Can the wastewater project be improved? Absolutely. And can it be improved within the timeframe necessary to get pipes in the ground before the state repaves Route 100 and the sidewalk project is completed? Very possibly it can.
It's not a matter of being held hostage by state timetables. It's a matter of sending a message to the funding agencies (the ones who can/will provide the town with grants and low interest loans) that the townspeople want to move forward with municipal water and wastewater. There is a window of opportunity now open for Waitsfield that is about signaling voter readiness.
The project has changed and is still changing. The water system was modified to bring water up and around the Old County Road already this year. Since the project was proposed, the town has received a donation of a piece of land at the north end of the village that may be suitable for subsurface wastewater disposal. Septic treatment technology is changing every day and will likely change before this system ever goes online.
Is the project expensive? It is. Five years ago, it would have cost $7 million instead of $15 million to $17 million. Imagine how much it will cost in another five years?
There are likely to be construction delays and cost overruns and, yes, the costs of running the system may end up growing. Those same things will happen if the project is put on hold for five years, or two years, or one year.
Despite the flaws in these proposals, the time to approve these bonds is now.
These proposals are not perfect but, once passed, the public can reassert itself into the process.
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