential uses.

1 week ago | willistonobserver.com | Jason Starr

As the school year comes to a close, so does the era of students using cellphones in class, cafeterias and hallways in Champlain Valley School District buildings. School administrators capped months of inquiry into the possibility of banning phones with a presentation during last Tuesday’s school board meeting of their draft phone regulations for next year.

3 weeks ago | willistonobserver.com | Jason Starr

It’s another Vermont first. Several national retailers and restaurants have broken into the Green Mountain State with stores in Williston’s Taft Corners of late. Next up is Bob’s Discount Furniture, set to open its first Vermont store in June in the former Christmas Tree Shops location at Maple Tree Place. Bob’s has bloomed to nearly 200 stores across 24 states since its founding in Connecticut by Bob Kaufman in 1991.

3 weeks ago | willistonobserver.com | Jason Starr

When New England Federal Credit Union merged with Vermont State Employees Federal Credit Union to become EastRise last year, the organization took a strategic look at all of its branch locations. The former VSECU branch at the corner of Route 2A and Alpine Drive was a casualty of that streamlining. EastRise vacated the building about one year ago, and it has been empty since. But last month, prolific Williston land developer (and Development Review Board member) Scott Rieley purchased the building.

3 weeks ago | willistonobserver.com | Jason Starr

As operators of two of Williston’s landmark farms, Helen Weston and Kim Antonioli occasionally talk business. So it was in early 2020 when they both discovered they had chosen Tuesday to launch weekly summer evening events. The Isham Farm Market that Weston helped produce and Antonioli’s Truckin’ Tuesdays food truck festival at Adams Farm Market both had strong starts, with the Covid pandemic enhancing demand for outdoor gatherings. Five years later, the pair had another conversation.