Hearing Set On Plan For Main Street Inn

By Steve Bigham

The Borough’s Historic District Commission will hold a public hearing Thursday, October 4 at 7 pm on the proposed construction of an inn at 29 Main Street. The hearing will take place at Town Hall South.

Jane Vouros of Taunton Hill Road has submitted an application for appropriateness to the board. John and Jane Vouros have owned the former Yankee Drover lot (at the corner of West and Main streets) for 20 years and have had several different plans during that time.

Details for this latest project are being kept under wraps until next week’s meeting.

“They’re building an inn where they will live. That’s about all we know right now,” explained Stephanie Gaston, chairperson of the Borough’s Historic District Commission.

Earlier this year, builder Kim Danziger was poised to purchase the property from the Vouroses and had plans to construct two homes on the site. That plan, however, was scratched at the last minute as the Vouroses chose to instead go forward with plans for the inn.

The land was once home to the Yankee Drover Inn, which was destroyed by fire in 1981.

Since the fire, the lot at 29 Main Street has remained vacant and has been used as a parking lot for the Newtown Meeting House. At one time, Mr and Mrs Vouros had sought to rebuild the Yankee Drover.

Just feet away from the town’s historic flagpole, the land lies at the heart of both the borough and the town of Newtown.