WCAX.COM Local Vermont News, Weather and Sports-Island Pond voters support airport sale
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Associated Press - March 3, 2010 7:15 AM ET
ISLAND POND, Vt. (AP) - Voters in Island Pond say they support a plan to sell the John H. Boylan State Airport to the developer of a proposed wood pellet manufacturing plant.
Vermont Biomass Energy wants to buy the airport. On Tuesday, in a Town Meeting Day vote, Island Pond residents voted 326-74 in favor of a nonbinding advisory endorsing the plan.
The developer wants to convert an old Ethan Allen furniture plant into a manufacturing facility, and needs a lumber yard to hold the logs. That's what the airport site would be used for.
Developer Fran Azure had said if the airport proposal were rejected he'd consider using a vacant mill in Groveton, N.H.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture has agreed to provide a $9 million loan guarantee for the $18 million project.
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