Poultney, VT, Oct 21--A group of slate companies and the town of Poultney have won a $40,000 state Community Development Block grant that will be used to create a discovery and training center, where architects and trades people will better understand the uses of slate in construction, according to the Rutland Herald, Rutland, VT.
Faced with the increased use of materials that imitate slate and greater competition from foreign slate producers, there’s a vital need to bolster sales of Vermont slate, said Mary Jean Packer, a spokeswoman for the Slate Quarry Association. The association represents slate companies in Vermont and New York.
“I think it’s good news for the slate industry,’’ said Shawn Camara, president of the quarry association.
Creation of the center could become a plus for tourism in the region because it could bring more people to the area, Camara said.
A key mission of the technical school would be training architects in the use of slate, so they would be qualified to specify use of the stone, Packer said.
To start off with, the center could attract architects and contractors from all over the country who want to learn about working with slate at several daylong seminars. Others could learn proper installation in flooring and roofing.
Both Packer and Camara cited an apparent trend in which there are fewer tradespeople skilled in the craft of installing slate flooring and roofing and fewer young people inclined to learn the skills.
“They are not being exposed to opportunities working with slate,’’ Packer said.
A center could change that with Vermont architects better versed in working with slate than those outside the state, Packer said.
The goal is to locate the slate center in either Poultney or somewhere in the slate valley in Vermont or New York, Packer said. She said one possibility is the former Williams Machine Co. plant in Poultney.
Together, the town and village of Poultney, and the association, provided a $12,000 match, including in-kind services.
“I think it’s great,’’ said Jonas Rosenthal, Poultney town manager, praising Packer’s work in obtaining the grant for developing the discovery center.
The grant will be used to hire consultants to help move the project forward and develop details for the center’s accreditation and operation. Eventually, they could seek additional state funding to build the center, Packer said.
A goal for the center would be to stimulate sales of slate products and add more quarry or milling jobs, and possibly more architectural work as well, Packer said.
“With increased sales will come increased employment opportunities,’’ Camara said.
In many parts of the country, slate seems to have a fairly secure niche as a traditional building material, recognized for its durability, something a discovery center could build on.
Whether it fits a particular budget or is an appropriate use may determine whether it is purchased for a particular project.
Locally, when Rutland Regional Medical Center underwent a major expansion 15 years ago, slate was used extensively to tile the main entrance, said Mary Nemeth, vice president of support services for the hospital.
The proposed discovery center has received letters of support from select boards in Fair Haven, Wells, and Pawlet and from the Slate Valley Museum in neighboring Granville, N.Y.
Projects at colleges and universities located outside Vermont have played an important role for some slate companies in Vermont and New York. On one large job done this year, Sheldon Slate of Granville, N.Y., installed 3,000 square feet of unfading gray green flooring on three different floors at a new academic building at Hobart and William Smith Colleges in Geneva, N.Y., according to Beverly Tatko, a spokeswoman for the company.
Tatko said she was hoping for a resurgence in those types of orders from colleges, something that could come with a better economy.
