WOODBURY – In a wide-ranging meeting that lasted over three hours, February 9, the Woodbury Select Board took up repairs at Woodbury Elementary School to meet state fire and safety codes, a pending zoning application by Swenson Granite for its Woodbury Quarry, raccoons falling from a leaky town garage ceiling and roof, and repairs to the Vt. Rte. 14 spring in the Woodbury Gulf that has stopped flowing, were all discussed, in addition to the usual reports.
photo courtesy HCTV
Road Commissioner Alfred Larabee said two raccoons recently dropped through the sheet rock ceiling into the garage, revealing the lack of ceiling insulation and the need for roofing repairs. Ice has been building up on the roof and snow melt has begun to run into the building. He said he worries about the poor retention of heat in the building and the fuel expense from the lack of insulation. Larabee suggested the need for a new roof or, perhaps a new building.
Larabee later said the raccoons were full-sized adults that survived their fall and scurried away afterward. “One’s still up there as far we know, so we’ll have to find a new home for it.”
The road crew will patch the hole with plywood for a temporary fix and the board agreed to bring up the issue at its future meetings.
Larrabee said the road crew expects to have two part-time road crew members soon, with Dana Huoppi having agreed to fill in for a few weeks and another person awaiting results of the required drug test.
Larabee said he expects to finally step aside from daily plowing duties, while he continues to train his replacement to take on more road commissioner duties.
Woodbury Resident Lisa Flood made a public comment following approval of the previous meeting’s minutes to say she has been looking into the possibility of historic preservation grant money that could help finance needed repairs on the fire escape and elevator at Woodbury Elementary School.
She noted many unanswered questions about the school and wondered what complications there might be in talking with Preservation Trust of Vermont about the availability of grants for the building, which is already on the National Register of Historic Places. She said she’s written to the Mountainview Union School Board to discuss the options with them too. Board member Lilly Higgins said she will provide Flood with a copy of the town lease with MVUESD.
Representatives of Swenson Granite Company came to the meeting to discuss a municipal impact statement requested by the company to accompany its Act 250 application for a proposed expansion of operations at the company’s Woodbury quarry.
Colen Johnson and Nicole Centerbar, with civil engineering firm Bowman Consulting of Burlington, have been retained by Swenson and attended the meeting with Swenson’s Director of Quarry Operations Randy Cleveland to answer questions from the board for the project that requires permits from the town and the District Environmental Commission.
If approved, the permits will cover footprint expansion and the production of aggregate from tailings at the quarry that would involve the use of a crusher there for 45 working days per year. Sale of the aggregate products would involve increased truck traffic to and from the quarry with a maximum of 50 loaded truck trips per day for all products.
Johnson said his impression following an initial Woodbury Zoning Board of Adjustment (ZBA) hearing in the fall is that the town’s major concern is the increase in truck traffic and the wear and tear on Cabot Road. Board member Chris Casey said in addition, noise and Cabot Road public safety are concerns.
Johnson said changes made since the earlier ZBA hearing are that dump trucks carrying the crushed aggregate will use the old quarry entrance, a private road off Cabot Road, which will mean no increase in trucks approved over the section of Cabot Road between the new and old exits. All truck traffic including the blocks, will use the old entrance in the winter. In the summer, the block trucks will go back to using the new entrance.
To address noise produced by the crusher, Johnson explained that a new support area is being prepared at the northern-most corner of the site and alternative sites are available within the quarry walls, which he said would limit the crusher noise.
In the amendment request, the aggregate extraction limit is 20,000 cubic yards. The creating and selling of aggregate is a new aspect of the quarry’s business that is being explored, said Johnson. Dust from the road with the truck traffic is expected to be controlled by the town road crew, he said.
Road Commissioner Alfred Larrabee expressed his concern that some of the trucks are not properly equipped, especially with the tires they run on. He suggested the use of chains in winter to travel Cabot Road, recommending the quarry have a requirement that trucks be properly equipped in this regard to avoid the problems they have had.
Director of Quarry Operations for Swenson Granite Randy Cleveland responded, saying he believes the use of chains would tear up the pavement. He and Larabee discussed a project to widen the road at the steep curve just downhill from the new entrance, with Swenson providing fill material.
An issue with financial payments to the town was raised. Swenson has been paying 6.5 cents per usable square foot of granite hauled from the quarry to assist with the additional road maintenance required. Hauling of the aggregate might be expected to add to the total tonnage and increase the reimbursement to the town, suggested select board members. Both Johnson and Cleveland said they are open to more money coming to the town but neither are authorized to make a new arrangement, saying the town should initiate a request to the company.
The conversation ended with Peduzzi saying she still needs to contact the Woodbury Volunteer Fire Department and Hardwick Rescue, to get their input for the requested impact statement.
In her report, Town Clerk Robin Durkee said she’s been focused on preparations for town meeting and that she’s seen a good response to the WOOF contest to inspire more residents to license their dogs.
Town Treasurer Lillian Baron said she will be meeting with the PACIF insurance providers to get a better sense of why insurance costs have increased and ask about possible ways to lower them.
In her mid-year review of town finances, Baron said expenses will slightly exceed revenues by the end of the fiscal year, resulting in a modest budget deficit of $383,403 across the combined general and highway funds.
The primary financial risk for the remainder of the year is unbudgeted or under-budgeted expenses, including unanticipated truck repairs, post-budget wage increases and higher-than-expected insurance and technology costs impacting both of the town’s major funds, she said..
She suggested the town’s best practice will be to maintain approximately two months of operating expenditures in both the General Fund and the Highway Fund at year-end.
Based on the current FY27 budget, which she said reflects more realistic expenditure levels, that target equates to roughly $125,000 in the main highway and general funds. Maintaining that level will help bridge cash flow needs before tax revenues are received and provide capacity to absorb unbudgeted or unexpected expenses during the fiscal year.
A crew who recently visited the roadside spring beside Route 14 in the gulf discovered several reasons it has not been running. While the spring is under the purview of VTrans, Dana Huoppi, who used to work for VTrans, has recently maintained it as a volunteer.
That water source is important for many homeowners said Higgins, and Huopi, along with Larabee, Michael Gray and Peter Dailey who made the recent visit with Huopi, said they will continue to volunteer to make the repairs, this time after the spring thaw.
In his update on town highway grant projects Gray said an RFP for the Valley Lake Road culvert replacement project funded by a VTrans structures grant, has been sent out to 14 contractors, with bids expected soon. They will be opened at the February 23 board meeting. Nate Sicard, engineer and project manager for the culvert replacement, will attend that meeting.
Work on bank stabilization of Buck Lake Brook as it enters Woodbury Village is critical to stabilize Cabot Road as the road enters the village, said Gray and an RFP for design work is now being finalized because many state engineers who could have done the work, have been laid off due to federal budget cuts.
Gray recommended the technical assistance portion of the grant, for $3,377, be awarded to the Central Vermont Regional Planning Commission to serve as project manager, but no decision on that was made
The town was awarded a grant of $7,856 from Better Roads for the mandated updating of its Road Erosion Inventory, originally done in 2017. Gray said he plans to purchase an iPad at roughly $400 for the work he and the road crew will be doing over the next two summers to meet an October 31, 2027, deadline for completion of the inventory.
Recovery Officer Skip Lindsay reported on what appears to be progress about difficulties with a federal request for the return of leftover funds from the TH23 and TH24 bridge replacements.
Lindsay reported he’d received a positive response from the VEM/Public Safety representative after Chris Casey had contacted Peter Welch’s office about heated rhetoric Lindsay had reported in his interaction with the representative.
Lindsay and Casey plan to meet with FEMA and VEM reps to discuss the two projects, the balance of the leftover funds and the funds used from the original leftover funds for other town mitigation projects, previously approved by FEMA.
A 50-minute executive session ended the business of the meeting with Baron and Auditor John Reid invited to join the select board. Minutes of the meeting report no action taken.
Paul Fixx is editor of The Hardwick Gazette and lives in Hardwick.
