The Waitsfield Select Board is moving ahead with a study on how the town’s Lower Fairgrounds parcel might be reconnected to the Mad River flood plain.
The select board, at a January 5 meeting, met with Brian Voigt from the Central Vermont Regional Planning Commission to consider moving forward with a preliminary engineering design. This work will yield a 30% design study and will be at no cost to the town, other than some of town administrator York Haverkamp’s time. He told the board there would be “limited staff engagement and ongoing dialog with the town’s conservation commission and select board.
Voigt raised the issue with the conservation commission in late 2024, explaining that state funding existed for exploring how reconnecting flood plains can reduce flooding impacts by providing more places for floodwaters to flow into before they hit development and other critical infrastructure – such as covered bridges, etc.
At this week’s meeting Voigt explained that this preliminary project started by examining five potential parcels for this work, which is funded through the Winooski River Basin Water Quality Council. Those parcels included the Austin parcel, the Virginia Farley Memorial Park, a private parcel owned by the Perot family, the Lareau swim hole and the 9.7-acre Lower Fairgrounds parcel.
Voigt told the select board that the fairgrounds parcel offers the greatest opportunity for both improving flood resiliency and meeting funding requirements that reconnecting the flood plain there will help reduce and mitigate phosphorus pollution into the Lake Champlain Basin.
Restoring flood plain connections can require excavation of topsoil and removal of some amount of material below that soil, then returning and revegetating the topsoil. With the fairgrounds parcel there may be the ability to deposit some of the excavated material along the tree line rather than trucking it offsite which would decrease project costs. The estimated cost of this 30% design study is $1.2 million.
Voigt told the board he met with the conservation commission last month and that group supports continued work on the project. The 30% design study will yield more specific costs as well as information on phosphorous reduction estimates. If the project proceeds, the work will be completed in 2026. Voigt said there may be potential challenges related to archeological work.
Brian Shupe, select board chair said he supported moving ahead with the analysis and a better understanding of site. He noted that the conservation commission is working on a masterplan for the entirety of the fairgrounds parcel. That parcel is a 110-acre parcel of land that was gifted to the town anonymously in 2023. It is located – roughly – up and behind Our Lady of the Snows, running north to the Austin parcel and connecting to the town-owed Wu Ledges parcel.
Board members discussed whether reconnecting the floodplain in that area would preclude agricultural uses, including grazing and Voigt said that would depend on the easement but pointed out that the goals of reducing phosphorus run off into Lake Champlain will likely impact that decision.
“If this project will be funded all the way through implementation it would be the largest project funded by this state program in terms of cost. One of the considerations would be, if there's ongoing ag use on the property after implementation, does that change the phosphorus reduction benefit? If it does it, it would reduce it? And if it reduces it, does it reduce it to the point where the project is no longer cost efficient? So, if the town says we want to prioritize both flood mitigation and agricultural use, that's fine, but those might not be compatible with the funding program,” Voigt explained.
Waitsfield farmer Hadley Gaylord who attended the meeting asked clarifying questions about how that restoration would work, and asking the purpose of reconnection. Voigt said that currently water does not access that parcel during flood events because it’s higher than water in the river. Lowering it, Voigt said, would allow water to access the property, to reduce downstream flooding impacts. Voigt said that the current height of that parcel of land prevents floodwaters from entering except during the most extreme flood events, like Tropical Storm Irene in 2011.
Gaylord asked for more details about the phosphorus reduction goals, wondering whether it was phosphorus from ag operations or other causes. Voigt said the state is under a mandate from the EPA to reduce phosphorus in the Lake Champlain Basin from every type of use. Shupe added that the town (and other towns) are also under state permits to reduce phosphorus from road runoff and manage ditching differently to achieve that.
Board member Chach Curtis asked if it was known what type of material was on that parcel that had raised its height above the flood plain and Voigt said he’d looked at historical photos but could not make that determination.
The board approved moving forward with this preliminary work but stressed that no changes to the use of the parcel would be part of the 30% design study.
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