Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Flood Resiliency topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Council backs elevation grant applications and approves stormwater pipe study to advance flood resiliency
Summary
The council authorized submission of state elevation grant applications for three properties and approved a $95,565 stormwater pipe study to build a city‑wide drainage model. Staff said the work will support future mitigation and developer review.
The Barre City Council on April 22 voted to submit three property applications for a state flood‑elevation grant program and approved a comprehensive stormwater pipe study to model the city’s drainage network.
City staff reported that initial outreach to owners left three viable participants for the state program; a fourth owner withdrew. Staff recommended moving forward with the three applications rather than adding a fourth property because expanding the application pool would reduce the per‑project award and risk underfunding full elevations. Staff said agency partners in Montpelier had signaled that award levels were likely to be tightly budgeted, and overly stretching the application risked incomplete projects.
Manager Stuart Locastro told the council that Advance review by the state’s hazard mitigation office (A & R in the packet) had given provisional consent to the proposed properties. Councilors voted to authorize staff to file the applications on the city’s behalf.
On a separate but related item, the council approved a stormwater pipe study by the same consultant performing a new hydrology analysis. The consultant’s scope includes setting up a hydraulic model of the city storm system, surveying culverts and pipes and identifying capacity constraints. Staff recommended authorizing up to $100,000 for the work to ensure the model scope is complete; the bid presented to council was approximately $95,565. The manager said the preferred funding source is the Special Projects Fund, which had about $495,000 available before the council’s other commitments.
Councilors and residents said the modeling work is critical: property owners in bowl‑like areas and downstream neighborhoods have raised repeated concerns about capacity and drainage during heavy storms. “Getting our arms around what our capabilities are … of inestimable importance,” property owner Peter Anthony told the council. Staff said the model will serve as a technical tool for permitting and for negotiating developer upgrades to conveyance capacity.
Both the elevation application authorization and the funding for the pipe study passed on voice vote.
