Maybe it takes a Village.
In 2018 Westbury Mobile Home Park was put up for sale. Thanks to a very forward thinking Vermont law called 10 VSA 6242, the residents were allowed to compete with developers to buy the park. Formation of the co-op and purchase of the park with the help of CDI and ROC kept our community in tact. The Westbury Co-op is a Limited Equity Co-op formed under 11 V.S.A. § 1598 which makes it very different than other co-ops and HOAs.
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Two hundred and fifty families finding common ground in 6 1/2 weeks is a tribute to the community and our partners. The Co-op having to pay 3 times the assessed value (roughly 8 million dollars more than the value placed on the park by the Town) kept the developers at bay but left us with very little reserves for the work we have ahead of us.
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To remain a working class community in the Town of Colchester we need to finish what was started by Vermont Law 10 V.S.A. 6242 and become a public neighborhood. If the Town is unable to take on the responsibilities of managing services and infrastructure they manage elsewhere in town for other residents, we will need to find a way to take on the heavy lifting of this challenge ourselves and ask the Town to partner with us as an incorporated village. Town of Colchester has a history of working with other municipalities. We believe a partnership for the common good of both Colchester residents living in Westbury and all residents of Colchester is achievable.
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Our needs are public needs. Incorporating a municipality specifically for those concerns makes sense. It’s a governance structure that’s focused on the particular needs of a geographic section of the public, all of our community in Westbury. That’s what an incorporated Village has always been for. A village could be in a better position to provide long-term for its citizens, more than what the Co-op could do for specific public services.
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In the brief period we had to compete with developers there was not time to figure out how services like roads, drinking water, and wastewater best fit into the equation. With a leap of faith (and no other options) the non-profit co-op we formed took responsibility for all aspects of the community because, unlike potential developers, our core mission was to keep our community alive.
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Now the Co-op manages services on behalf of a community with a larger population than some towns in Vermont. Many of these services are essentially public services such as utilities. They are the kinds of services that are routinely taken on by municipalities in Vermont.
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If the residents of Westbury create a Village, the Co-op can hand over certain essentially public services to the Village. Then the Village can do what Villages do and take care of its public community – the residents of the Village of Westbury using resources that are only available to municipalities. Having the Co-op retain responsibility for what are basic public services increases the costs for our working class community unnecessarily. Having a public entity take on the public services and the public costs makes more economic sense and sets up the area of Westbury for a more solid financial future.
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