BARRE, Vt. -
Hunger Mountain Co-op says it is not interested in opening a satellite location in downtown Barre.
Barre Mayor Thom Lauzon continues to look for a grocery store that would serve as an anchor tenant to the proposed City Place building across from Depot Square. The $15 million mixed office project already has tenants signed up for the upstairs, including new state offices. When it comes to the co-op, he says he's not willing to take no for an answer just yet.
"If you look at the co-op's mission and what they're trying to do, they're trying to promote healthy living through healthy eating practices and availability of good food-- farm to table food. And I think we fit perfectly with their model," Lauzon said.
"Our bylaws state that we have to have two-thirds approval of our members in order to go forward with an expansion project like that. And in order to do that, we would need a fair bit of time in order to study it present it and develop consensus around any question of that magnitude. And our understanding was the developers just didn't have that amount of time," said Kari Bradley of the Hunger Mountain Co-op.
Even though Barre seems to be off the table, Bradley says the co-op is still looking to expand. And to be more nimble, the board is now looking at how to change the bylaw requirements.
