This commentary is by Samn Stockwell, of Barre. Stockwell is a poet, educator and former Barre City councilor.
In May 2011, Barre was the casualty of a flood that left 3 feet of mud caked on buildings and in the streets. The Times-Argus building on North Main was swamped. The Harrington Street Bridge collapsed. What was once Allen Lumber became filled with muddy water. News reports from 2023 closely echo flood reports from 2011.
The floods of 2011 were part of a long history of floods in Barre City. In Barre, as in much of Vermont, flooding is a frequent disaster and an existential threat. The same neighborhoods have experienced flooding for decades, a threat that will intensify as the climate changes.
Cities are required to plan for potential disasters — such as flooding — in hazard mitigation plans. Barre developed a new hazard mitigation plan in January 2012 after the two floods in 2011.
Although the plan acknowledges the high probability and damaging impact of flooding, little of what the city listed as a high priority got done in the intervening years. City Place was built. Enterprise Alley and Merchant’s Way parking lots were developed. $2.5 million was spent on the two parking lots, as opposed to approximately $500,000 spent on Gunner’s Brook flood mitigation.
Developing river buffers along the Stevens Branch did not happen, despite the damage to the neighborhoods along it and recommendations from the state Agency of Natural Resources. The same neighborhoods flooded in 2023. Listed as a medium priority in the plan was installing trash racks in the Gunner Brook section near Harrington, which was completed in 2016.
In the hazard mitigation plan of 2012, six floods were listed from 2000 to 2011. (Floods also occurred in the 1990s). Previous plans note the damage from floods and the cost to the city. The factual data showed an unmistakable trend of floods increasing in frequency.
How many millions would have been saved had the high-priority flood mitigation measures were implemented? The costs of the 2023 and 2024 floods were estimated at $4.6 million, but that doesn’t begin to measure the social/emotional damage, and the slow trickle of people moving out. That flood mitigation hasn’t happened means residents continue having their homes and yards destroyed, along with their trust in city management.
Barre is poised to apply for millions in grant funding through the Community Development Block Grant Disaster Recovery program, and it would be logical if the request were primarily for flood mitigation, rebuilding and infrastructure replacement.
The mayor is suggesting over $8 million for new infrastructure in a new development in a city that cannot afford to replace its existing infrastructure. Everyone who has watched their storm drains spit back runoff into their street knows the system is inadequate and contributes to flooding — and everyone who lives along the Stevens Branch knows what flooding has meant for their finances and the chances of selling their home.
The city as a whole may not realize what the cost has been and what the cost will be.
