By CHRIS FROST
Eagle Times News Editor
WEATHERSFIELD, VT — The Select Board, Wednesday, Nov. 22, continued its second reading of the Village Wastewater Committee Policy until the Tuesday, Jan. 16, 2024, meeting.
The group is developing a wastewater feasibility study but agreed they need to identify problems before coming up with fixes and examining alternative solutions to best be productive.
“I saw something that stuck out with me, with Otter Creek and the 30 percent of the work that they’ve done, and it’s very eye-opening to me,” said Board Member David Fuller. “In both Ascutney Village and the Perkinsville Village, there were less than 200 houses or properties they identified as potential sites for the wastewater issue. There were 83 in Perkinsville and the balance here in Ascutney.”
He said the number of houses was so minimal that the projects couldn’t get off the ground with their own full-fledged systems.
“This is my opinion; I think we should regroup and try to come up with a plan where if persons have a smaller group of homes, the town could facilitate that; smaller systems might work,” Fuller said.
The numbers they used in Otter Creek might also extend, he said, so that every home can go on the system.
“Which we know not to be true,” he said. “I’m trying to get my arms around this study and have it based on reality, and it’s not some other study in Weathersfield that gets put on a shelf and then goes off the deep end. I’m talking about a numbers-based real approach to fixing a potential problem.”
Board Member August Murray said the agreement does not require a separate committee, and it’s the best practice of the state.
“It’s a draft feasibility study,” said Murray. “You can allow the engineering firm to continue to work on behalf of the select board, and I think a committee is not even necessary to have engineering complete their study. However, one of the components of this is to find alternatives and read their Perkinsville one (which is their greatest concern) and having heard from prospective members of the committee who do not feel they have the time or energy to hold public hearings. The engineering company can complete their work, and one of those pieces of work is to examine alternative solutions.”
Several homes with small lots have shared septic systems for decades and homeowners are looking for solutions.
“Alternative solutions are something that an engineering firm specializes in,” Murray said. “There is a system called a Presby system, and it can be installed under a driveway, under a lawn, and be driven over, and it’s not significantly over cost.”
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Board Member David Fuller wants Weathersfield’s wastewater feasibility study to be reality-based.
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