1. Appendix: Examples of Projects and RESOURCES
Section 6

2. Infrastructure Development in the Town of Barnet
Project: Feasibility Study for use of McIndoes Academy building
Funds: Municipal Planning Grant
Current Town Office building
Leadership: Current & Past Selectboard members, Barnet Building Committee, Barnet Historical Society
Additional capacity: State Fire Marshall, NVDA, VT Division for Historic Preservation, Preservation Trust of VT, ACCD
Future potential tools/funds: Village Center designation, VCDP Accessibility Modification grant, Preservation Trust grants and technical assistance, VT Division for Historic Preservation grants.
Over the last two+ years the recently formed Barnet Building Committee has been searching for a location to move the municipal office, which has outgrown its space. The Committee has organized events in various town venues in an effort to involve town residents in decision making.
The historic McIndoes Academy, located on Main Street in the Village of McIndoe Falls in Barnet, closed as an educational institution years ago and now houses the post office and a volunteer-run library. Owned by the McIndoes Academy Board of Trustees, the National Register-listed building is underutilized and may be a good location for the Barnet municipal offices. Space in the building could also be used for the Barnet Historical Society’s collections.
The building committee recognizes that economic development starts with community development. The project serves to demonstrate the community’s commitment to it’s civic and historic resources.
McIndoes Academy

3. Putnam Block Redevelopment, Bennington
Community-enabled Development
The Putnam Block is a gateway to downtown Bennington. Revitalization of this historic block will be catalytic, and help improve the economics for additional investment in the downtown.
The vision for the redevelopment includes
in-town living, retail and office space, a
neighborhood grocery, restaurants and parking. Civic and business leaders, along with M&S Development, will lead the effort with raising the sources of funds, securing tenants and renovating the property.
The project has its genesis in an Area Wide Plan funded by a combination of DEC brownfields planning funds and a Municipal Planning Grant, facilitated by the Bennington County Regional Commission.
The funding is a combination of debt, grants and equity, from private sources, banks, Vermont Economic Development Authority (VEDA), Town Program Income, Community Development Block Grant, and the VT Downtown Program. The project qualifies for New Market Tax Credits and Federal Historic Tax Credits.
The Bennington County Regional Commission (BCRC) worked with the Town of Bennington to utilize a combination of DEC Brownfield planning funds (left over from
Irene recovery funds) and a Municipal Planning Grant to do the Area Wide Plan.
Next, they solicited a group of local investors, led by some of the community's anchor institutions, to get an option of the buildings and nearly four acres of land in downtown Bennington which were the subject of the conceptual redevelopment scenarios in the Area Wide Plan. That option remains in place as the ownership group works on feasibility and environmental remediation planning. It is expected that the property will transfer to the ownership group in the Spring of 2017 and, if all goes according to plan, construction on the early phases of the project will begin in the Fall.
Additional details about this project are available from the Bennington County Regional Commission.

4. Downtowns & Village Centers Tax Credits

5. Downtowns & Village Centers Tax Credits
Putney, VT

6. Downtowns & Village Centers Tax Credits

7. Downtowns & Village Centers Tax Credits

8. Neighborhood Development Areas
This project also made use of Federal and State tax credits.
Winooski: Mill House Redevelopment
25 Market Rate Apartments
10 Townhouses

9. Neighborhood Development Areas
Burlington: BHA Community Home
Group home with caretaker apartment

10. Downtown Transportation Fund
Grant approximately $350,000 annually
Maximum annual grant is $100,000
50% match required – may use in kind as part of match
Projects may include:
streetscape improvements
electric vehicle charging stations
parking facilities
rail or bus facilities
utility relocation
way-finding signage
street lighting
ADA access improvements.

11. Downtown Transportation Fund

12. Downtown Transportation Fund

13. Downtown Transportation Fund

14. Return on Investment
These numbers show the return on the investment in Designated Downtowns, and doesn’t include other state designation programs.