WVTK Local & State News June 30, 2014

Vermont’s Shoreland Protection Act goes into effect tomorrow. The new law applies to activities within 250 feet of a lake or pond. The Act establishes a new state regulation for guiding shoreland development. The intent of the Shoreland Protection Act is to prevent degradation of water quality in lakes, preserve habitat and natural stability of shorelines, and maintain the economic benefits of lakes and their shorelands by defining standards in creation of buildings, driveways, and cleared areas next to shorelands.

Vermont Soap is moving into a new much larger space. They are relocating from the fire damaged location on Exchange Street to a facility that is about twice the size on Industrial Avenue. Vermont Soap founder and CEO Larry Plesant says, “we are going into double the space and will be able to expand production.”

The Addison Planning Commission will be holding a public hearing tonight at 7 PM on the proposed revisions to the Addison Town Plan. The hearing will be held at the fire station on Route 17. Some of the changes include new goals for an “Emergency Plan” and on “Child Care,” a new section on town history, a “completely rewritten” section on education, “entirely new” sections on economic development and recreation/tourism, and a “statement made to continue to address issues such as lot density.”

Eligible Vermont small businesses have until July 21 to file for federal disaster loans for losses from the excessive rain and flooding in May. The U.S. Small Business Administration says federal economic injury disaster loans are available to businesses and nonprofits in all 14 counties. The SBA says the loans can be for up to $2 million with interest rates of 4 percent for small businesses and 2.8 percent for nonprofit organizations.

Senator Patrick Leahy will lead the United States Senate Judiciary Committee, which he chairs, in a field hearing in Vermont tomorrow morning on “Preserving an Open Internet: Rules to Promote Competition and Protect Main Street Consumers.” The hearing will be held at 10 am at the Davis Center on the campus of the University of Vermont. The Judiciary Committee field hearing will focus on the need to restore open Internet rules to replace FCC rules that were struck down earlier this year by the D.C. Circuit Court, including the rule prohibiting broadband providers from blocking lawful content and the rule barring them from unreasonably discriminating against lawful Internet traffic. The FCC currently is accepting public comments on a new set of proposed open Internet rules.