Region mixes old and new to grow economy

Vermont Business Magazine, Aug 01, 2004 by Barna, Ed

trucks would make it possible to expand the OMYA plant and its regional financial impact.

Lougee said that although things are moving along quietly, they're going swiftly. Dubois and King Engineering is doing an Environmental Impact Study, working hand in hand with the Army Corps of Engineers on the wetlands issues that appear to be the most difficult part of going across Route 7 and Otter Creek to the railway.

Healthy, Wealthy And Wise

The two other leading sources of wellpaying Addison County jobs have both been rolling along lately. To start with the simpler situation, the Porter Medical Center is now seeking Certificate of Need approval for a $14 million modernization plan that would replace the 30-year-old maternity ward and operating rooms.

According to vice president for public relations Ron Hallman, the former would see hospital-style labor rooms and a delivery room become four homelike birthing rooms. Their research showed that only about 50 percent of Addison County resident's births were taking place in Addison County, as people sought more family-oriented alternatives.

Instead of the two traditional operating rooms, there would be two up-to-date facilities plus a special procedures room better suited to outpatient care, and an endoscopy room (colon cancer tests, for example) that should get more and more use as the population ages.

Ile associated physicians can provide a good deal of state-of-the art care, Hallman said, pointing to the way the hospital can now deal with the very common childhood tonsil operations through the quicker, less traumatic "coblation' technique (radio waves convert saline solution into focused plasma particles, which carry enough energy to break up soft tissues at relatively low temperatures).

Meanwhile, residents who go there often meet people they know among more than 200 volunteers, and Hallman said there is little turnover and turmoil among the nurses who we a large part of the staff of more than 600 employees.

Like many other Middlebury amenities, the hospital and associated nursing/rehabilitative unit and Porter physician practices awe much to the presence of Middlebury College. (See related story)

Get it While You Can

Developments in all the economic sectors converge to create housing and retail markets. To consider the real estate situation first, interest rate rises haven't choked off the market yet, and in fact may be inspiring some people to buy while they are still low.

Tom Walsh, co-owner of Bill Beck Real Estate in Middlebury with Colleen Beck, said activity was "strong," with 127 closings in the first six months of the year. The figure for all of last year was 303, he said.

Prices seem to have leveled off some, he said, with the median figure $165,000 this year and last, though the average (reflecting a few high-end sales) was $195,000 this year compared with $172,000 the year before.

As those figures might suggest, there is a shortage of affordable and starter homes.

"We need more of those," Beck said. Another place where demand outstrips supply is with good-quality condominiums not too far from the village center an option many retirees would like.