Parking Lot Construction

The Board is pleased to announce that we are looking into starting work on a complete renovation of the parking lot!  We have recently received an Estate gift from Felix Bottenhorn which can pay for the entire project. The Board had been planning this project for over a year and was just waiting for the right time and the funds to do it. We are grateful to Mr. Bottenhorn for giving us this Estate gift to make this happen.
As anyone knows that has driven into our lot, it is bumpy, uneven and starting to break up in places. Not only does it look quite shabby, but we began to feel that work needed to be done on it to make it safe for visitors and volunteers to walk safely across it to enter the Shelter. And it is nearly impossible for our snow plow person to do a good and safe job. In addition, there is standing water most of the time on the East side of the building in the driveway from poor drainage. There is also an old sewer line under the parking lot that needs replacing. We have not had an issue with it yet, but the previous tenants of the building did have trouble from time to time and had to have the town come out and clean it out.
We will have the lot dug down and remove all the old clay and poor soil. And part of an old foundation from a previous building will need to be dug out. You can see the wall of the old foundation protruding through the asphalt, about in the middle of the lot. There will be drainage pipes put in on the East side of the building which will eliminate that water problem, soggy ground and the ice build up there in the wintertime.
 
This all is coming together at an opportune time. Governor Scott is wanting to get the Vermont economy up and running again safely and as much as possible. Construction is one of the areas he is promoting as a safer area, being outdoors where people can come back to work. With the shelter closed to the public and the cats in foster homes so that no volunteers are coming and going at the moment to tend to cats, it is an excellent time to, hopefully, get this work done. Sometimes the Sun, Moon, and Stars all just come together and make it the right time for something like this to finally get completed!

​-Rod Lauman, Board Member
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