Waitsfield and Fayston have received a $44,811 municipal planning grant that the two towns will use for master planning for housing, natural resources, and resilience in Irasville. That master plan will identify wetland enhancements, design scenarios, and next steps for phased revitalization and resilience.
This grant follows on work done by Waitsfield in 2021 to identify and map wetlands in Irasville, parts of which are in Fayston. The grant application, which included broad community support via letters, notes that Waitsfield’s Town Plan designates Irasville as the growth area for the Mad River Valley, accommodating the majority of new residential and commercial development in a historic village settlement pattern.
It noted that the lack of municipal infrastructure, coupled with the lack of an integrated stormwater management and wetlands approach, has resulted in a fragmented development pattern and limited capacity to accommodate growth.
“The town has recently made substantial progress on a variety of stumbling blocks keeping Irasville from realizing its potential:
- Municipal water system installed in
- Municipal wastewater system planning is currently underway, final design in
- Irasville Wetlands Analysis,
Building off this progress, as well as leveraging lessons learned from the town’s previous Irasville visioning efforts, the town is well positioned to undertake a process focused on two overarching objectives: 1) enhances Irasville’s absorptive capacity while also meeting municipal goals; 2) enables and promotes Irasville’s development as a compact, mixed-use, and pedestrian-oriented growth center,” the town wrote in its grant application.
“The project will result in strategic recommendations for advancing the housing and mixed-use development of Irasville in a manner that increases the absorptive capacity of its wetlands. The engaged public process will ensure the broad community envisions a future that’s mutually beneficial, as well as incorporate implementable design approaches that build off the existing momentum.
The long-term outcome of this project is a more resilient Waitsfield, where the town’s long-standing commitment to smart-growth principles is realized, one that welcomes changing demographics, all in a location that is safe from, and minimizes the likelihood of, flooding,” the grant writers pointed out.
The two towns applied for the grant in October 2023. It has a required match of $4,999 which is due at the end of the grant term in November 2025.
