Vermont cities and towns have purchased 30 properties damaged in Tropical Storm Irene with FEMA funds and another 67 buyouts are in the pipeline. FEMA requires buildings get torn down and no permanent structures are built.
Some communities are starting to discuss how they'll use the land once they own it.
But what鈥檚 next after a buy-out isn鈥檛 the first thing residents in flood-damaged areas are saying, especially when they still see houses hanging over riverbanks, surrounded by debris.
Rockingham鈥檚 Municipal Manager Chip Stearns said a lot of people are asking 鈥� 鈥榃hen are we doing something about those properties? It has been two years!鈥� 鈥�
Stearns said people are anxious to see damaged properties on the Saxtons River purchased and cleaned up. He says ideas are percolating about the three acres that鈥檒l open up.
鈥淚f someone wanted to drive down in there and park and fish they鈥檇 have the ability to have river access,鈥� said Stearns. 鈥淎nd for some people, who drive by with a picnic basket and out-of-state plates they may say, 鈥楬ey, lets go have a picnic down there!鈥欌��
In Readsboro the buy-out includes three homes on the Deerfield River. Town Administrator Mark Shea said one idea is to build a bench next to a display of photographs of the houses and the families who lived there, along with a plaque about the good that came out of the flood.
鈥淟et鈥檚 not forget that the community stood together,鈥� said Shea. 鈥淎nd helped out other community members.鈥�
Upriver, Wilmington has closed on one house. And it鈥檚 about to close on a barn on four acres. That鈥檚 where Frank Sprague ran a welding and stone mason business before floodwaters destroyed everything. His vision for the future? A path that runs across a bridge over the Deerfield River that connects to an existing trail system.
鈥淭his was a really peaceful place to work,鈥� recalled Sprague. 鈥淭he river was there. The bald eagle came by almost every day. So it was kind of cool. I guess once it鈥檚 gone it鈥檒l be O.K. Right now it鈥檚 not.鈥�
In Londonderry some residents want to use the property their town is acquiring to prevent that type of loss. Resident George Mora said it may be possible to engineer the land to create a kind of catch basin for floodwaters.
鈥淚t has the potential to give anyone in town a sense of power in the face of destruction,鈥� said Mora, 鈥渢o think that there may be something we can actually do to combat it.鈥�
Other ideas in Londonderry include beautifying the town. The buyouts may be a way to create something positive out of so much loss.
