Since the 1970s, VTrans had sought input from Danville residents in the re-design of the three-quarter mile section of Route 2 that runs through Main Street in the town, but could not reach agreement on a construction concept.

In 1999, the Council began to facilitate a process in which artists were engaged to help residents articulate a community vision for the road's redesign to help break the decades-old impasse, and the Danville Project was born.

The Goal of the Project is to enhance the essence of a small, close-knit rural community by providing a safe, attractive and comfortable pedestrian environment in the Village of Danville that celebrates its unique historic, built and natural features.

The Challenge of the Project is to upgrade road conditions through the Village by meeting Federal Highway System requirements to provide better sight lines and improved vehicular and pedestrian safety while respecting the aesthetic and cultural fabric of the community.

The Process is collaborative in nature and draws on Vermont traditions of public meetings, civic dialog and representative democracy. Participation by professional artists infuses the process with a creative approach to problem solving and openness to new solutions. A Local Review Committee oversees the Project from conceptual design through maintenance, including installation.

This first-ever partnering between the Council and VTrans is an exciting and precedent-setting venture. The Project is significant as a model of a successful interagency partnership driven by an awareness of the importance of Context-Sensitive Design. With broad public, private and multiagency support, the Danville Project provides a successful template designed to help small communities deal with Quality of Life issues as they relate to the demands of infrastructure.

Through Senator Leahy’s leadership role in the U.S. Senate, the project has been lauded as a model of Context Sensitive Design, and has received two federal appropriations: the first in 2004 for nearly $2 million, and the second in 2005 for $5 million.  These commitments of support and funding have helped secure a place in the lineup of projects that will be undertaken by VTrans.

The Project is scheduled for completion by 2010.

Danville Project: The Place

Context Drives Design Solutions - The project’s location, site history, modes of transportation and traditional and current uses are important factors in the design process.

The main artery of Danville is U.S. Highway Route 2; in a sense, the community’s Main Street. Some of New England’s most unspoiled and spectacular scenery can be viewed from Route 2 in Vermont as one approaches Danville from either direction.

Located approximately 30 miles north of Montpelier, the state capital, Danville’s distinctive Town Hall, school, general store, churches and village Green, seen against the panorama of the White Mountains in neighboring New Hampshire, represent the physical embodiment of those visual cues that have come to signify “rural New England village”.

 THE GREEN: CENTERPIECE OF COMMUNITY

In New England, the village Green, or "common", tells a story of the community. Danville Green and its central common situated at 1341 feet above sea level command a broad view of the Northeast Highlands of Vermont, with long distant views to the White Mountain massif, and the peaks of the Presidential Range.

In 1937, The American Guide Series on Vermont, a Federal Writers Project of the Works Progress Administration, described the community and its common this way:

"Danville ... was settled in 1784. Danville Green, as the village is locally called, lies along the slope of a high airy plateau commanding views of the White Mountains, and is a resort for hay-fever sufferers. The tree-shaded common, with its bandstand and Civil War Monument, was in early times the scene of June Training Day celebrations."

The history, Village in the Hills, by Susannah Clifford, tracks the evolution of Danville Green as a cultural and commercial center for the town, from the early 1790s when artisans began locating there and continuing through the designation of Danville as Caledonia County seat in 1796. The physical layout of the common had already begun to take shape, as noted by Clifford:

"By the early 1800s Danville had roads radiating out in all directions from the new courthouse on Danville Green."

Danville continued to grow in prominence with political and commercial activity focused in the village growing up around the Green. The Danville Village Improvement Society was formed to beautify the town in 1896 and the following year an "elegant stone watering trough", still present in the park today and one of the focal points of the planned enhancement of the Green, was placed near the Pope Library. During this period the Society installed street lamps and planted rows of shade trees on the common and along roads leading to it.

This vision, along with the cultural integrity of the Green’s historic significance is reflected in design elements of the Danville Project.

 CHANGE: THE ONE CONSTANT OVER 200 YEARS

The wide range of architectural styles that can be viewed within the Danville Historical District provides further evidence that change, adaptation of use and evolution of appearance have been a constant and natural force in the Village since its founding.

Photographs, maps, paintings and drawings of Danville preserved at the Danville Historical Society bear witness to enormous changes in the size, configuration, appearance, usage and character of the village Green over four centuries. At times, alternately heavily or sparsely treed, fenced or open, segmented or whole, bisected by a single road or divided by as many as four, its physical appearance has changed dramatically. The Green has evolved to suit community needs in an identifiable and predictably linear fashion.

Today, the people of Danville are responding to a unique opportunity to revitalize the Green not only to meet their immediate needs, but also to anticipate and address the needs of generations to come, and to reassert the identity of this important community resource.

 GEOLOGY: BENEATH THE SURFACE

Between West Danville and Danville, the road [US Highway Route 2] crosses the Danville Moraine, one of the largest and best developed in New England. (A moraine is rock massed with gravel, sand, and clay and carried and deposited directly by a glacier). Danville is about in the middle of the moraine belt, which extends southward 30 miles to Goose Green, northward 20 miles to a point 2.5 miles west of Glover. Recognize moraines by their naturally hummocky topography, stony fields, and in many cases by manbuilt stone fences that divide farmers’ fields. - Source: Roadside Geology of Vermont and New Hampshire
 

DANVILLE PROJECT: THE PARTNERS

The ‘heart’ of the process guiding the Danville Project is collaboration among partners and other interested parties. As an advocate for universal design as defined by the National Endowment for the Arts, the Vermont Arts Council brings a new perspective to the marriage of engineering and art with the Danville Project, by insisting it is possible to create environments that everyone can use and enjoy.

The Danville Project exemplifies the Council’s inherent value as a community partner and a catalyst for exchange between artists and organizations: it offers education opportunities and technical advice, collects and disseminates arts information, documents the project in its role as the State’s foremost arts advocate.

Listed below are Council's partners in the Danville Project.

VERMONT AGENCY OF TRANSPORTATION

The Vermont Agency of Transportation [VTrans] leads the national movement toward context-sensitive design solutions and public involvement. Its goal is to bring a community together early in the process to help design an outcome that is in keeping with local values.

This Project encourages creative solutions to engineering problems surrounding the design and maintenance of infrastructure. The Danville Project proves that including artists in the process is a natural fit, due to their unique visioning and communication skills, and ability to articulate a community’s hopes and dreams. Many of the lessons learned in this small town are already being applied on other planning projects in the state.

Ken Robie, S.E.T., is VTrans Project Manager for the Danville/U.S. Highway Route 2 Reconstruction Project. For additional information regarding the engineered portion of this Project, contact him by email, or phone 802.828.2645.

THE TOWN OF DANVILLE

The Town of Danville was chartered in 1784 and was designated as the county seat in 1796.

For more than 150 years, agriculture formed the economic base of the community, and was well-supported by tourist, lumber and mining industries. Today, the town is a small rural community defined by several distinct compact historical villages surrounded by farmland, forests and scenic vistas. In 2000 the population of the town was 2211.

Strong connection to the land and traditions of community service, self-sufficiency, independence, education, civic pride, family, and neighbor helping neighbor are the underpinnings of local support for the Danville Project.

Merton Leonard is Administrative Assistant for the town of Danville. For additional information regarding the community portion of this project, contact him by email or phone 802.684.3426.

LOCAL REVIEW COMMITTEE

Central to the Danville Project is a Local Review Committee [LRC] consisting of nine area residents who offer up their time and energies to serve as representatives of distinct constituencies within the greater community.

The Danville Selectboard identified these constituencies in March 2000 as “...providing a broad cross-section of the interests and concerns of the community”.

In addition to the nine local members, four members of the Design Team also have Voting Member Status on the LRC. Other representatives from VTrans, the Vermont Arts Council and their consultants as well as interested community members attend LRC meetings, contribute to, and are active participants in the process.

However, only consensus by the Committee itself determines the direction of the Project and its ultimate realization.

ARTISTS

In late summer 2000, the Local Review Committee reviewed applications from artists and selected two to collaborate on the project:

David Raphael, ASLA of Panton, VT is Lead Artist for the Danville Project. He is a graduate, with honors, of Tufts University and the School of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston and received a Master’s Degree in Landscape Architecture from the Harvard Graduate School of Design.

He is the founder and Principal of Land-Works, an interdisciplinary planning, design and communications firm based in Middlebury, VT and has collaborated with environmental artists and designed public art projects throughout Vermont, New Hampshire and Virginia.
 

Andrea Wasserman of Vershire, VT serves as Creative Consultant to the Danville Project. She received a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the Rhode Island School of Design and a Master’s Degree from Cranbrook Academy of Art. She works both as a sculptor from her studio and as a visiting artist/teacher in Vermont public schools.

She has led and collaborated with teams of artists to design and fabricate site-specific art installations including projects in Vermont, Massachusetts, Florida and Pennsylvania.

CONSULTING ENGINEERING SERVICES

Consulting services for the project are provided to VTrans by Stantec of South Burlington, VT. For more information regarding engineering design and the regulatory review portions of this project, contact Office Leader Gary Santy by email or phone 802.864.0223.

VIDEO DOCUMENTATION

Video documentation of the Danville Project is provided by Kingdom County Productions of Barnet, VT.
 

For additional information regarding the film “The Danville Project”, contact producer/director Bess O’Brien by email or phone 802.592.3190.

 DANVILLE PROJECT: EDUCATION & CURRCIULUM SUPPORT

Imagination and Connection - The Danville Project is a great springboard for many imaginative educational activities.

The Family and Community Collaboration component to Vermont’s Framework of Standards and Learning Opportunities calls for stronger ties between schools, communities and community organizations [D3]. The reconstruction and enhancement of U.S. Route 2 offers many opportunities to connect learning to real life, and especially, to involve students in diverse and critical aspects of community life.

For students, it can be a chance to experience learning as a dynamic process that they can guide, and to see how learning can and does touch their lives. For the community, it’s an investment in the future, and an opportunity to empower students, enliven the social fabric and help everyone feel more connected to place.

 CLASSROOM PROJECTS

Several classroom projects have been designed and developed for the Council for delivery through the Danville School, including:

• The Acorn Project: Teacher Judy Clifford’s third grade class combined lessons in Social Studies, Biology and Botany in 2001 and again in 2002 as it gathered acorns from a beloved red oak on Route 2, and germinated them under the direction of Mark C. Starrett, Ph.D., associate professor of Horticulture at the University of Vermont in Burlington. At the end of construction, students might have the opportunity to plant their saplings at some site[s] along the Project.
  
   
• The View from the Green: In Spring 2004, students of Sharon Biddle in the Architectural Design class set up on the Green and participated in recreating a 360-degree-view of the Green and surrounding buildings. This series of architectural renderings or historical photos documenting the Green as it looked in Spring 2004 were planned for use as postcards or as part of a calendar of Danville village to be used as school fund raising memorabilia.
  
   
• The Carving Project: Art teacher Lian Brehm hopes to involve interested students in the school in creating carvings or inclusions of stone or other material to complement the carved marble relief “Map of the Mountains” that will anchor the western end of the project. Sculptor Nancy Diefenbach will assist students with this project in 2009.
  
   
• Danville: A Show of Hands: Designed specifically for community celebration artist Maggie Sherman, in 2004 this temporal installation involved students from the local K-12 school creating clay ‘handprints’ of community members, interviewing them and relating the data to art, science, history, civics and ‘Changes’.
  
  More than 600 handprints from residents were collected in a 3 week period and were affixed to a tree on the village Green where they responded to natural environmental processes providing an overview of community and change.

In addition, ongoing arts-based community projects are planned that will continue to engage residents and visitors prior to and during the construction phase of the project.

 DANVILLE PROJECT: PLANNING & PROCESS

The Goals - Specific community goals identified by the Local Review Committee appointed by the Danville Selectboard at the outset of the Project in May 2000 that have been successfully addressed by the process include:

• Celebrating the unique history, character and attributes that define local culture;
• Preserving and revitalizing the Green as a large, open public space;
• Enhancing the visual appeal of the Village center by undergrounding utilities;
• Providing adequate parking to support visitors and to ensure the economic viability of businesses in the Village;
• Raising community spirit and generating contributions from social, civic, business and fraternal organizations;
• Supporting ‘pride of place’ among residents and business owners;
• Engaging residents and local business owners in an ongoing dialog about the past, present and future of their community;
• Increasing awareness of and participation in the democratic process;
• Creating local and regional businesses opportunities for expanded commerce; and
• Including all who wish to be involved in the process.

At the first Community Meeting held in November 2000, and at two subsequent Community Meetings, residents identified additional goals and further refined their expectations of the Project. Inspired by comments and suggestions from the residents, the Design Team integrated all of these elements into its Preliminary Design Plan.

 THE PHILOSOPHY

For the first several years of the Danville Project, process was the most important product. That process was inclusive, sensitive, engaging and ongoing, from the preliminary conceptual phase to the final design, and onward through to the installations and the conclusion of the Project.

• Inclusive, so all constituencies and interested parties, stakeholders, artists and residents have the opportunity to be heard, the opportunity to participate, and the opportunity to influence and shape the Project outcome.
• Sensitive, so the process embraces all who wish to participate in the dialog, regardless of position, place, or strength or eloquence of voice.
• Engaging, so every avenue of opportunity is explored to attract individuals to the planning and design of the environments and elements, and to encourage them to become a part of this celebration of people, place, nature and art.
• Ongoing, so the process unfolds fully and naturally over the time it will take to plan, conceive and create the Project. When the final designs are complete, their installation in concert with the artistic enhancements will become part of a renewed community fabric that will serve future generations.

This methodology ensures that a participatory process which supports a community in learning from its past to inform its present and guide its future, will be supported by the community.

 PROJECT MODEL A: LAWRENCE HALPRIN

One guide for orchestrating the planning and design process is the work of landscape architect Lawrence Halprin, whose design for the Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial in Washington, DC, included extensive public involvement. Halprin articulated a construct for guiding the design process in The RSVP Cycles -- “a methodology to encourage and stimulate group creativity”. The RSVP Cycles present 4 key aspects of planning places for and with people, based on the premise that everyone has creative potential:

Resources: these are the human and material resources available to inform and enrich the creative process; the resource base includes a physical inventory and a project program, objectives and expectations;

Score: as in a musical score or the choreography of dance; the score orchestrates design, participation, events and activities that visibly delineate, generate and sustain a project;

Valuaction: as an integral part of the process, people’s feelings and belief systems, as well as community needs and desires must be integrated with a decision-making process that respects, acknowledges and incorporates these values; and

Performance: includes the product and its evolution over time; this component of the Cycles anticipates an organic, non-static solution; an environment or result that is defined by those who use it, experience it, and appreciate it.

 PROJECT MODEL B: WILLIAM MOORISH & CATHERINE BROWN

The second model for project process comes from the work of William Moorish and Catherine Brown at the Design Center for the American Urban Landscape at the University of Minnesota, who outline a six-step process for planning community projects:

1. Organizing - laying out the strategic foundation for a long term effort; investiture, programming, setting goals and objectives.
2. Gathering - information collection, discovery, synthesis and communication.
3. Ordering - exploring options, answering questions, evaluating, and determining a sense of direction.
4. Making - developing the vision, developing the collaboration, outlining the steps to implementation.
5. Taking Action - orchestrating activities, coordinating agreements and other logistics, implementing project elements.
6. Sustaining - putting in place the tools to complete, maintain, refine, and manage over time the project products/elements.

The Danville Project provides a framework for community planning and design that begins with the individual and embraces the whole, and results in planning that becomes an act of public participation and a definition of its future.

 THE SIGNIFICANCE

The Danville Project serves:

First, as a model that can be applied to any community setting in any state in the nation when faced with the need to improve its transportation infrastructure.

Second, as an example of Context Sensitivity, of protecting and preserving the character of a place, the quality of its built structures, and the overall quality of life of its citizens.

Third, as a demonstration that artists serving as consultants or facilitators at the early stages of a project, can and do, by the mechanics of their communicating and visioning skills, help a community define and express its goals.

Fourth, as proof that where artists are involved in the design/community-facilitation process, significant savings of time and money are achieved over the life of a project compared to similar projects in other communities, and

Fifth, as a methodology for involving a committee of local representatives comprised of members from diverse segments of the community to maintain momentum and interest in a project.

 BENEFITS & RESULTS

The relative ease of cultivating ‘local ownership’ of the Danville Project as a result of the ongoing dialog between the partners and stakeholders is the most immediate benefit of this collaboration. An improved infrastructure that is visually attractive and designed to meet community needs and requirements, accommodate traditional events, and move traffic, while remaining sensitive to local culture benefits everyone. Other specific transportation goals that have been successfully addressed include:

• Clearing several hurdles in regulatory processes in fairly record time;
• Decreasing legal costs normally associated with zoning, ROW and other ‘individual’ challenges to the construction plan;
• Slowing vehicular traffic on a Federal highway through the Village center;
• Calming and simplifying vehicular traffic patterns in the sdurrounding community;
• Creating and supporting a pleasant and secure pedestrian friendly environment;
• Designing a project to complement the surrounding natural and built landscape; and
• Facilitating local and regional personal and commercial travel.

Although the Project is not yet concluded, the absence of dollar and time expenditures typically associated with similar projects, increased support from the local community, and the attainment of identified goals has more than offset the up-front cost of engaging artists to lead a community planning process. Specific cultural goals that have been successfully addressed by the Project include:

• Expanding the public dialog about art, aesthetics and community to better understand the creative and artistic process;
• Supporting opportunities for artists to make and present their work for the public benefit;
• Exposing all the partners, constituents and stakeholders to an influx of new ideas;
• Maintaining consistently excellent lines of communication between artists and communities;
• Increasing local and regional opportunities for expanding tourism and cultural heritage;
• Demonstrating that it is possible, practical and cost-effective to create beautiful, safe and productive work for the public benefit; and
• Engaging a professional video-documentarian to record the process from the beginning, in order to greatly enhance the Project’s value as a model of “best practice” for our colleagues in other states with small villages located on rural highways.

DANVILLE PROJECT: HISTORY

2000 – Present

In early spring 2000, the Vermont Arts Council began a search for a Lead Artist to oversee design, fabrication and community involvement in aesthetic treatments for the redevelopment of a portion of U.S. Highway Route 2 through the village of Danville, VT. Highlights of the planning and design process include:

• Formation of a Local Review Committee [LRC] in Danville in March 2000; members representing nine distinct constituencies from the greater Danville community were appointed by the Selectboard to oversee the Project through to its conclusion.
  
   
• A Request for [Artist] Qualifications was published in May 2000, and the Council received over 20 applications from artists with strong and varied experiential backgrounds in sculpture, landscape architecture, painting, photography, printmaking, and public art.
  
   
• The LRC reviewed applications in Danville in July 2000. After narrowing the field and conducting on-site interviews, the Committee selected two artists: David Raphael and Andrea Wasserman to guide the process. Throughout summer and fall 2000 the Design Team, comprised of the artists and engineers, met with the LRC to develop an understanding of the needs and scope of the Project. Additional meetings of the LRC were held on a regular basis during the first two years of the Project.
  
   
• In mid-November 2000, the first open-forum Community Meeting was held in Danville to gather input from the residents of the Town, for incorporation into a Preliminary Design Proposal. A subsequent Community Meeting approximately 18 months later helped refine the proposals, culminating in a Preliminary Design Proposal that was reviewed by the LRC in early 2001.
  
   
• As mandated by Vermont statute, a 502 Hearing was held in Danville in September 2001, defining the scope and limits of the capital construction Project to all affected residents, business owners, landowners and holders of Title, and soliciting comments for consideration and incorporation into the proposed plan.
  
   
• In early spring 2002 the Danville Selectboard gave approval to the preliminary proposals for landscaping, plantings, lighting and artistic enhancements and work began on the Final Design Plan.
  
   
• The Final Design Plan was presented to the Selectboard and to the greater community in late 2002, after which time pursuit and development of permits essential to the project, and fabrication of working models and prototypes and construction drawings of the individual enhancement elements began.
  
   
• Through Senator Leahy’s leadership role in the U.S. Senate, the project has been lauded as a model of Context Sensitive Design, and has received two federal appropriations: the first in 2004 for nearly $2 million, and the second in 2005 for $5 million.  These commitments of support and funding have helped secure a place in the lineup of projects that will be undertaken by VTrans.
  
   
• In August 2006, as mandated by Vermont statute, an Act 250 Hearing was held in Danville, reaffirming the scope of the project and gauging its environmental impact on the community and the state. Minor adjustments to the landscaping plan were requested and a permit was approved.
  
  
  
  
  
   

 KEYS TO SUCCESS

• Vital partnerships between local government, the Vermont Arts Council and the Vermont Agency of Transportation were established early on in the project.
  
   
• The creation of a Local Review Committee ensured the participation and buy-in of Danville stakeholders
  
   
• An intensive series of community meetings over the course of 18 months and occasional meetings over the following two years kept the channels of communication open between residents and the design group.
  
   
• The vision of the project incorporated community involvement, preservation and promotion of the community's identity, noted as a specific need from the outset.
   

The Weather in Danville

When residents are asked the question, “What one factor most influences the character of Danville?” the answer comes back quickly: The weather!

Weather is central to farmers’ concerns and has influenced the design and construction of buildings, the success or failure of the local economy, the social and political structure of the community and the safety and efficiency of modes of transportation ever since the Town’s charter in 1786.

With this in mind, the artists worked closely with members of the LRC and other groups and individuals in town to examine how this very important, yet often overlooked elemental factor has left its mark on the four components of everyday life in Danville: community, tradition, agriculture and transportation.

After addressing issues of public safety and accessibility, their mission was to bring a sense of visual unity to these different subjects in a very practical way that is sensitive to and respectful of the community.

 NEWS ARCHIVE

Below are links to various sources (newspapers, periodicals and press releases) that address and/or review the Project.

DANVILLE PROJECT: CONTACT

John Zwick managed the Danville Transportation Enhancement Project for the Vermont Arts Council from June 2000 to September 2007.

For new information regarding the current or future status of this Project, please contact Michele Bailey (pictured at left) by email or phone 802.828.3294.

ENGINEERED INFRASTRUCTURE

Technical information including drawings, schematics or other graphic representations of the engineered aspects of the Danville Project, including: information about permitting and an overview of the proposed Engineering timeline for the Project along with a brief narrative outlining safety considerations and/or influencing factors, and/or descriptions of different aspects of the current design plan, and/or other considerations that impact on engineering decisions may be obtained by contacting Gary Santy for consultant Stantec at 802.864.0223.

View Project Map by STANTEC (PDF)

GATEWAYS

TRAFFIC SAFETY & GATEWAYS -

At the eastern and western approaches to Danville on Route 2, ‘Gateways’ with signage, landscaping, granite posts and sidewalk markers are planned to alert motorists that they are entering into a village center and should adjust their driving styles accordingly.

The drawing at left indicates the location of sample gateways at the town limits.

GRANITE POSTS

A series of simple, rational and engaging granite posts will be set at certain junctures of the Project to indicate the perimeter of the village and at key locations to define the boundaries of the Green.

This type of traditional granite fence post was once common in Danville’s traditionally agrarian landscape. The stone markers will also serve as added traffic calming devices.

Inlaid with bas reliefs or photographs and weather-related themes, the granite posts will commemorate Danville’s history and diversity and will reflect the community’s past, present and future.

The granite posts along the new sidewalks and on the Green invite interaction with the site in a way that offers relevant history, appropriate function and an opportunity for reflection.

Durability of materials and ease of maintenance are concerns that are also addressed in the plan.

LANDSCAPING

Preliminary designs for the landscape enhancements to the Danville Green and the Route 2 corridor were approved by the Danville Board of Selectmen in February 2002. Danville has a long history of tree-lined streets and plantings on the historic Green, and the Project designers reviewed historic photos and worked closely with Local Review Committee members, state transportation planners and local residents to develop the plan for landscape enhancements.

With the removal of Brainerd Street extension, the spatial integrity of the Green will be restored, resulting in an Upper Green and a Lower Green divided by Peacham Road. The lower Green will be extensively regraded resulting in more practically useable space for community activities.

On the Green itself, proposed new plantings are designed to help buffer the area from highway noise, add variety and interest to the species mix present, and provide replacement trees as existing trees age and need to be removed.

A range of species native to the region is proposed for the length of the Project, including: maple, ash, elm, shadbush, oak, larch, spruce and hardy rugosa roses.

The planting plan has been carefully developed to ensure that it will complement the activities and annual events that traditionally take place on the Green, such as the Farmers’ Market and Danville Fair Days.

Representatives of these and other groups were invited to present their needs and concerns to the Design Team and review the proposals, and their input was incorporated into the resulting plan.

• Plan
• Drawing
• Elevations:
  • map 1
  • map 2
  • map 3
  • map 4
  • map 5
  • map 6
  • map 7
  • map 8
  • map 9
  • map 10
  • map 11

LIGHTING

New, energy efficient, village-scaled lighting fixtures are also proposed for Route 2 and the village center. The new lighting is part of the initiative to underground the utility lines along the highway and around the Green. The design and engineering of the lighting levels and coverage will result in safer and more consistent illumination than presently exists. The new sidewalks will be sufficiently lit and ensure that pedestrians and schoolchildren will have adequate lighting levels during the dark afternoons of winter and on summer evenings as well.

Lower pole heights (12-14 feet) and softer illumination controlled by either timers or photocells will be provided around the Green, and higher poles (16-18 feet) and brighter illumination levels are planned for locations adjacent to the highway and new sidewalks. As an added benefit, electrical outlets will be installed in the poles around the Green, facilitating the use of power for the Fair and Farmers’ Market as well as other special events on the Green.

A number of historic lighting style options was presented to the Local Review Committee and a classic “acorn style” lamp mounted on a simple dark green post and base was approved for the fixture housing and pole.

PDFs of lamp drawings

• Lamp 1
• Lamp 2
• Lamp 3

Map of the Mountains

Capitalizing on the spectacular views of the White Mountains’ Presidential Range to the east, the Map of the Mountains will display the visible range in relief, carved from marble by sculptors Nancy Diefenbach and Andrea Wasserman. The map will be located at the western terminus of the new sidewalk, behind the school on a knoll affording maximum visibility. Each discernible peak on the relief will be identified by name and with elevations indicated. A weather-related sculptural element is also planned along the sidewalk in front of the school.

SEATING

A number of historic and contemporary styles of Benches were presented to the LRC for consideration, and the Committee chose one style of metal and wood, and another of granite. A number of these benches will be placed on both the upper and lower Green and will provide seating areas in addition to those created by the low stone walls in the lower Green. In October 2002, the Selectboard gave their initial approval to the Committee’s recommendation.

View PDF of architectural plans (refer to the Circle and Ampitheatre Retaining Wall Detail, Circle Plan and Section portions of plan)

THE BANDSTAND

The Bandstand is an historical and integral piece of the landscape of the Village that serves as a focal point of the Green.

It marks the center of community commemorations of town events such as concerts, weddings, Memorial Day and Fourth of July celebrations, Autumn on the Green and Danville Fair Days.

A review of historical images shows a bandstand as one relatively constant landmark on the Green; all other parts we identify as elements of the Green (trees, monuments, roadways, walkways, fences) have changed over time.

As a practical landmark, the Bandstand reinforces the sense of ‘village’ and by so doing, serves as an effective traffic-calming device and contributes to the safety and security of the community.

The rehabilitation of the Green’s planted landscape and consequent revitalization of this important public space calls for some simple renovation and upgrading of the existing Bandstand to enhance its structure and function. Another weather-related element, such as a simple thermometer, is proposed for the peak of the Bandstand. This practical, functional device pays tribute to and celebrates the community’s agricultural heritage and its relationship to Danville’s climate.

Proposed enhancement of the Bandstand will provide wheelchair accessibility, allow for a somewhat larger floor space for performances and recognize the six communities that constitute greater Danville, with the name of each engraved into the lintel just below the roof. And most importantly, the enhancement will restore to the Bandstand a finished and dignified appearance, with the grace it has maintained throughout history.

THE GREEN

Simplifying traffic patterns through and around the Green restores the integrity of this four-acre parcel of common land in the heart of the Village.

Aesthetic enhancements planned include a completely renovated Bandstand, two low stone retaining walls that also function as seating or picnic areas, new benches, and a more appropriate base for the historic Water Trough.

The combined effect of the design proposals for the Green is to build on the tradition of a space shared by all for the common good, and by so doing, to reinforce village ambience and support traffic calming on the highway.

Use of granite as the common, unifying material for nearly all the proposed enhancements pays tribute to the geology and early industry of Danville, and is a strong, practical and native material that is easily worked and requires little if any maintenance.

The community’s wish for the Green to remain open, uncluttered and accessible was one of the guiding factors in this plan.

As a result, about 90-95% of the Green will be left open as it is today for future generations, to allow for the diverse uses it has traditionally accommodated.

All of the proposed enhancements incorporate input and suggestions from the community, and are intended to respect, benefit and celebrate the citizens and history of Danville.

TRAFFIC CALMING

The term “traffic calming” is an important component of many highway projects in Vermont, especially in communities struggling to ‘calm’ or slow traffic through their historic village centers. (CLICK ON THE MAPS ON THIS PAGE TO SEE LARGER IMAGES).

Equally important in this approach to transportation planning are the compatible goals of restoring aesthetic qualities and improving pedestrian safety in village centers. Proven traffic calming methods employed in the Danville Project include roadway alterations such as gateways, dividing islands, curb extensions, textured crosswalks and managed access to individual properties through shared or limited curb cuts. In addition, a newly signalized intersection is planned where Route 2 crosses Peacham Road at the village Green.

Streetscape design also plays an important role in traffic calming with enhancements such as lighting, signage and landscaping, which reinforce village ambience and at the same time improve aesthetics and human comfort.

Taken together, these initiatives enhance the historic attributes and pedestrian scale of the village and help to keep it a vibrant, satisfying place to live and work, as well as to visit.