As people work to get their snow tires on, here’s a look at how town residents can access their town garage sites and get sand/salt for their driveways when needed.
All local towns allow taxpayers to come and get buckets of sand/salt for their own personal use. At the Warren town garage on School Road, the town designates a specific spot for people to gather sand/salt. Professional plow operators and property managers are not allowed to access the site or store materials there.
In Fayston, it’s the same story. People are allowed to visit the site -- near the top of North Fayston Road to get sand/salt for their personal use. Select board chair Jared Cadwell said that plow operators and property managers are not allowed to store materials or equipment on site, but did note that the VAST snowmobile trail groomer is stored on-site in the winter.
In Waitsfield, the town does not let residents access the town garage site, rather it makes sand/salt available on a pull-off on Tremblay Road, right before the town garage driveway. Unlike other local towns, Waitsfield does allow plow operators to access the site for materials storage according to town road commissioner Charlie Goodman.
Goodman explained that some 20 years ago, property manager David Wimble came to the board and asked to store materials on the site.
“This goes back to when David was expanding his business. Storing material there made sense for him and the town had the room. We said ‘let’s try this out.’ The rent started at $1 and then went up to $10 a year for several years. Then Scott Kingsbury wanted to get involved and he stored materials there for several years until he got out of the business,” Goodman said.
“It worked out well for us. If there was a road we didn’t get to, he’d throw down sand for us or help us when we had a truck down. The salt he uses, he uses by the bag and I know there’s been occasions where he’s salted for us and we just gave him a bucketful back, similar to what we do with Fayston. We trade chloride and sand back and forth,” Goodman said.
Waitsfield also allows contractors to store equipment on-site temporarily (for a nearby job) on a first come, first serve basis which is managed by town road foreman Rodney Jones. Select board chair Christine Sullivan said that she expects the town’s policy and lease will be reviewed by the board.
In Moretown, town residents are allowed to access the town’s sand/salt pile for their own personal use and contractors are not allowed to use the site for storage and/or materials. The Moretown garage and sand/salt pile are at the north end of the village.
Duxbury follows the same policies as Moretown, Warren and Fayston. Duxbury’s sand/salt pile and town garage are located on the same parcel as the town office on Route 100 shortly before Crossett Brook Middle School.
