[R]UTLAND — Commissioner of Public Works Jeffrey Wennberg pleaded with property owners on Combination and Piedmont ponds to set aside their differences with the city and Agency of Natural Resources over the causes of Moon Brook’s impaired status and to work together to restore it.
Wennberg made his remarks Monday during the first public hearing with Milone and MacBroom, an engineering firm hired by the city to come up with a plan for modifying the ponds in order to reduce downstream temperatures in the brook. The city has a year to come up with a viable proposal for each of the ponds. A separate bid will be made for permitting and construction, which is set to begin in October 2018.
Wennberg stressed that the hearings were not a forum for debating Vermont Water Quality Standards or whether the ponds are the source of the brook’s elevated temperatures.
“I’m pleading with you,” Wennberg said. “Please stick with this thing. Give it a chance. This is our best shot.”
The city recently reached a settlement agreement with the state outlining a series of steps that must be taken to reduce temperatures in the brook as well pollution sources including road salt and possible metals contamination near the Howe Center. Last week, a federal judge granted a stay in a separate lawsuit brought by the city against the EPA, which has argued that stormwater runoff is the primary source of the river’s impaired status. The city now has five years to demonstrate that reducing temperatures in the brook along with other measures will rehabilitate the lower reaches of Moon Brook.
Roy Schiff, a water resource scientist and engineer at Milone and MacBroom’s Waterbury office, laid out the project goals: from improving water quality and dam safety to reducing the city’s financial exposure and preserving what landowners and residents most value about the ponds. The dam on Combination Pond is owned by the city but is uninsurable in its current condition. Piedmont Pond and its dam are privately owned.
According to Schiff both dams are currently rated as low hazard but that could change especially in the case of Combination Pond, which is considerably larger. If that dam were to break it could cause significant damage to homes and property downstream.
The last half hour of the meeting was devoted to coming up with a list of what property owners value most about the ponds and then ranking those values to guide the redesign effort. The ponds’ ecological significance and natural beauty, recreational assets, and impact on surrounding property values were among the features cited by audience members.
Schiff said all options were on the table including dredging and shading, which a number of residents seemed to favor. However those measures may not be sufficient to bring the brook into compliance with the state’s water quality standards.
In their proposal, Milone and MacBroom acknowledged that the most challenging part of the project would be reaching a consensus with the various stakeholders. “We understand that landowners may resist a change such as dam removal and loss of an impoundment,” the proposal states. “The possibility exists that complete consensus is not reached. In that case, we would lean towards the alternative that meets the project objectives and is the most widely accepted. We understand that this scenario could lead to mediation or litigation.”
Michel Messier, an outspoken homeowner on Combination Pond who has opposed most modification plans, suggested that he would continue to challenge the city’s contention that elevated temperatures were the source of the brook’s impaired status. Messier, who threatened to walk out of the meeting when Wennberg said he would not be debating whether the ponds were responsible for the brook’s elevated temperatures, questioned temperature data shown in a slide during Schiff’s presentation.
“When you present data, do your homework,” Messier said.
Messier alleges that the lithium ion batteries used in the temperature gauges over an 11-year period of monitoring should not be trusted and also claimed that the state has no thermal TMDL standard, which renders the court order null and void. The data gathered by the city and Agency of Natural Resources shows elevated temperatures in the stretch of Moon Brook below Combination and Piedmont ponds during the summer months. Moon Brook complies with state water quality standards above the ponds but not below them.
Wennberg acknowledged a long-standing debate over the temperature sensors but said he wasn’t going to rehash it at the public hearing. The city and state have collected temperature data since 2005 all of which is available to the public, Wennberg said.
Ethan Swift, watershed coordinator for the DEC’s Rutland Office, said the state has used thermal modeling in the past to guide river restoration projects. In the case of the Mettawee River, for example, temperature measurements were factored into the overall watershed quality assessment.
Gina Fucci, who lives on Combination Pond, said despite the sometimes contentious back and forth between residents and city officials, she was optimistic that a solution would be reached.
“I would like to see us solve the problem collaboratively rather than with anger and hostility,” Fucci said. “Maybe I’m being naïve, but I think we’re on the same page.”
Schiff said the next step is to look at the core values identified by property owners and residents and try to incorporate them into a design plan that meets the project’s requirements.
“If we get luck we’ll come to a conclusion that meets the requirements for thermal water quality as well as matches the values of people which largely revolve around open water,” Schiff said.
A date for the next public hearing has not been set. In addition to the hearings Schiff said he would meet with individual landowners if they have additional questions.
