Water, water everywhere!

It is interesting to note that the residents of Hastings Rd, with up to 30 years of experience living on site, can tell anyone who will listen -- as the developers refused to do -- that the meadow feeds copious amounts of water into what CDI had classified as a class III wetland. In fact, it is an Inland Forest Hemlock Swamp.

They even planned to put one of the lots (Lot 10) "abutting" the "wet area" -- except the town turned that one down. Although, the State of Vermont did not.

Anyone who goes up to the construction site will notice there are endless culverts and drainage channels. The meadow and construction area get soaked with every rainfall. And the land doesn't drain completely. The land is saturated frequently.

No. It doesn't drain well. Even with all the drainage system put in. Because underneath all that surface dirt is ledge. Ledge holds water where it wants it--until it seeps out of the ledge.

Back to the swamp. It drains into a small creek, now dubbed "Lie Creek" because CDI only checked off the "Intermittent Stream" box on their Act 250 box. Actually, it runs 24/7/365.

To the south of Lot 6 is a vernal pool. It is restricted in a sense with protections. What makes a vernal pool special? It is a breeding ground for newts, red efts, mosquitoes and the like. Yes, we have a lot of bugs here. Lots of bugs.

Going back to the meadow--as anyone crests the road to the site, it looks like there is a remnant of meadow all groomed with hay to cover the clean up done. What you can't see now is that to the left of the road -- all 225 feet of it, will have a 6-foot mound of gravel covered with a layer of grass. That will be the septic system for 7 of the 9 planned homes. That's right -- the homeowner's sewage -- right up front. No one can miss that future landmark. There won't be any meadow left to enjoy.

According to two engineers, one a company hired by the Hastings Road residents, Verterre Group, the mound is in a perfect spot to stop a lot of drainage from the upper parts of the meadow to the swamp. In other words, it will create a pond. The eventual pond will undermine the septic mound. One prediction was within 3-5 years. Contamination will be a serious environmental issue!

Not only will that affect the homeowners immediately below the construction/development, but quite a few homeowners all the way down to the Mad River. Not to mention the clean up costs that will land on whom? The new homeowners in the project? Or the developers?

Do you want to take your chances with this?