St. Johnsbury Town Manager’s Office Highlights

Here are highlights from the St. Johnsbury Town Manager’s Office Highlights with support from the Select Board:

All information is available in past minutes at St J Town Public Meetings - St Johnsbury Public Meetings

• Effectively implemented our Code Compliance Program that has a 99% registration rate. 50% of the proceeds from the rental housing registration fees are awarded annually through the Town’s Rental Housing Grant Improvement Program (RHGIP).

• The Rental Housing Grant Improvement Program (RHGIP) has been awarded $ 334K in funding to improve 78 rental housing units leveraging $3.8M in total investment. Over the last 5 years RHGIP has helped fund 45 net-new rental housing units in St. Johnsbury.

• Over the last 10 years Town Officials have procured and managed over $44M in federal and state grants and deferred loans funding through sources that include ACCD, BRF, USDA RD, EDA, NBRC, EPA, FEMA, VTRANS, and the State of Vermont Clean Water & Drinking Water funds.

• Town Officials collaborated with the NVDA EPA Brownfields Coalition to secure $1M in environmental assessment funds for 23 different projects in St. Johnsbury.

• Procured and deployed $10M in grants and deferred loans to build a new state-of-the-art water treatment facility that came online in December 2025. The total project cost was $14M.

• Successfully deployed $2M of St. Johnsbury Revitalization Funds that were acquired through the ARPA one-time exemption to help fund multiple projects in St. Johnsbury including:

  • Northern Forest Center’s 560 Railroad Street project that transformed a vacant historic structure into 9 rental housing units and 2 commercial spaces.

  • Provided funding for the Caledonia County Food Cooperative acquisition and redevelopment of 515 Railroad Street to make an 8,000sf food co-op that is scheduled to open in July of 2026.

  • Provided funding for Rural Edge’s Packard Court project that is scheduled to begin construction this spring of a 27-unit senior housing apartment building on a site that was left vacant since a 2009 fire.

  • Provided funding to NVDA to acquire and perform environmental clean-up of 575 Concord Avenue to prepare the site for 36 units of housing. 

  • Provided funding to Catamounts Arts for the acquisition of adjacent properties to develop a creative campus.

  • Provided funding for Rural Edge to develop affordable housing units at 138 Cherry St. and 759 Railroad St.

  • Provided funding to NVRH to leverage federal funding to perform feasibility and preliminary design for a housing project on NVRH property.

  • Provided funding for multiple smaller-scale business projects and community-based efforts to assist with recreation programming, facility improvements, and business expansion efforts.

• The Town successfully directed $1M in funding from the state of Vermont for affordable housing to assist with the $15.5M redevelopment of 10 Eastern Avenue into commercial space and 39 rental housing units.

• JK -Town developed a Tax Stabilization Program that has supported 9 projects that have added over $4.2M to the Town’s Grand List.

• Assisted the St. Johnsbury Development Fund with the acquisition and redevelopment of 131 Railroad St. into the Kingdom Animal Hospital.

• Developed four off-taker agreements with solar developers to reduce the cost of electricity by 10+%.

• Developed two Town plans.

• Hosted the VCRD Community Visit process which resulted in an action plan that continues to provide guidance for Town priorities.

• The Town constructed the Three Rivers Trail Head Pavilion in 2021.

• Completed 80% of the required environmental remediation at the Town-owned Armory.

• Assisted in the redevelopment of two high-profile vacant downtown properties (67 & 74 Eastern Avenue).

• Town Officials are currently working to secure adequate parking to meet the demand that the LVRT is forecasted to create.

• Supported efforts by Discover Downtown St. Johnsbury and Catamount Arts to grow activities and events that showcase our heritage, support the arts and outdoor recreation sectors, and catalyze economic activity.

• Completed the Railroad St. Enhancement and Depot Square Park projects.

• Navigated COVID-19 pandemic.

• Navigated two generational flooding events.