Warren Falls, in particular, required a Herculean amount of effort. The
77-acre parcel was privately owned and offered on the market for $1.2
million. Originally, Sugarbush was to purchase the land and swap it to
the U.S. Forest Service in exchange for the parking lot at Lincoln Peak
where the former owners of the resort wanted to develop a hotel.
That deal did not materialize, but a core group of dedicated
individuals rallied to find a way to get Warren Falls into public
ownership. Working with the Conservation Fund and the former owner, a
new deal was structured where the forest service would accept ownership
of the property but could only purchase it for the amount it had been
appraised -- rather than the market price.
Under the new deal, local organizations and residents would raise the
$60,000 difference between the selling price and the USFS appraisal and
it was done by encouraging people to donate $10 apiece for the project.
It was amazingly successful, with 250 individuals, 20 businesses and
the Mad River Recreation District successfully raising the $60,000 in
1997.
It took the 500-year flood of 1998 to create Warren's Riverside Park
and that same flood spelled the demise for the Vermont Agency of
Transportation's decrepit and environmentally hazardous salt shed at
the Lareau Swim Hole. Waitsfield's elected officials and planners
worked long and hard to get the Agency of Transportation to leave the
river site and secured grant funding, public money and loans to get the
Lareau Swim Hole into public hands.
These swimholes are an asset to all and without the foresight of
dedicated individuals, there would have been no cars lining the parking
lots and roads leading to the water during the dog days of August.
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