This story, by Report for America corps member Carly Berlin, was produced through a partnership between VTDigger and 开云体育.
WOLCOTT 鈥� On Thursday morning, Margo Baker was gearing up to make meatloaf sandwiches for the lunch special at the Wolcott Country Store. She both works at the store, tucked between Route 15 and the Lamoille River, and lives upstairs in one of seven apartments.
So Baker has seen firsthand the limits of the building鈥檚 small septic system. The tenants can鈥檛 have a washing machine, she said, and without a laundromat in town, she has to lug her laundry to neighboring Morrisville or Hardwick. The country store can鈥檛 expand its offerings. The system is simply too small, said the building鈥檚 owner, Fred Martin. The leach field鈥檚 tight position next to the river means he can鈥檛 expand it, and recent flooding 鈥� which, this summer, brought water into the basement 鈥� has forced him to have the sewage pumped out.
鈥淭he leach field is just backed up,鈥� Baker said. 鈥淭he septic鈥檚 just not big enough to support the store and all the apartments.鈥�
Meanwhile, the lack of a public wastewater system in the town of poses big hurdles to adding housing in the village.
鈥淲e have a former church that is closed, and the property owners had stated that they had hoped to put maybe four apartments in there, but they鈥檙e hindered by the lack of wastewater,鈥� said Linda Martin, the chair of the town鈥檚 select board (no relation to Fred).
But a new town sewer system is on its way. Last month, for Wolcott鈥檚 first-ever municipal wastewater system in its core village district. In addition to helping make more redevelopment in the village center possible, town officials hope the system 鈥� which will involve hooking up individual septic tanks to a common leach field located high on a hill 鈥� will help ease Wolcott鈥檚 flooding woes.
The additional wastewater capacity could allow the country store to create a seating area where people can 鈥渄rink their coffee, visit, maybe eat their lunch,鈥� Baker said. Martin, the building鈥檚 owner, said the new system could let him add another apartment to the building, too.
鈥淚t鈥檚 a benefit for the town, I think,鈥� Baker said.
A in Vermont鈥檚 small village centers has long inhibited development, standing in the way of projects as modest as a restaurant or small apartment building.
鈥淚f you want to have seats in a cafe, or, you know, offer restroom facilities for any sort of establishment 鈥� wastewater is the foundation for that,鈥� said Victoria Hellwig, a regional planner with the Lamoille County Planning Commission, who has helped support Wolcott鈥檚 wastewater project.
But a fresh focus from both and programs, like the COVID-era American Rescue Plan Act, has helped make projects like Wolcott鈥檚 possible. Town officials have lined up over $5 million in state and federal funds, which they expect to fully cover the costs of getting the new system up and running. Just this week, the town secured $750,000 in economic development funds from the Northern Border Regional Commission aimed at bolstering rural infrastructure to help support the project.
Town officials hope that the new community septic system will encourage the revitalization of underutilized buildings in town, which would, in turn, entice users of the Lamoille Valley Rail Trail to make a stop in town. A project to into a cafe and meeting space is already in the works, said Martin, the select board chair.
The wastewater system buildout could also allow property owners to add sorely-needed housing on existing lots, Martin said, and allow buildings once dedicated to another purpose to be converted into housing.
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A desire to encourage more housing growth amid Vermont鈥檚 acute housing shortage has propelled rural wastewater projects from to in recent years. But residents鈥� concerns that the new public infrastructure will fuel unfettered growth and congestion have mired some such projects in .
Wolcott hasn鈥檛 been immune to that tension, either. A subset of residents forced a revote on the wastewater system, in part questioning the potential impacts of new development 鈥� and adding more development in the floodplain, . Residents have also around ongoing maintenance costs for the system. But the project was approved, again, during .
Flooding in recent years has caused issues for homes with leach fields along the river, including sewage backups. In the new system, waste will be collected from hooked-up properties to a pump station and then sent to a larger, community leach field at a proposed site near the town鈥檚 elementary school, on a hill. A says the system will be designed to withstand a 500-year flood event, and engineers aim to avoid siting the new infrastructure in places at high risk of flood-related erosion.
But navigating those challenges underscores a conundrum for Wolcott and many other Vermont towns. To avoid sprawl, state officials have and in downtowns and village centers 鈥� but in many cases those town centers are situated alongside increasingly flood-prone rivers.
Wolcott has been hit hard by the flooding of the last two summers. Martin, the selectboard chair, said she is greenlighting nine buyouts 鈥� the majority in the village area, which the new wastewater system is primed to benefit.
That will deal a blow to the , she said, and will mean the town can鈥檛 bring in user fees from those properties to aid in the long-term maintenance of the new wastewater system. The system is expected to serve about 50 properties around School Street, mostly residences, ; that means losing even a small number to buyouts could bring future financial strain.
The buyouts still have a long, bureaucratic road ahead, but moving forward with them 鈥渂reaks my heart,鈥� Martin said. Some of the flooded-out residents are couch-surfing, have relocated to neighboring towns, or have left the state, she said.
Still, she hopes building out the new wastewater system can help the town make up for the housing it鈥檚 losing.
鈥淚t鈥檒l make a brighter, you know, downtown village center regardless,鈥� she said.
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