Highgate voters have approved a $500,000 bond to help pay to extend municipal water and sewer service to the Franklin County State Airport and a nearby industrial area.
The 374-294 vote Sept. 14 takes the town a step closer to completing one of two large projects that officials say would bring new jobs and spur economic growth.
“This was clearly mapped out,” Highgate Town Administrator Heidi Britch-Valenta said, “as a plan to create a fertile ground for business to come in.”
The state airport is also in line to receive more than $2 million to rebuild, lengthen and widen its runway, so it could handle larger planes in years to come.
Plans are to rebuild the existing 3,000-foot-long runway, extend it by 1,000 feet and widen it from 60 to 75 feet, the size required by federal airport guidelines, according to state officials.
In all, the water and sewer project is estimated to cost $3.5 million. The utility lines now end at nearby Missisquoi Valley Union High School. They would be extended up Route 78 and Airport Road.
Construction is expected to begin in spring 2023.
Highgate has lined up about $1.3 million of state and federal funding for the project so far, Britch-Valenta said. The town government is applying for a $2.2 million Economic Development Association grant as well.
Officials have said that new commercial development at and around the state airport could create as many as 1,200 new jobs in the next 10 to 20 years.
The value-added food sector is already prominent in the region, so there’s a good chance more of those companies would come to Highgate, officials said. And the tenants could well be Canadian, since the airport is about 5 miles from the border.
Britch-Valenta said Highgate is a “bedroom community,” a place where people live but often do not work. About 60% of town residents commute 45 minutes or more to their jobs, VTDigger has reported.
New business growth could shift some of the local property tax burden off homeowners, Britch-Valenta said, and help pay for the schools and services that support the town’s population.
Still, $500,000 was a big ask in a community that’s historically conservative, she said.
“There is a real dedication to fiscal responsibility,” Britch-Valenta said of Highgate. “We don’t take on debt lightly.”
Sharon Bousquet, chair of the Highgate Selectboard, wrote in an email that the board was “very pleased” with the result of the bond vote.
“We are blessed to live in a town where voters are willing to invest in their community,” she said.
