Monday: Waterbury Select Board takes up traffic, the Shaw Mansion “dip”, FEMA buyouts & flood mitigation, Town Meeting format & more

August 18, 2024 | By Lisa Scagliotti

Monday’s Waterbury Select Board agenda reads like a top 10 list of some of the town’s most pressing issues. 

Near the top of the list is a visit by and discussion with Lt. Thomas Howard, commander at the Berlin Vermont State Police barracks, about public safety and traffic issues. Town Public Works Director Bill Woodruff will be in attendance for that as recent discussions have included suggestions for more speed tables or other traffic calming measures to encourage motorists to adhere to speed limits on streets such as Kneeland Flats Road and Maple Street. 

Woodruff’s input also will be part of a discussion about Shaw Mansion Road which remains closed to through traffic since the July 10 storm and flash flooding that washed out the culvert in the middle section of that road known as “the dip.” Faced with the damage, town officials have posed the question as to whether the culvert and road should be repaired to its former status, altered to allow for a larger culvert, or whether the town should forego the repair with the low-lying section left as a stream bed and wildlife corridor between two dead-end streets.  

Multiple topics on the agenda relate to severe storms – preparing for them, communicating about them, and then addressing the impacts from them. 

One discussion item is a new communication system that Municipal Manager Tom Leitz is launching that will allow local officials to send out text message alerts with important information to residents. Leitz will explain the system and its roll-out for community members to register for it. 

The board also will continue two ongoing flood-related discussions: whether to approve requests for Federal Emergency Management Agency property home buyouts in the Elm and Randall Street neighborhood and prioritizing a list of flood mitigation project ideas to submit to the state for possible grant funding. 

The board earlier this month heard requests from property owners on both streets but postponed action on them. Properties participating in the buyout program ultimately are cleared of their structures and left as undeveloped parcels.

A special meeting at the end of July drew about 60 people to brainstorm flood mitigation projects that would address long-term improvements to reduce the impact of flooding from the Winooski River, Thatcher and Graves brooks and stormwater runoff in various parts of town. A list of those ideas will be shared and discussed as town officials look to submit a grant application to the state by the end of the month.

Housing is another ongoing issue with multiple discussions underway this summer. A proposal floated this spring suggests the town create a housing trust fund and both the Housing Task Force and Select Board have been brainstorming ideas for how that might work. Some suggestions would be to provide grants or loans to help cover security deposits or downpayments for housing. The board this week has a proposal by board member Kane Sweeney regarding local option tax revenue and how that may be allocated to dedicate a portion to housing initiatives. Local option sales taxes in Waterbury went into effect July 1 and are anticipated to provide about $650,000 per year.  

At a recent board meeting, the topic of potential changes to the March Town Meeting format was raised. In 2023 and this year, there were discussions at Town Meeting about whether changes to the format might be considered to encourage greater public participation. Waterbury currently uses a hybrid format where the town budget and financial matters are discussed and voted on only by those in attendance at the in-person meeting held on Vermont’s Town Meeting Day (the first Tuesday in March). Elections for town and school board positions as well as school district budget questions are voted on by paper ballot available all day and by absentee ballot prior to Town Meeting. Should any changes be sought to go into effect for Town Meeting 2025, a special meeting and town vote would need to be held before the January deadlines by which local officials prepare for the March 2025 meeting. 

See the full meeting agenda online here. The Select Board meets at 7 p.m. in the Steele Community Room and online via Zoom.