KILLINGTON — Killington cut the ribbon Wednesday on its new municipal water project, the first phase in an infrastructure plan expected to spur $285 million in real estate development.
“You’ve waited 35 years for this,” said Lyle Jepson, executive director of Chamber and Economic Development of the Rutland Region, as giant scissors snipped the ceremonial red ribbon.
A gathering of more than 40 local, state and federal officials celebrated at the site of the infrastructure project, which will pump water from wells beside the Ottauquechee River up to the Killington Road, creating a town water system.
Voters in Killington gave the OK earlier this year to take on up to $47 million in debt to build infrastructure, which, according to the town’s projections, will add $285 million to its grand list value. The debt, which will be repaid through tax increment financing, will fund the water line and also pay for reconstruction of Killington Road, which leads from Route 4 to Killington Resort.
A tax increment financing district, or TIF, is a concise area targeted for development that needs infrastructure to achieve further growth. Money from the increased property taxes generated by the TIF development is used to repay the debt.
In addition to the TIF funding, Killington received approval for $2.3 million in American Rescue Plan Act funding for the water infrastructure, as well as a nearly $3.7 million forgivable loan from the state’s drinking water revolving fund and $2.25 million from the Northern Border Regional Commission.
Jim Haff, a Killington selectboard member and one of the project’s primary champions, said that since the beginning of Killington as a ski area in the 1950s, its leaders have discussed creating a proper ski village. But the infrastructure cost “was just too much for a developer to put up front,” Haff said.
So instead, Killington proposed the state’s largest-ever TIF project, and partnered with developer Great Gulf to construct the so-called Killington Six Peaks Village.
Casella, in a roughly $20 million contract with the town, expects to complete the first phase of the municipal water expansion in two years. It will take additional time to bring the public water system farther down the Killington Road, Haff said.
Through the expansion of public infrastructure, the town expects new housing across income levels.
Killington officials have already begun planning for workforce housing projects. This July, the Killington town government purchased 70 acres of land it expects to use for workforce housing, the Mountain Times first reported. Town officials have said the parcel, which has access to a sewer system and bus line, could include 250 to 300 units in a mix of apartment buildings, duplexes and single-family homes.
Killington won’t necessarily fill the parcel to capacity, Haff said, but once municipal water reaches the plot — an estimated four years from now — the town can determine its workforce housing needs.
“This’ll bring the growth the town of Killington has always needed to have,” Haff said.
Correction: An earlier version of this story misstated the source of Killington’s future public water supply.
