It’s time that Waitsfield voters move forward with approving a municipal wastewater system for Waitsfield Village and Irasville.
There has never been a better alignment of circumstances, finances, and logistics than there is now, and it will be a long time before we see such a similar alignment of plans, purpose, and the purse strings. This is a one-time opportunity to seize control of the town’s future without putting taxpayers in debt.
The town is ideally positioned to take advantage of the fact that the state has federal ARPA funds that must be used or surrendered, and Waitsfield is fortunate to have a project that is damn near shovel ready which enhances its eligibility for funding.
Steady-handed leadership has been at the helm to get the project this far and a successful bond vote next week on June 11 will move the dial in a real and meaningful way.
Over 90% of the people in the service areas whose septic systems are aging and potentially failing and at risk of polluting the river, their neighbors’ wells and groundwater are ready to sign up. There are over 70 such systems and properties in the service area.
Bringing those users onto the system still leaves ample disposal capacity for infill development in the village areas, helping preserve the town’s historic settlement pattern and helping keep open fields and forests intact. The system will be built to a capacity that also allows additional commercial growth in the town’s designated downtown areas.
Over a dozen years ago, when the first effort to pass a bond for wastewater failed, an overly complicated ballot question, as well as some assertion that Waitsfield was a small town that should stay that way, helped defeat the effort.
How did that work out? Those same wastewater systems are now 16 years older and that much closer to failure. We now have the infrastructure (municipal water) and updated zoning, which, when combined with wastewater have the town poised, finally, for success.
Let’s leave 2008-think behind us and move into 2024 and beyond for a healthier and more vibrant Waitsfield. The time is now.
