By Keefer Irwin
Letters in newspapers, two petitions, numerous select board meetings and division in the community; this issue has been in the public eye for several months. It all started when the public learned that a Pittsford couple purchased a three-season camp situated as an inholding piece of property within the Green Mountain National Forest (GMNF) in Bingo Basin. Along with the many species of wildlife and permanent off-grid residents, Bingo Basin is home to the unique recreation area of the GMNF Pine Brook Loop Trail. Locals and visitors have come with their boots, bikes, snowshoes and skis to softy recreate and enjoy this sanctuary – a place providing refuge for many decades. We have always respected each other’s privacy and desire to seek a wild and quiet place.
The new owners informed our community that they intended to occasionally access their cabin in the winter via snowmobiles. As in the past, the new owners have vehicle access to their property for all but a few of the winter months on the town and forest service roads. The forest service does not allow winter motorized access on forest service roads, which is gated in the winter to facilitate the loop trail. And the forest service denied a special use permit on a spur road as it was determined that they had reasonable access. The couple then sought to use a long forgotten, half-century unused Class 4 – Pine Gap Road (PGR). This small lower section (0.6 mile) runs through the national forest and the heart of the loop trail.
With one petition appeal in progress, this issue has been fraught with emotions, opinions, partiality and affiliations. Personally, I am disheartened to say the optics have been troubling. Unfortunately, while the unusual land transfer/sale of said property was in progress a year before, most Rochester residents were unaware of what was about to befall our town. Rochester residents and our merry band of Bingo Basin protectionists – Friends of Bingo Basin – have been swimming against the tide.
By all accounts, our mission to save Bingo Basin already fits into our Town Plan – that Bingo Basin is recognized as a quiet area. And the vast majority of this town wants to keep it that way. One of the new camp owners stated at the December 4 hearing, “We are not trying to destroy your peace and quiet.” Really?! Yet, this couple persists in their quest – to introduce snowmobiles for their own benefit and that would invariably alter the peaceful aesthetics forever. Oh, by the way – last week, a half dozen of us broke trail up the 0.6-mile PGR section w/snowshoes and skis with no hindrance of downed trees – passing their nonabutting property to complete our peaceful loop. We stopped on the adjacent Pine Brook Trail and relished the peacefulness that is now threatened in Bingo Basin. So, that being said, I would challenge that this is about access. Along with their motorized three-season access, they, like us, have winter means to their camp via the very same 0.6-mile snowshoe or ski. What this is about is unrestricted snowmobile use in a quiet place.
The Rochester Town Plan’s goals are to identify and protect those natural, cultural and historic resources that make Rochester special. We should be responsible stewards of these unique and vanishing areas. Thank you, Doon Hinderyckx, (select board chair) for your professionalism throughout this process. However, many of us still contend that under Title 19, the select board does have the authority to regulate use of all town roads. My hopes at our next Town Meeting, the residents of Rochester vote with this in mind; that the select board we put into that position represent “the public good, necessity and convenience of the inhabitants of the municipality” 19 VSA. We, the people, that live, work, vote and give back to our community have made our position loud and clear. Is the Rochester Select Board listening to Rochester residents?
Irwin lives in Rochester.
