Property buyouts could reshape Lamoille County

This story by Aaron Calvin first appeared in the News & Citizen on August 29.

At first glance, the white house with blue trim and prominent bay window on Route 15 in Cambridge village appears to be no different than its neighbors, but it will soon be torn down and turned into an undevelopable space.

In late August, under clear blue skies with no recent rainstorms, the Lamoille River quietly meandered past the house and down a steep embankment. But when hard rain falls and the river swells, as it did in a particularly devastating way in July 2023 , and then again to a lesser extent in December and on the anniversary of the July flood this summer , everything can change quickly.

Each time the Lamoille floods along this highway, it overflows onto the road and blocks off the Wrong Way Bridge that connects most of the village to the eastern section of town, making it impassable and, if the water is particularly high, flooding nearby homes.

The owner of the white house with blue trim, apparently now unoccupied, applied last September to have the property bought out by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, or FEMA. According to paperwork, he had owned the home for 30 years, and flood insurance covered a $169,000 cleanup from the July 2023 flood.

The Cambridge Selectboard supported the buyout last October and, recently, federal funding for its purchase and destruction. It was one of the first homes in the county to be funded, with more set to receive funding soon, according to Sarah Henshaw, a coordinator with the Lamoille Area Recovery Network.

The white house with blue trim will be torn down and become empty green space, owned by the town and undevelopable, and its value as a taxable property removed from the Cambridge grand list.

A similar property next door also applied for a buyout. The homes on either side, places that were likewise damaged during the 2023 flood, are still occupied and their owners have decided to maintain them.

This contrast — homes abandoned after the flood and awaiting a buyout next to some of the most affordable rental properties in Lamoille County — is a common sight in neighborhoods hit hardest by recent flooding. The vulnerability of these areas and the need to enact flood mitigation measures runs up against municipalities’ desire to preserve their tax bases and some of their most affordable housing.

“It’s a lot of complex issues to balance at the same time as you’ve got folks who have been through a traumatic and life-changing experience,” Seth Jensen, deputy director of the Lamoille County Planning Commission, said. “It’s a tough situation for the individuals, and it’s a tough situation for the communities as a whole.”

Town transformations

Cambridge is supporting seven buyout requests, and six of the properties are in its namesake village, including the two along Route 15, and another just across the bridge between the Lamoille and Seymour rivers.

Three other properties being bought along the Lamoille River in the village would result in 25 rental units being taken out of the rental pool. The owner told the selectboard last October that she was tired of having to deal with the constant flood risk and recurring damage.

The selectboard has only refused to support one buyout request for a property in Jeffersonville and did so because it was not damaged in any recent flooding, board chair Jeff Coslett said.

“The selectboard considered each buyout request individually, and based our decision on whether the property owners incurred flood damage from the July 2023 storm and whether it was likely they would incur damage in the future,” Coslett said.

Wolcott is currently considering nine buyout requests, mostly clustered on School Street and along Route 15. Morristown’s two buyout requests — one on Route 15 near the Wolcott town line and the former Cady’s Falls Nursery on Duhamel Road — are being bought by the town with state funding and the Department of Fish and Wildlife, respectively.

Even Hyde Park, which emerged from the recent spate of flooding relatively unscathed, is considering one buyout along the Lamoille River. A Stowe property on Stagecoach Road situated along Sterling Brook had already been in the buyout process, and the town approved another application at a recent selectboard meeting for a property in Stowe Hollow along Gold Brook after the area was ravaged by two separate, intense rainstorms this summer.

Johnson was the town most impacted by the July 2023 floods , and though subsequent flooding was not nearly as dramatic, the buyout count ahead of an Aug. 30 deadline has risen to 15 properties.

Though one property on the application list is in the low-lying area of Route 15 near Willow Crossing Farm, most of the buyout requests involve village properties.

One of those requests comes from resident Tosh Gilmore, who has been homeless since her Lower Main Street property was destroyed. Pam and Rick Auperlee, who abandoned their 200-year-old home after 30 years on Railroad Street after it was inundated by 2023 floodwaters, are also seeking a buyout. Properties in vulnerable areas along the Lamoille River, including River Road West and Wescom Street, are also on the list.

Like Cambridge and Wolcott, the Johnson Selectboard has been supportive of residents seeking buyouts. Jensen noted that, unlike some other towns that suffered from the July 2023 flood — notably Barre — towns in Lamoille County were generally supportive of the requests, despite the potential loss of tax revenue, village utilities and housing stock.

“The reality is, once a community has, or once a property has experienced significant flood damage that really in and of itself impacts the grand list,” Jensen said. “The property becomes less marketable. If it’s damaged and not repaired, it depreciates, and so a buyout, from that perspective, can really be the best option for the homeowner and the community.”

Coslett said that Cambridge will continue to encourage housing outside of flood-prone areas as its development review board approves subdivision projects it deems permissible, while its town plan encourages balancing growth with maintaining rural character.

Expansion in Jeffersonville is particularly challenging due to a lack of a water source to allow the village to expand its municipal infrastructure to accommodate more growth, a problem the village is currently working with regional planners to resolve.

The Johnson Selectboard is working to encourage building outside of its vulnerable village with the grant-funded industrial park, and by expanding sewer and water infrastructure in town, Johnson town administrator Tom Galinat said.

“This is phase one of the future in Johnson,” he said. “As you start to sacrifice areas along the river, it then becomes clear where the future needs to be.”

Read the story on VTDigger here: Property buyouts could reshape Lamoille County .