Enlisting the help of Norwich University students, the town of Londonderry will explore the possibility of creating a community center on an undeveloped town property.
Tentatively called the Tri-Mountain Commons, the space would include child care, meeting rooms and housing, according to proponents of the plan.
For now, residents are exploring the possibility of constructing the site on the “Prouty property,” a mostly empty parcel of town-owned land along Route 100, south of the town’s north village. The town’s salt and sand shed occupies a relatively small part of the property.
While an actual building might be years away, the site planning performed by Norwich University’s civil engineering and construction management students — tens of thousands of dollars of work at no cost to the town — is a first major step toward assessing the feasibility of the project.
On July 6, Londonderry’s Selectboard voted to authorize the study. If the community center project is deemed feasible, the board agreed that a vote should be put to the town on whether to pursue the project further.
“That is the only piece of buildable land this town owns,” Tom Cavanagh, chair of the selectboard, said, noting the importance of carefully considering how the town should use the property.
A southern Green Mountain town of 1,700, Londonderry lies along the West River and is home to Magic Mountain ski area. The broader tri-mountain region also includes Weston, Andover, Chester, Windham, Winhall, Jamaica, Landgrove and Peru.
For Maud Maciak, 35, who is helping lead the project, the community center would provide a gathering space to spend more time with her neighbors, and she especially hopes to get to know more young parents.
“That’s what drives me into this project in the first place,” she said.
While the quality of life in Vermont is attractive to young people, the lack of housing prevents them from moving here, Maud suggested. “The lack of workforce that we have in our area, I really think it’s due to housing. By building housing, we also are eliminating a lot of the hurdle of finding people (to work).”
The community center concept has been championed by One Londonderry and its community center work group, a citizen group created to advocate for projects envisioned by town residents.
In early 2021, Londonderry worked with the Vermont Council on Rural Development to facilitate a community listening project. Out of that work, the town discovered widespread desire for more housing, a community center and increased village revitalization. One Londonderry was created to take action on those ideas, among others.
Jenna Koloski, community engagement and policy director at the Vermont Council on Rural Development, helped organize Londonderry’s listening sessions. Her work with the town was the first of VCRD’s pandemic-era community visits.
Londonderry “built this steering committee of One Londonderry leaders, and we’ve been working with them in an ongoing way to support the work, but it’s really led by local volunteers,” Koloski said. “It’s been really impressive to see what they have been able to accomplish.”
MaryEllen Yankosky has taken the lead for One Londonderry on the community center project. Her decades of work in nonprofits have equipped her for this sort of work, she said, and she’s been encouraged by the support of her neighbors for the project.
As the project’s proponents imagine it, the Tri-Mountain Commons would serve the broader community, attracting people from neighboring mountain towns that also lack sufficient gathering spaces and childcare options. The details for now are few, but Norwich’s study will reveal not only whether construction is possible but what scale it might take. With the students’ work in hand, One Londonderry members believe they will have an easier time applying for grant funding and attracting donors to support the project.
Asked about her faith in Londonderry voters supporting the community center down the line, Yankosky was confident. “From the initial support that we’ve gotten over the last couple of weeks, with a year to talk this program up and bring more people in, I’m encouraged, I’m encouraged by what I think will be a positive vote,” she said.
One Londonderry and Yankosky scoured the town looking for possible places for the center. They settled on the Prouty property as the best option. “There’s very little buildable space that would be central to not only our community but the connecting communities,” Yankosky said.
The student-led study will begin in August and will conclude in late spring of 2023.
Correction: A previous version of this article mischaracterized the current use of the Prouty property.
