Editor’s note: This story by Doug McClure was first published by the Hardwick Gazette on Sept. 6.
[C]RAFTSBURY — A draft rule restricting sculling on Greater Hosmer Pond is on hold.
The next step is for the text of the proposed new rule to be submitted the Legislative Committee on Administrative Rules. According to Emily Boedecker, the commissioner of the Vermont Department of Environmental Conservation, the new rule was not submitted to LCAR in August. The deadline for the issue to be placed on the agenda for the next LCAR meeting is Sept. 18.
“We need to be talking about solutions and not just raising objections to other uses of the pond. I deliberately released the draft rule in advance of formal rulemaking to spark conversation about this rule and other potential solutions,” Boedecker wrote in a DEC communication.
The comments the department received range from eliminating commercial use on the pond altogether, to banning “all motorboats,” according to Boedecker.
The draft ruling seems to have exacerbated a decades-old conflict. Chittenden County State’s Attorney Sarah George became a lightning rod in the process by advocating the rule change early on.
“Somebody needed to step in and make a rule,” said East Calais resident Conrad Carey, who owns property on the pond. “Sarah George got a bad rap. To say it’s politically oriented is just not true. Someone had to stand up for us and she did. We have tried to get at least weekends where we can go out there.”
The other side in the argument says that no new rules are needed.
Sheldon Miller of the Craftsbury Outdoor Center said that the nonprofit group has “reduced the number of weekend camps.”
“For example, 2017 has 15 summer weekends between Memorial Day and Labor Day,” Miller said. “Craftsbury camps will only occur on eight of those 15 — and none on the holiday weekends themselves. Even when there are weekend camps, Saturday afternoons are free after 1 p.m. and Sunday afternoons are open.”
Craftsbury resident Jenny Stoner said she doesn’t think a resolution is likely.
“Mediation was tried and the mediators could not bring the two groups to an agreement, and nothing since then has helped to bring them together,” Stoner said. “I think that opinions have become more rigid as a result of all the publicity.
“My uneducated opinion is that the state group needs to step back and forget all the narrative and just list the facts and the established state law,” she continued. “Why was an exception made for this lake originally? What are the rules that apply to other lakes in Vermont? The acrimony will continue to grow until the authorities make a clear decision that is seen as in the best interest of the town.”
No other lake in Vermont has a rule restricting non-motorized activity.
