This story, by Aaron Calvin, was first published by the News & Citizen on Sept. 14.
Despite concerns about future floods, the owner and operator of Sterling Market plan to bring the grocery back to Johnson village.
On the last Wednesday in August, over 25 people crowded into the liquor store attached to the grocery to hash out tentative plans for the market’s return to Lower Main Street after the devastating Flood of 2023.
Present at the gathering was Ernie Pomerleau, the developer and family scion whose Pomerleau Real Estate owns the building itself; Mike Violette, CEO of Associated Grocers of New England, the co-op that operates the market; Frank Cioffi, president of the Greater Burlington Industrial Corporation and a leader of economic development in Vermont; representatives from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, FEMA, and the state of Vermont, including regional floodplain manager Rebecca Pfeiffer; Lamoille County Sen. Rich Westman; Lamoille County Planning Commission deputy director Seth Jensen; Duncan Hastings, a member of the Johnson Selectboard; and other concerned residents.
The informal summit was held to grapple with one of the most pressing issues in Johnson following early July flooding. With the closure of Sterling Market, northwestern Lamoille County was turned into a near-food desert overnight, with only small general stores left to provide essential goods for thousands of Vermonters.
The primary question is how can the Sterling Market return to its present location on the banks of the Gihon River when it has proven, time and time again, to be dangerously vulnerable to flooding?
The Grand Union closed after flooding caused by Tropical Storm Irene in 2011, and it took several years and financial assistance from residents to bring in its replacement, Sterling Market.
But instead of contemplating a change of venue, Pomerleau and Associated Grocers agree that the only available option is to reopen Sterling Market as swiftly as possible while implementing new flood mitigation measures that could hopefully prevent a future closure.
Associated Grocers, which operates markets in Shelburne, Jericho and Waterbury, among others, wouldn’t consider returning without the promise of enhanced flood mitigation, according to Pomerleau, but also expressed concerns that the longer the market remained closed, the more customer shopping patterns might shift.
“We could not have had a more collaborative supportive meeting, where (Violette) said, ‘We’re a co-op, we have a big stake in Vermont. We know that if this was simply a business decision, based on the bottom line, we wouldn’t come back, but we know that this is an economic linchpin for Johnson,’” Pomerleau said.
For both Pomerleau and Associated Grocers, the economics of potentially moving the market would be both time and cost prohibitive. A new structure would mean years of permitting and the Act 250 process to satisfy Vermont’s environmental regulations for new construction, allowing customers to get used to shopping elsewhere and generating untenable expenses for a small grocery store.
Building a new structure would also make the property ineligible for funding from FEMA, which tends to prefer restoring structures to their pre-flood state as much as possible.
Pomerleau said he’s already engaged an engineer to explore effective flood mitigation for a restored Sterling Market, including a 5-foot waterproof wall with floodgates, reduced glass on the facade and a large sump pump. While those measures wouldn’t have stopped the July flood, which rose to 8 feet inside the store, Pomerleau argued that the Flood of 2023 was particularly historic and most future floods would not push the river to similar heights.
Once concrete assurances of a flood mitigation strategy are in place, Pomerleau projected that Associated Grocers could reopen Sterling Market within a matter of months.
To bring about that swift return, both are looking for as much outside financial assistance as possible.
“Mitigation is not covered by insurance or by anything, so that’s all out of our pocket, and I’m not going to be charging (Associated Grocers) anymore in rent, and they’re doing all this on their nickel,” Pomerleau said.
Jensen pledged the regional planning commission’s support to bring in as much grant money to support the market’s return as possible.
Hastings, representing the Johnson Selectboard but not promoting any specific plan, said the town could potentially help.
“Significant amounts of state money could be available as a pass through with the town being the applicant, though that part has not been discussed by the selectboard,” he said. “There’s no specific proposal or specific interest at this point.”
Hastings said he’s heard a lot of community concerns about simply bringing back Sterling Market to such a flood-prone location, but said he understood the decision to do so.
“The reality for Ernie and Mike is the economics for that simply aren’t there from their perspectives,” Hastings said. “(The market) is in a place that is likely to flood again. Can there be enough flood mitigation measures undertaken to protect it from all but the worst floods? That’s ultimately a question between Ernie and Associated Grocers.”
Shayne Spence, who has been the most outspoken advocate on the Johnson Selectboard for moving the town’s only grocery store out of the flood-prone zone, also acknowledged that it was a decision between two private corporations and said he would be happy to see the market’s return.
“I do have major concerns about the lack of available and affordable retail and residential space outside of our floodplain, and that is where I’d like to see the selectboard take a larger role,” he said. “There are a few viable locations for a grocery store building in the village center, but outside of the floodplain.”
Spence pointed to the Jewett property, the land Johnson has long sought to develop into a light industrial park, as one potential future home for commercial businesses outside of the flood danger.
Though Vermont’s federal delegation was in Johnson this week to celebrate the $862,000 in match-required federal grant money to fund critical infrastructure to the parcel, any business setting up shop at the location is likely years away.
Spence readily acknowledged this reality, but also said he felt there was no true “win” on the table.
“My hope is that as we think about moving forward from the tragic flooding we experienced, we look for creative ways to move vital services like our grocery store, post office and possibly other things to higher ground and out of the flood zone,” he said.